I've changed my mind on this place.
Yesterday, I posted a review, and knocked them to two stars. I'll explain why in a moment. I went back a second time tonight with the wife, and I'll give them a star back. They are officially OK in my book. So I am editing this to a completely different review.
They're still not great. If you compare the experience to a place like Nifty Fifty's, it's probably not a fair comparison but Nifty's will win every time. If you compare them to Charlie's, Zac's, or the Last Stand, again maybe not fair since it's a chain vs local, but Sonic might win on a couple of points while the local places just taste better to me.
If you start comparing Sonic to McDonalds or Burger King, Sonic definitely has unique qualities that will draw you to them.
I've been to three other Sonics in my life before this one opened. I always enjoyed the experience from a service standpoint, but I never thought the food lived up to the experience. But I hadn't really tried a lot of the menu in those three experiences. I usually just got single burgers, chicken fingers, and tots. As much as I love the tater tots option, the rest of the food was edible if not ordinary.
Yesterday, when it officially opened to the public, I gave them a try for breakfast. I went for a Breakfast Toaster sandwich, and a grilled cheese simply because I also wanted to taste that. I found the breakfast sandwich to be a little disappointing as the egg was processed and the bread was chewy. I also found the grilled cheese disappointing, and chewy again. Grilled cheese isn't supposed to be chewy. It's supposed to be gooey with a little crunch to the bread. I left yesterday a bit disappointed, and hence the two stars.
Well, curiosity brought me back. Well, that and the wife wanted to check it out. So back we went for a Sunday night dinner run. Despite the long lines, we actually manged to get in fairly smoothly with some wait and get a carhop location. The owner was outside greeting us while we were in line and apologizing for the long waits which was a nice touch. He also gave us menu recommendations. Seems like a nice guy who is a local guy, and it makes you want to root for the place more.
So tonight, it was a couple of burgers. I went for a SuperSonic Bacon Cheeseburger, which is a double, and the wife went for a single cheeseburger with the works and jalapenos. Decided I needed to at least taste a small chili cheese tots, and the wife got onion rings. We did split a chocolate shake, and the limeade that everyone seems to love, though we went for strawberry on the owner's recommendation over cherry.
My burger was definitely better than past Sonic burgers I've had. I think they need to be doubles to be any good to me. But, I still think that McDonalds and Wendy's do better burgers. Sonic might beat BK though. My wife thinks Sonic is better than McD's. So we have a split decision there. No, they won't beat places like Charlie's or Zac's anytime soon. But I'm willing to give them points now.
I was told by a friend who used to work at a Sonic in Texas years ago that they hand dip their onion rings in the ice cream mix along with the batter to give them sweetness. Well, I don't know if they still do that. But I'll say the onion rings do have a touch of sweetness to them. Pretty good overall, but the wife thought they could have used salt.
The chili cheese tots... well now, Sonic has officially hooked me on something. These could be a dangerous obsession. I may have to go back on my diet and only eat these once or twice a year. Let's just say that I tasted them first, and polished them off before I even touched my burger. These are what won Sonic the third star and got them to OK status.
The shake was decent. Better than McDonalds, nowhere near as good as Nifty Fifty's. In fact, I'd put the Sonic shake maybe a notch below Mister Softee (which I have always loved due to the rich chocolate taste they seem to have). But, it's good enough. The shakes are probably better if you go for a creative flavor, and the half price deal after 8pm is solid.
I liked the limeade, but I probably should have gone with cherry. Nothing wrong with the strawberry, but according to others who swear by the cherry, I feel like I missed out. Next time perhaps.
So Sonic officially gets the OK tag in my book. Carhop service was excellent despite a very busy night. We shall see if this continues once the initial excitement dies down.