Shake Shack’s New French Onion Menu Is Peak Comfort Food—Here’s a Food Editor’s Review & Ranking

• What It Is: crispy crinkle-cut potatoes dusted with Parmesan cheese, served with roasted garlic parmesan aioli
• Price: $6

OK, huge bummer, but they forgot my aioli! Luckily, there was plenty of it on the sandwiches for me to taste some fries with sauce anyway. The aioli was very black pepper-forward and bright, almost like lemony cacio e pepe. The fries seemed older than usual, since they were pretty soggy, lukewarm and lacked crispness.

• What It Is: crisp-fried Portobello mushroom filled with melted Muenster and cheddar cheeses, topped with caramelized onions and roasted garlic Parmesan aioli on a toasted potato bun
• Price: $11

Whoa, I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did. Of course, mushrooms are just as fall-friendly as caramelized onions, and they pair beautifully with all the flavors of this menu. That said, I found the cheese filling of the ’Shroom to be a bit visually unappetizing, not to mention texturally. It had an aged nuance to its taste that I liked, but the texture turned chewy and stretch resistant in minutes, and its flavor really overpowered the mushroom. I wish the mushroom wasn’t filled at all, but I see how topping it with melted cheese could detract from its crispness.

• What It Is: made-to-order quarter-pound Angus beef patty topped with Gruyère cheese, a ’Shroom Burger, caramelized onions and roasted garlic Parmesan aioli on a toasted potato bun
• Price: $14

If you can’t decide between meat and veg, there’s one that gives you both in one fell swoop. I don’t really get the utility of combining the mushroom and the beef (I’m guessing most people who go ’Shroom don’t eat meat), but the flavor was still very comforting and on-point. It’s also even cheesier than the others, since the mushroom is filled with cheese and the patty is topped with it to boot. I didn’t necessarily need all that extra richness, but I didn’t hate it either.

• What It Is: crispy, beer-battered onion rings made from sweet Spanish onions, served with your choice of sauce
• Price: $5

The coating on these bad boys was ridic: thick, sturdy, golden-brown. However, they needed salt (or the side sauce that was missing from my bag). The onions themselves were crisp and easy to bite through, so you won’t have to worry about the entire slimy ring sliding out of the breading as you eat. IMO, they were better than the fried pickles—don’t @ me.

• What It Is: made-to-order quarter-pound Angus beef patty topped with Gruyère cheese, caramelized onions, crispy sweet onions and roasted garlic Parmesan aioli on a toasted potato bun
• Price: $11

It’s actually criminal how well-balanced this burger was. The beef was savory, succulent and simple. The cheese was mild in flavor but rich in texture, while the caramelized and crispy onions (the latter really made this one, if you ask me) offer jammy sweetness and zesty crunch, respectively. The aioli brought it all together with deeply indulgent, just-salty-enough garlicky notes and a mayo-ey tang.