The Sonic Boom.

Generally speaking, I don’t eat fast food.  Generally.  I mean every once in a while, onion rings are great and the McDonald’s plain cheeseburger sometimes really hits the spot.  Oh shut up.  Quit judging.  You like the occasional crap food.  You know you do.

Anyway.  My friends and I were on our way to the awesome Air Supply concert a couple of weeks ago at Spirit Mountain Casino.  Which was awesome by the way.  I’m all out of love.  I’m so lost without you. What?  Oh yeah.

So anyway, we were driving to the casino in need of some dinner and stopped at Sonic.  I was interested because everyone talks about Sonic all the time.  Well, mostly Sonic and their fizzy drinks.  They have quite the array of limeade.  Diet and regular and they can put cherry flavoring, vanilla flavoring and all other manner of flavored syrups.  This is not the usual fast food gig. And they have happy hour every day from two until four.

It was perfect because out of the blue a few weeks ago,  I got an email from a PR person offering me a $50 gift card to review Sonic’s new menu.  Um okay.  Be sure to tell me when you go by, she said.  Um no.  And so, for the past few weeks, I’ve been eating at Sonic.  Some paid for by real money, some paid for by this fat-laden gift card.

Here’s a rundown of what I thought:

Cheeseburger: American cheesy, pickle-y sauce, tasty.

BLT: Fat Texas Toast gets smooshed in my hands, grainy icky tomatoes, crispy bacon, scant mayo. Not as fatty as the burger.

Tater Tots: Crispy, not as greasy as I would think. And kinda flavorful.

Mozzarella Sticks: salty, chewy, stretchy cheese.  Good fatty food.

Chili Dog: Epic in length.  Not much chili, which is probably a good thing.  Topped with real, crunchy onions.  Fake cheesy sauce.  Yum.

Ice Cream: typical soft serve, cherry on top.

All the different times I went and at the several locations where I ate, the service was excellent, pleasant, prompt and constant.  There is always someone roller skating around offering condiments like fry sauce and ketchup.  It’s fast food, so there’s definitely better food in Portland.  But for fast food, it’s pretty good.

There’s one thing they have wrong though.  Let me tell you a story.  My new and awesome job at my new and awesome company is located just a few blocks from Sonic.  They used to go to Sonic and buy drinks for everyone during happy hour as a refreshing afternoon treat.  Then, the local recycling place stopped accepting the Sonic styrofoam cups.  Being an environmentally conscious company, they asked Sonic if it was possible to use an alternative to styrofoam, since their cups were a complete waste.  Literally.  Sonic declined.

Now let’s play Really??! with Seth & Amy. Really, Sonic?  Really?  You have branches all over Oregon, a very environmentally conscious state, with very environmentally conscious people and you choose to use styrofoam on purpose?  Really? And when someone asks you for an alternative, you are not interested in giving your customers options?  Really?  So you are contributing complete waste to the earth that cannot be reused or recycled in any way?  Really? When there are so many other drink containers available? Really?

Okay.  That’s the end of Really?!? with Seth & Amy. So my conclusion for Sonic.  Sure – it’s good fast food.  Their drink selection is awesome and they have more diet options besides Diet Coke.  Which is helpful when you are eating a burger.  But the styrofoam thing.  It bugs.  Seriously.