For some strange reason today, my coworker decided it would be a good idea to go to Arby’s for lunch. Not having been there for quite a while, I was intrigued. I wasn’t in the mood for our standard sushi fare and anything mega-greasy was right out. Their food is just expensive… and gross.
In fear of being raped by the cash register, I went online and found some coupons before our trek. I figured I would just get their chicken salad sandwich. It’s the only thing on their menu that I enjoy. It has grapes and walnuts in it, just like my mom used to make… but it’s $7.00 for a damn sandwich and no coupon to be found.
When we got there they had a sign up in the window advertising their new sandwich, the “Roast Burger”. It sounded interesting and looked decent on the picture. Now, being a veteran of all things fast food, I should know better than to go by the pictures they have rigged to look tasty… but I didn’t. I ordered it.
I should have known something was off when I had my sandwich in hand a mere 30 seconds after ordering it. I was still waiting around for the other office orders to be completed… I stood there for a few minutes and then decided to inspect the roast beast.
It was beastly. Room temperature with a slice of cold cheese poking out the side. Brown lettuce and a pink tomato. The two slices of bacon were no more than 2″ long. I reluctantly took a bite of it and nearly gagged. The manager saw my dilemma and offered a new, fresh sandwich and I quickly accepted his suggestion.
After waiting for a few minutes I was handed a new sandwich. The manger was curious if I would be satisfied. Now comes the horrible part that is completely not like me. I just told him it was fine.
It was not.
We rushed back to the office since this little venture took a lot longer than we anticipated. Starving, broke and annoyed, I ate the sandwich.
The roll was nice looking and felt fresh… that’s the only good quality that I can think of. The cheese was not melted, the lettuce was still brown and the tomato still pink. I slowly picked the thing apart to see what I was getting into. I know what to expect from the roast beef at Arby’s so I was not distracted by the fact that it was made of kangaroo. I’m really not sure what they did to it… but it looked like it had “grill flavor” sprinkled on it. It looked like it was scraped off of a hot griddle to give that “burger” effect.
The sandwich could have been decent but came up far short. I hope Arby’s can get their act together. I saw promise of some interesting menu items like the southwest eggrolls made famous by Chili’s and Fridays. I know I shouldn’t expect top quality product from any place that puts your food in a paper bag, but this was so disappointing. It looked like a good idea, but execution was completely off. I just kept thinking of the disgusted face that Gordon Ramsey would have made had he been forced to eat this mess.
Nick Uncategorized Food, Review
