For today’s review, since neither April or I can/want to have alcohol, we decided to give Burger King's new menu options a try. You’ve probably seen the recent commercials, saying that “Exciting Things” were happening at Burger King. While “exciting” isn’t quite the word I would use, there have been some change-ups to their usual menu, many of which I am quite happy with.
To begin, let’s take a look at some of the new items on the menu. First off, we have chicken strips, not to be confused with chicken tenders. These are moderately-sized strips of chicken, which you can purchase in either a group of 3 or a group of 5. Another new menu option are the Ranch Crunchy Chicken Wraps, a crunchy strip of chicken wrapped along with cheese, lettuce, and ranch dressing in a flour tortilla. Also new to Burger King are the Strawberry Banana Fruit Smoothies. Wait a minute…
Is any of this sounding familiar to anyone else out there?
I plan on doing this review solely on the food itself, but it was kind of strange walking into Burger King and seeing a bunch of menu items taken pretty much straight from McDonalds. The BK that we went to was also recently remodeled, replacing their old back-lit overhead menus with the LCD screens that many other restaurants have started to use. Unfortunately, our nearby McDonalds was remodeled about a year before, and have had the new menu displays for just as long. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the new menu items or the new look of the menus themselves, but due to the timing it just seems like BK is resorting to copycatting to remain relevant. Some of my friends have joked that this is just BK struggling to get back into the Number 2 spot after being ousted by Wendy’s, but I’m guessing changes like these would have had to have been planned long before that news came out. Time will tell whether these changes help BK reclaim their former position.
Now, back to the review--
Due to the similarities between McD’s and BK, April and I decided to each get something similar to what we would normally eat at McDonalds. Her meal consisted of a BK Mushroom and Cheese Topper (analogous partially to the new-ish Angus and Mushroom sandwiches at McD) with onion rings, while I ordered a 3 piece Chicken Sele—I mean, Chicken Strips meal with fries. For what she thought of her meal, as always, you can visit her section.
Starting out with the fries, I would have to say that they are definitely an improvement of BK’s previous fries. Now slightly thicker, you still get the crunch from the outer fry, but it is now accompanied by actual potato inside the fries! I’m not sure if it’s just me, but whenever I had their fries before, the crunch was there but the fries were so thin it seemed like that was all there was. Another thing that I had noticed with the fries, as well as an onion ring that I had tried, was that there was a lot less salt than I’m used to from fast food fries. They actually reminded me of what Wendy’s was doing with their fries, albeit not “naturally cut”, with a lot less salt. I’d have to say that out of the Big Three Fast Food places, BK has now taken the prize of the Best Fries. Hopefully this just wasn’t a better than usual batch.
Moving on to the Chicken Strips. I had tried the Chicken Selects a few times in the past, and have never been happy with them. The McDonalds Chicken Selects always seemed really stringy to me, with gristle in each strip somewhere. Besides that, I always felt that they were overpriced for the amount that you were given. I’m happy to say that the BK Chicken Strips had neither of these problems. The Strips were actually served warm and (most shockingly to me) juicy. The price for what I got was also very reasonable. Still a bit more than if I had gotten Chicken Tenders, but the quality of the Strips made up for the cost difference.
Heading out, April and I each picked up a Vanilla Milkshake. I would have tried a smoothie, but having never tried one from McDonalds, I would have had nothing to compare it to. The milkshakes are spun with what I believe to be a mix of Vanilla ice cream and milk. Nothing shocking, I know, but when it comes to fast food, this could have definitely been something pre-made. We were actually able to see them mixing our shakes, though. Again, out of all three competitors, BK has won me over. The Vanilla Milkshake tasted great, and had a perfect thickness to it. You could still drink it with a straw, but it wasn’t watered down either.
Do I think that BK’s new menu will help them knock Wendy’s back into third place? Definitely. I would go as far to say that if it weren’t for McDonalds overwhelmingly strong popularity and cultural significance, Burger King could have a shot at reaching number 1. In my opinion, BK is now beating McDonalds in taste, and Wendy’s in cost. I love going to Wendy’s sometimes, but the prices there are way too high for me. I’m not sure what BK’s prices were before the menu change, but taking a look at them now, it seems like they are lower all around than other fast food restaurants.
To conclude, I love Burger King's new menu, and feel that they can give McDonalds and Wendy’s a run for their money. There’s still a part of me, however, that kind of wishes they could have done it without coming so close to copying McDonalds.
To begin, let’s take a look at some of the new items on the menu. First off, we have chicken strips, not to be confused with chicken tenders. These are moderately-sized strips of chicken, which you can purchase in either a group of 3 or a group of 5. Another new menu option are the Ranch Crunchy Chicken Wraps, a crunchy strip of chicken wrapped along with cheese, lettuce, and ranch dressing in a flour tortilla. Also new to Burger King are the Strawberry Banana Fruit Smoothies. Wait a minute…
Is any of this sounding familiar to anyone else out there?
I plan on doing this review solely on the food itself, but it was kind of strange walking into Burger King and seeing a bunch of menu items taken pretty much straight from McDonalds. The BK that we went to was also recently remodeled, replacing their old back-lit overhead menus with the LCD screens that many other restaurants have started to use. Unfortunately, our nearby McDonalds was remodeled about a year before, and have had the new menu displays for just as long. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the new menu items or the new look of the menus themselves, but due to the timing it just seems like BK is resorting to copycatting to remain relevant. Some of my friends have joked that this is just BK struggling to get back into the Number 2 spot after being ousted by Wendy’s, but I’m guessing changes like these would have had to have been planned long before that news came out. Time will tell whether these changes help BK reclaim their former position.
Now, back to the review--
Due to the similarities between McD’s and BK, April and I decided to each get something similar to what we would normally eat at McDonalds. Her meal consisted of a BK Mushroom and Cheese Topper (analogous partially to the new-ish Angus and Mushroom sandwiches at McD) with onion rings, while I ordered a 3 piece Chicken Sele—I mean, Chicken Strips meal with fries. For what she thought of her meal, as always, you can visit her section.
Starting out with the fries, I would have to say that they are definitely an improvement of BK’s previous fries. Now slightly thicker, you still get the crunch from the outer fry, but it is now accompanied by actual potato inside the fries! I’m not sure if it’s just me, but whenever I had their fries before, the crunch was there but the fries were so thin it seemed like that was all there was. Another thing that I had noticed with the fries, as well as an onion ring that I had tried, was that there was a lot less salt than I’m used to from fast food fries. They actually reminded me of what Wendy’s was doing with their fries, albeit not “naturally cut”, with a lot less salt. I’d have to say that out of the Big Three Fast Food places, BK has now taken the prize of the Best Fries. Hopefully this just wasn’t a better than usual batch.
Moving on to the Chicken Strips. I had tried the Chicken Selects a few times in the past, and have never been happy with them. The McDonalds Chicken Selects always seemed really stringy to me, with gristle in each strip somewhere. Besides that, I always felt that they were overpriced for the amount that you were given. I’m happy to say that the BK Chicken Strips had neither of these problems. The Strips were actually served warm and (most shockingly to me) juicy. The price for what I got was also very reasonable. Still a bit more than if I had gotten Chicken Tenders, but the quality of the Strips made up for the cost difference.
Heading out, April and I each picked up a Vanilla Milkshake. I would have tried a smoothie, but having never tried one from McDonalds, I would have had nothing to compare it to. The milkshakes are spun with what I believe to be a mix of Vanilla ice cream and milk. Nothing shocking, I know, but when it comes to fast food, this could have definitely been something pre-made. We were actually able to see them mixing our shakes, though. Again, out of all three competitors, BK has won me over. The Vanilla Milkshake tasted great, and had a perfect thickness to it. You could still drink it with a straw, but it wasn’t watered down either.
Do I think that BK’s new menu will help them knock Wendy’s back into third place? Definitely. I would go as far to say that if it weren’t for McDonalds overwhelmingly strong popularity and cultural significance, Burger King could have a shot at reaching number 1. In my opinion, BK is now beating McDonalds in taste, and Wendy’s in cost. I love going to Wendy’s sometimes, but the prices there are way too high for me. I’m not sure what BK’s prices were before the menu change, but taking a look at them now, it seems like they are lower all around than other fast food restaurants.
To conclude, I love Burger King's new menu, and feel that they can give McDonalds and Wendy’s a run for their money. There’s still a part of me, however, that kind of wishes they could have done it without coming so close to copying McDonalds.
RSS Feed