Do you live in area where most the chain stores actually exist?
I live in Manhattan, so we have pretty much all the east coast chains somewhere.
Sonic is definitely not below MDs. And its not west coast either. There’s one in Troy NY that I hit once in a while.
Their burgers are meh, but their foot longs are great. And their drinks are great.
Tots and onion rings and a gazillion different drinks for sure.
haha, that’s cute. See, when you live in an area that doesn’t have even a quarter of the stores and restaurants that you get commercials for, people tend to get very excited when one shows up. And when they show up here, it might even be the only one for a couple hundred miles, north and south of us.
I’m told we’re not big enough to support a Cheesecake Factory.
Sonic is notable mostly for being a drive-in, which is why there aren’t any in Manhattan. It ranks above McD’s in terms of food quality, buoyed mostly by limeades and tots. The closest analog is probably Whataburger, which is also regional (Texas), so not a great referent.
It is primarily southern, but there are ones as far north as upstate NY. There used to be one not far from the Lincoln tunnel of the Jersey side that we would hit when we went to the Ren faire. Haven’t been there in years though.
There’s actually one in the Twin Cities, so as far north as southern MN. It’s nowhere near my neck of the woods and I don’t drive, so I have only ever been by once.
In and Out? Gross. Bottom of the barrel fast food in L.A. Even Carl’s Junior has better burgers than In and Out, they are about McD level.
Now 5 Guys? That’s a quality take out burger.
Sacrilege. Muskets at dawn, sir. In-n-out is only bad if your local beef is bad, or if you don’t know how to order.
I’ll take Five Guys over In-n-Out any day of the week.
Wait, we’re talking about burgers here, right?
Throw in Dick’s and we have the trifecta of double-entendre burger joints.
Sonic is garbage. You people are weird.
Can I wait at the bar?
Well I mean, yeah, I’d do that. Get a couple beers and an order of their thick-cut bacon to wash them down.
Sonic tots rock.
There are several in Michigan now as well. Flint is the farthest north I am aware of.
I mostly only go there for limeades and milkshakes, both of which are what they are. The only food I’ve tried there is a hot dog, which tasted like … a hot dog. (I’m not a fan of hot dogs).
What always confuses me about Sonic is the whole Drive-In concept. You drive up, and have to press a button on the menu to order, and then they bring it to your car, and you eat it there? Just give me my food and let me take it home.
Yay! Someone who agrees with me on In and Out and Carl’s Junior. I actually like McDonald’s better than In and Out. Carl’s Junior (and Hardees) is the best tasting burger to me. What used to be called the Six Dollar Burger. Man, so good. I know it’s over a thousand calories and really bad for you though, so I try not to have more than one every five years.
Sonic was on the skids in the 80’s and early 90’s. Someone must have bought them to get them where they are today. I like their hamburgers. As far as the parking and ordering goes they stick to it out of tradition and avoiding the cost of sit down. It was more of thing in the 70’s and early 80’s.
Whataburger is a former shade of what I knew growing up. Their leadership needs some new blood.
Unless you’re talking about the fries, you are out of your goddamn mind, man.
All of the ones around here also have the traditional drive-through, if that’s your thing. I think the only time we’ve ever used the drive-in was because we wanted to take our time to peruse the menu instead of holding up a line of cars. We still drove it home after it came to us.
Sam’s Club – the stores they haven’t closed anyway (and isn’t there a certain irony in that?) – has rolled out a no-checkout app.