We hadn't been here in a while, mainly because,...well,...its Denny's. But in January 2020, they were "giving away" a free Beyond Burger with the purchase of a drink. Since, I can't bring myself to actually purchase a Fox News,...I mean fake,...burger, we thought we'd try a free one. But that's corporate restaurant marketing; they know you're not just going to order the free item. Here's the good & not-so-good from our recent visit:
The Good/OK
1. The Beyond Burgers (which by themselves cost $7.69) actually "look" pretty good. The burger itself gives you the appearance of being quite thick (see pic).
2. The side order of fries we had for $1.99 were good. Nice & crispy; just wish there were more of them.
3. The Oreo Shake was pretty good. On par with other places in terms of cost at $3.99. But alas, no cherry.
4. The star of the meal was the Crispy Brussel Sprouts (see pic). A little pricey ($5.49), but they were well-cooked, and I don't know what Asian-inspired sauce they put on them, but that made the dish. I'd order these again.
The Not-so-good
1. Part of the hostess counter is at a lower level; I'm assuming to accommodate those in wheelchairs (?). When we entered the restaurant, the hostess was sitting on the counter, on her phone with her back to the door. Not cool.
2. There were three of us in our party. The hostess sat us in a booth with two placemats/silverware settings. Didn't bring us an extra placemat/silverware. The waitress took our order; didn't bring an extra placemat/silverware. The waitress served our food; still no third placemat/silverware. So after the food was served, I got up and went over to the next table (which still had dirty dishes on it), and pilfered the remaining unused placemat/silverware.
3. If you order a sandwich and it comes with fries, and the waitress/waiter asks if you want seasoned fries, make sure you ask if there is an extra charge. Apparently there is, because we were charged an extra $0.49 cents for "seasoning." Surprise!
4. Soda was $2.19; lemonade was almost $3, and a specialty coffee drink was $3. Didn't get any refills; then again, we weren't asked.
5. As for the Beyond Burger (sidetrack - beyond what?), I'll try anything once. This,...was my once. As mentioned, it looks good. But to me, it was salty. I didn't know why,...until I looked it up on Denny's Nutritional Guide on their website. The reason why it's salty? There's 860 g of sodium in the "burger" patty alone!!! How in the %$#@ is this "healthy" for you??? With all the other sandwich components, and doing some rough math from their Nutritional Guide, this burger and all the fixins has around 1,380 g of sodium. Every time someone order's this sandwich, they should play Billy Squire's "The Stroke" over the speaker system.
6. As for the consistency of the Beyond Burger, it was rubbery to me. If you're vegan/vegetarian, this might be a good "conscience cleansing" alternative, but it's not something I would order again, and definitely not something I'd pay for. (Sidebar - BTW,...if you're vegan, don't expect the cooking of this "burger" to not touch other meat products being cooked on the grill. In fact, I think it says as much on the menu. So much for "burger segregation.")
7. The cheese on the burger was just a slice of cheese. Couldn't tell you if it was real or processed. But you think they could have melted it just a little instead of just throwing a slice on it.
If we would have paid for the Beyond Burgers, our bill would have been over $60. For three people. At Denny's. [Sigh.] You can get so much more from local non-chain restaurants, but we (including us) all get sucked into this corporate marketing rabbit hole (if you are standing in Denny's parking lot wondering where else to go, just look for other restaurants on Google maps).
Bottom-line. Would I go back to Denny's? Probably not, unless I had a BOGO coupon or was somehow getting a free meal. Would I ever order another Beyond Burger? Sure,....once I reach infinity and,...well,...you know. read more