Fast Food Review: Wendy's Monterey Ranch Crispy Chicken Sandwich

It was twenty years ago when I first tried the Wendy's Monterey Ranch Chicken Sandwich. ("Twenty years now, where'd they go?") And I loved it, a crispy chicken breast covered in Monterey Jack cheese, and a ranch sauce with bacon bits. Those were the days when I loved ranch; one of my favorite snacks were MicroMagic french fries - for those of you who belong to different generations than I, those were microwavable fries from the same company that made microwavable milkshakes - dipped in ranch dressing.

Then I guess the sandwich went away (although to be honest I don't remember; there was about a decade where the only fast food I ever ate was In-N-Out,) briefly reappearing from time to time. I remember the sandwiched fondly, but in the same way I loved those microwavable fries, or the WWF wrestling that I watched while I ate them: it was fun as a kid, but would I really like them now?

Over the weekend I read a press release that Wendy's would be releasing a 99-cent version of the sandwich, called the Monterey Ranch Crispy Chicken Sandwich. I had to give it a try.

Wendy's was a zoo, as always. It took me more than ten minutes to place my order, but less than thirty seconds to receive my food. There were about a dozen screaming kids running around so I took the sandwich to the car.

For a 99-cent sandwich, it was certainly pretty. I didn't seen any ranch sauce - not that I really cared, as ranch is one of my least favorite sauces these days - but there was a thick slice of white cheese covering the chicken patty.

And it was quite good. Not great - like the second time I tried the Asiago chicken sandwich - but very good, and, considering the 99-cent price tag, a great value. This easily would have won The Great Value Menu Chicken Sandwich Showdown last summer. The chicken was crispy, the lettuce was fresh and the bun was soft.

I found the ranch sauce in the second half of the sandwich - it was all piled there. But I have to say, it was the least offensive ranch dressing I can remember having in a long time. It had a bit of a tang to it, and, while I would never call it "zesty" (as Wendy's does in the product description) it was not the creamy, much-too-sweet Hidden Valley Ranch dressing that I used to dip those microwaved fries into.

I don't know if every Monterey Ranch Crispy Chicken Sandwich is going to be as good as this one (my guess is no) but if so, this is going to be a huge hit. Wendy's already had my favorite value menu in the fast food business - thanks mostly to their spicy chicken nuggets - and this only makes it better.