King of the Burgers! (Burger King)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Burger King
Date:	07/04/09 (92 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Flavoursome 'real' food, better quality that McDonalds meals

Disadvantages: Very, very high in calories and fat

Last Thursday I helped my younger daughter and son-in-law to move house and the diet definitely went out of the window after I had a KFC for lunch and a Burger King for dinner, I know my Weight Watchers leader will never believe me when I get weighed tomorrow but these were really the only option for food as both meal times fell as we were passing service stations! I am not a fan of these types of restaurant so I took plenty of notice of my surroundings knowing this was likely the only chance I would ever get to review these two places!

I've only had Burger King twice in my life quite simply because there has never been one accessible from where I live or work and the only thing I recognised on the menu was the Whoppers, which I knew I didn't want as from past experience I know they are too stodgy.

Eventually I decided on a Smoked Bacon and Cheddar Angus burger meal, which came with a packet of chips and a drink. Straight away I saw that this food looked vastly superior to Burger King's nearest rivals, McDonalds. Whereas in McDonalds you get a very flat burger with barely visible salad, my Angus burger was tall and I could see that the salad stood at least as tall as the meat patty itself. It was all 'real' salad too; slices of fresh tomato, rings of onion and a handful of crisp lettuce adorned my burger and thinking back to a recent McDonalds I had to smile to myself at the difference between this and the horrible grated onion and gherkin they place on their food as garnish!

The taste is surely the most important thing and Burger King win hands down again. The burger tastes like real beef and the flame grilling method of cooking adds a wonderful smokiness to the food and makes it taste almost barbequed. I found the burger to be a little greasier than those in McDonalds but this is an advantage really as it makes the burger much more moist, which again helps it to taste like real meat. The salad was as fresh as it looked and the bun was wonderfully soft, unlike the tough and unappetising burger buns in McDonalds. There was a rasher of crispy smoked bacon and a slice of cheese on my burger which topped off the flavour perfectly and made it feel like so much more than just a burger.

The chips are nicer too, thicker than McDonalds fries they are crisp with a delicious fluffy inside. They are well seasoned, a little salty perhaps but again this is better than the barely salted McDonalds fries which are so soggy that I don't feel they are anything like fries. After eating my meal I was completely full up but didn't feel sluggish as I sometimes do after fast food, my appetite remained satisfied for hours after which surprised me as after a recent McDonalds I was shocked that I felt hungry again after an hour or two.

My daughter and son in law both had Double Whoppers with Cheese meals AND a portion of onion rings each. The Double Whoppers are huge and I know that I would never manage one in a million years, there are two large burgers on each over-sized bun and I felt quite queasy watching them chomp their way through it all!

We had our meal in a Burger King which was inside a motorway service station but the overall experience was the same as a stand alone restaurant. The tables were all clean and well maintained, members of staff were busy collecting wrappers and wiping tables for the duration of our visit. I thought the staff members were all extremely well turned out and very polite, again the complete opposite to my recent experience in McDonalds. The food was piping hot and obviously fresh, I pinched one of my daughter's onion rings and they were deliciously hot and crisp which surprised me as even in restaurants I find onion rings often arrive cold and soggy.

Being as we ate in a service station the meals were somewhat more expensive than if you went into a Burger King restaurant, my Angus meal cost £6.12 which I believe is around £1 dearer than usual. This is according to my son in law anyway who practically lives in Burger King so if this information is incorrect I shall give you his telephone number and you can take it out on him!

I must admit I was more impressed than I thought I was going to be with my meal in Burger King. I apologise for the continual comparison to McDonalds but really it is the only way to get across to you just how superior this restaurant is to other fast food venues, it's marginally more expensive but then the quality of the food, the service and surroundings are so much better that I would rather pay the extra few pounds and eat here.

Out of interest I've just looked up the nutritional content of my meal online, and it doesn't make for happy reading. Overall my meal contained 1039 calories and an amazing 55g of fat! I thank the Lord I don't live nearer to a Burger King and dread to think how many calories were in my daughter's Double Whopper!

Summary: A much tastier and substantial meal than any of McDonalds offerings.