The Traveling Wheelchair

269 Patriot Place
Foxboro, MA 02035
Phone: 508-203-9441
http://www.fiveguys.com/

Kellie, Kevin and I went to  Patriot Place in Foxboro. We saw a Five Guys restaurant and decided to stop in to see how it compares to the  Five Guys in North Dartmouth. We discovered that this Five Guys is not very wheelchair accessible either.

Patriot Place is a great new outdoor shopping area, located next to Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots; it has many new stores and restaurants. There is plenty of handicap parking spaces right in front of the sloped pavement that leads to the outdoor mall where the stores and restaurants are located.

Five Guys is a fast food casual restaurant chain specializing in burgers and fries. They use only fresh ground beef for their burgers and only Idaho potatoes to make the fries; their menu is trans-fat free. Five Guys uses only PEANUT OIL so if you have an allergy to peanuts, you may not want to eat at Five Guys.

The entry door of Five Guys is not automatic, so Kevin held the door open while Kellie  pushed me in my manual chair. Once through the entry door, we found ourselves in the dining area. We saw 50 lb bags of Idaho potatoes stacked in front of the windows, on either side of the door.

This dining area is very crowded with many tables set very close together; a high countertop is located in the rear of this dining area with removable stools; this countertop is too high for my wheelchair; access would be difficult to get to this counter for it is very close to the tables.

To the left, between the side wall and tables, is a very narrow path; this leads to the customer service counter, where you place your food order. My chair barely fit in this path.

The customer service counter, where you place and pay for your order, is way too high for me to reach. It is approximately 4 ½ feet high. There are two cashiers at this counter to take your order.

There is a narrow path from here to the other end of the counter where you pick up your food order. The counter lowers to an accessible height where you pick up your food order; this aisle does not have the 50 lb bags of Idaho Potatoes blocking access, like the Five Guys in Dartmouth had;  I could access this counter. We wondered if the 50 lb bags of potatoes weren’t stored here, due to our complaint to Five Guys Corporate.

Located at the end of the counter, after you pick up your food order is a condiment area with ketchup dispenser, straws, covers for cups and napkins; it is all out of my reach; it so set too high. Located on the end wall in the aisle is a soda fountain machine; this is way too high for me to reach; the buttons to push for the soda are approximately 5 ft high.

The Men and Women’s restroom are spacious single person restrooms; the ADA required safety grab bars are located at a good height on the side and rear wall of the toilet; there is plenty of extra room next to the toilet for persons to side transfer to the toilet. The accessible sink is of a good height for my wheelchair; the faucet, soap and towel dispenser are within my reach. The pipes underneath the accessible sink are NOT covered as is now ADA required. This surprised us for it is a new building that recently opened and the building inspector should have noticed this.

There are approximately three or four tables that could be accessible at the outer edge of the dining room, in front of the entry doors. Yet, if I sat here in my wheelchair, I would be in the way of people entering and exiting the restaurant. The tables at this Five Guys did appear to be high enough for my wheelchair. 

Kellie, Kevin and I decided not to eat here because of the accessibility obstacles. We left and headed to Red Robin at Patriots Place for it is more wheelchair friendly.

We were surprised the Foxboro building inpsector allowed this new restuarant to open. Especially since the customer service counter, condiments and soda fountain are all too high and inaccessible and the pipes under the restroom sink are not covered. Obviously, the building inspector needs to take a refresher course of AAB codes.

Kenny & co  give Five Guys in Foxboro ONE STAR for wheelchair accessibility. In order to earn the other FOUR Stars they would need to; install an automatic entry door; widen the path from the entry door to the customer service counter; lower the customer service counter where you place and pay for your food order; lower the condiments; lower the soda fountain machine; place protective covering around the exposed pipes underneath the accessible sink; and take out some of the tables so there is more space between a few tables for a wheelchair to fit.