By Mike Thayer
I'm traveling around the Wichita Metro, sampling the burger offerings from any joint that has burgers on the menu, local, regional, national chain, it doesn't matter. In order to determine a true champion of burgers in the metro, I'll have to sample them all in the name of "burger science" (cough). For the burger criteria, click here.
It looked much better than it tasted
Tonight for dinner I sampled the burger offering from Applebee's - their Classic Bacon Cheeseburger. Applebee's concept is sit-down casual dining with a menu that features salads, chicken, steak, pasta dishes, burgers and their famous "riblets." I've had a fair number of meals at Applebee's restaurants over the years, usually taking advantage of whatever special their running but it's been hit and miss, the meal could be decent, it could be rather forgettable.
Tonight I had a very forgettable burger. Here's the description of the burger from the Applebee's website: Go old school with our handcrafted all-beef patty topped with two slices of American Cheese and two strips of Applewood-smoked bacon.
leathery bacon & not distributed evenly across the burger for bacon in every bite. Tough bun.
Handcrafted? Not very well. While the burger had a nice flat top crust on it, it was under seasoned and quite bland as if there was no seasoning applied at all in preparation. The bacon was overcooked and tough, as in almost jerky tough, kind of leathery in fact, rather than a pleasant, crispy bite. The veggies were unremarkable and lackluster. And that bun... The initial visual was fine and there was a light toast to the inner portion, but half of the top bun was like a hard shell, like it had sat under a heat lamp a bit long, that half was tough and chewy like the bacon. Probably the best part of the burger was the melted cheese, but I honestly couldn't tell you if that was one slice, or two. To sum, the execution sucked in making this burger. The addition of condiments was necessary to make the burger palatable.
Side Note: The onion rings were decent, got a nice crunch from the breading with sweet onion interior in each bite. But only 5 rings? Seriously?
Decent crust on the patty, but it had no flavor, I don't think it was seasoned at all
Costing me $15.02 for the burger and onion rings, the Applebee's Classic Bacon Cheeseburger scored 44 out of a possible 63 points, earning 3 out of 5 Bachelor on the Cheap stars. Looking much better than it tasted, it is NOT Bachelor on the Cheap wallet friendly and is NOT worthy of a repeat buy. Chalk up another "miss" meal for Applebee's. It was a first and last burger at Applebee's for me, if not a last meal period.
This Applebee's visited on this occasion is located at 3025 N Rock Rd, Wichita, KS 67226. The hello at the door was obligatory, the service at the bar was adequate. Like I said, a rather forgettable burger dining experience.
Related: Applebee's 25 cent boneless wings is worth a visit
Related: Food Review: Applebee's Original Cheetos Boneless Wings
$pend Wisely My Friends...