After years of losing their identity, many chain restaurants sail past mediocre and straight into boderline terrible. Sonic, along with Braum’s (I’ll save my rant on Braum’s for another day) is one of those. It has become one of those chains which I frequently tell myself not to return to. Yet, foolishly lured by a desire for all things new and being bombarded with advertisements, I eventually succomb thinking, “this time will be different”.

This time, Sonic’s siren song was their new Angus Bacon Cheesburger. Their website describes it as:

100% pure Angus Bacon Cheeseburgers just for you. Choose from Hickory, Jalapeño or Classic style topped with all the fresh fixin’s, crispy bacon, American cheese, and served on a soft ciabatta bun.

Upon arriving at the Sonic drive thru, I had to hastily decide between classic or the other two styles. This being a Sonic known for getting orders wrong, I went with the classic since that is what I would have been given had I ordered the jalapeño. However, when I tried placing my order, the girl working the drive thru kept reading it back as a regular bacon cheese burger. Both of us at a loss, she requested that I drive to the window and order there. When I arrived at the window I tried once again to order, “The Angus Bacon Cheeseburger, and that will be all.” The girl looked as if I was speaking another language. Finally, after repeating my order 3 more times, she cocked her head and asked, “a who?”

It was at this moment I realized this girl had probably made the best possible career choice for herself. I made one last attempt, speaking very slowly and pointing to the picture of the burger. Success! After waiting for a few minutes for my burger to be cooked to order (something I actually appreciated) I had my order and was on my way back to the office to chow down. To be fair, although my mind was replaying her asking, “a who?”, over and over, I must say she was very friendly during the whole ordeal.

Now, to the burger. It was assembled with care, still very hot and obviously fresh. The bacon was cooked perfectly and the angus patty was actually pretty good. The bun, which was supposed to be ciabatta, was anything but real ciabatta. It was a very fluffy and light bun that had the outer appearance of a ciabatta like bread, but lacked the firmness and large air bubbles of the real thing. Overall, it was actually a pretty good burger. That said, it was definately not worth the $5 and some change that I paid for it. Had that total included a drink and a side, or if the patty had been more substantial in size, then we would be looking at a great deal. Unless they lower the price before taking this off the menu, its probably okay to skip it and just get the regualr bacon cheeseburger. Your wallet and your full stomach will thank you for doing so.