Arby's

Pigskin · April 20, 2025, 08:02:18 AM

Decided to stop at Arby's on Sterling Lion today. Really not a great experience. The seating is very tight, and the booth are very small. The place is also very dirty. No one cleaning tables, and the garbage over flowing.

The chicken sandwich is terrible. A couple of chicken fingers on a bun. The bun was soft, but the chicken was over cooked.

The Classic Roast Beef Sandwich was okay. The bun was fresh and the roast beef was good, but they didn't have any BQ sauce.

The famous Curly Fries. Well there wasn't very many of them that were curly. A bunch of U shaped fries.

theaardvark · April 20, 2025, 07:34:40 PM

Went a few weeks ago, no line up at the drive thru so I thought ***, giver a shot.

Worst decision this year. Handful of cars in the lineup, took over half an hour to get to the window. Got there, and they had no idea what my order was. So I placed it again. There were a lot (5-7) staff mulling around the window, 3 different people "waited" on me, sat AT the window 10 more minutes to get a beef and cheddar, curly fries and drink (no shakes, even though they are on the menu boards).

Looks like they were waiting for curly fries, my sandwich sat on the counter most of the 10 minutes, and I had to ask 3 times for them to give me my drink as I waited. Once the fries were up, it took another couple minutes for them to take fries to the counter before filling my order.

I've worked in many fast food environments, and had I been working in there I literally would have strangled someone. Nothing but confusion, no leadership, no structure, and after all was said and done, it was an expensive m'eh experience food wise.

I guess the old saying stands, you can still make a good business waiting on every different person once. Until I hear they have new staff and that the experience is better, they got my one sale.

TecnoGenius · May 05, 2025, 09:59:50 AM

Thanks for the heads up. I'm one of those rare Arby's fans: it's a childhood thing. Ya, it's toxic waste, but I like the taste profiles. Haven't been to the new place yet, though I drove past late last week and it looked dead.

I'll go soon enough. (Wife hates it, so I have to sneak it in somehow.)

As for the poor service, that is basically the new normal at many, many fast-food and fast-casual places. It's rare to find competent service anywhere, and how the management just sits there and thinks "this is fine!" is beyond me. It's like owners just hire whoever and then sit at home thinking "I won't go out of business!".

Like Popeyes 4 pc combo almost always gets you 3 darks & one white for over a year now. Even though right on the receipt it says "1/2 dark, 1/2 white". I argue this with the staff every visit and they literally have no idea what I'm talking about. They don't understand what is "dark". It's shocking.

P.S. Arby's doesn't (usually!) have BBQ sauce: they have the "arby's sauce", the "horsey sauce" and the toxic waste yet strangely delicious sweet red stuff they put on the beef & cheddar.

Pigskin · May 05, 2025, 07:56:27 PM

Well, now they have BBQ sauce and a couple of different choices.

TecnoGenius · May 10, 2025, 02:00:29 AM

Quote from: Pigskin on May 05, 2025, 07:56:27 PMWell, now they have BBQ sauce and a couple of different choices.

Wow. Well, about time. They didn't have it for the 25 years I went there before they closed the last Polo Park location. Guess they updated their menu since leaving town like 7 years ago.

Maybe they want to overcome the Simpsons stigma.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oInoO0Kfak

blue_gold_84 · May 13, 2025, 01:26:19 PM

Was Arby's ever good?

theaardvark · May 13, 2025, 03:48:10 PM

Quote from: blue_gold_84 on May 13, 2025, 01:26:19 PMWas Arby's ever good?

Arby's, in my opinion, was a guilty pleasure for many. I still remember a co-worker back in Toronto who has a very regimented marriage. His wife set a schedule for everything, and I mean everything. There were 2 nights we could not convince him to come "out with the boys for a couple of beers" after a tough day at work. One was, well, you know. The other was Curly Fry night. He looked forward to that night second only to, well, you know.

Soft bun, chemical cheese, roast beef sliced so thin it has to be tender and some horsey sauce (and a few extra packets for my secret additive for creamy coleslaw). And curly fries. Couple times a year, and that's far more than enough. But I bet that a lot of people have the same memory of that. Something to offset the burger, KFC, chinese food and pizza, which used to be the sum total your options for fast food.

Now, with everything from sushi, to pho, to pansit, to shawarma, to you name it, variety is not a reason anymore.

Pigskin · May 13, 2025, 07:48:05 PM

Well, today I found myself in Brandon. Decided I had to make a stop at Swiss Chalet. Had a 1/4 chicken dinner and my wife had the rib dinner. So good, really miss Swiss Chalet in Winnipeg. Even took two 1/4 chicken dinners to go.

theaardvark · May 14, 2025, 01:33:04 AM

Quote from: Pigskin on May 13, 2025, 07:48:05 PMWell, today I found myself in Brandon. Decided I had to make a stop at Swiss Chalet. Had a 1/4 chicken dinner and my wife had the rib dinner. So good, really miss Swiss Chalet in Winnipeg. Even took two 1/4 chicken dinners to go.

Not sure if they still do it, but I remember getting the Swiss Chaslet "Family Meal" which was 4 1/4's, and if you took dark meat, they'd give you 6 1/4 darks... when I would visit my Mom in Thunder Bay, I'd make sure to get that deal, have a meal with her and put 4 in the freezer for later.

Pigskin · May 15, 2025, 09:37:14 PM

Heading to Johnny G's before the game tonight. Hard to believe Johnny G's has been around since 1987. I remember his first location on Osborne. It was always a great after hours spot. Don't get there as much anymore, but the food is still very good.