McDonald’s Potato Rosti Burger and Waffle Fries

Christmas is around the corner and McDonald’s has decided to make a few new holiday items. This time, I’ll be looking at their new Potato Rosti Burger and Waffle Fries.

…Are these really Christmas-y? Are Rosti a traditional Christmas dish somewhere? Or maybe they just wanted an excuse to come out with a new sandwich so saps like me will order it.

Okay, let’s start w- no wait. Is that what I think it is?

Yes. Their potato rosti was just a hash brown. I like hash browns, but it’s disappointing to expect something new and it’s just an old staple. I can understand why they did that. Why make something new when you already have something you can use and say that it’s new?

Anyway, before getting to the burger, I took a taste of the fries. And I was immediately disappointed. They’re crispier than their regular fries and have less sodium. And don’t taste as good. I’m not sure if it’s the additional surface area, or the longer cook time (at least it feels that way), but there’s a noticeable taste difference. Not going to get these ever again. They weren’t bad, but I’m not paying extra for a product that tastes worse.

Now it was time for the burger. The first bite was okay, but it was almost all beef. When I had opened it up, I noticed there was barely any sauce on it, so I wasn’t surprised. The next couple bites I got more of the other elements. I can see why the cheese sauce was used sparingly because it’s a very strong parmesan cheese sauce. Too bad the hash brown couldn’t stick out. I got none of its flavour and it just felt like mushy filler. And because the hash brown wasn’t strong, the onions didn’t work as well as they could.

This was an interesting idea, but it fell flat. It wasn’t terrible, just very unremarkable. And stay away from those waffle fries.

5/10 for both.

Wendy’s Sriracha Chicken Sandwich

Wendy’s decided to up their spice game. Their Spicy Chicken Sandwich wasn’t enough apparently. Enter the new Sriracha Chicken Sandwich. What’s different from the old sandwich? Sriracha aioli for starters. It also has Sriracha pepper jack cheese, bacon, and onions instead of tomatoes and mayo. Also, they claim it has a Sriracha-infused bun??? C’mon Wendy’s, that’s a little bit ridiculous. And on the side, we have Sriracha fries. They’re really going all in on this Sriracha thing.

I was a bit worried about the fries. I’ve never had cheese fries before. Cheese sauce never appealed to me, but maybe with fries, it could change my mind. It was time to dig in.

The bacon pieces were good. The fries were good. The Sriracha aioli was good. The cheese sauce ruined it for me. As I suspected, I didn’t like it at all. I still think a lot of people would enjoy these, but I’m not one of them. The bacon was also really hard to eat at the same time as the fries with a fork, so it was kinda like I was eating cheese fries, and then cheese bacon. I appreciate the quality of the bacon though.

The sandwich was promising. I liked the Sriracha aioli on the fries, and I like the regular Spicy Chicken sandwich. I took a bite and it did not disappoint. The green mix on this one was crispier than the last time, albeit a bit too plentiful. I had to take some of it off.

The only weak part was the onions. The flavour didn’t work well with the rest of the sandwich, but it didn’t bother me too much.

As for the spice factor, it was definitely spicier than the regular Spicy Chicken Sandwich, but not by too much in my opinion. I’ve have spicier, but this still had a good burn. It was the right amount for casual enjoyment.

If you like spicy fast food sandwiches, this is worth getting. Maybe even the fries if that’s your jam. I’d be willing to giving it another shot without the cheese.

Fries – 4/10
Burger – 8.5/10

A&W Mushroom Mozza Burger

One of the things I wanted to do when I started this blog was to encourage myself to try new things. So far, I’ve tried tomatoes and blue cheese. Neither has been very successful. I guess there’s been some new sauces I’ve tried, so at least there’s that. But I think it’s time I give something else new a chance. This time, I’m going with mushrooms.

Mushrooms are one of those things I see everyone else love, but I always choke up when it’s time for me to give them a try. I once left mushrooms on a slice of pizza I got and it was rather non-present. I couldn’t taste the mushrooms at all. I probably need better mushrooms to try.

It just so happens that A&W has a new burger out right now, the Mushroom Mozza Burger. Instead of bacon, lettuce, tomato, and Mozza sauce, the Mushroom Mozza has grilled onions, Dijon aioli, and obviously, cremini mushrooms. The grilled onions were a concern, but A&W was the one place where the grilled onions were okay. Their delicious Smokey BBQ Teen Burger had that and Dijon aioli, so if the mushrooms are good, this burger should be great.

Wow, they kinda made this one a bit messy. And where were the mushrooms?

…Not looking appetizing to be honest…

Oh, they were just piled them up there. Okay sure. I took a fork and spread them across more evenly and then took a bite. Nope. I couldn’t get into. The mushrooms had a really “earthy” taste. Or maybe it was the Dijon Aioli? I doubt it though since I had it once before and didn’t notice that taste. Still, I powered through.

Well, I did for a bit. Halfway through the mushrooms were getting to me. I had to stop and take off the mushrooms. I still tasted that earthiness though. It didn’t stop me from eating the entire thing, but I did feel a bit queasy after. Not blaming A&W for that, but that’s just me having trouble with new foods.

It might be a bit unfair, but this one is being brought down a lot by the fact that I just can’t handle mushrooms. Maybe someday I’ll get better, but for now, I’m not touching this one again. I’d be interested in hearing a review of this burger from someone who likes mushrooms.

3.5/10

 

Wendy’s Grilled Chicken Sandwich

So, I haven’t been posting much lately. Between going on vacation and getting horribly sick, I haven’t had much time to eat out. That and I’m trying to cut back. I’ll go out when I see something interesting or new, but I’ll probably won’t be ordering combos and such. I may be unhealthy, but I’m a little less unhealthy now.

Anyways, I was at Wendy’s and was about to buy a Spicy Chicken Sandwich when I saw their sign for the new Grilled Chicken Sandwich. I thought they already had grilled chicken, but I guess they redesigned it. I noticed it had a special bun which looked interesting. So I figured, hey why not? I’d give it a shot.

No, that’s not a mistake. I kept the tomatoes on. I need to get better about that. But damn did this look better in the picture. Here, the bun looked a lot grainier and the “spring mix” was wilting. Are they trying to make this look healthier or something with the new bun? I’m eating fast food here. I’m not going to try kidding myself. If I’m going to eat something healthy, I’ll just make it myself. And the wilting leaves were not helping their cause.

I stared at it a bit. I was worried Wendy’s was about to disappoint me for a second straight review. I took a bite, and then took off the tomato. Sorry, I tried, but I’m still not ready. The chicken was really good though. I didn’t know what the sauce was at the time, but it had a smoky flavour with a bit of a tang. Turns out, it was smoky honey mustard. I was surprised because I normally don’t like mustard, but I guess honey mustard is a lot different.

The bun wasn’t doing it for me though. I would’ve preferred a normal bun and crisp leaf lettuce, but then that wouldn’t have been very “new” I guess. Maybe a healthier looking spring mix would’ve helped instead. It wasn’t very crisp at all.

Would I get this over a Spicy Chicken Sandwich? Probably not, but it wasn’t bad. It’s worth getting again if I wanted a chicken sandwich that wasn’t spicy.

7.5/10

Harvey’s Pizza Burger

I haven’t done any Harvey’s reviews on this blog yet. I don’t really see them coming out with many “new” products (or maybe I haven’t really paid much attention). Their selling point is the fact that you can build your hamburger your way, so it’s hard to imagine what they could have that’s new besides new topping choices. But they managed to do it. They came out with a Pizza Burger.

This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had a pizza burger. Boston Pizza released one a few years ago. The execution is slightly different. Harvey’s uses a regular burger bun, whereas Boston Pizza’s has a pizza pocket style cover. In my opinion, Boston Pizza’s burger was very mediocre, mainly because I’m not a fan of their burgers. Harvey’s, on the other hand, is…well, they’re a bit better. I’ve never been a huge fan, but their Angus burgers are alright.

So I went ahead and order their Pizza Burger with an Angus Patty.

It’s got cheese, pizza sauce, and pepperoni. Your standard pizza toppings. It was incredibly messy. First bite worked out pretty well. But the more I ate, the less I enjoyed it. The outer part of the pepperoni was nice and crisp, but in the middle, it was soft. I tend to like my pepperoni well cooked. The cheese was bland. The sauce was okay, but it didn’t work well with the beef.

They tried, but I’ve still yet to have a really good pizza burger. Now I’m wondering if I could make one myself. That could be a fun experiment to try for a future post. But as far as this burger goes, I’d say pass unless you’re really curious. It’s better than the Boston Pizza version at least, but that’s not saying much.

5.5/10

Taco Bell Steak Doubledilla

I was at Taco Bell on Tuesday and saw a sign for the new Steak Doubledilla. Two times the steak, it said. So I went ahead and…ordered the cheap Tuesday special that I was planning to order. I didn’t want to spend the extra money when the Tuesday deal was still on. But I made a note to come back later in the week and give it a shot.

I stopped in a couple days later to give one a go. I’ve never had steak at Taco Bell before. I just assumed it wouldn’t be very good. But even though I never had the steak quesadilla, I’ve have the chicken variant before, so I’ll compare it to how stuffed that one is.

I got the combo, complete with nachos and Taco Bell’s “Fiesta Salsa”. I noticed something right away with the Doubledilla.

It didn’t look double stuffed, just double in size. Not what I was expecting, but I’m okay with that.

I started with the nachos. I’ve never had Taco Bell nachos before because up here in Canada, they have fries. Honestly, I’m glad we have fries because these nachos are bland as hell. I looked over at the salsa. My tomato experiment hasn’t gone well so far, but I have it so I may as well try it.

Nope. Not a fan either. It was very cold and the nachos were still warm and it felt odd. And I didn’t care much for the flavour. I wonder if I could substitute fries for nachos next time Taco Bell has a combo promotion with nachos. Seriously, I can’t get over how terribly flavourless these are.

Now for the main event. I took a piece and peeked inside.

Looked like the standard amount of filling. Well, it was time to eat it.

I mean, it’s the same as a usual quesadilla. Taco Bell’s steak is a lot better than I thought it would be. My previous experiences with fast food steak have mostly been bad (McDonald’s Steak McWrap was a huge disappointment…). This steak wasn’t tough and had decent seasoning. However, I think the cheese and jalapeno sauce came out more than the steak. The chicken quesadilla is still better in my opinion because the chicken just has more flavour.

I do have one complaint about the Doubledilla. There’s a lot of “empty space” at the ends. That always happens with a quesadilla anyways, but this was excessive. The two end pieces were maybe 40% filled and the rest just empty tortilla. Very disappointing.

It was good, but a regular quesadilla is usually enough for me. It’s only about a dollar more though, so I can’t say it’s entirely a waste of money, especially if you’re very hungry. Those empty bits though…

7/10 (The nachos get a 2/10)

Scaddabush’s Chicken Parmesan

My friend had a birthday dinner last weekend and we decided to go somewhere most of us haven’t gone before. We settled on Scaddabush, an Italian restaurant with few branches here in Toronto. I’m not someone who eats a lot of Italian food, but I figured I could find something there I’d want to try.

So we went to Scaddabush. And waited. And waited…For a good hour. I was hoping it was because the food was good and not because the service was slow. But we were patient and waited for our group to be called.

We finally got our table and I browsed the menu. I saw lots of interesting options, include safe choices like a burger and pizza. The pizza was tempting, but I decided to go with chicken parmesan with butter and herb spaghetti. A safe choice for me.  We also got the fresh Bomba Burrata mozzarella as an appetizer.

I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of the mozzarella unfortunately. It was in a piping hot pan full of bacon and tomatoes and came with olive oil drizzled bread to eat it with. Mozzarella is my favourite cheese and this was pure gooey, melty, cheesy goodness. I’d recommend getting this as a starter if you ever eat here.

Finally, my entrée showed up.

That chicken breast was HUGE, coated with a thin layer of tomato sauce and generous helping of cheese. Plus the side of spaghetti was a full meal in itself. I got my money’s worth here.

I sliced into the chicken and took a piece. The chicken was moist and delicious. The outside wasn’t very crispy, but that’s to be expected with the tomato sauce softening up the crust. Still, it had the right amount of cheese, sauce, and chicken to make this delicious.

The pasta was good too, but wasn’t quite my cup of tea. I hadn’t had butter and herb spaghetti before. This didn’t make me a believer, but it wasn’t something that I couldn’t finish.

…Well, that’s sort of a lie. I was so full, I couldn’t eat it all, but I did take it home to eat it later. It wasn’t quite as good reheated, but then again, what is? Unless you’re really hungry, the “small” portions of the pasta are good enough.

Besides the initial wait time, dinner at Scaddabush was great. I’m still curious about their pizzas, so I’ll be stopping by again sometime in the future. All my other friends liked their meals too, so I would give Scaddabush a solid recommend.

8/10

Tim Horton’s Caramel Brownie Batter Donut

Recently, Tim Hortons came out with a new donut that piqued my interest. It’s the Caramel Brownie Batter Donut. It’s a filled donut, but it doesn’t have Boston Crème or jelly so I might actually like this one. There’s a first time for everything, right? I also wanted to see how a brownie batter donut would compare to Timmies’ regular donuts.

One thing I noticed was that there was chocolate ganache in the filling. I was expecting a caramel filling, but I was just glad it wasn’t Boston Crème. I guess the caramel is referring to the crunchy caramel topping.

The “brownie batter” didn’t taste much different than their regular “cake style” chocolate donuts. The caramel bits were nice and crunchy though. It added some nice contrast to the soft donut. I wasn’t feeling the ganache though. It’s better than most of their donut fillings, but it still wasn’t very good.

Given that this costs a bit more than a usual donut, I’d rather save the extra 50 cents or so and get a double chocolate donut.

6.5/10

Checkers Baconzilla

Last time I was in Miami with my friends, we wanted to check out a burger joint that we don’t have in Canada. We stopped by Checkers. I got chicken strips which were quite good. My friends ended up getting the Baconzilla, a double burger with generous helpings of cheese and bacon. They loved it, but they were knocked out for the rest of the day.

Now I was finally back in Miami years later and the same Checkers was open. My friends didn’t accompany me this time, but I decided this time, I would try a Baconzilla. No ketchup or mayo, because that’s my style.

That cheese was just oozing off that burger. The fries were delicious. A bit dry, but great flavour to them. I was glad I got the combo this time.

Once my fries were done, I bit into the burger. The beef was amazing and the bacon was nice and thick. But there was just too much cheese for me. It wasn’t bad cheese. But as someone who doesn’t eat a lot of cheese, I couldn’t handle it. I could understand why my friends thought it was amazing, but this burger was not for me. I could also see why they passed out last time, because this thing is dense.

My recommendation is that if you love cheese and bacon, give the Baconzilla a shot. For me, the cheese flavour just dominated everything else, which is a shame because the meat was really good. If I’m ever at a Checkers again, I’ll probably order a standard burger. Or maybe chicken. They’ve convinced me they’re at least worth another look.

5/10

Nobel Burger Bar Cheeseburger

It’s vacation time for me, but I thought I could get out a couple quick reviews at least. My first one comes straight from Pearson Airport. Before my flight out, I was feeling a bit peckish, so I decided to grab a bite at the Nobel Burger Bar. And by a bite, I mean only a cheeseburger because I didn’t want to shell out a lot of cash.

I hope you like cheese.

The burger looked decent. Not much dressing on it, which I could appreciate. I know that’s a deal breaker for a lot of people though.

It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t a $14 burger. The cheese to burger to bun ratio was well balanced, but nothing really took it over the edge. I would knock down the price by at least 5 dollars. Probably more. I should’ve just gotten a burger at Wendy’s.

I’m not sure if there are any other locations outside of Pearson Airport, but I would give this place a pass unless you find yourself waiting a long time inside terminal three for a flight.

6/10