Tag: Fast Food

REVIEW: Taco Bell Big Cheez-It Tostada

Holly 12 Comments

NOTE: We also reviewed the Taco Bell Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap

In June 2022, a Taco Bell store in Irvine, California, made news by being a test store for two items centered around a giant Cheez-It cracker. Initially slated for a two-week run, the location sold out in six days due to demand. Now, two years later, Taco Bell is doing a nationwide rollout of the Big Cheez-It in its stores. The Taco Bell Big Cheez-It Tostada starts with the titular cracker as its base and is topped with familiar Taco Bell items: seasoned beef, lettuce, diced tomatoes, shredded cheese, and sour cream. They also offer a Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap Supreme that substitutes the standard tostada with the giant cheese cracker.

The presentation was a lot nicer than I’ve come to expect from my Taco Bell; it looked almost like the ad! I wanted to get a good idea of the size of the thing, so I went to pick it up. This was where one of its fatal flaws showed: it broke as I started to lift the 16x-sized Cheez-It.

No matter; I had a nice piece with all the toppings. Unlike the Doritos Locos taco, there was not a strong cheese smell as I brought it towards my face. My first bite was underwhelming. The standard Taco Bell flavors were there (seasoned meat, crunchy lettuce, wet tomatoes, salty cheese, and creamy sour cream), but the Cheez-It was almost non-existent. There was a slight crisp to the cracker, but sitting in a box with toppings was already causing it to soften.

I scraped the toppings off to try the cracker on its own. By itself, it tasted like a standard Cheez-It but milder. The cheeseiness felt muted, which was odd. I wondered if it lost some of its oomph because of the increase in size. Sort of like a Hass avocado versus a green avocado: Hass are smaller, so the flavor is much more concentrated. Knowing what flavor my taste buds were looking for, I went back to grab the remaining cracker, only for it to (once again) break.

Tasting it again with everything, I still struggled to notice the Cheez-It. I could taste it if I really focused on it, but it was too easily overwhelmed by the other ingredients. As for the texture, any crispiness I had in the first bite (which wasn’t much) was almost non-existent by the end.

The Taco Bell Big Cheez-It Tostada is a fun concept with disappointing execution. While the presentation was surprisingly good, the massive cracker shatters easily and loses its already muted flavor against the familiar, strong Taco Bell ingredients. I still enjoyed the taste, as I love that standard Taco Bell flavor profile, but the novelty of the giant Cheez-It wore off pretty quickly. It’s worth a try to say you tried it, but I doubt I’d get it a second time.

Purchased Price: $3.99
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 tostada) 230 calories, 13 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 570 milligrams of sodium, 18 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 3 grams of sugar, and 10 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Burger King Chicken Philly Royal Crispy Wrap

Karen Leave a comment

After a less-than-stellar experience with the last Philly-themed BK item I tried, I didn’t have very high hopes for the Burger King Chicken Philly Royal Crispy Wrap. However, I tried to keep an open mind, and I’m glad I did because this was pretty good.

When I got the wrap home and removed it from the paper, a bit of the Royal Sauce and veggies had leaked out, but not enough to make a mess. I tasted the veggies outside of the wrap, and my palate was immediately dominated by the fire-roasted red pepper. It’s a really sweet pepper flavor, and it pops nicely in your mouth against the slight tang of BK’s Royal Sauce.

As I dived into the wrap proper, the red pepper kept dominating everything but the chicken. I tried to taste for the onions, but they were also sweet, so they didn’t stand out much. I had the same experience the last time I ate a BK Philly item, where the Royal Sauce and the Swiss Cheese pretty much blurred together into one gloppy entity, mildly pleasant but unremarkable.

It might sound bad that the red pepper was so dominant, but I happen to love sweet peppers, so this was a good choice for me. The textural contrast between the tortilla, the creamy sauce, and the breaded chicken added another dimension to the Philly-themed experience.

This is also a surprisingly filling item. I got the wrap without any fries or a drink, and I figured I would probably need to eat something else at home to complete my lunch, but this wrap filled me up completely. Getting a lunch that leaves you feeling full and satisfied for $2.99 is pretty nice, although I should note that I’m a fairly small person; bigger eaters will probably want to get two of them. C’mon, spend that $6; it’s still not a bad deal.

I don’t really know why Burger King is so hung up on this “Philly” trend, but if it makes me a tasty lunch, I’m a happy camper. This is nothing earth-shaking, but it has a job and does it well. Add two points to the score if you happen to love roasted red peppers beyond all reason.

Purchased Price: $2.99
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 360 calories, 20 grams of fat, 6.1 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 2,000 milligrams of sodium, 29 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 3 grams of sugar, and 15.3 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Panda Express Hot Orange Chicken

Marvo 5 Comments

Did you know Panda Express’ Orange Chicken is spicy?

Take a look at the restaurant’s website; you’ll find a graphic with one pepper next to the Orange Chicken. I’ve always known the pepper image was there, but much like every slip of paper I’ve pulled out from a Panda Express fortune cookie, it’s meaningless. Besides the warmth of them being heated in a giant wok on a gas burner with a hypnotizing flame that calls out my name, I’ve never considered the popular entree as “spicy.” If you’re like me and roll your eyes about its “spiciness,” the fast food chain now offers Hot Orange Chicken and it has a graphic with TWO PEPPERS!!

Panda describes the spicy dish as “Crispy chicken bites wok-tossed in our signature orange sauce with more HEAT.” According to the chain, the original Orange Chicken recipe has one teaspoon of crushed chilies, but what brings the HEAT in this new dish is six scoops of those crushed chilies and a ladle full of dried chilies. Those dried ones are also in Panda’s Kung Pao Chicken, which also has a one-pepper graphic but is significantly spicier than regular Orange Chicken.

The small a la carte order I purchased had only two dried chili pepper pieces. I guess the luck of the ladle wasn’t with me. When I tried it without the dried peppers, it had a “spiciness” that was the same as the original Orange Chicken. So maybe mine was made with less than six teaspoons of crushed chilies? However, when I ate one of the dried chilies with the meat, the heat got kicked up a notch or two, so I guess the two pepper graphic accurately represented the dish’s spiciness. Also, the dried peppers changed the entree’s flavor a little, making it slightly less sweet than the original recipe.

Panda Express’ Hot Orange Chicken is not an improvement or as great as the original, and it’s not as hot as that alluring flame that heats the woks and calls for me to touch it. It can get spicy, but it depends on the luck of the ladle. If it pulls a lot of dried chilies, expect a burn with most bites. But if it ends up being like my order, expect some disappointment if you’re a heathead.

Purchased Price: $5.40
Size: Small container
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (6.92 oz) 590 calories, 7 grams of saturated fat, 53 grams of carbohydrates, and 26 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Burger King Mozzarella Fries

Jenna 3 Comments

I thought I’d seen all the shapes fried mozzarella could come in: cylindrical, square-ish, flat (looking at you, TGI Fridays), wedges, balls, curds… but I can confidently say that Burger King has surprised me with its new Mozzarella Fries.

To be clear, it’s not the “Mozzarella” part that’s new, just the conjunction with the “Fries” part. Burger King has had a more traditionally named and shaped order of mozzarella sticks on its menu before, but like its beloved poultry predecessor, the Chicken Fries, this new creation takes those standard sticks and stretches them into a longer, thinner shape (no potatoes are actually involved) and plops them into a cute and colorful carton for convenient—and showy—snacking.

However, I did have some confusion about whether they were intended to be an appetizer or the main event. I ordered mine from the “Sides” section on the kiosk, which seems pretty self-explanatory, but I was also given the more meal-esque option of 4, 8, or 12 pieces and an offer to actually “Make it a meal?” by adding, well, regular fries. That seemed like a bit of a stretch (no pun intended), so I demurred, but I still ordered the largest size and got something that at least resembled a proper dinner in terms of portion, if not nutritional content.

Anyway, the ideal mozzarella stick for me is one with cheese that’s dense rather than stretchy, with the mozzarella and the breading being such distinct entities that you can nibble the breading off entirely without marring the solid contents within. That, as I guessed just by looking at them, is not the experience provided by the Mozzarella Fries. The cheese and the breading here are quite codependent; when you take a bite of the thick, crisp outside, the hot, runny inside instantly loses its shape, oozing out in an Instagram-worthy cheese pull.

The thinness of these sticks makes them quite brittle, too: a good portion of my order was bent or snapped completely in half, which didn’t really detract from the quality but was interesting to note in comparison to the sturdier, stabler conventional mozzarella stick.

And just like it doesn’t have much of its own shape, the mozzarella doesn’t have much of its own flavor either. The toasty breading, which was fried potently enough to give off a powerful smell and had a small bit of zest from a spice I couldn’t identify but whose presence I appreciated, made up most of the taste experience. Even when I nibbled some of the stretchy cheese on its own, I was hard-pressed to come up with a description for it. It was just mild (and perhaps even, as the kids would say, “mid”).

These come with marinara sauce on the side, which seemed like a sensible way to jazz things up… but don’t be fooled. I was mildly concerned upon opening my packet and seeing a dark, gelatinous mass that looked more like barbecue sauce. I should have heeded that discomfort because the sauce was so acidic it tasted like I was dipping my Mozzarella Fries in straight vinegar.

Overall, though, these still provided a great experience—the novel fry shape and the joyfulness of mozzarella sticks, in general, were fun enough that I was happy to overlook the fact that they’re ever so slightly lackluster. Apologies for being cheesy, but there is “mozz” to like!

Purchased Price: $6.39
Size: 12 pieces
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 730 calories, 36 grams of fat, 2,350 milligrams of sodium, 71 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of sugar, and 29 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Taco Bell Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap Supreme

Marvo 7 Comments

During my 12-minute walk from home after picking up Taco Bell’s Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap Supreme, the only thought that kept crossing my mind was how soggy the colossus Cheez-It cracker would be by the time I got home and had a chance to eat it. Actually, that thought has been in my head since 2022, when the collaboration went viral after the internet learned the product was being tested at one location in California. A giant Cheez-It is cool and all, but does a cracker made from enriched flour have more resilience than a corn chip, which can withstand dips of every kind?

Well, I can now find out and fill the grey matter occupied by that thought with something more useful since the special Crunchwrap is now available for everyone to wrap their hands around and crunch into. The limited time offering features seasoned beef, nacho cheese sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, and a Big Cheez-It Cracker, all wrapped in a grilled flour tortilla. The massive cracker, the standout feature, replaces the tostada shell in the original Crunchwrap Supreme.

How big is “big”? According to Taco Bell’s website, the giant Cheez-It is 16 times larger than a regular Cheez-It. It also claims it’s 16 times cheesier and 16 times crunchier. After trying it, I believe its size claims, but everything else, not so much.

I wondered if I received a regular Crunchwrap because that’s what it tasted like after the first bite. But after unwrapping it, I saw a corner of the cracker peeking out from under a mountain of toppings, so no social media complaining needed. With the next bite, I began to notice the sharp cheesiness of the Cheez-It, but it was too mild for my liking, and there was no crunch associated with it. I expected it to be the headlining act instead of a backup singer. Its flavor is perhaps less noticeable than the corn tostada in the regular Crunchwrap, which, no shade, can also maintain most of its crunchiness after 12-minute walks home. The Cheez-It’s cracker crunch never materialized except for a couple of bites. At closer inspection, most of it seemed pulverized after being exposed to the moisture and heat within the grilled flour tortilla. But again, it had to withstand being in the tortilla wrap for double-digit minutes. If you’re eating it seconds after it is handed to you, the crunch might still be there.

I can’t help but be disappointed with Taco Bell’s Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap Supreme. While the cracker is indeed 16 times larger than a regular Cheez-It, which is impressive, and the cheesy flavor is somewhat present, I couldn’t help but wish for a more pronounced cheesiness and a crunch that comes close to its 16-times claim. Heck, four times would’ve made it better.

Purchased Price: $5.49
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 470 calories, 17 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 20 milligrams of cholesterol, 1210 milligrams of sodium, 63 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of fiber, 6 grams of sugar (including 2 grams of added sugar), and 15 grams of protein.