Tag: Sonic

I’ve been on a slush kick since Free Slurpee Day at 7-Eleven.

It was the first slush-style drink I’d had in what felt like years, and something inside of me reawakened. I made up for that lost time in rapid fashion. Wawa hit me with a surprise free ICEE reward, which I immediately cashed in on. I had a few unearned pina coladas, grabbed a slushie with an otherwise gross McDonald’s dinner, and I’ve gone back to 7-Eleven two times since. Needless to say, I’ve been overdoing it.

In my defense, it’s basically the hottest summer ever, but I do need to nip this in the bud now before it gets out of hand. I don’t wanna get addicted to these sugar bombs, so here I am, vowing to return to a slush-less life… as soon as I try Sonic’s new Tropical Colada Slush.

What you’re looking at here is basically a pina colada sans rum – Sonic’s version of a mocktail.

Pineapple, coconut, and banana are arguably my three favorite fruits, and as far as I’m concerned, three flavors that usually blend together perfectly. Usually.

A pina colada with the added banana flavor sounds incredible, but something here just didn’t jive. The Tropical Colada Slush is good, but I really wanted it to be amazing.

This is very pineapple-forward. It dominates the flavor, especially for the first few sips, which I think gave me a brain freeze in world record timing. The Guinness Book later confirmed my claim, but bluntly stated, “No one cares, bro.”

After a few sips, I started to notice a little banana peeking through, which mellowed the sharper pineapple flavor. The real surprise of this slush was how lowkey the coconut was. I don’t like when coconut is so strong you think you’re drinking suntan lotion, but I needed the flavor ramped up about 60% here.

Ultimately it was refreshing, but the recipe needs a tweak. I love Sonic ice, which is closer to a Slush Puppy than a Slurpee, but with this flavor profile, I think I would have preferred the fluffier 7-Eleven style. This thing is dense.

I’m a bit bummed overall for the lack of coconut, but mostly for how soft the banana flavor was. It’s so rare to get something like this with banana. I almost wish I could’ve tried it without the pineapple entirely. Still, I think this scratched my banana itch —- and yes, that does sound awful. I apologize for writing those words.

I wanted this to be the best slush I’ve ever had. Instead, it was only okay. It hit the spot on another 95-degree day at least.

I’d recommend asking for an extra shot of banana if possible. I noticed you could add a shot of blue coconut syrup, which might also be a good idea to counteract the pineapple. As an added bonus, it’ll probably make the slush a satisfying sky-blue color instead of the nondescript off-white.

I’d say give this a try, but go during happy hour and get it for half price. Just be careful, though, because slush drinks can be very addictive.

Purchased Price: $2.99
Size: Medium
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 270 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 45 milligrams of sodium, 73 grams of carbohydrates, 72 grams of sugar, and 0 grams of protein.

Sonic sells Strawberry Shortcake Snowball Slush Floats now, and I gotta tell you, they’re a mouthful.

Sonic. Sells. Strawberry. Shortcake. Snowball. Slush. Floats.

Yeah, that’s literally a mouthful. Sally should ditch the seashells and lace up some roller skates. I’m sure there’s a Sonic drive-in near her sea town.

How fast can you say that? Because I honestly get a little tripped up at “shortcake,” which will be a running theme of this review.

Sonic sells Strawberry Short—ah!

Yeah, I can’t get past that without slowing down. Brain freeze before the brain freeze, right? Anyway…

The S5F consists of “strawberries and a sweet shortcake flavor all swirled into an icy slush. Topped with a snowball of ice cream and sugary snow crystals.”

The float starts with a huge plop of vanilla ice cream sprinkled with crystalized sugar, which really got the snowball off and rolling. Not sure why simply adding a little generic sugar helped the ice cream, but man, was it good. I mean, it’s ultimately unnecessary and quickly gets swallowed up in the rest of the float, but those first couple of crunchy spoonfuls were awesome.

Once I dug around the ice cream blockade a little, I got into the nitty-gritty of the float, which was the strawberry and shortcake (?) flavored slush.

I don’t know why this threw me off so much, but I don’t understand which flavor was doing what here. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked it, but the shortcake flavor just seemed to exist as its own entity, which I couldn’t pinpoint. I thought I was gonna get a bunch of actual cake at the bottom, but no, an air of cake was just there, emanating.

Sonic’s site simply calls it “shortcake flavor,” with a picture of a generic powdery swirl underneath it. The ice cream isn’t cake flavored, and the cake pieces never came.

Why are there no genuine cake pieces in this thing? They toss stuff like that into floats and shakes all the time. I thought for sure that was gonna be a lock.

Whatever, I’m overthinking it because this genuinely tasted like a strawberry shortcake. The syrupy pieces of real strawberry blended in popped, and that strong unexplainable angel’s food cake flavor powder tasted real to me.

So, I guess this is simply crushed ice, strawberry, cake flavor swirls, and vanilla ice cream. Let’s go with that. Hey, it works. It reminded me a lot of Little Debbie’s Strawberry Shortcake Rolls, which recently got an ice cream spinoff, so I definitely need to try that.

Even without real cake, I’d recommend this. I’d also recommend just dumping it in a bowl and eating it like ice cream if you can. Half the float is too thick for a straw, and I didn’t think mine was layered all that well. You could even toss some actual cake in the bowl, like Sonic should have.

Oh, and a small one is plenty. You’ll be more than satisfied unless you were really hoping for cake pieces. Ok, that’s enough of that.

Sonic sells Strawberry Shortcake Snowball Slush Floats. Got it.

Purchased Price: $2.79
Size: Small
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 280 calories, 9 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 105 milligrams of sodium, 48 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 41 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein.

A BBQ chip is a unique flavor proposition. There’s something underneath the tangy/zesty/spicy/sweet/smoky flavor you get with a normal BBQ sauce or rub. It’s something more buttery, I think, or at least that’s the best way I can describe it. And really, I’m not explaining it well, which, for a guy who gets paid to write about food, is pretty sad. But I feel like I’m trying to describe how a rainbow sounds or a leprechaun smells — it’s just impossible.

But what I’m trying to say is that the BBQ of a BBQ chip doesn’t taste like the same BBQ of a BBQ rib.

To better explain this, I tried to get help from ChatGPT, the internet’s hottest new chatbot, and this is what it said: “I’m sorry, but as an AI language model, I cannot make subjective claims about taste or food preferences. However, I can suggest a possible way to express the idea that BBQ chips and BBQ ribs have different flavors: One possible equation could be: BBQ chips ? BBQ ribs.

The future is now, people!

With all of this in mind, the real question is, can the folks at Sonic replicate the taste of a BBQ chip in tot form?

Well, the first thing they’ve got going for them is that a tot is a kin to chips, what with both coming from the potato. And Sonic’s tots are arguably its best side. The tots in my order — as they often are — were perfectly cooked, with a pillowy, steaming hot inside and a crisp golden exterior. What was interesting and unexpected to me about the BBQ Chip Tot was that this wasn’t a dry seasoning.

Instead, the tots are tossed in a BBQ chip seasoning sauce. (But not a BBQ sauce, get it?) The sauce — which is orange-red in hue — tastes exactly like a BBQ chip, almost to a disturbing degree. It’s delightful, though, and really what we hoped for, right? For the thing to taste like the thing it was trying to taste like? It was a little sweet and a little smoky, with that maybe-buttery undertone that smelled like a freshly cracked bag of whatever your favorite BBQ chip is (and nothing like a leprechaun’s odor, which I think is an earthy-minty smell, Aqua Velva, and the sour BO of a drunk uncle). This tot understood the assignment.

My only complaint is that, unless you get good coverage from the sauce applicator, you’re gonna end up with some dry tots. And my order had a lot. In fact, I felt like only a quarter of my order was adequately covered. If I get back to Sonic before these are gone, I’ll ask them to be more liberal with their sauce gun.

Although we’re still months away from Summer, it’s never seasonally inappropriate to have some BBQ. And if you’re looking for an interesting vehicle with which to imbibe, Sonic’s got you covered.

Purchased Price: $3.39
Size: Medium
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 460 calories, 29 grams of total fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 1130 milligrams of sodium, 47 grams of total carbs, 4 grams of dietary fiber, 4 grams of total sugar, and 3 gram of protein.

If there was a Year in Review that covered the food I ate last year, Sonic would easily get the “Most Visited” award. Interestingly, when I started 2022, I wouldn’t have guessed Sonic would get that top honor. Rekindling my love of its slushies and the ease of ordering through the app has made Sonic my go-to. I also like that the app offers the chance to try new items before they have a menu-wide release. When I opened the app to order a slush in December, a screen popped up advertising the new Steak and Bacon Grilled Cheese.

The sandwich is an interesting offering. Instead of a hamburger patty, the protein is grilled steak mixed with onions. It’s also topped with bacon and cheese and finished with BBQ sauce and mayo between two slices of Texas toast. It was a no-brainer that I’d order it as it reminded me of a similar favorite sandwich no longer offered at my local Sonic that had a beef patty and onion ring.

I was worried the 10-minute drive home would yield a more soggy sandwich, but the Texas toast held up well against the more moist elements of the sandwich (the mayo, BBQ sauce, and steak). Looking under the hood, I was pleasantly surprised to see larger slices of steak. Generally, in my experience, fast food “steak” tends to be small and tough. While there were some little pieces, a majority were larger slices. The grilled onion pieces mixed in got a little lost to me. Overall, the steak was pretty good for a fast food offering. It was tender, smoky, and a nice change from the usual beef patty.

The bacon added a nice salty crunch to the sandwich and worked well with the steak instead of fighting for protein dominance. The BBQ sauce had a sweetness, and the mayo added the rich creaminess I enjoyed. The cheese contributed little, but it also didn’t detract from the sandwich. All the different elements worked well together to deliver a delicious sandwich.

For an impulse buy, it ended up being a great sandwich. More than anything, it was a nice change from the norm. The steak was surprisingly good, and the sandwich held up well on the drive home. It’s a limited time offering that, if it’s still around when I get my next slush fix, I will absolutely order again. Oh, and if you want spicy, Sonic does offer a version that adds jalapenos and zesty cheese sauce.

Purchased Price: $4.99
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 830 calories, 56 grams of fat, 19 grams of saturated fat, 105 milligrams of cholesterol, 2190 milligrams of sodium, 51 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 12 grams of sugar, and 32 grams of protein.

Taco Bell catches a lot of flak for taking the same three ingredients and turning them into any number of new product offerings. And this is a fair criticism, but it isn’t all that different from what most other fast food purveyors do with their LTOs. I mean, unless you’re Arby’s giving me strange and exotic meats, you’re probably just rearranging the stuff you already had in the kitchen.

And if you’re Sonic, one of your go-to schticks is taking your standard bacon cheeseburger and imbuing it with some sort of butter. In October 2019, we reviewed the Garlic Butter Bacon Burger. In March of 2021, we did their Mesquite Butter Bacon Cheeseburger. And now the fast food chain is back at it with the Steak Butter Bacon Cheeseburger. Aside from the key ingredient — “a rich and creamy butter made with steakhouse seasoning” — this thing has two slices of American cheese, bacon, grilled onions, and mayo.

Here’s where this burger excels — it proudly and unashamedly assaults your arteries with each bite and forgoes all unnecessarily healthy pleasantries like “lettuce” and “tomato,” aka The Devil’s Burger Toppings. From the greasy, crispy, salty bacon, to the salty, creamy steakhouse butter, from the salty, creamy mayo, to the melty, salty American cheese, this burger is… well, in a word, salty.

Here’s where this burger fails — did you see how many times I used the word salty in the previous paragraph? And honestly, I may’ve been selling it short. This thing was a salt lick. And this is coming from a guy who has an incredibly unhealthy love for all things sodium. But the butter coupled with the bacon and the beef and the cheese is a lot. To be honest, doing away with one of the cheese slices might’ve been a good move; as it stands, the cheese essentially overwhelms everything else.

Additionally, I’m not sure what makes this butter “steakhouse” butter. All the butter does is melt, and you’re left with a shiny, greasy, delicious meat patty. But I didn’t notice anything distinctly “steakhouse” about it.

So, in the end, this is a fine burger. It’s cheesy and greasy and EXTREMELY salty, but sometimes that’s just what you want. It is not, however, groundbreaking or innovative. So if you’re expecting “steakhouse butter” to be something revelatory, disabuse yourself of that notion. Oh, and by the way — ask for extra napkins. The attire-decorative properties of this thing are pretty groundbreaking.

Purchased Price: $5.89
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 980 calories, 39 grams of fat, 21 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 120 milligrams of cholesterol, 1910 milligrams of sodium, 50 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 9 grams of sugar, and 39 grams of protein.