Carl's Jr. - Bienvenue au Canada - Part 2: Did someone say Crisscut?

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In case you missed it I went to Carl's Jr. on a Tuesday once. It was pretty great.

I went back on the Friday.

Where do I start?

First of all the city is poppin. The city has been poppin.

Pan Am has some negatives but the positives completely outweigh them. I've never seen the city this lively before and it's welcomed. Sucks it's all ending soon but it was a fantastic experience to walk around and see so many people at places like Nathan Phillips and the entertainment zone at Queensquay. Didn't get a chance to check out some games but that's alright!

Who know who's probably proud to be in Toronto?

Carl's Jr.

First a $2 milkshake

Now an entrée.

The Main Menu screens (the middle two) focus on the burgers. To the right of that is the Chicken + Fish menu and to the right of that is the desserts + sides menu. Then off to the side to which I think they didn't care if anyone sees it or not was a small fridge and a sticker that said, "Try our salads!" You'll probably miss it if you go into Carls and that's okay. Their 1/2 and 1/3 burger options won't even make you think of ordering a salad. A more comprehensive dessert menu is at the Milkshake bar. I was SERIOUSLY going into Carl's Jr. thinking burger. burger. char-grilled beef patty. burger. then I saw the Bacon Swiss Crispy Hand Breaded Chicken Tender Sandwich. Yes that's the full name. I go up to the cashier and I look at the menu one more time and I could swear that I changed my order midsentence to the Bacon Swiss.

"Hey, can i get the Sup....Bacon Swiss?"
"So Bacon Swiss?"
*Sigh* "Yes..Bacon Swiss"

I pay for my order and she hands me my cup and this.

My eyes must of been too focused on the menu to realize this when I was lining up but they give out numbers with your order. So if you're either doing take-out or dining in they'll call your number and/or come find you. So you could order your food sit wherever and wait comfortably.


The one thing that really makes me happy is this.

Canada Dry Ginger Ale on tap. Damn. You don't see that often. I don't drink as much pop as I used to anymore but Ginger Ale is still one of my favourites so I doubt I'd give it up. Kudos Carl! The only way you could really top this is if you get a Coke freestyle machine.

After grabbing my Ginger ale and sitting down I look around and take in the setting. People for take-out are standing around on their phones or talking to others while waiting. The people who dined in dug in like they never seen food before. I never saw one disappointed face, good sign that the food isn't bad. Another thing you'll notice are the servers walking around aimlessly with either a bag or tray with food trying to match food to owner. I kind of felt bad for them because they had to hunt down the owner. The awesome thing about it was customers were actually helping the servers match the number with the food. I watched CP24 for a couple of minutes before I heard a woman say,

"19? Over there!"

The server brings my food and here it is after a customer points me out.

The burger was way smaller than I expected it to be. I think the McChicken might be a bit larger but Carl's chicken is thicker and more crispy. I know you see those fries ;) we'll get to those later.

The Bacon Swiss Crispy contains:

• Two Freshly-Prepared Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders
• Two Bacon Strips
• Swiss Cheese
• Tomato
• Lettuce 
• Ranch Dressing

Sounds like a salad in burger form. Tasted like one too. The sandwich itself is messy. They overload the ranch dressing and it really has a strong presence within the sandwich. Another surprise to me is that the lettuce and tomato were tasty, crunchy( the lettuce) and moist - fresh veggies on a burger. In fact I don't ever think going in to eat a burger/chicken burger I think, "I hope the veggies are fresh" but at Carl's they are and refreshing to see shout out to the lettuce not being shredded! I hate that stringy BS. The chicken itself is crispy however near the end the ranch soaks through and makes it softer, the bun gets a little moist as well. Again it's still a great sandwich. The worst part, in my opinion, is the swiss cheese. I wish it was melted over the chicken or the bun. Overtime it doesn't really melt over which is odd because swiss usually melts relatively easy,

Now lets talk about the fries. Crisscut fries.

The picture doesn't do it justice. I'll just cut to the chase. The next time I go to Carl's Jr. I'm getting a poutine with crisscut fries replacing the regular ones. The crispiness combined with the fact that they were piping hot (temperature wise, not spicy) made it  just absolutely delicious. One of my favourite fries I've ever had from a fast food establishment.

Price wise

"It's gonna get messy."

Oh. I should of read the receipt before I ate. It all makes sense now. 

The price is alright. Nothing too extravagant. This is a place you may get excited to get coupons from.  Next time I go if I don't get the poutine for some reason, I'll probably get one of the burgers and maybe the price tag would make a bit more sense.

Overall

I think you should go try Carl's Jr. at least try it once.

Whether it be the burgers, chicken, fish or desserts they know damn well how to make em and make em well.

The service is excellent btw. Great job Queen West!

I look forward to going back sometime.

8.5/10