French Fry Diary 780: BurgerFi Appetizer

BurgerFi is one of those places I have been meaning to go to for quite some time. When I saw one nearby on a business roadtrip with The Bride, I had to stop in, while she did other important stuff.

The first thing that struck me about BurgerFi was the prices.  This place doesn't play, it's expensive, or at least more expensive than other comparable places. Any size single order of fries or onion rings border on around five bucks.  I was startled, only happening upon the place by chance and just wanting a snack.  This was an expensive snack.  I settled for the Cry + Fry, being a combo of fries and rings... at $5.47. 

I had been meaning to go to a BurgerFi for some time since one opened in the Philadelphia Convention Center but that never happened while I lived in New Jersey.  I was happy to find one here in Florida.  It was nice with an open-air patio, Coke Freestyle machines, and a pager to take to your table so they can bring your order out.  They also had Mexican Coke in bottles and Boylan Sodas as well. I thought the latter was a bit odd as it's a Pepsi product.

The Cry + Fry was almost exactly as advertised in the pictures in store and online - three gigantic onion rings atop an order of natural cut fries.  They came out fairly quickly and we're very hot, so probably cooked to order.  All things considered, the portion size was very generous so perhaps I shouldn't have bitched so loudly about price. 

The fries were on par with, if not better than, Five Guys, and yeah, that impressed me too.  They were more than a little addictive as I ate more than I intended without realizing it.  The rings were crunchy and juicy and battered with an orange color.  I was expecting a spicy kick based on the color but it wasn't there. 

Both the fries and rings were very good, thumbs up, I'll have come back when I'm hungry for a burger.  Until then, BurgerFi is highly recommended. 

French Fry Diary 495: AMC Marlton 8

Over on my pop culture blog, Welcome to Hell, I've talked about the new AMC Marlton 8 movie theater and the cool revamp they've done. Besides the wonderful new seating, the food is different too. Much like the hated AMC Loews in Cherry Hill, they have added French fries to their menu.

Along with chicken tenders, hot dogs, mozzarella sticks, pizza and chicken sliders, they now have curly fries. Notably they also have self-serve Icee machines, and two amazing Coca-Cola Freestyle machines, as well as the usual theater fare like popcorn and candy, plus some frozen treats too.

Very similar, as I said, to Loews, these are very crunchy (as in overdone for the most part) natural cut curly fries. The expensive for its size order we got seemed to be more pieces, scraps, and leftovers rather than a new order with big curls and spirals. Unlike Loews, they were hot at least. I was impressed with the big Autofry machine just feet from the counter so you can watch the magic - although honestly there's not much to see.

All in all, not bad but not good either. This may have been a bad night. Everything else about this theater screams quality and customer service, so I'm willing to think this may have been a fluke. That said, Autofry-ed curly fries can only be so good.

French Fry Diary 449: Burger King Seasoned Sweet Potato Curly Fries

I know, insanity, but the very same day I blasted the customer service at a local Burger King, we decided on BK for dinner.

Upon arrival at my local Burger King, Marlton, not the infamous store #9865, my friend Jeff and I found ourselves in a non-moving line of one. The shift manager Tom was handling a very picky customer buying the last of the Cinnabon. The transaction was not the easiest, for either of them. But there was more to it than that.

Apparently we had just missed a verbally abusive exchange in the drive-thru. The customer came to straighten it out, and got in line behind the Cinnabon lady. Tom managed to handle the situation, not without drama, providing a bit of pre-dinner theater before my friend Jeff and I got to order.

We were there to try Burger King's new Seasoned Sweet Potato Curly Fries, and that we did. They were a bit thinner than most curly fries. I wasn't sure if it was because they had been overcooked or if it was something to do with them being made from sweet potatoes. They had lost a bit of their sweetness, and were not very good. I wouldn't get them again.

I also got the new Popcorn Chicken, and was similarly unimpressed. At least they still had the Coke Freestyle machine. I should have gotten a burger, or a chicken sandwich (which this store does have). I have to say, I was disappointed on almost all fronts on this trip, save the floorshow of course.