u/Pale-Lynx328

Fast Food Review Day 213-and-a-half: Cookie Sampler at chip cookies (snack)

Chain Name	chip cookies

Food category	Primary: Baked Goods
# of US Locations	22
# of US States	7
Primarily located in	Utah and California
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	not ranked
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $9.62, standard dev. $3.81)	5th out of 55 snacks
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	7 (out of 10) / 4 (out of 10)

Quick snack review. You have likely heard of Crumbl, which has grown from a single SLC store in 2016 to over a thousand locations in nearly every state, and the undisputed leader of the "cookie dessert" restaurant category. But, as with the meteoric success of Crumbl, there's plenty of other people who want a piece of the action as well.

Enter chip cookies (yes, lowercase), which was ALSO founded in SLC a year later. However, it's tiny by comparison, with two dozen stores across a few western states. So, how do they stack up?

Note that at the time of this visit, I had not yet visited Crumbl, so can't really compare them directly. But, I've been a "C is for Cookie that's good enough for me" Cookie aficionado my whole life, making batches of cookies from scratch starting when I was just ten years old and over the years I've made and consumed thousands upon countless thousands of the little treats. Having tested variations on recipes, tweaking amounts to get different results, let's just say I know a thing or two about cookies.

First of all, the cookies at chip cookies are huge - really massive buggers, each one individually can serve as a complete dessert. And they do have a price to match their size, at about four bucks each. Which, when you first hear the price, sounds a bit insane, but then you realize how hefty these things are, and that yeah it's not so crazy after all. Still expensive, just no longer stupid-expensive for the size.

Because of the size of the cookie, you may notice a bit of an unusual shape to the cookies - the type of shape that you get when you intentionally bake "low and slow". Which is a necessity to cook through something this size so that it is fully baked without burning the outside.

And I'm perfectly fine with that. I asked for a four-cookie sampler (of their choice), which is definitely larger than a normal snack, and served as my dessert for that night, the next morning, the afternoon and the following night. I have to say they were baked perfectly, which is no mean feat when you have a cookie that thick and that size, but I'm sure they have it timed down to the second from experience. Still nice and soft without being undercooked on the inside.

I remember one was a chocolate chip, one was a "biscoff" chip, one was a sugar cookie, and can't recall the fourth (white chocolate?). All of them were excellent, except for the biscoff one, which was meh. In addition to getting the baking down pat, they've perfected their recipes as well, apparently.

So, yeah, 'chip cookies'. If you happen to be near one, then I can say that yes, if you are looking for an indulgence, this will hit the spot. Not cheap, but after eating them I can also say they're not a rip-off, either. Now I want to try the other cookie "restaurants" out there, to see how they compare.

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(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. Originally I thought this might end around 100 days, but I keep discovering new places I wasn't aware of before, so I keep going until I run out, which at this point may be around 300 days. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

u/Pale-Lynx328 — 9 hours ago

▲ 22 r/fastfoodreview

Fast Food Review Day 213 - Pep Duo Pizza at Donatos Pizza

Chain Name	Donatos Pizza

Food category	Primary: Traditional Pizza
# of US Locations	450
# of US States	28
Primarily located in	Ohio, California, Washington
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	190th
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $15.97, standard dev. $3.03)	57th out of 258 meals.
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	4 (out of 10) / 4 (out of 10)

TIL that there's a type of pizza known as "Columbus-Style Pizza", which seems to be somewhat similar to the St. Louis Style. It is characterized by a provolone-cheese blend, a sweeter sauce, leavened crispy crust, and cut in squares, with topping "edge-to-edge". One of the examples that is often used to describe Columbus-Style is their hometown chain Donatos Pizza, at one time owned by McDonald's, and now has hundreds of locations nationwide.

But, going by that definition, what I ordered and received at Donatos is most definitely NOT Columbus-Style, and more of a traditional pie. It's pie-slice cut, the crust was not crispy, and most importantly, the toppings were not "edge to edge". If you go online and look at photos of Donatos, they really do cover the entire pie - in fact they offer up something called a "150", which has 150 pepperoni slices, so thick that it forms a solid layer of overlapping pepperonis almost like roof shingles. Donato's has even trademarked "Edge to Edge" as their slogan.

That being said, I'm not too hung up on the definition -- if it's a good pizza, it's a good pizza, regardless if you want to call it Columbus-Style, Detroit-Style, St. Louis-Style, California-Style, New Haven-Style, or whatever. And I chose the "Pep Duo", which is two kinds of pepperoni, and even though it was not famously edge-to-edge toppings, it was certainly well apportioned with lots of toppings and cheese and sauce. So I wasn't going to complain.

But all it takes is for one thing to ruin a good pizza. And in this case, that one thing was: the sauce. So sweet! Too sweet, to the point where I wasn't tasting tomato and spices, I was tasting sugar. There's nothing wrong with a slightly-sweet pizza sauce (when I make my own at home, I usually include a small amount of sugar myself), but this was beyond that. Kinda killed the pizza for me. Which was a disappointment - it looked and smelled so good at first.

Maybe I just got a bad batch of sauce at this location? Maybe Donatos was not meant to be ordered in Texas, and I should try it in Ohio instead? Well, maybe. No plans on heading to that part of the country any time soon, but who knows what the future holds. All I know is, for now, my first taste of Donatos was too sweet for my taste. And at a higher price than average compared to other pizza places at that.

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u/Pale-Lynx328 — 1 day ago

▲ 72 r/fastfoodreview+1 crossposts

Fast Food Review Day 212 - The "C.G. Classic" at Chicken Guy!

Chain Name	Chicken Guy!

Food category	Primary: Chicken Sandwich
# of US Locations	18
# of US States	9
Primarily located in	Florida and California
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	not ranked
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $15.97, standard dev. $3.03)	198th out of 258 meals.
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	6 (out of 10) / 6 (out of 10)

I remember a few years back when I was passing through Branson, and decided to try out one of Guy Fieri's restaurants while I was there. As the self-proclaimed 'Mayor of Flavortown", the spiky-haired loud chef of the 24-Hour-Diners-Drive-ins-and-Dives Channel has an eye-watering *seventeen* different branded restaurant concepts, but this Branson location was basically the equivalent of a Chili's or Applebee's in terms of what they served (menu items and quality), except for twice the price because of the brand name.

With that less-than-stellar experience, I went into Fieri's fast food restaurant "Chicken Guy!" with subdued expectations. There aren't a whole lot of locations, but they can be found in such disparate locations as ranging from high-end casinos and resorts, down to colleges, stadiums, a Wal-Mart, and just plain stand-alone storefronts (where I went).

True to its name, it's a chicken restaurant (sandwiches and tenders) that leans very heavily on the ten different flavored sauces they have. None of them particularly revolutionary, nor especially hot (they aren't trying to kill your taste buds like some other chicken chains seem to do), but it's what the dude's known for.

To keep it simple, I ordered the 'C.G. Classic' combo, which is their breaded chicken with lettuce, tomato, and special sauce (which, just like every other fast food place, is basically a variant of thousand island). For starters, the chicken itself was perfectly fine - well breaded, juicy -- that was great. The rest of the meal, however, was less than the Fieri Flavortown experience.

First off, the lettuce on the chicken sandwich was a wilted mess, that I immediately removed after taking the photo. The single tomato slice was literally paper-thin -- you could lay it on a newspaper and read through it. What about the signature sauce? Eh. Not terrible. Not great. Pretty much the same sub-par type stuff you get at Raising Cane's. And as with most place, the fries were fries - decent when piping hot fresh and dipped in the sauce, but got old fast. The longer I extend this Fast Food Death March, the less of a fan I am of fries in general.

Given that paragraph of disappointment, you would expect a lower rating. But really, the star of the meal is the chicken, and that was good -- If I came here again, I'd forgo the sandwich options and go straight for the meat of the matter: the tenders. That's the way to go. And maybe one of the different sauces to try them out. And I can always get something other than fries. Plus the manager was really cool and engaged, and it was a pretty decent interior dining area more like what you might find in a casual dining type establishment (better than the hollowed-out sterile empty shells of dining rooms you find in most fast food places these days). Yeah, I'd be willing to try this place again, and order something different.

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u/Pale-Lynx328 — 3 days ago

▲ 27 r/fastfoodreview

Fast Food Review Day 211 - Cacio and Pepe Macaroni at Twisted Mac

Chain Name	Twisted Mac

Food category	Primary: Macaroni and Cheese
# of US Locations	10
# of US States	3
Primarily located in	California
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	not ranked
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $15.97, standard dev. $3.03)	59th out of 258 meals.
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	5.5 (out of 10) / 4 (out of 10)

Remember a while back when I reviewed the up-and-coming franchise "Roni's Mac Bar", and musing it may be the only chain fast food restaurant based on macaroni and cheese?

Welp. I found another one. Twisted Mac is a new "concept" restaurant that PROUDLY advertises they are a part of Romano's Macaroni Grill -- essentially it is a slimmed down version of the casual dining establishment that focuses on a fast casual model for macaroni and cheese, sammiches and 'zas.

The parent restaurant has struggled of late, filing for bankruptcy citing the overall downturn in casual dining (before COVID, mind you), and apparently the refocus on expanding their Twisted Mac "sister brand" is part of their comeback. Right now that's a measly ten locations, but given Romano's overall financial backing, and as soon as people realize they can get essentially Romano's food for less time and hassle and especially price (and without the egregious tipping), we may see Twisted Mac grow pretty fast.

That is, if people can truly embrace the concept of mac and cheese as a fast food meal. Given how easy it is to pour a Kraft Dinner into a pot and have a hot meal at home for around a buck, are people ready to pay more than ten times that for a mac and cheese away from home?

To answer my own question, yeah, probably. Those who have the money to spend on fast casual today (the upper part of the K-shaped economy right now) don't seem to mind the cost of convenience. Especially when they can dress up the mac and cheese a dozen different ways with add-ons and meat.

For me, I chose the "Cacio and Pepe" version, which contains a sauce very heavy on black pepper, and with chicken, and with a salad as my side. The salad, by the way, was nearly as big as the entree itself. The mac and cheese was decent enough, they used these smaller-sized shells which I found annoying to eat, but otherwise the ingredients themselves mixed well. The pepper spicing wasn't as great as I thought it would be, and probably would have been better off trying one of the other options, like buffalo chicken or meatball. And it was hefty enough that I didn't even come close to finishing the whole bowl.

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u/Pale-Lynx328 — 4 days ago

▲ 22 r/fastfoodreview

Fast Food Review Day 209-and-a-half - The "Old Skool" at Cinnaholic (snack)

Chain Name	Cinnaholic

Food category	Primary: Baked Goods
# of US Locations	77
# of US States	26
Primarily located in	Texas, Ontario, California, North Carolina, Georgia
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	not ranked
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $9.62, standard dev. $3.81)	52nd out of 55 snacks
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	8.5 (out of 10) / 5 (out of 10)

Quick snack review. Never heard of this place before. But they have little shops in over two dozen states, driven by VC capital raised through The Shark Tank. Focusing on (you guessed it) Cinnamon buns, but also other baked goods like brownies, cookies, and edible raw cookie dough. Yes, cookie dough. And, believe it or not, there are other chains out there that specialize in just edible cookie dough as their primary product, so Cinnaholic isn't alone.

But let's start with their basic cinnamon roll, the "Old Skool", which is a roll with vanilla frosting. There are other types of frosting and toppings that can be added, but gotta check out the 'plain jane' before getting fancy.

Let's cut to the chase: It was the best damn cinnamon roll I've had in I don't know how long.

First off, though, before eating, you gotta scrape off about 3/4th of the glob of frosting on top. It's good frosting, but...*gesticulates wildly*. There are limits to how much pure sugar you can eat before going into a diabetic coma.

The cinnamon roll itself was pretty close to perfect, beneath that suffocation of frosting. Actually held its structure, slightly crisp in the places it's supposed to be crisp, and very healthy servings of cinnamon, so much you can taste the sharp slight bitterness of the spice instead of "just sweet" you find in other cinnamon rolls where the cinnamon is practically only there for show. I guess we have all become so used to industry giant Cinnabon's soft, overly-sweet sugar bomb that we've forgotten what an honest-to-goodness cinnamon roll is supposed to taste like.

One of Cinnaholic's key marketing points is that their entire menu is vegan as well. Which I could care less. Could be made up entire of meat products as far as I'm concerned, what matters is how it tastes. And Cinnaholic knocks it out of the park.

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u/Pale-Lynx328 — 4 days ago

▲ 47 r/fastfoodreview

Fast Food Review Day 210 - Cheeseburger at Holy Burger

Chain Name	Holy Burger

Food category	Primary: Hamburgers
# of US Locations	26
# of US States	6
Primarily located in	Mostly New York City
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	not ranked
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $15.97, standard dev. $3.03)	72nd out of 258 meals.
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	4.5 (out of 10) / 4 (out of 10)

Holy Burger? Holy ___ Burger?

You could tell that this chain used to be named "Holy Cow Burger", based on the conspicuous space and outline of where the letters used to be in the restaurant's sign. My guess was that there was another chain with the same name somewhere, and there was a lawsuit, and this one lost. Turns out, after some internet digging, is that it wasn't another restaurant -- it was the estate of the former Harry Caray. Holy cow!

Looking online, looks like an absolutely delicious and very messy burger from this NYC-based joint. I just wish the real world burger was able to match up. Spoiler alert: it didn't.

I have a serious beef with shredded lettuce on a hamburger, and I'd say 80%+ of burger places (and sandwich places in general) use shredded lettuce instead of leaf or chopped lettuce. The problem with shredded lettuce is two-fold. First, shredded lettuce it a fast food place is invariably prepared and stored beforehand, and could be days old, before it's dumped out of some bag to be used. Issue is, mixing in old and new lettuce, you get a high chance of some spoiled lettuce in the mix. And even the tiniest fraction of spoiled lettuce in a bite ruins it all. The taste of lettuce going bad destroys the whole experience.

Second problem with shredded lettuce is what happened here - you throw on a pile of lettuce on a hot burger, and it turns into a wilted, mushy green pile of goo. The entire purpose of the lettuce, to produce a textural contrast to the burger, is lost. So, I ended up scraping off the slimy mess of lettuce from the burger before eating.

That being done, what remained still looked promising. And I WANTED to like this burger, even as it was slipping/sliding around in my hand. But it just didn't seem to come together. Maybe the chef was off their game that day or something, but it was an underwhelming burger.

Fries were, as like many other times at many other places before, just fries. Unexceptional to the point that they might as well not have even existed. And I am leery of any restaurant that can't manage to have a soda machine, and resorts to using cans of soda bought from Sam's Club - and an off-brand of soda at that.

Maybe that lawsuit against Harry 'Holy Cow' Caray took more out of this chain than they realized. But based on this one experience, this was not the hot-mess-burger I was hoping for.

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u/Pale-Lynx328 — 5 days ago

▲ 20 r/fastfoodreview

Fast Food Review Day 209 - The Everbowl at....Everbowl!

Chain Name	Everbowl

Food category	Primary: Acai Bowls
# of US Locations	100
# of US States	30
Primarily located in	California, Texas, Iowa, Georgia, Colorado, Indiana
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	473rd
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $15.97, standard dev. $3.03)	231st out of 258 meals.
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	6.5 (out of 10) / 6 (out of 10)

Short review today, because I've been up since 3am to get here, and I'll be up at 3am again tomorrow, all to knock off the Dry Tortugas from my bucket list. Onward!

"Acai Bowls", or whatever you want to call the sub-category, is a fairly new concept that has sort of blown up over the last decade. The idea of promoting so-called 'superfoods' is hardly new, but putting them in a big bowl and turning that into a national chain is. Is it nothing more than a big fruity dessert? Or, can it be considered a healthy meal all by itself? Por que no los dos?

This is the second such chain I've tried so far, and there are few more regional chains on the list to knock out as well. But they are all basically variations on the same thing: a frozen smoothie-type base made of acai or coconut or vanilla or chocolate, and then topped with all sorts of cut fruits and grains. These places usually also serve smoothies and similar items. But it's the bowls that are in the spotlight.

Given the overall serving size and the cost per serving, I treat this as a full-sized meal. The "Everbowl" is an acai base with granola, strawberries, blueberries and bananas, and it's a decent-sized portion enough to fill you up. Also healthier than 99% of all the other fast food options out there. And, yes, also very tasty - it's freshly-cut fruit, which I am sorely lacking in my overall diet, and the frozen "base" at the bottom is more like an icy sherbert. Sure, it's healthy and 'good for you' and all that, but I'm not so concerned about the superfood aspect they push so much. That helps, but really I just like fresh fruit.

Frankly, I've already decided that after this Fast Food Death March is over, I'm going to be regularly incorporating these bowls into my regular diet, replacing the occasional greasy hamburger or chicken sando. At this point, it's really a matter of finding which chain is the best for me, and so far it's two out of two that are passing the cut. We'll see how the next one turns out (off the top of my head, that includes Frutta Bowl and Bahia Bowl).

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u/Pale-Lynx328 — 6 days ago

▲ 31 r/fastfoodreview

Fast Food Review Day 208 - Shrimp and Pork tacos at Tacodeli

Chain Name	Tacodeli

Food category	Primary: Mexican-American-inspired
# of US Locations	13
# of US States	1
Primarily located in	Austin, Dallas, Houston
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	not ranked
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $15.97, standard dev. $3.03)	64th out of 258 meals.
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	3.5 (out of 10) / 3 (out of 10)

First off, apologies for the potato-quality photo this time around. My potato phone is a bit old and doesn't handle bright-lit reflections well sometimes, cleaned it up best I could, but I know it's still a sub-par photo. Moving on to Tacodeli:

They're a small and locally-limited chain, but I've seen Tacodeli hyped up in many places, as people get tired of "old and busted" Torchy's and are looking for another place to hype.

Tacodeli isn't new - they've been around for over 25 years, slowly expanding to their current 13 locations. But under a new CEO with stars in his eyes, Tacodeli is setting its sights on TRIPLING its footprint in the next three years, mostly by in-filling their current markets and then casually just throwing out there, "oh, and Texas alone can probably support a total of 90 locations", before expanding to other states. Big plans indeed.

I have avoided Tacodeli until now, I had always sort of pictured in my mind that "deli" equates to cold cuts, and have a mental image of a hard-shell-taco filled with Oscar-Meyer cold cut slices. Silly? Yes. But weird mental images usually are.

Tacodeli is, in fact, falls into a sub-category of fast-casual food that I like to call the "fru-fru taco", or gourmet or snobby taco. It's a taco alright, but usually with a mix of carefully bespoke ingredients, curated to give you The Best Taco Experience (tm)...or something like that. And this is how you end up with a taco with wagyu-steak encrusted with panko-lime seasoning, with grilled portobello mushrooms and candied sweet onions, sprinkled with asiago cheese and a spicy chipotle garnish. Or whatever hoity-toity taco you can come up with.

And yes, sometimes it works. And many other times...it's just a fancy mess. But this is how you end up with the "five dollar plus taco" that takes three bites to eat. Tacodeli is far from being unique in this approach to 'inspired' tacos, of course, and it's not automatically a bad thing overall (unless you're one of those food purists, and I am definitely NOT). It's all in how you do it.

Alas, Tacodeli does not do it very well. I chose a taco with shrimp in it, and another with green salsa pork. Plus a side of chips and salsa. First, the two tacos - no, I was not impressed. They weren't *bad* per se, but as I mentioned above, sometimes the weird mix works out well, and other times...well, you get this. Just ingredients thrown together, not really bonding as a single dish. This is not the hyped up crave-worthy tacos I was promised. The shrimp themselves were good inside the taco, albeit skimpy. Tacodeli does pride itself on the freshness of locally-sourced ingredients when possible, but I couldn't tell, and I couldn't care.

The chips came in their own pre-sealed plastic bags, which seemed weird, and I had no idea how many days, weeks, months old they could have been. And the salsa - welp, the less said, the better. Apparently one of their key strengths, people say, is their signature salsas, so good they are sold at supermarkets. But I tried all three, and good god, the best I can say is they were *borderline edible*. Worst salsa of any fast food place, hands down. I don't know what they were thinking.

As touched on above, "fru-fru tacos" can get pricy, and Tacodeli is no exception. This meal was north of eighteen bucks - which is less than "outrageous" territory for what I got, but definitely falls in "concerned hmmmm noises" territory.

This was not a terrible meal, but I guess it suffered from over-expectations from the hype, and also from comparison of other fru-fru taco places I could have gone to instead. Fuego Tortilla Grill has this place beat hands-down. So does Velvet Taco. Even the increasingly-maligned Torchy's Tacos is better. Hell, even Rusty Taco would be preferable to this.

Sorry, Tacodeli fans. I don't see it.

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u/Pale-Lynx328 — 8 days ago

▲ 38 r/fastfoodreview

Second Chance Fast Food Reviews - Freebird's, Steak n' Shake, Wayback Burger

I have been reviewing a different fast food/fast casual restaurant every day for the past 200 days, and earlier I reviewed the following three restaurants. However, these three received "poor" scores for one reason or another, but based on previous experience and visits I knew they could do better. Perhaps it was an "off day", perhaps it was the specific item I ordered. In any case, here are some "second chance" reviews, where I am re-visiting the chain, to see if it can redeem itself and earn a higher score.

13. Day 29: Freebirds World Burrito (66 locations, 2 states)

Freebird's used to be the "edgy upstart with attitude" build-a-burrito place, the Texas version of Chipotle-Only-Better. For a while several years ago, I would go there regularly, probably once or twice a month. But somewhere along the way, something happened, and I can't exactly put my finger on what, or when. All I know is at some point, the cheap five-dollars-plus meal I would normally order, ended up costing me thirteen dollars out of the blue, and I pretty much stopped going cold for a while after that.

And when I tried again, it just wasn't the same. The menu is pretty much the same - all build-a-burrito places (and there are LOTS of them) are built on the same menu and same options. The only thing I can point to that is clearly different are their tortilla chips. Terrible chips for nachos, they don't hold up in the slightest, so it's just toppings on soggy used-to-be-corn-chips. This plate of nachos was better than the meal I had before, but still mid at best.

I dunno, man - it just seems that Freebird's is losing its edge, to better places, with better ingredients and better service, who are actually really really nice. Why go here, when I can go to Cabo Bob's instead, for (my regional) example?

Meal Quality: +1.5, going from 3.5 -> 5. Meal Value no change, going from 5 -> 5 (out of 10)

14. Day 77: Steak n' Shake (394 locations, 23 states)

Buckle up, it's multi-paragraph long-winded exposition time. If you want to skip to the actual review, go down to the first bolded sentence. There was a time, a little before COVID, when the owners of Steak 'n Shake thought they were the hottest shit in the world. The decades-old American staple casual-dining restaurant was in serious decline, losing money and locations at an alarming rate, until snatched up by the Biglari's, who slashed the menu drastically, cut costs sharply, closed unprofitable locations, and had quickly turned Steak n' Shake around...well, at least financially, which is all that they were concerned about. The Biglari's were the type of corporate weasels that only really saw the company as a way to make the money, so they could show up at their big, glitzy events in a limo and pretend they were the fast food version of Elon Musk.

But the cost-cutting came at a price, and that was left-handed-upper-cut of severe under-funding of their aging locations, which combined with the right-handed one-two-roundhouse of COVID ended up turning their darling profits once again deeply into the red, and Steak 'n Shakes were closing nationwide by the dozens, then low hundreds.

During the Biglari high-point, they moved their headquarters to San Antonio, and planned a big expansion that never came to fruition. Exactly one Steak 'n Shake opened in town from those expansion plans, a new concept Steak 'n Shake they called their "flagship", which was a counter-order fast food place that ONLY served a selection of burgers and fries and shakes, as well as alcohol.

Finally in 2022, Biglari cut their losses and sold Steak 'n Shake to the embattled and controversial Frisch's Restaurants (of Big Boy fame), and since then has taken an extreme hard-right political turn, embracing anti-American values and even anointing a protege of the Brainworm Guy as the company's 'Chief MAHA Officer'.

During this time, Steak n' Shake has made wide-scale changes to convert their remaining restaurants to a fast food model, with kiosk-only ordering, limited menu options, and a discontinuation of table service. That 'flagship' location I mentioned above? That, too, was part of the conversion, as I soon found out as I visited for this review.

The previous visit, I ended up with some crappy patty melt burger and fries that was literally SWIMMING in a pool of grease; literally as in probably the greasiest meal I've had in years, and with 200+ fast food reviews that's saying a lot. They pride themselves on their 'beef tallow' they use, but I couldn't give a shit one way or another, or taste any difference. It was just greasy as fucking hell fries swimming in the bottom of the basket. Ew.

As for this second time around...to my complete and utter shock, they redeemed themselves! This time, I ordered their world-famous Frisco Melt, and a side of chili-cheese fries. And I do honestly mean world famous, they really are known for knocking that burger out of the park when they do it right. And here, they did it right. When made correctly, the Steak 'n Shake Frisco Melt is *orgasmically* good. Damn good. If I had three of them in front of me, I could have scarfed them all down in a matter of a few minutes. Perfectly toasted sourdough, well cooked 'steak'burger, the cheese, and the sauce they use all come together perfectly. This is the way to order and eat Steak 'n Shake.

The chili cheese fries were also a significant improvement over the grease sticks I had before. Fries by themselves were just okay (and once again, Steak 'n Shake, screw the heavy promotion of that beef tallow nonsense shit, no one cares, it does NOT make them better). And it's the normal chili and normal nacho cheese you would expect in a situation like this, but it worked well together. (Could've done with a bean-less chili, though, which works better when used as a topping). Good job.

And the cherry on top is that all of this was relatively less expensive than what you would expect to pay at similar places. Nearly a complete 180-swing from first review to second chance review. Good job, Steak 'n Shake. That being said, I'm not eating here again until they drop their hard-core anti-American ways, but that's a personal decision just for me alone, YMMV.

Meal Quality: +5, going from 3 -> 8. Meal Value: +2, going from 5 ->7 (out of 10)

15. Day 36: Wayback Burger (168 locations, 35 states)

After writing way too much above, let's wrap this up quickly, with a trip to another lackluster burger place. I do want to like Wayback, I really do, but in the original review, and this review, as well as the few times I've been in years past, they're just not hitting on all cylinders. At least not yet.

This time I ordered the "Cajun Burger" with onion rings. I asked them, what makes it specifically "Cajun". Apparently, it's a regular burger -- with some extra seasoning (in this case, a remoulade). Well, okay then. That's not a deal-breaker by any means. Normal burger is with an extra sauce is still good.

And it was an okay burger, but that's all it was: Okay. There's nothing special about their burgers at all that make me want to spend an extra couple of bucks here, rather than some other fast food place that can give me an equally okay burger for less. This burger was better than the A-1 Steak Sauce burger I had in the first review, but not by much, and nothing here worth noting specially.

Onion rings were also okay (at least they weren't fries), even if they were just the normal Sysco/US Foods/whatever brand tossed in the fryer. Extra bonus for being lots of them, though.

Meal Quality: +1, going from 5 -> 6. Meal Value: +1, going from 3 -> 4 (out of 10)

More "Second Chance" reviews coming down the line, in addition to the regular reviews! (And no, not every second chance review will be a positive one :))

u/Pale-Lynx328 — 9 days ago

▲ 17 r/fastfoodreview

Fast Food Review Day 207-and-a-half - Aftershock Rebel at Dutch Bros. Coffee (snack)

Chain Name	Dutch Bros. Coffee

Food category	Primary: Beverage
# of US Locations	1199
# of US States	25
Primarily located in	California, Texas, Oregon, Arizona
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	44th
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $9.62, standard dev. $3.81)	46th out of 55 snacks
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	5 (out of 10) / 4 (out of 10)

It seems like Dutch Brothers is popping up all over the place.

It's actually the nearest 'restaurant' to where I live, about 7/10ths of a mile walking distance, beating out the nearby Starbucks on the same intersection by a few hundred feet. And they have been growing by leaps and bounds, with their easily-identifiable blue-and-white buildings seeming like they are around every corner.

Dutch Brothers wants to give industry leader Starbucks a run for its money, and as the second largest beverage-based "restaurant", it is in the prime position to try just that, with year-over-year sales growth at an eye-watering 31%. But...it has a long way to go. They may SEEM like they are everywhere, but Starbucks has an order of magnitude-plus more locations (16941 vs 1199) and an even wider gap in gross annual sales ($31.5 billion vs. $1.8 billion). Dutch Brothers may be a very respectable 44th place among restaurants (putting it around the same in revenue as Texas Roadhouse), but Starbucks is a whole 'nother level as the 2nd largest US "restaurant".

Sure, Starbucks has a target on its back...but it will be many years before Dutch Brothers is nearly as ubiquitous. Even in the town where I live, there are only 14 Dutch Brothers locations compared to 78 Starbucks.

And secondly, they are somewhat different restaurant models. Starbucks drove its growth as a coffee-based beverage restaurant with indoor seating where you could chill a few hours while studying or doing business. They may be transitioning more towards a takeout/delivery model these days to meet changes in customer demand, but their indoor footprint remains.

Dutch Brothers, on the other hand, is almost-EXCLUSIVELY a drive-thru. No indoor, no seating. Furthermore. even though they have 'coffee' in their name, turns out that nearly half of their sales are non-coffee related - mainly with a mix of iced or slushed drinks, milkshakes and sparkling soda mixes, and in particular various preparations of energy drinks. They have actually introduced two entire company-specific energy drink brands to the market: Rebel and Myst.

They lean heavily into their energy drinks, so I decided to try their "Aftershock Rebel", which is an iced mix of berry and lime flavors with their Rebel energy drink. And while I drink regular sodas like there's no tomorrow, I have never been a fan of energy drinks. Not because of the extra caffeine (which my heart really doesn't need), but mostly because I have never found one that has a flavor I like. It seems like they intentionally all have these shocking "extra extra" flavors, and I end up with some bitter concoction with "Guarino-chai-berry-ghost-pepper-shock!" or whatever. In the energy drink market, it seems the weirder the flavor, the better. Not a Millennial, sorry.

And sorry to say, the "Aftershock Rebel" did not dissuade me from that - it still had that weird bitter taste you get from most energy drinks, the fruits they added did not help to disguise that. I was not impressed. Especially for something that was north of six bucks.

Then again, I WAS impressed with their overall broad menu of other options, so maybe I just chose poorly, and might be worth a reconsideration. And if Dutch Brothers continues on their meteoric growth trajectory, I'll probably have plenty of opportunities.

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u/Pale-Lynx328 — 10 days ago

▲ 38 r/fastfoodreview

Fast Food Review Day 207 - Three Meat Treat pizza at Little Caesar's Pizza

Chain Name	Little Caesar's Pizza

Food category	Primary: Pizza Pizza
# of US Locations	4203
# of US States	50
Primarily located in	Everywhere.
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	22nd
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $15.97, standard dev. $3.03)	171st out of 258 meals.
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	6.5 (out of 10) / 5 (out of 10)

Did you ever notice that Little Caesar's stopped using its iconic catchphrase, "Pizza Pizza!"?

One of the "Big Four" in the pizza business, behind Domino's and Pizza Hut, but ahead of Papa John's, Little Caesar's can be found in all fifty states, multiple countries, and is still growing. Pizza may be a tough market to crack for all of the crabs in the bucket in the second tier trying to break through (Marco's, Round Table, Mountain Mike's, Jet's, Godfather's, Hungry Howie's, Pizza Ranch, Donato's), but Little Caesar's has firmly entrenched themselves and are here to stay - more likely to rise to second place than fall to any usurper.

That being said, I've never really been a customer of Little Caesar's. Not for any particular reason or dislike, and through all sorts of office "pizza parties" and movie nights and whatever else over the years, I've had my share of their pies. I have neither fond memories nor bad thoughts - they have always just sort of been 'there', and that's it.

So, jumping in to order a meat-heavy pizza to compare against the other chains I've tried, I end up with their three-meat pizza. And I have to say, it's pretty decent. Hot and fresh, just like they advertise, plenty of toppings, lots of cheese, good sauce. This is a solid pizza. (And, one should add, by itself more calories than FIVE Big Macs).

If I had to voice a concern, it's with the somewhat pedestrian crust, which wasn't bad but not a fan of, either. Then again, they do have multiple crust types available, and I just defaulted to whatever seemed normal, so they may have other better options for that, too.

Not going to say it's the best pizza out there (especially since I still have other chains to review before I can even judge that), but Little Caesar's definitely ends up on the positive side of my list.

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u/Pale-Lynx328 — 11 days ago

▲ 47 r/fastfoodreview

Fast Food Review Day 206 - Son of Baconator at Wendy's

Chain Name	Wendy's

Food category	Primary: Disappointment
# of US Locations	5685
# of US States	50
Primarily located in	Everywhere.
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	5th
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $15.97, standard dev. $3.03)	241st out of 258 meals.
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	4 (out of 10) / 4 (out of 10)

(insert sad trombone noises here)

Oh, Wendy's, how you disappoint me so. You were never great, but at least you were the closest fast food place to reach the all unobtainable ideal of 'you can get it fast, you can get it cheap, you can get it good'.

And to be fair, this particular meal wasn't that bad, either. Just...sub-par and disappointing. The Wendy's of today just isn't the same as the Wendy's of twenty or thirty years ago. Dave's Not Here, Man...and it shows.

Much has been written about where Wendy's has gone wrong, by many journalists and fans alike. Yet they are still the 5th largest restaurant (of any kind) in all of the United States, in all major and minor markets in all 50 states. But while their competitors have been innovating, adapting, changing and meeting the newer needs of a newer market, Wendy's has not. Their stores are still in the same old highway intersections that were traffic centers decades ago; their store interiors and exteriors the same as they were decades ago; heck even their menu boards are mostly still analog in a world that went digital a generation ago. When was the last time Wendy's innovated ANYTHING?

Used to be, back in the nineties, I could order a bunch of cheap stuff off their value menu, and literally before I had time to get my change and stuff it in my wallet, they were already finished putting it all on the tray for me to walk away from the counter with. Literal FAST food.

And yeah, I knew full well it's not gourmet food - aiming for more like a seven-out-of-ten-is-good-enough, and that was, for the price, good enough. Now they can't even reach that.

I ordered the "Son of Baconator", one of the last "new" sandwiches added to their menu a full 19 years ago. Loot at that photo - see if you can spot the bacon. And as a side, rather than their legendarily-lackluster fries, I chose the chili. Which, I will readily admit, I have ALWAYS liked, and continue to like, even though I know full well what it is. So sue me.

And it was just...sad. Burger was okay I guess. But in a market where I can get a similar burger for the same price but MUCH better quality from about ten other places within a ten minute drive...why bother with Wendy's any more? Leave me to sit alone in an otherwise-completely-empty dining room during dinner "rush", old battered furniture inside a building that is probably nearly as old as I am, nothing but bright lights and buzzing air conditioning and employees somewhere hidden in back doing whatever the fuck no good they do to pass the time. Just a sad meal at a disappointing chain that is bereft of direction and ideas. Will someone just put Wendy's out of its misery already?

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u/Pale-Lynx328 — 12 days ago

▲ 19 r/fastfoodreview

Fast Food Review Day 205-and-a-half - Red Bean Smoothie at Teapioca (snack)

Chain Name	Teapioca

Food category	Primary: Beverage
# of US Locations	28
# of US States	5
Primarily located in	Texas, and in Texas mostly Austin
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	not ranked
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $9.62, standard dev. $3.81)	33rd out of 47 snacks
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	5.5 (out of 10) / 4 (out of 10)

Quick snack review - Teapioca - portmanteau of "Tea" and "Tapioca", which is what those slimy little boba balls are usually made of. Which I sidestepped this time by ordering something else on the menu that doesn't contain the slime-pearls.

Basically, another place that is pushing the boundaries of what a "beverage" is. As someone who has grown up with the pretty standard same selection of juices and colas and plain tea and whatnot, my general reaction to this new breed of drink places goes something like this.

Frappiocas? Bobanadas? Cream Blasteas?

Well, I'll stick to a smoothie, thank you very much. But at least I'm adventurous to get a red bean smoothie, which turned out to be pretty interesting. It has a very mild, understated sweetness to it, just a hint of sweet that I kind of liked. But because of the beans, it did end up being just a little gritty in the process.

To be honest, I probably would be okay with working through some of the options on the menu just to see what they are like -- and whether I actually would like them or not. After all, I've been drinking from the same list of standard American options for decades now, and the impetus for this Fast Food Death Match was to try out new things I likely would not try on my own. The only issue with that is -- many of these drink options are kinda pricy. It's not like I can keep throwing six, seven, eight bucks at places like this all the time, when a Big Gulp is still a buck-oh-seven.

Even so, with the sudden proliferation of places like Swig and Dutch Brothers and Gong Cha and Kung Fu Tea and Tastea and a dozen others like it, I'm sure I'll probably have my chance to try at least a few more new things.

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u/Pale-Lynx328 — 12 days ago

▲ 24 r/fastfoodreview

Fast Food Review Day 205 - MAD Cobb Salad at MAD Greens

Chain Name	MAD Greens

Food category	Primary: Salad
# of US Locations	24
# of US States	3
Primarily located in	Denver, Phoenix and Austin areas
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	not ranked
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $15.97, standard dev. $3.03)	86th out of 227 meals.
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	5 (out of 10) / 3 (out of 10)

A funny thing happened on my way to this review of this Colorado-based salad chain.

Between the time I actually visited and now, MAD Greens has announced they are undergoing a major menu redesign to improve their product and increase the value proposition. Behind the scenes at several fast food and fast casual restaurants, the C-suite is looking at lackluster first quarter sales and engagement, and dreading the direction the US economy is heading. MAD Greens took a hard look and realized, if they want to remain relevant, they have to be proactive and make their move now.

So, MAD Greens has announced menu changes, updating what they offer to include bolder, more memorable flavors, increase portions especially with proteins, so that they would be viewed more than just one of the many local/regional salad-based fast food spots around the nation.

Will it work? *shrugs* I dunno - I mean, a salad is a salad is a salad. I guess the key is not so much to change how people view the salad, but to make it a better salad bowl than their local competitors.

I have to admit, it's probably the right move at the right time, though. Because when I visited and ordered the cobb salad bowl, it was a pretty uninspired bowl of salad, and a little pricey for what I got. It was a boring salad, full stop. Not bad *per se*, just more along the lines of take-it-or-leave-it. Everything was fresh, dressing was somewhat light, and there were a LOT of greens compared to everything else you would expect in a cobb salad.

So, if they want to redesign it, so that it's bolder with more everything-but-lettuce, I'm all for that.

Sigh - you know I really really do miss the days of Sweet Tomatoes and Souplantion and similar restaurants that were effectively killed off by COVID. These carefully curated bowls put together by people behind the counter, rather than letting us pile on our plates ourselves....it's just not the same.

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u/Pale-Lynx328 — 13 days ago

▲ 36 r/fastfoodreview

Fast Food Review Day 204 - Beef Teriyaki Plate at Mr. Teriyaki (San Antonio)

Chain Name	Mr. Teriyaki

Food category	Primary: Asian-Inspired
# of US Locations	3
# of US States	1
Primarily located in	San Antonio
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	not ranked
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $15.97, standard dev. $3.03)	82nd out of 227 meals.
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	9 (out of 10) / 5 (out of 10)

This is an "indulge me" review.

By my own 'rules' I set up for myself to determine what fast food chains are eligible to review, and which ones are not, Mr. Teriyaki fails those rules. It's too small (3 locations, with the 4th one under construction) and too local (San Antonio only). But I really like this place, dammit, so I'm reviewing it. Consider this a matter of personal indulgence and this is more advocacy than review.

Mr. Teriyaki is a new chain (just a couple years old) that, true to its name, serves mainly teriyaki dishes with beef, chicken or shrimp, and bento boxes. On a national level, it is similar (and at a similar price point) to what Teriyaki Madness offers. Or, Sarku Japan, or F&F Japanese Grill.

And the final dish itself is nothing especially fancy - a serving of grilled meat on top of a bed of rice, with a side of vegetables. But Mr. Teriyaki has it down pat - perfectly cooked and abundantly spiced, and a really large portion size at that. Not the dried out, overcooked stringy stuff you might find at some mall place, but good and juicy right off the grill. When done right, it shows.

Still only limited to one city, so for the fraction of one percent of people reading this who are in San Antonio, this is for you.

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u/Pale-Lynx328 — 15 days ago

▲ 55 r/fastfoodreview

Second Chance Fast Food Review - Arby's, DoubleDave's Pizza, Golden Chick

10. Day 12: Arby's (3284 locations, 48 states)

I have fond memories of Arby's when I was little, one of our family's few luxuries our family would indulge in about once a month, because that's what our family could afford. It's always been the 'odd man out' compared to other fast food places, the only one (at least where I lived) that sold roast beef, when everyone else was burgers or chicken.

So I really do want to like Arby's now, but sometimes they make it hard -- mostly because there can be a huge range in quality and experience from one franchised location to the next. Their lack of consistency is their greatest challenge.

But here, I found one of the "good" locations, and ordered two items off their 2-for-7 menu (regular roast beef and beef & cheddar), plus a buffalo chicken slider as a side in lieu of fries. Remember when the sliders first came out, for 99 cents? Now they're two and a half bucks, but still the buffalo slider is worth it. Arby's is rarely a knock-it-out-of-the-park type place (except for their Thanksgiving Deep Fried Turkey sandwiches, which are god-tier), but they are usually solid and filling, even if their signature sauce does give me heartburn later on. You just have to make sure you find one of the "good" locations and stick with it.

Meal Quality: +1.5, going from 5.5 -> 7. Meal Value +1, going from 4 -> 5 (out of 10)

11. Day 124: DoubleDave's Pizza (34 locations, 3 states)

There was a time, pre-COVID, when I was working in the office every day, and near the office was a DoubleDave's that had their lunch buffet, which I would destroy once a week without fail, then return to work that afternoon in a food coma. Then COVID came, remote work started, buffets came to an end everywhere, as well as eating in at pizza places in general, and DoubleDave's the chain has been in a bit of slump since then because of it.

But one thing hasn't changed - and that is that their hot pizzas right out of the oven with cheese still bubbling and sauce so hot it burns the taste buds off the roof of your mouth, are something else. Great when fresh and hot on the buffet line, and also just as amazing when ordered individually. Their minutes-old hot pepperoni pizza is terrific, but you have to eat it fast, because within a matter of minutes it loses its luster, and by the last piece it's cooled down to just 'average'. The same is somewhat true for other pizza chains as well, but seems to be extra-extra true for DoubleDave's in particular.

Meal Quality: +1.5, going from 5 -> 6.5. Meal Value: no change, going from 5 -> 5 (out of 10)

12. Day 23: Golden Chick (246 locations, 6 states)

Out of all the 'second-tier-size' chicken chains, I really want to like Golden Chick the most. They seem to have an extra something that raises them just a shade above Chicken Express or Bush's Chicken, for example. But there's one major problem: The value.

This time around I chose their three-piece 'Golden Roast' chicken with corn nuggets, and I don't know what spice mix they use, but it tastes terrific. This is wonderful chicken, super-extra juicy, too. Problem is, how much of it you actually get for what you spend. These were three of the least-meaty chicken pieces I've seen in a long time (especially that wimpy wing). Not just small, but pitifully small, as if they intentionally chose the smallest pieces possible, just for me. Tastes great, Golden Chick, but damn you're stingy, especially at the prices you're charging.

Meal Quality: +2.5, going from 3.5 -> 6. Meal Value: -1, going from 3 -> 2 (out of 10)

More "Second Chance" reviews coming down the line, in addition to the regular reviews! (And no, not every second chance review will be a positive one :))

u/Pale-Lynx328 — 16 days ago

▲ 1 r/fastfoodreview

10. Day 12: Arby's (3284 locations, 48 states)

Meal Quality: +1.5, going from 5.5 -> 7. Meal Value +1, going from 4 -> 5 (out of 10)

11. Day 124: DoubleDave's Pizza (34 locations, 3 states)

Meal Quality: +1.5, going from 5 -> 6.5. Meal Value: no change, going from 5 -> 5 (out of 10)

12. Day 23: Golden Chick (246 locations, 6 states)

Meal Quality: +2.5, going from 3.5 -> 6. Meal Value: -1, going from 3 -> 2 (out of 10)

More "Second Chance" reviews coming down the line, in addition to the regular reviews! (And no, not every second chance review will be a positive one :))

u/Pale-Lynx328 — 16 days ago

▲ 27 r/fastfoodreview

Chain Name	ShareTea

Food category	Primary: Beverage
# of US Locations	140
# of US States	24
Primarily located in	Texas, California, Washington
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	470th
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $9.62, standard dev. $3.81)	30th out of 33 snacks
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	4 (out of 10) / 4 (out of 10)

Quick snack review - ShareTea is an international chain that sells primarily milk and fruit-flavored tea iced drinks with boba. And for those of us who grew up in the Flyover American Monoculture, 'boba' are these little pearls of squishy, soft, slimy tapioca (or similar starch) that are added to drinks. ShareTea does have some other non-boba drinks, but it's the fruit or milk teas they are known for.

Given that's what they are known for, I figured, well, to be a decent reviewer, that's what I should be reviewing. So, I ordered the "Berry Lychee Burst", which mixes green tea with strawberry and lychee flavors and ice, then adds "strawberry bursting boba".

Thanks I Hate It.

Well, hate is too strong a word. I hate the boba. One does not "chew" tea. It's just weird, has an unpleasant texture, and no sir I don't like it. Otherwise, the drink itself is okay...but really just a sweet fruity drink, where I am paying a few bucks for the iced tea, and several more for some squirts of 'fruit flavors'. I grew up with straight black unsweetened ice tea, the way god intended tea to be made in Flyover America; this is okay as a sweet kool-aid type drink (90% sugary fruit flavor and a hint of tea tartness), but it ain't my cup of tea. Especially when I'm basically paying twice as much as what I could get at the nearby Sonic, or even the new 'HTeaO' chains out there.

I guess I'm just not a 'cutesy drink' sort of man.

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u/Pale-Lynx328 — 17 days ago

▲ 54 r/fastfoodreview

Chain Name	Coco Shrimp

Food category	Primary: Seafood
# of US Locations	10
# of US States	1
Primarily located in	D/FW and College Station
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	not ranked
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $15.97, standard dev. $3.03)	94th out of 227 meals.
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	9 (out of 10) / 6 (out of 10)

I can already tell that once all is said and done and I'm putting together my Top Ten list, Coco Shrimp is going to be a strong candidate.

It's a local chain, with locations surrounding the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, plus one outpost in College Station, but it is bubbling on the verge of breaking out to a larger regional presence. Until that happens, though, you'll have to travel to Texas to enjoy this little slice of the North Shore.

Starting out as a food truck a decade ago, it retains one characteristic that many similar food truck businesses retain when they start opening retail locations: a limited menu focused on one thing. And for Coco Shrimp, that one thing is shrimp, and only shrimp.

They have grilled or fried shrimp in five flavors, available as a plate with rice and salad, or as tacos. And that's it. The owners say they are intentionally following the In 'n Out model of ownership (for strong control and consistency) and laser-focusing on serving only one item. Don't expect the menu to expand any time soon.

And that's fine with me, because as far as I am concerned, what they are doing is PERFECT. I ordered the 'sampler', which is seven shrimp (coconut, butter garlic and spicy), which comes with sweet chili sauce for dipping, on top of buttered rice and a side of salad with poppy-seed dressing. (I missed adding the grilled pineapple for an extra dollah, otherwise it would have been perfect). These ain't your little popcorn embarrassments you get at Long John Silver's or Zaxby's - these were full-on jumbo shrimp (maybe 15/16 size or thereabouts), or what I live to call "three/four-bite shrimp")

They frickin' nailed it. Perfectly cooked without getting overcooked and rubbery, juicy large shrimp. Coconut-battered shrimp was my favorite, because the sweet chili sauce was the best pairing. Couldn't miss the drenched garlic butter and spicy sauces on the grilled shrimp, which also dripped into the rice. Great friendly da kine atmosphere, too.

Now, if they would only open up location near me, instead of hours away, that would be great...for everything except my waistline and my wallet.

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u/Pale-Lynx328 — 18 days ago

▲ 66 r/fastfoodreview

Chain Name	Nick the Greek

Food category	Primary: Mediterranean
# of US Locations	95
# of US States	8
Primarily located in	Nearly all locations in California
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	318th
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $15.97, standard dev. $3.03)	98th out of 227 meals.
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	7.5 (out of 10) / 5 (out of 10)

Finally, a Greek fast food place that I ended up liking!

For now, Nick the Greek is largely a west coast chain, with only a handful of locations in other states. Founded a decade ago by three guys named Nick, it has been on a tear recently, opening up new stores in new markets at a pretty fast clip. Their menu is pretty straightforward with basic Greek menu items like gyros and souvlaki and spanakopita and baklava, plus salad and plate and 'protein' options.

Keeping it simple, I chose a single gyro and fries, which seemed a bit on the pricy side for one gyro. That is, until I received it, and realized it was HUGE. This ain't some sad Arby's imitation, this is the Real Deal. Loads of slivered meat, plus the tzatziki sauce was not just some bland white stuff, but had a bit of a punch, inside a fresh pita. Very tasty, very juicy, and very filling. One gyro is all you need here.

Yeah, I know I've been putting down fries, but these are Nick the Greek fries with seasoning (paprika and something else?), cooked right. So, these are the "good" fries, as opposed to the 80% of fast food places which serve crap fries.

First time visit to Nick the Greek, and I am impressed. This was better than my local mom-and-pop joint. I look forward to them expanding into more new cities, so that they are within driving distance for me, because I'd destroy their gyros on the regular if I could.

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u/Pale-Lynx328 — 19 days ago