Fast Food Review: BK Tries BBQ and Sweet Potato Fries

No shirtless David Beckham's please. Over the last year or so Burger King has been a fast food chain obessed with reinventing itself and marketing itself in new ways, including the aforementioned ploy, in order to regain tons of market share lost to competitors and turn the tide of negative public opinion. Every time I have tried one of BK's latest gimmicks I have been thoroughly unimpressed. I've commented on this blog before that BK's new ideas are basically just crap McDonald's has been doing for a long time. Smoothies, salads, coffee drinks, "premium" chicken, they even made a big deal about changing their fries to compete with McDonald's. The overall verdict? Pretty lame. That's why when I saw the latest commercial for their "Memphis BBQ Sandwich" and sweet potato fries I gave them by my emphatic eye roll yet.

BBQ. My personal favorite and something sacred to a lot of people and a lot of cultures. Burger King doing a version is practically food sacrilege. In spite of all of that I decided I had to give it a try. Honestly, I have to say that in terms of all the bbq I've ever ate it was probably not near the top half of the list. However, it's important to note that, for a Burger King product, it was surprisingly good, and I would even venture to say that it's the best new item BK has put on the menu in years. The bbq meat itself was very finely shredded (probably too much for my liking), and the flavor of the sauce was sweet but subtle. My sandwich also had a strange kind of sauce in addition to the red bbq sauce that seemed almost like a honey mustard. At first I was apprehensive but I didn't hate it. The sandwich was topped with some pitiful looking raw onions which I removed. They simply don't belong on a bbq sandwich. Granted, there was absolutely nothing that made this sandwich "Memphis" bbq which usually means heavily spiced meat and no sauce, but I understood from the get go that labeling it "Memphis" is just marketing.

The sweet potato fries are another matter altogether. I have to confess I'm a total sweet potato addict. I've ate them since I was a little kid, and in recent years when sweet potato fries have been the trend I've been a happy man. It was about time that a fast food chain jumped on this, and I think it was especially a good move for BK. Their regular fries are something I wouldn't feed to my dog so anything is a step up. Unfortunately, the sweet potato fries must not be a huge hit because the ones I had must have been sitting out quite a while and were rather soggy and cold. That being said I still can't hate too much on sweet potato fries and at BK I'd get them over their regular fries any time.

Taste 7.5/10 A fairly solid effort from BK that exceeded most of my admittedly low expectations. I would order both items again.
Value 8/10 I got a medium combo with upgraded fries and a special sandwich and it was basically the normal combo price. The Girlfriend got a Whopper Jr. combo and our bill was still only 11 bucks or so.
Misc I would be remiss if I didn't mention the entire experience of going to BK. Two words: it sucks. Burger King can revamp their menu, add a bunch of sundaes and drinks, and replace the traditional menu board with LED screens, but one thing hasn't changed. The service. The employees are easily the  worst in all of fast food. We got ignored when we walked in, no one smiled, tables were dirty. It's just the type of thing you don't normally see at McDonald's. It's the reason my fries were cold, and that's why it's hard to go back.

Burger King Still Sucks: New BK Fries Review

I don't know if I've ever voiced this opinion explicitly on this blog, but Burger King flat out sucks and has for a while.  You might be saying, "Hold up it didn't make your list of overrated fast food restaurants. What gives?" I'd say you're right it didn't.  To be overrated there has to be some perception out there that it's good.  Burger King is long long way from that.  Every time I go there I see dirty restaurants, few customers, slacking, poorly dressed employees who aren't even wearing clean cohesive uniforms, long waits in the drive thru and burgers that have shrank more than Obama's approval ratings.  It's so sad because I remember BK being one of my favorite places in fast food when I was a kid.  The charbroiled burgers were always especially enjoyable.  I think BK management has recognized their company's slide, but are there efforts enough to reverse the trend?

If I had to answer that question with one word I would say no. Their most recent effort the new BK fries are trying to be presented as some kind of savior for the company. I understand why they are trying considering how bad their old fries were, but in my opinion there just isn't a lot new or enjoyable about these.  The only, and I mean ONLY, discernable difference was the size.  They are slightly thicker than the old fries.  There you have it.  That's it.  They could have gone with new seasoning, fresh cut, the appearance of fresh cut (Wendy's), but they didn't do any of that at all. Burger King seems to think that the idea of being new also means better.  I assure you this is not the case.

Besides the fries I decided to try one of their new BK Toppers burgers.  I went with the cheeseburger that comes with bbq sauce and onion rings, The Western BBQ Cheeseburger.  It was honestly one of the worst "new" menu items I've ever had. The cheese was not melted, the onion rings were cold, the bbq sauce was barely there and had no flavor.   If the burger had 2 patties or if it was a dollar cheaper I may not have hated it as much, but as it is I consider it a total ripoff. 

Taste 0/10 I will not be going back to Burger King again. Period. Unlike Hardee's they have shown me nothing that proves they are really trying to improve their brand.  They have bigger problems than just the menu or the food, but considering they haven't solved those yet I see no way they can pull off a top to bottom overhaul

Value 0/10 Even if it was free I don't think that would be good enough.  Too many other choices in fast food that are competitively priced with much much better quality.

Burger King's New Chicken Tenders Review: Setting New Parameters In Suck

Sorry I have been lazy on the posting around here lately, but I've been busy at home with the new dog and the recent holiday weekend.  Luckily I should have a couple of new posts forthcoming soon.  However, I did want to let you all be aware of something I tried over the weekend, the new chicken tenders from Burger King.

This image from brandeating.com

If you weren't already aware a few months ago BK decided to start trying to rebrand itself and consequently that meant changing up some of their menu items.  One of the first things changed were their chicken tenders (which are really more like nuggets but I digress).  Working at the Indiana Memorial Union during college I ate a lot of BK since it was in the Union and close by.  Subsequently I ate a lot of their old style chicken nuggets.  Now don't get me wrong they were a little strange since they were crown shaped which obviously made them a little kiddish, but overall I thought they were fairly tasty.  The new ones I had over the weekend, however, were just damn awful.  There's really no other was to put it.  I apologize for not taking pictures, but I didn't originally intend to review them. The funky shapes have been eliminated to appeal to a "more adult audience" I guess, but the new style of breading reminded me of the worst frozen out of the bag chicken nuggets I've ever had.  The taste was horrendous as well.  They were dry, tough, flavorless and tasted like the restaurant had run out of actual product and just pulled leftover Tyson nuggets out of the freezer.  I'd rather munch out of my Pomeranian's dinner bowl than eat these again.

Taste 0/10  If I could give negatives I would.  BK was never high on my list for non-breakfast foods, and I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon.
Value 0/10  I didn't actually buy these for myself so I don't know how much they cost, but based on how horrible they tasted I'm giving them a zero here unless they pay you to eat them.

Fast Food Review: BK Breakfast Muffin Sandwich

One of my favorite meals to get at fast food restaurants is breakfast.  I love a hot breakfast at times, but I don't always want a lot to eat in the mornings so any breakfast sandwich on a dollar menu is the perfect fit.  McDonald's has some offerings in this area, but if you want meat, cheese and egg on a sandwich for only a buck you won't find it there.  Where can you find it?  Burger King.

Yes Burger King, the forgotten black sheep of fast food restaurants.  Admittedly BK is usually pretty low on my list of fast food choices, but with the BK Breakfast Muffin Sandwich they have won me back at least for now.  Admittedly it's nothing complicated and it's pretty much a ripoff of Egg McMuffin with sausage.  However, I found the sausage to be much better than what they're serving at the golden arches.  It tasted fresher, spicier and less greasy.  I could have used a little more toasting on the English muffin, but you can't beat the rock bottom $1 price tag.  It's also worth noting here that the egg is more of a scrambled folded egg as opposed to what's on an Egg McMuffin.  Everyone may not agree, but I enjoy egg sandwiches prepared both ways without a clear preference of one over the other.

Taste 8/10  An overall good breakfast sandwich with good sausage.  Lack of toasting on the muffin holds this back from a truly exceptional score.
Value 10/10  Tasty and everything I want in a breakfast sandwich at the cheapest price.