Fast Food Review: Wendy's Bistro Cheddar Cheeseburger

I was on my way down to Home Depot with my better half - spring cleaning time - and contemplating what to do for lunch. As usual, she wanted carnitas. And we were going to go for that, but we got a late start on the day, and Wendy's was right on the way to Home Depot. Some spicy nuggets sounded good to both of us.

But when we got there I noticed a sign for a new product about which I had heard nothing: a "Bistro Cheddar Cheeseburger." I knew nothing about it; I only knew I had to order it. I'm suspicious when a fast food chain invokes a term like "bistro" or "gourmet"... the one thing we know for sure about a Wendy's cheeseburger is that it is not going to taste like something in a bistro. But still, I gave it a shot.

I've always preferred Wendy's chicken to their burgers, but I was still taken aback when I unwrapped this burger: the meat was a floppy, gray patty barely able to hold together. Loosely-packed ground prime meat cooked on a grill is one of life's great pleasures, but I was guessing this wasn't prime beef. And the bacon, which I've always found to at least be edible at Wendy's, did not look good. (True, it looked much better than the bacon you get at most fast food places, but that ain't saying much.)

And when I took a bite, it was, unfortunately, very bland. The one nice flavor about the sandwich was the cheddar: there were two slices of it and it was bursting with flavor. But the meat and bacon were not very good and the "bistro sauce" was an insipid mayo. I could not tell what flavor it was supposed to be. I even swabbed a fry through it to isolate the flavors and hopefully pick them up, but I could not. It just tasted like mayo.

I am not sure what Wendy's it trying to do here. Yes, the bistro burger was better than your standard burger at a place like McDonald's or Burger King, but it is nothing special and I won't ever get one again. I will just stick with the spicy nuggets or whatever Wendy's next promotion might be.