NealSonic: Accessible, and Alright
July 22nd 2008 04:19
After six years of being bombarded with commercials of a magical fast food burger joint with over one hundred thousand drink combinations and "full menu all-day" feature that allows us bums who sleep late to still get breakfast, Sonic opened on the outskirts of St. Paul in late May. A few blocks from my mother's house, I thought it would be an easy stop on my way back home. Hell, it was a week since they opened, the line shouldn't be too bad, right?
"Finally," I thought, "I get to see what all the damn hoopla is about with this Sonic." Not so. As I drive near, I see that Sonic needed it's own police officer to direct traffic into "Staging Areas," which were parking lots filled with cars waiting for the magical Sonic. I left.
In the following weeks, I heard horror stories of three hour waits and expensive food: "A guy I know got a basic California burger with a tiny fries and a drink and it was nine bucks."
This Sonic is the only in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and Saint Paul), one restaurant for 650,000 people. The six years of advertising in a high population area apparently worked for Sonic, as one hour plus lines in staging areas lasted more than a month. Is this what it's like when a Podunk town gets a McDonalds multiplied by 10,000?
So finally, about 6 weeks after opening, I was driving down Sonic Avenue after a trip to an auto parts store and saw that the staging line for drive-thru was only 2 cars deep. I jumped right in there and waited about ten minutes before I even saw the menu and realized that besides recalling a few years of Sonic "ciabatta" burgers, I didn't really know what they were all about. So, I decided to go simple and get a double cheeseburger with everything, fries, and a cranberry lime-aid. The teen staff was kind of on top of things despite a 17 year old dealing with credit card malfunctions getting in the way of the 16 year old trying to hand me my food. I also witnessed no rollerskating, but I've heard they're there somewhere.
"I've sort of subconsciously waited for six years for this bite." Upon first bite, the burger is pretty basic and pretty tasty. The beef tastes kind of charred, which I like, and the cheese delivers on the saltiness. The fixings aren't rubbery and foul like large chains and the sauces leave no desire for any additions. Good, but not three hours wait good.
The fries were skimped upon and dry. Not even top 5 for fast food joints around town. Tater-tots and onion rings were an offer, but a. I'm not a fan of grade school lunchatorium fare and b. once you've had Porky's onion rings, all others are blasphemous impostors.
The drink was pretty good; a fizzy and tart concoction, but way too sweet. Apparently, there's other drinks I could have gotten but like any situation where you have to make a decision in two minutes, it's likely second thoughts would abound.
So, Sonic is likely here to stay. Is it amazing? Not really, but it's better than most. For anyone who wants a quick, unhealthy treat, Sonic is a good option.
Best Fast Food Burgers (that means a drive through) in the Twin Cities:
Porky's Twinburger
A&W's Papa Buger
Sonic's Double Cheeseburger
Culver's Butter Burger
...and worst:
Burger King's Whopper, Whopper Jr.
McDonalds's cheeseburger, hamburger
Wendy's Minnesota Wild burger
Home of the worst burger on earth: Denny's
"Finally," I thought, "I get to see what all the damn hoopla is about with this Sonic." Not so. As I drive near, I see that Sonic needed it's own police officer to direct traffic into "Staging Areas," which were parking lots filled with cars waiting for the magical Sonic. I left.
This Sonic is the only in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and Saint Paul), one restaurant for 650,000 people. The six years of advertising in a high population area apparently worked for Sonic, as one hour plus lines in staging areas lasted more than a month. Is this what it's like when a Podunk town gets a McDonalds multiplied by 10,000?
So finally, about 6 weeks after opening, I was driving down Sonic Avenue after a trip to an auto parts store and saw that the staging line for drive-thru was only 2 cars deep. I jumped right in there and waited about ten minutes before I even saw the menu and realized that besides recalling a few years of Sonic "ciabatta" burgers, I didn't really know what they were all about. So, I decided to go simple and get a double cheeseburger with everything, fries, and a cranberry lime-aid. The teen staff was kind of on top of things despite a 17 year old dealing with credit card malfunctions getting in the way of the 16 year old trying to hand me my food. I also witnessed no rollerskating, but I've heard they're there somewhere.
The fries were skimped upon and dry. Not even top 5 for fast food joints around town. Tater-tots and onion rings were an offer, but a. I'm not a fan of grade school lunchatorium fare and b. once you've had Porky's onion rings, all others are blasphemous impostors.
The drink was pretty good; a fizzy and tart concoction, but way too sweet. Apparently, there's other drinks I could have gotten but like any situation where you have to make a decision in two minutes, it's likely second thoughts would abound.
So, Sonic is likely here to stay. Is it amazing? Not really, but it's better than most. For anyone who wants a quick, unhealthy treat, Sonic is a good option.
Best Fast Food Burgers (that means a drive through) in the Twin Cities:
Porky's Twinburger
A&W's Papa Buger
Sonic's Double Cheeseburger
Culver's Butter Burger
...and worst:
Burger King's Whopper, Whopper Jr.
McDonalds's cheeseburger, hamburger
Wendy's Minnesota Wild burger
Home of the worst burger on earth: Denny's
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