Monday, February 18, 2013

Wendy's Hamburgers (Review)

Their slogan, above, is misleading.
Today the government is closed and there wasn't much for me to do besides exercise, so I did, and combined it with a few stops (mailing a cap to a friend of WoFat's and mine in Australia, etc.). On my way home the only place to get warm food was a Wendy's. I haven't been there for a long time despite the fact that it's the closest fast food to my home. I live in a very nice suburban Southern California neighborhood. 

There isn't much of a lunch crowd at this Wendy's. There were people at two other tables and that was it. From where I sat, I could see intermittent drive-through action. The place was clean. With so few people visiting, it shouldn't be difficult to maintain. I went to the restroom to wash my hands and there wasn't a paper towel dispenser. The hand dryer didn't work. I went into the only toilet stall. It was clean but there was no toilet paper, so I dried my hands on the toilet lid protectors. No place to drop it, so I flushed it.

I ordered the #1 Combo. The food was over priced compared to other similar fast food places in the area. No re-fills on drinks. That was very surprising since McDonald's sells their large drink for $1.00 with unlimited refills. I don't go to McDonald's often but other than the fact that Wendy's was quiet (empty), McDonalds gets higher marks.

I ordered the basic hamburger. The meat was cooked properly but if eaten outside of the bun, it would not be edible because of the salt. Condiments - gooey. It did come with lettuce and thin slices of tomato and onion. No problems there.

French fries were cold and limp. I ate two or three and ended up throwing the rest away. 

I asked to speak to the manager. No manager on site. I was encouraged to come back later. 

"When is later?"

"Mañana."

In Mexico, mañana might mean tomorrow, several days, weeks, or even years. There is no definite time period associated with that word except a vague notion of 'the future'.

I asked them to define when.

A huddle/conference among essentially non-English speakers attempting to decide what to tell me. I moved to Spanish. They appreciated my moderate Spanish language skills. "Porque no tiene Jeffe?" 

They were forthcoming: The manager was home with sick children. "Julio" was in charge.

Recommendation: LET THE BUYER BEWARE

Will I return?

Not unless senility in the dim and distant future dulls the experience.

10 comments:

Opus #6 said...

The children are not sick, it is their day off school. Anyway, it would be a sick child, not children, so the lie is easily detected.

Wendy's is advertised heavily on Spanish TV in my area.

Az said...

We don't have a Wendy's here LL... there's McD's everywhere, KFC, Subway, Cinnabon and Burger King coming soon...but no Wendy's. I don't know if this is a good or bad thing :P

WoFat said...

Wendy's used to be the best hamburger chain - about 15 or so years ago. Not very good anymore, The change, I surmise, came about wen Mr. Wendy sold the franchise for major bucks, sometime before he died.

Euripides said...

It's sad, because when Dave was around, Wendy's was one of the few fast food places that I could stand the food. I haven't gone to one since Dave died....

LL said...

Opus #6 - The crew seemed to be genuinely pleased to have Julio in charge instead of the regular boss.

Azra - You aren't missing anything by not having Wendy's in Johannesburg.

WoFat - I think that Wendy's started out with a good idea but it devolved, as you suggest.

Euripides - I hadn't gone for a long time until this time and it was unfortunate because I kept wishing that I'd simply gone home and made peanut butter toast and a glass of cold milk.

Anonymous said...

Now, now...the apple pecan salad is great and you can't beat the chili poured over a side salad. Cheap, low cal and tasty!

LL said...

Anonymous - Let me get this straight: Chili poured over apple pecan salad.

Because I suspect that I know who Anonymous is, I suspect that this person is serious about the recommendation.

It sounds like something that a pregnant woman would crave.

Anonymous said...

Haha. No those are two different items! Definitely NOT preggo!

LL said...

You should mix the chili and the salad all the same and let me know if it's as 'good' as it sounds ;^)

darlin said...

Once upon a time, a long long time ago, I could get a decent burger at Wendy's; not anymore. Dave must have made enough money for Wendy not to really give a damn what people eat these days. Just sayin'.

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