Tag: Jack in the Box

Jack in the Box’s Crispy Chicken Wings are back! Thank goodness. I was afraid they were discontinued because they disappeared off the menu so quickly that I didn’t even get to eat them again after enjoying them earlier this year. This time, along with the Classic, Buffalo, and Garlic Parmesan varieties, there’s a new sauce — Honey Garlic Sriracha.

I’m a little surprised that these weren’t hot honey flavored because that seems to be the hottest flavor at the moment. But it’s spicy and has honey, so I guess it’s close enough.

If you missed Jack’s Crispy Chicken Wings the first time, you missed one of the year’s surprisingly great fast food products, at least to me. Yes, Jack in the Box is a burger place, but for some magical reason, it does chicken wings surprisingly well. The exterior has a pleasant crispiness even when sauced, and the meat inside is actually juicy. However, I wish the wings were coated better in their sauces, even with this Honey Garlic Sriracha order.

There’s a bit of a Panda Express vibe going on with the sauce, although it isn’t as gloopy as anything from the popular wok chain. It’s not as hot as actual sriracha because the honey and garlic distract my taste buds from the heat. The sauce overall tastes ever so slightly watered down, which is the best way I can describe it. The sweet, garlicky, and peppery flavors are there but don’t pop. As for the heat, it starts off very mild, but it does build up a little while eating more. However, I didn’t need a Witch Please Shake or water to cool down my mouth.

Jack in the Box’s Honey Garlic Sriracha Crispy Chicken Wings are good, but I feel the others are better tasting. If I went to someone’s house to watch a football game (someone, please invite me over) and these were being offered, I would gladly eat them. But if I’m staring at the Jack in the Box menu all by myself and want chicken wings, if they’re still around, I’d probably pick any of the other varieties.

Purchased Price: $8.99*
Size: 6-piece order
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 500 calories. Other nutritional numbers aren’t available on the Jack in the Box website.

*Because I live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, things are a bit pricier here. You’ll probably pay less than I did.

Jack in the Box’s Monster Taco has been a monster success for the chain. Actually, I don’t know this because I’m not privy to the company’s internal numbers, but it’s been around for several years, so I assume it’s a popular item. For the Halloween season, the chain has pulled out from a sarcophagus the Mummy Wrapped Monster Taco.

It’s a Monster Taco topped with the usual American cheese, shredded lettuce, and taco sauce that’s “mummy wrapped’ in a cheese sauce and bacon-stuffed warm flour tortilla.

If you’re reading this review, you’re probably familiar with the taste of Jack in the Box’s tacos, so I’m not going to mention much about it. While I enjoy them, this version is disappointing.

Adding the flour tortilla, cheese sauce, and bacon bits adds a noticeable amount of heft to the Monster Taco, making it a bit more monstrous. However, the cheese sauce and its warmth are trapped under the flour tortilla, making the taco’s center even soggier than a regular Monster Taco. Thankfully, that’s kind of okay because the tortilla prevents any leakage from happening.

However, I don’t know if mine was made with more cheese sauce than the kitchen instructions say, but I felt there was too much of it in my order, and it made things overwhelmingly cheesy. While that sounds nice for fondue, a cheeseburger, or Wisconsin, it’s not in this case because it also makes the menu item too salty. Yes, water is wet, and fast food is salty, but this was particularly so sodium-heavy that my taste buds started to wonder if they should tap out after getting halfway through. I eventually had to convince myself to finish the last three bites.

Besides the overwhelming cheesiness and saltiness, there is also an underlying smokiness from the bacon and the usual mild kick of pepperiness and heat from taco sauce and the seasoned meat. But I wonder if those pork bits also contribute to this being too salty.

While a clever idea, Jack in the Box’s Mummy Wrapped Monster Taco is a monster disappointment. I don’t plan on ordering it again, and I think it should be placed back in its sarcophagus and buried in the tomb of fast food ideas. Or it should have less cheese sauce.

Purchased Price: $3.00
Rating: 4 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 580 calories. No other nutritional numbers are available on the Jack in the Box website.

I’m not sure how familiar the general public is with the purple yam called ube. Sure, Trader Joe’s has rolled out several ube-flavored products over the past few years, but for the most part I feel it’s still a little known flavor.

However, on this rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it’s a common option with pastries and desserts. Even our local 7-Eleven locations had an ube-flavored Slurpee. I guess you could say it’s ubequitous here. I apologize.

If you’re unfamiliar with it, it’s sweet and a bit coconut-like. And it has found its way into Jack in the Box’s latest dessert, the Witch Please Shake. It’s an Oreo shake mixed with ube flavors and topped with more Oreo pieces and whipped topping. The ube gives it a pleasant lavender color, but it’s not dark enough to bring witches to my mind. It replaces the Basic Witch Shake that showed up on Jack’s menu board the past two fall seasons. That was a pumpkin spice shake with Oreo pieces.

The sweet coconutty taste is boldly there with every sip, but it’s the only flavor I taste. While I can see and feel the Oreo pieces floating in the ice cream, they only offer texture as I don’t taste their slightly bitter chocolate, even when I come across a decent-sized cookie chunk. This lack of cookie was also the case with the Basic Witch Shake. Although a little chocolate would’ve been nice, not noticing the cookie pieces is not a completely bad thing because it allows the ube to stand out, and that flavor is so delightful.

Jack in the Box’s Witch Please Shake is a delicious follow-up to the Basic Witch Shake. For those who have never tried ube, it’ll be a tasty introduction to the purple yam. For those who are familiar, I recommend sipping on this seasonal shake while you can because it’s witch-ed good. Ubetcha.

Purchased Price: $6.29*
Size: Regular
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 770 calories. Other nutrition number aren’t available on the Jack in the Box website.

*Because I live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, things are a bit pricier here. You’ll probably pay less than I did.

To help promote the movie Deadpool & Wolverine, Jack in the Box has a shot out of its kitchens the new Mini Chimi Bang Bangs. What’s the deal with Deadpool and chimichangas? Well, I could go off on a plagiarized tangent about the subject, but I’d like to keep this review as mini as these chimis.

An order features three crispy mini chimichangas filled with seasoned shredded chicken, corn, black beans, herbs, and Southwest flavors. It also comes with Jack’s taco sauce packets. (I got six! Jackpot! Your results may vary.) Also, because this is Jack in the Box, there’s, of course, a loaded version, which comes topped with two types of cheddar cheese, lettuce, and taco sauce. (No sauce packet ripping.)

Okay, let’s break down “crispy mini chimichangas.”

These were crispy, well, at certain places. The wrap’s flaps that stuck out were fried to a pleasant golden brown crispiness. But for the most part, the exterior was like a soft tortilla, which was disappointing because the areas where they were crispy had a flavor that reminded me of fried wontons. (Waiting for a Jack in the Box employee to tell me that my order was made wrong.)

Next, let’s focus on the “mini.” They are so small and thin that the only way to get the seasoned shredded chicken, corn, black beans, herbs, and southwest flavors into your mouth simultaneously is to stick a whole mini chimi into your mouth. But that’s possible because they are small enough to do so with some chimi ghiminastics.

Finally, let’s get into the chimichanga. For the most part, the filling mostly feels like a thick soup. Taking occasional peeks into them, I found a whole black bean and part of a corn kernel. But, while I could taste the poultry, there weren’t any textures that felt like shredded chicken. The overall interior texture reminded me of something I’ve had from the freezer aisle at the supermarket, and they tasted as good as what you could get from the supermarket. With most bites, I could notice the southwest flavors and the chicken, but that wasn’t enough to impress my taste buds, even with taco sauce. Maybe I should’ve gotten the loaded version?

Jack in the Box’s Mini Chimi Bang Bangs are a mediocre fast food side, and I’m glad an order came with only three of them.

Purchased Price: $3.50*
Size: 3 pieces
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 170 calories. No other nutritional information is available on the Jack in the Box website.

*Because I live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, things are a bit pricier here. You’ll probably pay less than I did.

I wish an order of Jack in the Box’s Chicken & Waffle Sticks was even-stevens. An order has three waffle sticks but two chicken strips. It was a little annoying because it caused me to do some food math so that both ran out simultaneously. But I’ll get back to that experience in a moment. I’m a little disappointed this wasn’t called Chicken Strips & Waffle Sticks because the rhyming might’ve made me turn a blind eye to the chicken-to-waffle ratio.

Like Eggo in the toaster at a high browning setting, the waffle sticks were crispy. With fast food, you’d think something that crispy might be dry inside, but fortunately, their interior had a pleasant fluffiness. I wish I could say there’s something special about their flavor, but they taste like waffles. But with the included syrup and butter spread, they make everything taste good enough that I could see myself ordering just the waffle sticks if I want a sweet breakfast treat.

The chicken strips were surprisingly better than what I remembered with the chain’s Jack Wraps. The ones I received were meaty, had a crispy exterior, and the poultry inside was surprisingly juicy when I squeezed them. But its flavor was unimpressive without a sauce. Fortunately, the pancake syrup gave them a nice sweetness that complemented their savoriness, and I could see myself asking for a container of syrup instead of the usual savory sauces if I order only the chicken strips.

(Oddly, my order also came with a ranch sauce cup. I’m not sure that’s supposed to be included, but I thought about dipping the waffles in it for a second to create chicken and wAWFULes.)

A rational person would’ve drizzled the syrup over everything, but I’m not rational, and I didn’t have any caffeine in my bloodstream at the time of consumption, so it didn’t come to mind that I should do that. Instead, I double-fisted my order with chicken in one hand and a waffle in the other, alternating the syrup dipping and chomping to get the chicken and waffle experience since the syrup container wasn’t large enough that I could dunk both at the same time. Since the waffles and chicken with syrup taste great individually, it shouldn’t be surprising that they create a tasty sweet and savory combo when combined.

However, with all that said, I’m hesitant to recommend this because paying seven dollars for three waffle sticks and two chicken strips seems a bit much. Even if I paid the $6.49 it costs in other states, I’m unsure I’d repurchase it, even if Jack in the Box changed the name to Chicken Strips & Waffle Sticks.

Purchased Price: $6.99*
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 590 calories. Other nutritional information isn’t available on Jack in the Box’s website.

*Because I live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, things are a bit pricier here. You’ll probably pay less than I did.