Fast Food Review: Arby's Smokin Chipotle Chicken Sandwich

Writing reviews of new or even "new" fast food items is really something I enjoy even if I don't always enjoy the food.  I think it has something to do with possibly finding a new all-time favorite like the Cheesy Gordita Crunch, but when it comes to new menu items as of late I haven't really been so lucky.  The Beefy Melt Burrito and the last Arby's 3 Cheese Bacon Angus offerings were both big strikeouts.  Going into this review I was seriously hoping Arby's could redeem themselves with this latest offering.

Even though Arby's specialty is their roast beef I've always thought their strongest offerings were their chicken items.  During high school the Chicken Bacon Swiss was probably my favorite thing on any fast food menu.  However, I've noticed in more recent years that Arby's chicken just doesn't seem quite as good as it used to back in the day.  I can't put my finger on what it is or why, but the taste and texture is just different.  That being said, since I had a coupon for a free fry and drink with purchase of the Smokin Chipotle Chicken Sandwich I figured it was worth a try.

First of all I have to say I'm glad I had the coupon.  If I wouldn't have my regular sized combo would have been almost $9.  Ouch.  The sandwich was the basic Arby's fried chicken patty topped with the usual thickish "chipotle" bbq sauce, a slice of cheddar cheese, pepper bacon, diced jalapenos and lettuce and tomato which I decided to leave off of my sandwich.  The first thing I have to say here is wholy S this was hot.  I was expecting the usual mildly spicy fast food offering with the jalapenos being sparse and seedless.  Not the case here.  There were a ton of jalapenos on here and it just blew out any other flavors that were trying to come through.  I pride myself on being someone who can take quite a bit of heat, but this was even too much for me.  I had to scrape the jalapenos off just so I could taste a little bit of what else was going on.  Turns out it wasn't much.  The cheese was not even close to being melted which is a pet peeve of mine.  The bbq sauce could as well have been BullsEye.  I tasted no hint of chipotle whatsoever. The bacon was a least redeeming with it being on the crisp side for fast food bacon.  There was also more of it than I expected on my sandwich which was a nice surprise.

Taste 2/10 Damn.  I keep hoping for Arby's to recapture the magic of my high school days, but they just keep failing.  If I want a chicken sandwich spicy or otherwise I'll go to Hardee's or Chick Fil A if there is one even remotely close by.
Value 0/10  This is where Arby's really sucks.  I haven't been happy with the food the last 4 times I've ate there and I practically have to get an Obama bailout to afford it. 

Arby's 3 Cheese Angus Sub

"I'm so hungry I could eat at Arby's"-Sherri and Terri from The Simpsons when stranded on a desert island.

For lunch today I decided to pass up several food choices that I knew would be delicious and opt for Arby's new Three Cheese Angus sub.  The first thing you should know going in is that the sandwich itself is 5 bucks.  In my opinion that is quite pricey for a fast food sandwich.  If you want a medium fries and drink with that (which I did) your total will come to $8.15.  Considering all the places I could have gone for lunch and what I could have purchased with my $8.15 the meal was going to have to be pretty damn good to make up for it.  It wasn't.

When I first saw my tray with the wrapped sandwich on it I had to say I was optimistic.  It looked like it had serious heft and would be quite a meal.  I was duped.  The amount of paper wrapping was enormous and only concealed an average to below average sized sub inside.  While the "angus" roast beef on the sandwich looked somewhat thicker than the see-through stuff Arby's usually serves up there could have been a little more of it.  The 3 cheese were barely detectable.  I got a couple slices of some sort of white cheese that wasn't really that melted, a few barely noticeable shards of some sort of shredded yellow cheese and a parmesan ranch SAUCE...yes somehow sauce counts as cheese according to Arby's.  Needless to say visually this was doing nothing for me, but maybe the flavor was where it was at.  Wrong.  The beef certainly tasted different than their regular roast beef, but truthfully I found it way way over seasoned.  That along with the sauce completely over powered the couple slices of bacon on the sandwich to the point where I almost forgot they were even there.  You're doing something wrong if the bacon flavor is buried.  Pretty much a swing and a miss in every category.

Taste 2/10 The parmesan ranch sauce was kind of ok.  I wouldn't mind seeing it available in another form.  As a sandwich I thought this just plain sucked.

Value 0/10  Horrible sandwich and pricey (for fast food).  I would have rather spent my 8 bucks on almost any other lunch item anywhere else.

Sauce Complaints (cont.)

Just a very quick little note from today's lunch experience.  I decided to go to Arby's (the fast food restaurant that wrongly believes it's somehow better than the others) because I forgot to bring my lunch today, and I had a giftcard to use.  I get the chicken bacon swiss combo which totals over 7 dollars, and when the lady at the window offers me sauce I asked for honey mustard.  She gave me ONE packet.  Only one.  I know I didn't get tenders, but if you're only going to give me one don't even bother offering.