Shake Shack Holiday Menu (International Drive)

I was invited to visit the Shake Shack on International Drive in Orlando to taste some of their new menu items for the holiday season this year.

The visit started out with a sampling of the standard Shake Shake foods including ShackBurgers and Cheese Fries.

The first of the holiday menu items was a cup of Brownie-Batter Hot Chocolate. This very thick and rich hot chocolate was topped with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles.

There were three Holiday Shakes to sample. The Chocolate Peppermint shake was my favorite with a strong minty flavor. The Pumpkin Pie shake tasted just like pumpkin pie, and was almost like drinking liquefied pie in a cup. The Christmas Cookie shake was also good, tasting the most like a traditional vanilla shake. These seasonal milkshakes are on the menu until December 31.

These aren't new for the holidays, but they were new to me. Shake Shake also sells Shack Burger Dog Biscuits for your pets. I brought a bag of these to a few dogs I know who quickly scarfed them down.

Shake Shack (International Drive) in Orlando, FL - New Summer Menu

Shake Shack recently launched several new summer menu items. This blog was invited to attend a Blogger Meet-Up at Shake Shack's International Drive location to sample the new foods. The following is some of the food highlights from their new summer menu:

Bacon CheddarShack Burger & Fries:

Chick'n Stack: Crispy chicken breast with lettuce, pickles, and buttermilk herb mayo.

Raspberry Lemonade:

Shack Sandy: A blend of Shake Shack's ShackMeister Ale and Shack-made Lemonade.

Chocolate Cookies & Cream Shake: Chocolate frozen custard blended with chocolate cookie Crumbles and topped with whipped cream.

Shake Shack in Winter Park, FL

I was invited to a Shake Shack Housewarming Party for the new restaurant in Winter Park. Shake Shack is a burger chain which originated out of New York and has quite the following. My only previous experience with Shake Shack was when I attempted to eat at their South Beach location. There was a line pouring out of the restaurant and half way up the block, all in pouring rain. I didn't feel like getting soaked for burgers, but it showed that Shake Shack has some loyal customers with that many people willing to wait in line in the rain. I finally had my chance to give Shake Shack a try with their first Orlando area location in Winter Park. Would it live up to the hype?

I sampled three of Shake Shack's burgers. The first was the ShackBurger. This was a cheeseburger topped with lettuce, tomato, and ShackSauce. Was it an amazing burger that lived up to Shake Shack's hype? It's hard to say. I'm honestly not much of a burger person so I'm not the best judge. This was my second favorite burger that I tried at Shake Shack.

Up next was the 'Shroom Burger. This was a vegetarian option which consisted of crisp-fried portobello mushroom filled with melted muenster and cheddar cheeses, topped with lettuce, tomato, and ShackSauce. This was my least favorite of the three burgers. I found the hot gooey cheese inside the mushrooms was a bit dangerous to eat as it exploded everywhere as I bit into the burger.

The third burger was the SmokeShack. This was a cheeseburger topped with all-natural applewood smoked bacon, chopped cherry pepper, and ShackSauce. Out of the three burgers, this was my favorite. The cherry pepper provided a nice, spicy kick.

The Cheese Fries were crinkle cut Yukon potatoes with a side of cheddar and American cheese sauce.

Hot Dog with fries. This was pretty standard as far as hot dogs go.

Since the restaurant was called Shake Shack, I couldn't leave without trying a shake. Here's the Vanilla Shake:

I enjoyed trying Shake Shack. Was it everything that I was told it would be? The food was good. I don't know if I would say these were the best burgers ever, but definitely better than some other fast food chains. Like I said, I'm a horrible judge of burgers. I've disliked enough burgers to mostly stop ordering them at restaurants. I suppose Shake Shack did indeed pass the burger test for me because I'd go back again. Now that they're officially open, I wonder if the Winter Park Shack Shack will get lines out of the restaurant like I encountered in Miami?