Fast Food Rankings: Roy Rogers

3/9 brought the second day of Big East Tournament games. After getting to the Madison Square Garden area early, this blog set out to find some food. Pun City had sighted a Roy Rogers the day before, and set out to eat there (having never been to any of the chain's locations before).

What's this mean? Fast Food Rankings are Back!

Roy Rogers is a fast food chain based in Frederick, MD. Their first restaurant opened in 1968. This blog really doesn't know too much about them. A brief Google search shows that at least some locations do have drive thrus, so they meet Pun City criteria. One caveat is that Pun City has only been to one Roy Rogers. This particular Roy Rogers is combined with a Nathan's Hot Dogs, and is run by Riese Restaurants. This particular Roy Rogers was terrible.

Pros: Tough one here. One recalls there was plenty of seating available in the upstairs section. Seating is hard to come by in the Madison Square Garden area, so that was a bonus. Being in a location that offers other food options (in this case Nathan's) is good too. Pepsi products on tap was unusual, but a nice change of pace.

Cons: First, there was only one guy working at the Roy Rogers. This is surmountable in and of itself. Pun City ordered the Double Cheeseburger combo. The guy said, "Just move down to the register, they'll get you a drink." Pun City moved down to the register. No employee there. One minute passed by. No sign of another employee. Not even any noise eminating from the back of the restaurant to indicate there might be another employee. Pun City went back to the initial fry cook guy and was about to ask about his co-worker's absence, when the guy noticed this blog and said "No one there? I'll get him....MAX! CUSTOMER!" (muffled sound from back room). Fry cook, now turning to Pun City: "He'll be right there." Another minute or two passed by, no sign of Max. At this point, Pun City was seriously considering reaching around the machine and getting the soda for itself, but there was still the matter of paying for the food. Another minute passed and finally a Nathan's employee came around their counter and walked over to the Roy Rogers counter, getting the drink and taking this blog's payment. The cashier asked Pun City if it got the cheeseburger combo. Pun City said, "the double cheeseburger combo." At this point, the cashier charged this blog for the Double Bacon Cheeseburger. This wasn't noticed until later, but this blog figured it didn't have another half hour to kill to save 50 cents. Pun City believes the overall service falls under the category "horrible service."

Pun City moved upstairs to eat. They were in the middle of some remodeling or something, and there were giant tarps over one upstairs wall. The place has a huge open space without any tables, but there was plenty of seating available. Two police officers were upstairs, no one else was up there. Generally the place looked unkempt, but Pun City didn't really mind that much, and sat next to the tarp since that was the best spot for a backed chair. Nothing really too notable as far as atmosphere.

The double cheeseburger was terrible. The meat was too thick to really be palateable, and it was low quality meat as well. The fries were way too doughy, and too many had been punctured, which resulted in being saturated with grease to the point of inedibility. The bun wasn't even particularly good, although it was probably the best part of the meal. Well, except for the long-awaited Pepsi, of which there were no free refills.

Prices were very high, Pun City thinks it was around $7.00 for the combo. Granted, this was in New York City, so that's not as bad as in other markets, but this blog can only go on what it knows. Lack of free refills also a major strike against Roy Rogers, although other locations might not have this issue. Not particularly convenient to get to, unless you're in downtown New York or on the east coast.

Cripes, even their website stinks. Using the restaurant locator generally will freeze up their site.

Burger-Only Ranking: 2 out of 10 Fryers. This is being pretty generous. It is a lot of meat, so theoretically you get a lot of sustenance. The cheese and bun combo were alright, that might have carried the ranking above the minimum.

Overall Ranking: 1 out of 10 Fryers. Bad. Bad service, bad food, bad atmosphere, bad refill policy, bad cleanliness. Reasonably good location?

Pun City didn't give Roy Rogers a lifetime ban, because the employees seemed more apathetic than intentionally trying to mess with this blog, but Pun City definitely isn't going to be rushing back. Hopefully their other locations are better.

Want to see how Roy Rogers stacks up against the competition? Check out these other fast-food reviews courtesy of Pun City:

Bullets
Burger King
Culver's
Dairy Queen
In-N-Out Burger
Jack In The Box
McDonald's
Rally's
Sonic Drive-In
Wendy's
White Castle

Pun City's gotta get A&W in there too. Once this Big East trip wraps up, Pun City will post that.

Fast Food: Rank Something Different

Dairy Queen is a fast-food chain based in Minneapolis, MN. Their first store opened in Joliet, IL in 1940. While primarily known for their ice cream treats, DQ fits the necessary qualifications for review in this blog: 1. Chain restaurant. 2. Drive-thru. 3. Serve cheeseburgers. 4. Don't have to call ahead to get a reasonably fast meal.

Pros: A fantastic place for ice cream. Pun City will often trek there just for a Blizzard, which is good stuff. Ice cream cakes are pretty decent also, pretty good soda selection, offering Wild Cherry Pepsi, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Mountain Dew Code Red, and Mug Root Beer, among others. (This blog seems to recall Pibb Xtra being available at some locations, in addition to Cherry Coke). Lots of locations near this blog, very convenient in that respect. The chicken finger basket is a classic, the Texas Toast included isn't very expensive for them, but extremely tasty with the butter they put on it. Very filling also, the chicken and fries really make for a big meal. Offering chili dogs is a good move, they've checked that one off the list. Service has been very good all around in this blog's experience. In summer, DQs are usually ice cold, which is nice. French fries are very good, usually include a good amount of salt. With over 5700 locations, Dairy Queen is usually convenient.

Cons: Very underwhelming cheeseburgers. The meat, while a generous portion, is a lower grade than this blog prefers. This is a disappointment for a place that sells the combo of burgers and ice cream, usually you can't go wrong with that combo. Lots of extra condiments that you have to let them know to remove, not used to special orders for that and the service will suffer when you make these requests. Some DQ locations have limited menus, while in Atlantic City, this blog encountered one of these that only served BBQ beef and chili for their "hot eats." Perhaps because of the amount of sugar and dairy served, Pun City has found most DQ locations to be very sticky. It also seems like workers have a hard time keeping up with all of the customer's spills. In the winter, DQs are usually ice cold, which is uncomfortable.

Burger-Only Ranking: 4 out of 10 Fryers. Buns are good, less standard condiments, better meat, and this would move up a lot. Also, less emphasis on crazy fireburgers and crap like that, just hone in on a good regular burger. It doesn't even have to be great, just solid and people will go to DQ over better burger purveyors just because they can have some good ice cream for dessert at Dairy Queen.

Overall Ranking: 6 out of 10 Fryers. Given the reasonably-priced, quality ice cream, in addition to the chicken and chili dog options, the lack of a good burger is somewhat forgiveable. Room for improvement on cleanliness, pricing could be a little better in general, consistently offering 3 dark non-diet sodas would also add some value. It's rare when a Dairy Queen ever has a cool "theme" inside, it'd be nice to see some character in these. Also, using styrofoam would be a good way to help keep food at optimal temperatures without freezing all of the customers.

Want to see how Dairy Queen stacks up against the competition? Check out these other Fast-Food Reviews courtesy of Pun City:

Bullets
Burger King
Culver's
In-N-Out Burger
Jack In The Box
McDonald's
Rally's
Sonic Drive-In
Wendy's
White Castle

A LAX Effort

Alright, this blog is copping out a little tonight due to a long late tennis match and an upcoming trip. Did someone say upcoming trip? Whoa, wouldn't everyone like to know the proposed itinerary of said trip? Yes? Awesome!

Thursday - Flying to Los Angeles via Memphis. Because Memphis is on the way to LA from Milwaukee, right? Anyway, getting into LA around 5:00 and driving to Friend #1's place. Hopefully some In-N-Out or Jack In The Box that night.

Friday - For most of the day, need to entertain Pun City's self. This blog ideally would like to get to Loyola Marymount, USC, UCLA, and Cal State-Northridge. The impetus is on this blog to finish as many schools as possible by around 5:00 since Pun City and friends are going to the Angels-Twins game that night at 7:00 and would like to get there early to check out Angels Stadium.

Saturday - Pun City starts the day with Friend #1, but Friend #1 then has a wedding that afternoon/evening to get to. It would be cool to get to UC-Irvine and Cal State-Fullerton at some point on Saturday. For the afternoon/evening, the plan is to get to Friend #2's place and then head to Dave & Buster's. This blog's never been, but it sounds pretty fun. Staying the night at Friend #2's.

Sunday - Open day. Could go to San Diego, also maybe Malibu, or just chill in LA and get to a mall or something. Any schools this blog hasn't cleaned up already would be a nice addition here. Or if this blog is in San Diego or Malibu, getting to the University of San Diego, San Diego State, and Pepperdine would be cool. Long Beach State would be a nice spot to visit at some point, although...

Monday - Getting to the home of the Dirtbags would be a good pickup here. Not flying out until 12:15, so this blog doesn't think it'd be too much to ask, especially considering Long Beach isn't ridiculously far from LAX. Flying through Minneapolis this time, a little closer to a direct flight as compared to the Milwaukee-Memphis-LA flight.

That's all this blog's got for now, gotta get some rest before another big showdown/throwdown tomorrow night.

Pun City In Bullets-Time

Bullets is a fast food chain that was founded in 1991 in Richmond, VA. The chain now has restaurants in 7 states primarily in the Southeastern United States. Their claim to fame would seem to be 100% Black Angus beef in all of their burgers. While on vacation this year, Pun City had the chance to visit Bullets between basketball games. This is its story.

Pros: First off, clearly, the name is really cool. This blog would definitely visit a place called "Bullets" over a place called "Wizards," regardless of any nicknames this blog might have. The restaurant offers chili dogs and chicken fingers, which is a nice option to have. This blog was unfortunately unable to sample those offerings, but this blog doesn't figure you can screw those up too badly. Soda options were alright, Pepsi and Dr. Pepper were the non-diet dark sodas, they also had Mug Root Beer available. The burgers were alright, this blog didn't see what the big deal was with the Black Angus beef, but it certainly wasn't bad. Any condiment was available on the burger, which is a nice option. Used to special orders so it wasn't a hassle to specify exact condiments. Service was pretty quick, place was definitely not crowded so it was easy to get through there. Being a walk-up and drive-thru location meant that not too many people could crowd the place, so it is naturally not crowded and bothersome customers aren't likely to be around long if there at all.

Cons: Burgers aren't really that great. This blog expected a lot more from a place that touts its beef as highly as Bullets does. Beyond this, standard burgers come with tons of condiments. This blog had to ask for quite a few condiments to take out before completing its order. Automatic spicy curly fries with no option of regular fries is a major bummer. Given that they weren't even very good curly fries, this was especially disconcerting. Realistically, could have easily added another dark soda, like a Cherry Pepsi, although what they have is pretty close. Due to drive-in setup, does not lend itself well to getting free refills. This blog is unsure whether they'd give the free refill or not if you stayed long. Service was not particularly friendly, as a newcomer this blog felt like it was putting a major strain on them to ask for less condiments based on their reactions. Obviously locations are not convenient for most Americans, so this is an issue. This blog realizes it's a pretty new chain in the grand scheme of things, but because of this they don't have many locations anywhere much less in widespread regions. Not the greatest value in history.

Overall Ranking: 4.5 out of 10 Fryers. Major points lost for location issues so far. It's only 16 years old, so there's definitely a good chance the location factor gets resolved in the next few years, but the grade's going to reflect current status. Automatic (and subpar) curly fries is inexcuseable. Marching out a really weak regular fry would have even helped. Soda could use some work but altogether not bad. Burgers theoretically would be the highlight of the place, but underwhelmed. Viable options of chili dogs and chicken tenders give menu flexibility. Drive-in style works well in its region, would need to have more sit-down restaurants if they expanded northward.

Burger-Only Ranking: 4.5 Fryers. Too many condiments, overhyped beef. This blog thinks it's possible it visited a bad location for the meat, but given the limited number of locations and the fact this one was in the same city as headquarters, it's hard to imagine this was anything different than you could normally expect. Burger size was nothing to write home about, though cost implied that it should be. This chain is not likely to radically expand nationally because it's just not good enough to justify franchising costs. Hopefully they fix their menu and succeed, it's always good to see a new fast food place in the neighborhood.

Want to see how Bullets stacks up against the competition? Check out these other Fast-Food Reviews courtesy of Pun City:

Burger King
Culver's
In-N-Out Burger
Jack In The Box
McDonald's
Rally's
Sonic Drive-In
Wendy's
White Castle