Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Don't Get Too Excited, Milwaukee

Like any guy attending a university, I found myself watching a lot of television instead of working harder towards getting my degree (a degree which has proved to be pointless, I might add). Throughout all this television watching, I saw a lot of commercials for the popular Sonic Drive-In restaurants. But since these were nowhere to be found in Wisconsin, me and my college roommates were often left to wonder just how good these burgers really were.

The above picture was taken about one year after I finally did graduate, when me (fattie on the left) and another buddy visited our friend in Lawrence, Kansas. We decided that this would not only be a great time to finally eat at a Sonic, but also a great time to take a picture and send it to another former roommate of ours who was unable to make the trip, and thus miss out on Sonic.

My happiness in the picture would be short lived, however, as I quickly realized that this food just wasn't as good as we had initially thought. Now granted, I didn't try the breakfast food or any of the famous desserts, but if you're looking for a good burger and fries meal, drive past Sonic every time.

Sadly, however, few of you in the Milwaukee area will take my advice. Now that the restaurant has opened a store on Miller Park Way in Milwaukee, many of you are going to be flocking to get a taste over the next couple of days. And if you miss out, don't worry - Sonic plans to open at least 20 stores in the Milwaukee area, and another 10 throughout the state.

But I won't blame you if you don't take my recommendation that their food just isn't very good. I know what it's like when a new restaurant opens in your hometown. Here in the blue-collar town that is Fond du Lac, we were recently welcoming to the opening of a Taco John's. That puts the grand total of Taco John's in this town up to one, which caused a lot of excitement for us (even though we ran a Taco John's out of town about ten years ago, but apparently it's good now).

When the store opened last Wednesday, the drive-thru was backed up all the way down to the busiest intersection in town, which is a good two to three blocks away from the new restaurant. Now, it's not really a comparison, because Taco John's is way better than Sonic, but it always fascinates me how a city - no matter the size - just seems to shut down whenever a new fast food restaurant opens.

So get your Sonic if you must, Milwaukee, I won't blame you for doing so. But don't go in with high expectations, because they will be as much of a letdown as my college degree has turned out to be.

(It's safe to assume this would have been "Winks Thinks: Sonic Edition", had I not taken the week off. Seriously though, Sonic sucks.)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dude, sonic is so terrible. About 10 years ago i went to one in Ohio....

Needless to say, I will never go back. Unless I'm drunk, because if im drunk and hungry, ill pretty much eat anything.

Kyle Lobner said...

The Sonics in Des Moines, where I live, have been a pretty epic failure...as recently as a year ago there were four of them in the Des Moines metro, now just one survives.

I had breakfast at one Sunday morning in Eau Claire, just because nothing else was immediately available, and it was nothing special.

Chris said...

Man, I guess you weren't the person who told me they liked Sonic. Sorry if my text woke you up.

Anonymous said...

They also opened a Sonic in Madtown on the westside of town. I haven't gone yet, but will go soon and probably be dissapointed.

Anonymous said...

I have to disagree. Sonic is pretty good for a fast food place. Please tell me a better fast food burger. If you say McDonalds you are just proving your stupidity. I will listen to arguments that In-n-Out and Whataburger are better, but let's be honest fast food is fast food. Granted Sonic burgers are nothing to get excited about, they are cheap, quick, and you can get a burger at 7 am. Their ice cream is also alright. Either way I feel Sonic is the best fast food burger chain in the midwest. To limit arguments I did not consider Culver's as fast food.

Anonymous said...

Culvers is definitely fast food. The only argument against it being fastfood is that old people love eating at them for some reason. I've never been to Sonic so I have no opinion on that. If Hardees are still around I remember them serving up some good Angus burgers but they were kinda expensive for fast food. I'll always love McDonalds. I dont care if its terrible for you, it tastes great and is cheap.

Anonymous said...

good point anonymous. I agree with on Culvers. I just feel it is a little expensive for fast food, but I guess it is fast food. It might seem expensive to me since I always get a large concrete.

Unknown said...

Nice Lakeland College Shirt...Douche

ruffian96 said...

Gotta disagree with you too. I'm a native Badger but lived down south for 10 years where Sonic is pretty big. To be fair you are correct about the burgers, I've had better. But people who frequent Sonic don't usually do so for the burgers, more for the desserts like you mentioned, wide assortment of fruity drinks (Oceanwater is the bomb), and carnival style food like chili dogs, grilled cheeses, and chicken strips.

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