Review: White Castle's Waffle Sandwiches

Growing up one of my favorite restaurants to visit was White Castle.  At the time there wasn't one very close to us; but there was one between our house and my paternal grandparents house and we knew that if we had to go over there that Mom would make Dad stop by there on the way home which always made it worth while.  Eventually one opened up perhaps 15-20 minutes from home and I made a lot of trips there during my teenage years.  They've even been immortalized in a movie (Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle).  There's something about those little burgers that is just oh so good, especially late at night - keep in mind that when I was growing up almost nothing was open 24 hours other than gas stations, convenience stores, and places like Denny's - definitely no fast food restaurants.  They were always clean, the service was fast and accurate, and the food was cheap.

Now that I'm a middle aged woman, the food is still good but the prices have gone so far up that it's not nearly as cost effective as it used to be.  Service has also suffered as their menu has expanded.  Frankly, I think if they were to cut the menu in half or maybe back to a third of the size it is now; lower the prices a bit, they'd be more successful, but that's simply my opinion.  What I'm really here to do is to review their new Waffle Sandwiches.

They have three of them:

• Bacon, Egg, and Cheese
• Sausage, Egg, and Cheese
• Chicken (includes a "bacon gravy")

The first two are only served during breakfast hours and the last one is served all day.  Each of them comes on a "waffle bun" for lack of a better term.  

The other day M and J had an errand to run and they swung by there to pick some up for us to try.  I personally had the Chicken one and the Sausage/Egg/Cheese one; J had the Chicken one, and M had one of the Chicken and one Bacon/Egg/Cheese.  Now our local White Castle is a touch over two miles from here so it's only a couple of minutes to get home and they got the food and came straight home.

Lets start off with the Chicken sandwich.  It was hot and fresh which is really the best thing I can say about it.  The chicken patty itself was fine, it looked and tasted like the same one that's used on their chicken breast slider.  The gravy definitely had that "just came out of a can" taste.  Definitely not as good as say Hardee's gravy if we're talking fast food.  The "waffle bun" - well it was a touch soggy almost; not crisp at all which is an important characteristic of a waffle in my opinion.  If the waffle had been a bit crisp I think it would've done wonders for the overall sandwich.  I also think I'd eschew the gravy and put some syrup on it instead - the best chicken and waffles I've had have always had either syrup or at least a maple flavored gravy.  

The Sausage, Egg, and Cheese sandwich wasn't much better.  There was nothing wrong with the sausage/egg/cheese, but the waffle was again not crispy at all which doomed the sandwich for me.  M had similar comments about her bacon/egg/cheese - although she ordered hers without the egg - I don't think it would've made a difference.  J and M were both indifferent about their chicken sandwiches just like I was.

Frankly for $2.50 each (well 2/$5), I was sorely disappointed.  I would've rather have had a chicken breast sandwich from there; or a sausage/egg/cheese biscuit from McDonald's, Hardee's, etc.  Additionally for the price, both sandwiches were on the smallish side.  For the price of the two I had I could have had half a dozen White Castles and been far happier.  As I said above, I think White Castle needs to stop trying to be everything for everybody and get back to their roots.  I know it's a competitive landscape for everybody, especially fast food restaurants; but they've drifted so far away from what they used to be, well it's just not a good thing.

All in all, a real disappointment and definitely not something I'll ever order again.  Although since their advertised as a "limited time offer", I may not have to worry about it.  :)

- M