Bobo's Oat Bars

Update Reviews, 2021-2023

I've reviewed Bobo's products many times, so, skipping the intro this time around.

Oat Bites

"Everyone likes mini things! Oat bites are a mini version of Bobo's bars, perfect for a small treat or to complement the rest of your snack."

I've reviewed some of the "Bites" before, but to refresh your memory, these are smaller, snack size (or child size?) bars, a cute round style, great to have stashed in your bag when you need a quick pick me up, or a small bite to eat before hitting the gym but don't want a full breakfast.  

Bites come in two varieties: mini versions of the most popular flavors of the regular size bars, and, mini versions of their newer product, called Stuff'd bars.

Stuff'd

"Bobo's stuffed oat bars are a pre-stuffed trifecta of delicious nut butter: no mess during your enjoyment, and more protein!"

I was pretty excited when I saw Bobo's introduced the Stuff'd products.  Everything is more exciting with filling!  They come in full size bars and bites.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Stuff'd Bite.

"Every crumb of our Peanut Butter and Jelly Stuff'd Bites transports you to a joyful state of soft, gooey wonder – just like being a kid again. Gluten-free with 100% whole grain oats, Bobo's PB&J bites are the perfect blend of savory and sweet - and they're downright addicting. They're everything you want when you bite into a PB&J sandwich ... just without the mess."

Back in my original review of Bobo's products, I covered the pb & j inspired product Bobo's made at the time.  I found it ... lacking.  I wanted more from it.  Much more.

So I was eager to try out the new version, part of the "Stuff'd" product line, as I hoped it would, well, be "stuffed" full of goodness.  

The exterior is much the same as other Bobo's products - a reasonably soft, tasty, oat puck.  Some seem much softer than others, and it doesn't seem based on age.  You never know if a given Bobo's bar will be soft or not. It still amuses me that I like these, but I do.

The shell is where the peanut was incorporated in these.  No, sadly, there is no peanut butter layer iside, just the slight peanut flavor of the oat part.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Stuff'd Oat Bite: Inside.

Inside, it was ... ok.  

The first one I had really let me down.  Not nearly as stuffed as I wanted.  Really, I mostly wanted something ... more gooey?  And I definitely wanted more peanut butter flavor.  As it was, the product was nearly the same as all the other Bites - oat based puck, with slight, slight, sight peanut taste to it, and inside was a raspberry filling.  A decent amount of raspberry filling (I'm not calling it jelly, nor jam, because I couldn't quite identify it as a proper example of either!), but, it was not gooey in any way.  

**+, kinda disappointing, really.

The second one I had however was considerably better, and I don't just think it was adjusted expectations.  The peanut butter flavor was much stronger (although I still wanted some as the filling too).  Again, no peanut butter stuffing, but rather, just the peanut integrated into the exterior oat part.  But inside, yes, plenty of fruity filling.

***, considerably better.

After several of these, I declare them fine as an Oat Bite, but, they certainly do not deliver nearly as much peanut butter, nor jelly, gooeyness as I really want.

Apple Pie

"Bobo's Apple Pie Stuffed Oat Bite is the most American treat. This one is a classic, combining ground cinnamon and tart organic apples to create that Apple Pie flavor we all hold so dear to our hearts. We recommend with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. "

Do you like oatmeal?  Apple pie?  Then, you will probably like this.

Like all Bobo's Bites, the base is a pleasantly sweet and lightly spiced oatmeal puck.  Not too firm, not to soft and crumbly-messy.  Enjoyable as an oatmeal forward snack bar.  

Since this is a "stuff'd" product, inside is a filling: apple pie in this case.  There isn't a lot of it, and the filling is a bit dry, not as gloopy as apple pie filling from a can, but it does have a nice apple flavor, and, key for me, does not taste like applesauce.

Overall, an enjoyable item as a breakfast bite, and next time I'd like to try warming it up and serving with whipped cream to turn it more into a dessert.  ***+.

Full Size

They also of course make the standard full size bars, which I've reviewed in every flavor previously.  But then they came out with a new one ...

Cranberry Orange.

"Our Cranberry Orange oat bar mixes the slight bitterness of organic cranberries with a sweet, zesty orange citrus, making this bar a favorite of many. Every bite brings out a lively flavor guaranteed to remind you of summer days by the pool. We recommend this bar as the perfect pairing to a cup of green tea."

Cranberry orange always reminds me of my mother.  In my mind, that is "her" flavor.  She often makes holiday cranberry sauce with a lot of orange in it, or cranberry orange compound butter, and, if she's picking a muffin, besides morning glory (her real #1), she opts for cranberry orange.  And for me, it has never really been my thing.  Perhaps a more "grown up" flavor in my mind for many years, but, I'm a grown up now myself, and still rarely gravitate towards cranberry or orange for that matter.  Thus, I tried this somewhat in my mom's honor.

This bar didn't remind me of "summer days by the pool" as described, but it did remind me of winter holidays, and a taste of home.  Both the orange and cranberry flavors were strong - orange in the background, cranberries as pops of chewy flavor studded throughout.  As always I enjoyed the soft-ish oat bar format, sorta like a less messy muffin, and very breakfast appropriate.

I still don't gravitate towards these flavors, but, it was a nice bar if you do.  ***.

Update Reviews, 2018-2020

No need for an intro here, as I've reviewed Bobo's many times before (scroll down for earlier reviews, and proper intro).

I will say though, that I laugh when I read through Bobo's marketing, boasting about all the uses for their product, but the thing is ... I agree.  They are great for early morning exercise!  They are good for breakfast.  They do make for healthy kid's snacks.  I use them as an "on-the-go pick me up" all the time.  They could be a "perfect lunch pairing" or "meal on-the-go".  I'd imagine them as after school snack, workout protein boost, "travel companion", "outside adventure seeker", etc.  The marketing is funny, but, I think it does make sense.

I usually have Bobo's as a quick on the go breakfast, or in my bag to devour after an early morning workout.

Bites

"Everyone likes mini things! Oat bites are a mini version of Bobo's bars, perfect for a small treat or to complement the rest of your snack."

I love the form of the bites.  Perfectly snackable, filling enough due to the protein and oats, but never so big you feel loaded down.  Also, cute!

Lemon Poppyseed.

"Our Lemon Poppyseed bar is so delicious; the muffin man sends us an email from time-to-time trying to get a case or two. An adaptation of a coffee house favorite, this bar brings refreshing zest into the lives of its consumers, forevermore changing their outlook on life. It’s a perfect pairing for your favorite cup of coffee or tea."

I rarely like lemon/lime desserts or baked goods (and I *loathe* lemon curd!), but for some reason, lemon poppyseed muffins are on my "yes" list, so I was excited for this one.

The lemon flavor lived up.  The bar uses lemon oil which really gives it a strong lemon zing, and yup, the little crunch from the poppyseeds was there.  Add to that the base of rolled oats and pleasant sweetness characteristic of Bobo's bars, and, well, it was a winner for me, flavor-wise.

It was however rock solid.  And dry.  I'm not sure why, as I consumed it well within the eat-by date. I still enjoyed it quite a bit because the flavor was so good, but, something was certainly off.

Update Review: I had another about a year later, and was again surprised by how hard it was.  The lemon flavor was again actually great (just vibrant and full of zing!), and the lemon poppyseed combo worked great for me, but, this flavor in particular just seems to trend ... hard?  I still really liked it, but wished it was a bit softer.

Maple Pecan.

"Our Maple Pecan oat bar combines the sweet taste of maple syrup with a rich, buttery pecan crunch. Every bite is reminiscent of a warm pancake breakfast, making it the best way to jump start your morning … every morning."

This flavor sounded right up my alley.  Take an oatmeal base, and add in the maple syrup that I'd drizzle on a regular bowl of ice cream, and buttery pecans for crunch?

But it didn't really deliver.  Like the lemon poppyseed, the puck really seemed too hard and dried out.  The maple flavor didn't come through as maple, rather, just almost "fake sweet" tasting.  I did like the pecans.

Not sure what went wrong with this one either, I know I really do sometimes love Bobo's products.   I wonder if they have changed the recipe as they have scaled production?

Oat Bars

"Grab a box and share with a friend! With delicious and wholesome ingredients these oat bars will sure to be your new favorite snack! "

The oat bars are the full size product, heftier than a standard granola bar, and, if you read the nutrition label, consist of 2 servings per bar.  This always makes me laugh, because it doesn't really seem reasonable to think someone would open a wrapped, sealed package that looks like an individual serving, and split it in half, and wrap up half to save for later.  But if you do indulge in a full bar, beware that they are ~500 calories, perhaps a bit more than you'd expect.

Anyway.

Chocolate Chip.

I've had the chocolate chip flavor before, and although I liked the base flavor, I was disappointed by the extremely few chocolate chips in my bar.  Granted, it was a mini, but still, I expected more than, um, zero chips.

This one was better, a full size, big hearty bar, serving size listed as 2.

I loved the sweetness (not too sweet!), the texture (moist yet crumbly), and, the quality of the mini creamy milk chocolate chips.  I still wanted more chocolate, as in, um, I wanted a chocolate coating, but the number of chips in this were actually quite reasonable.

Overall, a good product, and I'd get it again, just with a side of chocolate to melt and dip it in ...

Almond Butter.

"Almonds are all the rage these days and our Almond Butter bar is no different. We mixed creamy almond butter with crunchy sliced almonds."

This was not a winner for me.  And the reason is simple: almond butter.  I just don't like it.  I like almonds.  I love peanut butter.  But almond butter always tastes oddly bitter to me, and I just don't like it.

The rest of the bar was fine, albeit quite simple.  Soft oats, slightly sweet from brown rice syrup and sugar, but besides that, the only other real ingredient was almond butter, and it left behind that signature almond bitterness that I couldn't get past.

Fine form factor, but not the variety for me.

Update Review, January 2018

I've reviewed Bobo's Bars before (original, 2016 update), but I tried a few new flavors, and a new branding.  It seems the "Bites" are now called "Minis"?

Coconut Mini.

"Our Coconut bar combines our hearty oats with sweet organic coconut flakes, transporting every eater to a tropical paradise. While we recommend consuming this bar on an island, it may also be enjoyed at every other moment in life."

This one was only ok.  The bar still had the same dense quality, the hearty taste that I enjoyed, it wasn't too sweet, and the brown rice syrup as a sweetener worked well to compliment the oats.  The coconut added additional texture and a bit of chew.

But I just wasn't into the coconut flavor, and it seemed harder than others I had in the past.

Coconut Bite (2020.

A few years later, I had another, and liked it more.

Again, some hearty taste I enjoyed, pleasant natural sweetness, and I was in a particularly coconut-inspired mood, so it really met my cravings.  As the last time though, I did find it considerably harder than the others.

I still enjoyed it, particularly when topped with a touch of coconut cream!

Chocolate Chip Mini.

"No offense to Chocolate Chip cookies, but our Chocolate Chip bar is kind of a big deal. This tasty treat feels more like dessert than breakfast, but without the guilt. The slow-burning oats leave you feeling satiated beyond measure, satisfying your hunger and your sweet tooth. "

As always, I liked the hearty, dense base, even though it makes no sense to like a hard oatmeal puck.  But for some reason, it just really hits the spot for me, the sweetness is just spot on.

"Chocolate Chip": Inside.

But ... after two bites, I was confused.  Where were the promised chocolate chips?

I think I had a dud, as it literally did not contain a single chocolate chip.  I still liked the base flavor, but, chocolate chip it was not.

Update Review, March 2016

A few months ago, I reviewed several flavors of Bobo's bars, which you can read about in my original review below.  They really shocked me, as I'm not generally a huge lover of bars, and these were quite great.  I describe them as oatmeal, but, in bar form.  Which doesn't sound like it should be good, but it is.  Oh, and some are gluten-free too.

So, I tried more varities (including some more fun ones!), this time, I went for the smaller "Bobo's Bites".

Bobo's Bites

"The perfect size for school lunches or a quick snack on the go. Enjoy a tasty Bobo’s Bite any time you want a small snack to keep you going!"

Bobo's recently introduced a new product line: "Bites".  These are smaller, 1.3 ounce bars,  ~180 calories, rather than 3 ounce, nearly 400 calorie "bars" I tried before.  This size makes more sense to me, as I found it odd that the larger size one had a serving size listed of 2, because who would really eat half a bar?

The Bites are all gluten-free, and offered in only three varieties: original, apple pie, and peanut butter and jelly.  I thought it was interesting that they only make gluten-free versions of the Bites, whereas the bars are available in both gluten-free and regular.  My guess is that they are more successful in the gluten-free market, and these are their most popular varieties?

Anyway.  I continue to think Bobo's bars/bites are awesome.  I don't entirely understand why, but, they are.  Get them.

Original Gluten-Free Bobo's Bite.

"Bobo’s Bites Original Flavor has all the great flavor of our Original Bar in a smaller snack size Bite!"

If you step back, this does not sound exciting, in any way.  Gluten-free and vegan.  A little packaged bar.  When do I ever like this sort of thing?  And, just in a plain, "original", flavor?  Please.  How good can some gluten-free rolled oats, sweetened with brown rice syrup and sugar, possibly be?  The only other ingredient in the entire bar is what seems like the components of Earth Balance (oil, water, annatto extract).

I realize, as I describe this, that it doesn't sound good.  I don't know how to convince you otherwise though.  These things are awesome.  Yes, even the plain flavor.  Oats, brown rice syrup, and Earth Balance ... nothing more.

Unlike most "bars", these are soft, even though made of oats.  Think of them like a dense ball of oatmeal.  Almost doughy inside ... but not really.  Sigh.  I can't do better than this at describing these.  You'll just have to try one.

Dense, perfectly sweetened, nice chew.  The "bite" will be gone before you know it.

Even the totally plain flavor is great on its own.  Just plain.  Room temperature.  No alterations.  For real.

One day, I was at home, and decided I'd try to get more creative, so I threw it in the toaster oven at low temperature for a few minutes to warm it up.  I pulled out honey butter and my mom's homemade jam to slather it with, as if it were a muffin or scone.  But first I took a bite warm.  I realized I didn't want anything else on it.  It really is just perfect as is, cold or warm.  I did like it warm, perhaps slightly more than at room temp, but warming it is really not necessary.

These are perfect for grab-n-go breakfast, or afternoon snack, but of course, I love desserts, and can also imagine crumbling one over some fruit to make a crisp.  Or just dunking it in whipped cream.  But ... again, not necessary.

Peanut Butter & Jelly.

"Bobo’s Bites Peanut Butter & Jelly Flavor packs the perfection of a PB&J into a perfect snack size Bite!"

Ok, now this one sounded GOOD!  Given that even the basic plain variety is amazing, I couldn't wait to try the PB & J flavor.  Again, made from the same base of gluten-free oats, sweetened with brown rice syrup and sugar, with the bonus ingredients of organic peanut butter and raspberry jam.  (Ok, slight strike against them, I prefer strawberry jam!).

Peanut Butter & Jelly: Inside.

I eagerly took my first bite.  Just like the others, I enjoyed the dense, oatmeal patty nature of it.  Slightly crumbly, slightly sweet.

The peanut flavor was subtle, but present, and I think there were little chunks of peanut inside.  The jam too was subtle, but provided a sweetness and slightly fruity quality.

But I'll be honest: I expected more.  Bigger bits of peanut, maybe some swirls of jam.  You can see the inside here, and, there isn't any visible peanut butter or jelly.  The flavors were there, subtle but there, but I really wanted to think "PB & J!", and, I didn't.

It was still good, still a bit better than the basic flavor, but not quite what I was hoping for.

Apple Pie.

"Bobo’s Bites Apple Pie Flavor tastes like home made apple pie in a perfect snack size bite."

As you can expect, this is made with the same base of gluten-free oats, sweetened with brown rice syrup and sugar.  To get the "apple pie" flavor, it also has dried apples and "natural apple pie flavor".  Yes, for real.  Where do I buy that?

Anyway, this sounded like dessert, in a bar, for breakfast.  Yes!

It was ... ok.  Basically, apple-y oatmeal.  Which, it turns out, just isn't really my thing.  It wasn't bad, and I still liked the oatmeal aspect, but, apple just isn't really for me.  The spicing was nice.  Turns out, the original is my favorite flavor.

Original Review, August 2015

You know I can't resist trying assorted bars, particularly when they are most soft, almost more like baked goods than granola bars.  And particularly not when they are delivered to my desk by a co-worker to try out.

I was pretty excited about the Bobo's Oat Bars once I saw them.  Cute packaging, but also, they pretty much looked like square muffins.  These are the types of bars I like most often, like the SuniBrite muesli bars from Australia that I recently reviewed, or the Nature Valley's Soft-Baked Oatmeal Squares.

Bobo's Bars look very small scale production, so I assumed they were locally made.  It turns out, they are made in Boulder, and available nationwide.  They are more mainstream than I realized, sold at REI and Whole Foods in San Francisco, and, I even saw them at the grocery store in my hometown in New Hampshire.

The bars all have the same simple base of rolled oats and Earth Balance, and are sweetened with brown rice syrup and sucanat.  All are wheat free, non-GOM, and vegan, although only the specifically gluten-free bars use gluten-free oats.

The regular flavors start with the basic "original", and then expand to include just one or two other ingredients: coconut, almond, chocolate, banana, strawberry, apricot, peanut butter, cinnamon raisin, and cranberry orange.  The gluten-free options are peach, maple pecan, lemon poppy, chocolate almond, apple pie, and peanut butter and jelly.

Honestly, the GF flavors sounded the best.  Maple pecan! Apple pie!  PB & J!  Um, yes?  My selection was given to me by coworker to sample, so I didn't pick the flavors, and I think she (rightly so) picked the appealing flavors for herself.

Now that I know how delicious even the less exciting flavors are though, and how easy they are to find around San Francisco, I may need to seek out some of the more tempting sounding flavors sometime, you know, when my never-ending supply of products to review somehow runs out.

The bars are heavy and dense, a whopping 3 oz, which means the serving size listed on them is actually 2 servings.  I kinda hate that, who really only eats half?  What am I supposed do with the other half? And really, FDA, why do you think that 1.5 oz is the appropriate serving size?  (Side note: Bobo's also has a newer product, Bobo's Bites, that are only 1.3 oz.)

Anyway.  The bars.

Regular flavors

Almond.

"Bobo’s Almond Flavor has pieces of roasted almond in every bite."

I started with the basic sounding almond bar.

Almond shows up as both dry roasted almonds and almond extract.  The almonds were tiny little bits distributed throughout; they didn't really add much crunch, but you could see them.  The almond extract however was quite powerful, it flavored the entire bar in a really pleasant way.

The bar reminded me of a solid chunk of oatmeal, which, I realize doesn't sound good, but, it was.  The oats were soft, not hard like a typical bar.  The sweetness level was perfect.  It was a treat, but definitely not too sweet.  It really was as comforting and satisfying as a bowl of oatmeal, but in a convenient form, perfect for a grab and go breakfast alongside my coffee.  I was pleasantly surprised by this, and would gladly add it into my regular breakfast bar lineup.

Gluten-Free

Peach (GF).

"Bobo’s Gluten Free Peach Flavor has pieces of delicious peach in every bite."

The peach bar I tried was gluten-free, so the regular oats were subbed out with gluten-free ones, but besides that, the ingredients were exactly the same, mostly just oats and Earth Balance.  Of course, it had bits of dried peach in place of the almond components.

I didn't notice any texture difference between the gluten-free and regular bar.  It again was basically just a dense chunk of oatmeal.  Which again, I realize doesn't sound good, but really was pleasing.

Grab-and-go oatmeal, who knew they made such a thing? The peach flavor was subtle and delicate, quite nice.  I'd get one of these again too, but I'd really like to try some of the other flavors.

Read More...

Annie T's Cakes

For Mid-Autumn Festival this year, a co-worker brought in a bunch of treats from Annie T's Cakes, a local small Chinese bakery that makes small batch cakes and cookies.  The business is entirely vegan, and mostly organic.

Since this was for Mid-Autumn Festival, I mostly got to sample the mooncakes, but I'd like to try their pineapple cakes some day.

Almond Cookies.

"A crunch on the edge and softer chew towards the center, these cookies have the distinct almond flavor of that beloved childhood classic. Annie's T Cakes recently recreated this cookie for the San Francisco pre-screening of A24 studio's latest feature film Everything Everywhere All At Once starring Michelle Yeoh."

The almond cookies were a bit plain for me.  That said, I'm not usually all that excited about cookies.  The flavor was subtle.  They were only lightly sweet.  They did have a nice chew to them, and I liked the almond in the center.  I think fairly authentic Asian style cookies, far less sweet and decadent than the American style sugar/butter bombs I am used to.  ***.

Red Bean Mooncake.

"This mooncake has a sweet red bean filling perfect to pair with light teas or just on its own. With a subtle sweetness, it's sure to hit the spot."

The first mooncake I tried was the red bean one.  The pastry was soft, a bit crumbly, and very lightly sweet.  Since these are vegan, clearly no lard used.  It was generously stuffed with red bean filling.  Fairly decent clear red bean flavor, very lightly sweet as well.  It did not have whole bits of red bean in it, mostly just a soft homogenous mush.

Overall, a pretty classic mooncake.  No better nor worse than others I've had.  The most subtle of the ones I tried from Annie T's.  ***.

Black Sesame Mooncake.

"This black sesame mooncake has a deep, nutty flavor perfect to pair with light teas, dark coffee, or a warm milk tea."

Next I went for the black sesame, always a favorite of mine.  The pastry was the same here, soft, slightly crumbly, lightly sweet.  It too was very well filled with the filling, this time, black sesame paste.  This filling had lots of texture and grit from the sesame seeds.  The flavor was far more intense than the red bean one, deeply nutty as promised, very clearly identifiable as black sesame.  Again very lightly sweet.

I liked this one the most, as I really like black sesame, but, there wasn't anything remarkable about this.  ***+.

Hojicha Mooncake.

"In Chinese tradition, mooncakes are most often eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. These hojicha mooncakes are made with high quality roasted green tea, giving the mooncake an earthy flavor. They're not too sweet and perfect to satisfy your snack cravings."

Annie T's makes three different tea filled cakes: jasmine, matcha, and hochija.  I think I picked the hochija, but I'm not 100% certain.  Again, same pastry case.  This filling was a fairly bright flavor compared to the others, and again, very identifiable as tea (of some kind).  This filling did seem to have bits of bean as well, but, black ones.  There was certainly a fair amount of texture to it.  I think this one would pair really nicely with tea.

My least favorite as I'm not wild about tea flavors, but, the flavor was nice.  ***.

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Burger King

Update Review, October 2023

It had been a while since I last had a burger from Burger King or McDonald's, but when I wound up with a free Whopper loaded on my account, I of course had to go claim my freebie.  I went with zero expectation of actually liking it, armed with my own drinks and side dishes (because, I was there for the free thing after all!), and ended up leaving very pleasingly satisfied.  I won't be rushing back to get a fast food burger anytime soon, but, I liked it considerably more than I expected.

Whopper (low carb). $7.69.

"America's Favorite Burger, The Whopper Sandwich is a ¼ lb of flame-grilled beef with juicy tomatoes, crisp lettuce, creamy mayonnaise, ketchup, crunchy pickles, and sliced white onions on a toasted sesame seed bun."

I never care for Burger King's buns, so I ordered mine bunless, or, "low carb" they call it.  Note that you cannot order online or in the app with no bun, it isn't in the customization options, but if you order in person, they don't blink an eye, and the receipt comes out saying "low carb", so, clearly this is an easy and moderately common thing.  I wish they'd add to the app.  

I did not ask for no ketchup/mustard/mayo, and those are generally slathered on in the regular sandwich version so I expected them too, but alas, mine came bare.  Luckily I realized it before I was out the door, and went back to ask for some, and was given packets of all three.

My low carb burger came in an amusingly large platter this time.  It was fairly attractively presented, with the pickles and onions atop the burger patty, and lettuce and tomato on the side.  5 pickles, 3 onion rings, 2 slices of tomato, plus a pile of shredded lettuce.  I wonder if these are the same standard portions used when constructing into a burger?  The toppings are not really enough to make a salad of it, so if you are intending to enjoy this as a burger atop a salad, bring more base mixed greens.

I actually brought my own large slices of green leaf lettuce to make lettuce wraps (and sauteed mushrooms and fresh heirloom tomato slices to put in with the burger, and a small salad and cole slaw to have as sides).  I assembled my wraps, added condiments, and dug in.  I was immediately pleased.  The burger patty wasn't anything special, certainly not a big fat juicy medium wagyu burger, but it wasn't too tough, and was reasonably well seasoned.  It went oh-so-well with the pickles, onions, and condiments.  Really, it is all the bits together that combine to give a very classic burger taste.  

The onions were crisp and harsh, but, that works here.  The pickles lightly acidic and juicy.  The ketchup and mustard as generic as can be.  Put that together?  Such a familiar taste.  The lettuce was pretty boring pieces of iceberg, but they were fresh enough, and not browning.   The tomato was actually fine, not too mealy.

Overall, with my additions as burger lettuce wraps, I truly enjoyed this.  Would I pay $7.69 for it?  No.  But, it was satisfying and free, and totally worth the venture to BK.  ***.

Update Review, April 2022

A year ago, I became a fan of Burger King.  Yup, it took me 40 years to really truly love Burger King (besides the crowns, of course).  I genuinely enjoy their Impossible Whopper, which I've reviewed several times before (below).  Honestly, **** burger.

But this time, I headed to Burger King for something else.  Dessert.  Not just any dessert.  Ice cream.  Somehow, in all my soft serve eating, I had never had a cone from BK before.

Soft Serve Cone. $1.49 (or 250 crown points).

"We didn't invent soft serve, but with one taste of our cool, creamy, and velvety Vanilla Soft Serve, you'll think we perfected it. Served in a cone."

This was my first time having Burger King soft serve.  I didn't expect anything special, but, it was ridiculously warm out, totally ice cream weather, and I had some "crown points" burning a hole in my pocket.

So I splurged, redeeming 250 of them for a cone (a cup is also available), normally $1.49.  Only the one flavor is available, never actually listed as "vanilla" just as "soft serve".  No toppings are available.

It was, well, fast food soft serve?  About as I expected.  The consistency was good, in the fake ice cream kind of way, and it melted perfectly on the warm day.  It was not grainy nor icy. The flavor certainly wasn't vanilla, almost more like a white chocolate, just, sweet.  It didn't taste too artificial or plastic-like though.

The cone was the part that actually surprised me as it wasn't stale in any way.  Even decent ice cream shops can suffer from stale cones.

So overall, the consistency was good, the flavor was fine, and the cone not stale.  Would I pay $1.49 for it?  Well, given other options, probably not, but it wasn't bad, and once I added my own sprinkles it was much better.

***.

Update Review, February 2021

Well, I've become a Burger King fan.  I'm really, really into their Impossible Whopper, which I reviewed once before.  And now, I've hacked it even further.

Impossible Whopper. $7.29.
Extra Onion, Extra Cheese, Low Carb. ($0.50, $0.80).

"Features a flame-grilled patty made from plants topped with tomatoes, lettuce, mayo, ketchup, pickles, and onions."

I finally, finally, finally took my own advice.  I am not low carb, but I dislike Burger King buns.  I had started bringing my own iceberg wedge to do lettuce wraps, and always thought about asking for no bun.  

So, I did it.  "No bun," I said, and the cashier without hesitation said, "Ok, low carb."  They have a button on the register for it even.  I asked if that meant it would be a lettuce wrap or just no bun, but she didn't seem to know nor care.  The answer?  Basically just no bun.  Perhaps they threw a little extra lettuce in?  It also came packaged totally differently, in a square plastic container (what they use for side salads?).

I left in all the standard toppings (tomato, pickles, lettuce) but upgraded to extra onion ($0.50!) because I adore their onion.  As always, I adored the onion but its a bit hard to justify $0.50 for just 1 (maybe 2?) extra round of onion, as I think it usually comes with 3.  It is so harsh though and I just really like it with my burger.

The lettuce was standard shredded iceberg, which is not my lettuce of choice normally, but is entirely appropriate with a burger.

The pickles I don't normally care for, crinkle style, but I actually didn't mind them this time, the little bits of pickle really do complete the "burger" experience.  That said, these are certainly not pickles I like much at all.

The tomatoes I always plan to leave out, but I'm glad I left them in this time.  Yes, they were awful, two slices of not juicy, not even red, clearly out of season tomato, but again, its all about the burger "experience" and the juicy tomato is kinda key.

I also added cheese, because, well, cheeseburgers are delicious?  More on this soon.

I wondered what they'd do with the ketchup and mayo, which come standard on the burger, and are key elements for me.  I hoped that they'd just put them on the burger patty itself.  Looking in from the top gave no indicator though (where *was* that actual burger?).  Sadly, the answer was "leave out entirely", but I was able to ask for packets instead.

I actually really, really, really enjoyed my burger this way.  I brought additional large hunks of iceberg to make a wrap, and I'm glad I did, although really you could just make a pretty tasty cheeseburger salad bowl from this (and their base salad?).

It was crazy satisfying, gave me a legit burger experience, and was everything I wanted it to be.

****.

Impossible Whopper Patty & Cheese.

The Impossible Burger patty was hiding under the toppings in the bottom of the container.  It came with what my receipt said was "HEAVY CHEESE", 2 slices, but, when I asked, they told me this was the normal amount.  I would have thought 1 slice was normal?  And I asked for regular.

Anyway.  The cheese was ... um, entirely not melted.  Oh, I'll also note that my burger was ready before I even reached the pick up area, so, clearly it was already cooked and the cheese just set up on top.  I guess that is normal?  I generally forget to order the cheese, and generally go to McDonald's, where they do usually melt it on ...

The cheese was fine, artificially bright orange "American" cheese, which, you guessed it, I liked to help complete "the burger experience".  But ... I really wanted it melty, so I'd probably leave off in the future.

Impossible Burger Patty: Grill Marks.

At some point, the burger patty I guess was actually grilled, and you could see the grill marks clearly on it.

The patty however, yeah, lukewarm at best.

This didn't detract me from enjoying it, but clearly it would be better actually warm, and actually freshly cooked.

Impossible Burger Patty: Inside.

And here you can see what the inside of that patty looks like.  It really, really did look like beef.  It tasted like beef.  Honestly, more than the last one I ordered.  I ... can't say that I'd be surprised to learn that they just didn't care and gave me a real patty.

It wasn't thick, it wasn't juicy, but ... it tasted like beef, and it was exactly what I wanted at the time.  Slathered with way too much mayo, ketchup, and mustard (from packets since they didn't add on), with all the other "essential" toppings, I really loved it.

****.

Update Review, November 2020

Oh T-Mobile Tuesday.  How I love you so.  I love random freebies. Particularly, it turns out, while living in a more rural area, staying with my parents in New Hampshire for a while during COVID for fresh air, summer, and greatly reduced COVID rates, and, it turns out, a way higher number of places that actually show up as T-Mobile freebies.  Maybe I'm biased because I was just soo happy to see Dunkin' Donuts on there regularly (where I discovered a great new favorite donut, actually, review coming soon - but previous reviews of baked goods here, drinks here), and I usually miss out when it is the weekly feature, as alas, no Dunks in San Francisco.

Anyway, T-Mobile Tuesday featured a free Whopper from Burger King, and I could pick regular or Impossible.  I've had my share of free Whoppers from Burger King, always mostly out of amusement/getting my free things, but I really do love their lettuce/onion/mayo mix (I know, I know), and I was eager to try out this Impossible burger.  

Yes, I actually ... was excited to visit Burger King.  My mother warned me as I left the house that I was likely to be disappointed.  Thanks, Mom!

Impossible Whopper Experience.

My visit was via the drive-thru, as it was in the depth of COVID, and the dining room was closed, even for takeout.

My burger was hot, seemed freshly made, was ready as I approached window, toppings were applied well, and the patty? Definitely better than I expected.

I was actually very pleased with the experience.  I wouldn't seek out a Whopper ever in general anyway, but if I found myself wanting one for some reason, I'd certainly get this again.

Impossible Whopper. $6.39.  (Packaging)

"Features a flame-grilled patty made from plants topped with tomatoes, lettuce, mayo, ketchup, pickles, and onions. *For guests looking for a meat-free option, a non-broiler method of preparation is available upon request."

The Impossible Whopper comes in a standard wrapper, branded with the IMPOSSIBLE name.  The standard prep actually makes it not technically entirely meat-free, as they cook it on the same broilers are the beef burgers, which, outrages real vegetarians, I know.  No dedicated Impossible burger grills at BK.  You *can* ask to have it prepared fully meat-free, and I think they microwave it that way ... Since I am not a vegetarian, I didn't care, and wanted the better, broiler experience anyway.

The same toppings as regular Whoppers are applied unless you ask for changes: lettuce, tomato, mayo, ketchup, pickles, onions.  You can add cheese or bacon, or add extra of anything normally included (most for a fee), and remove anything, obviously.

I left everything as-is, except I added extra onions (because I love them!) and extra pickles (because free!).

Bun.

The bun is the same standard Whopper bun.  Quite large, soft and fluffy on top, grilled on the inside top bun, slathered with the mayo mix on top, nothing on the bottom, thinner bun.

I never care for these buns, they are fine, but very generic, and I'm not much of a bun girl in general, if not a brioche or something special, so I never use them.  I actually went prepared this time with an entire half of an iceberg lettuce, and used the outer leaves to make a lettuce wrap, which worked remarkably well.  So juicy, fresh, and helped cut all the heaviness of the burger, and, um, my favorite part, the mayo.

But yeah, standard Whopper bun.

Toppings: Regular tomato (2 slices), lettuce, mayo, ketchup
Extra: onion, pickles (5 slices).

For toppings, I left the regular ketchup and mayo, as I adore the mayo at Burger King (just something about it!) and they apply it quite generously.  And ketchup really does go great with beefy taste, so I left that, and did not add mustard (free to add, but, not standard).  I was quite pleased with the sauces, again, that mayo is just ... awesome, I really think it tastes soooo very good with their lettuce and onions.  And they really do smother it in it, literally, 160 calories of the burger is *just the mayo*, even with the standard order.

For once, I left the tomato, finally willing to at least try it.  The regular amount is two slices.  They actually weren't that scary, looked decent, and were a solid "fine", what you might expect from a fairly generic tomato.  Not pale, not mealy, so, at least not that.  But I wouldn't get them again.

I also left the lettuce at regular, although I do like their lettuce, just shredded iceberg, but adding more is an additional charge, and I brought an entire half an iceberg head with me anyway.  I did like it as always though.

I added extra pickles, which meant 5 slices, crinkle cut, because it was free, and I could give to someone at home (along with bun), to use for their own purposes.  I did try one, and can confirm, that yup, I just don't care for BK pickles.  Something about the taste.  I like McDonald's pickles though!

And lastly, the onion, extra, which meant quite a bit, all different sized rings.  I really like their onion, again, I know, nothing special, just white onion, but I love the crispness, harshness, and way it combines with lettuce and mayo.

So, pickles and tomatoes given away, but everything else, exactly as I was hoping, and I truly enjoyed the lettuce/onions/mayo in my burger-wrap.

***** onions/lettuce/mayo, **+ tomato, *pickles.

Impossible Burger Patty.

The Impossible Whopper is assembled just like a regular Whopper, the patty under all the veggies, ketchup squirted on top, nothing under it besides the bottom bun, which had no sauces.  It had classic, visible grill marks, and looked like any standard beef patty from a fast food restaurant - fairly thin, cooked well done, no pink really inside.

I tasted a bit of the patty, sans anything else, and was reasonably impressed.  It wasn't nearly as good as other Impossible Burgers I've had, thicker, juicer ones, but it wasn't dry, it didn't taste funky, and certainly didn't taste like a veggie burger.  The texture was pretty close to that of a standard *fast food* beef patty.

Once I combined it into my lettuce wrap with all the other traditional burger toppings, it worked very well.  I certainly liked it more than the Burger King regular beef patties.  It really did have the beefy taste, as much as any fast food burger, perhaps even slightly more.

I brought a chunk for my mom to try, and made her a perfect bite with all the toppings, and she was actually really impressed, and said she'd never know the difference.

Overall, I was impressed with what BK has pulled off.  I won't seek it out, but if I was getting a Whopper again, I'd certainly get the Impossible one.

The patty is 240 calories, 29 fewer than the beef burger, still has 14 grams of fat, and does pack in 19g protein.

*** (**** for fast food burger I guess?)

Update Review, June 2020

Yup, National Burger Day, 2020.  Burger King gave out free Whoppers.  Of course I stopped by.

I wanted to do my "salad sandwich" that I proposed to myself last time, with extra lettuce, extra onion, etc, but adding extra anything comes with a fee, and I didn't want that for freebie day! 

Whopper. Add mustard.
Free for National Burger Day.

So, regular Whopper it was, only mod was adding mustard, which I learned I *can* do, and had lamented not having last time.

My review is largely unchanged.  These things are pretty consistent.  Burger King does have that going for htem.

Bun nicely toasted inside, soft, but, just a really boring bun.  Its also huge!  My partner also commented "wow, a Whopper is way bigger than I remember!"  Beef patty was thin, cooked all the way, and tasted like ... processed beef, and wasn't great.  Ketchup and mustard just in the center, not tons, and not spread around.  I didn't have the horrible looking tomatoes, and gave him the pickles as he likes them more.

I did like the onion, crisp and harsh, and the iceberg (no brown in sight), and I do love their mayo.  It was extremely generously slathered with mayo, all along the top bun.

It was what it was.  No more, no less, a Whopper.  Nice for free, but I mostly just gave it away.

**+.

Update Review, January 2020

When I was growing up, McDonald's was always my fast food of choice, and the Quarter Pounder with Cheese, or sometimes Big Mac, was my burger.  I always felt sad when the field hockey bus pulled into a Burger King instead, as I just never liked it nearly as much.  I settled for a Whopper Jr. with Cheese, but always wished we had picked McDonald's (and McDonald's had better fries, and McFlurries ...).

As an adult, I have not sought out fast food burgers all that often, although I did go through some years of excessive burger eating, running a dining club that got burgers every single Monday night.  I started my blog after those years, but you can read about some of my burger adventures here.  Let's just say I ate a lot of burgers, and plenty of them were fast casual style.

I never went to Burger King though, except when I went to try the new Satisfries (not tasty!), or, uh, when I went to Burger King in Munich explicitly seeking out the waffle ice cream sundae (ok, really good!).  Until now.  I think it had easily been 20 years since my last BK burger.  I won't mind if it is another 20.

Packaging.

My Whopper took a few minutes to assemble, and was handed over without a word: "A Whopper", is all she said, not even saying my number.

Signature Whopper paper, decently well wrapped.

Whopper.

"Our WHOPPER® Sandwich is a ¼ lb* of savory flame-grilled beef topped with juicy tomatoes, fresh lettuce, creamy mayonnaise, ketchup, crunchy pickles, and sliced white onions on a soft sesame seed bun."

I opened it up to reveal the contents.  It looked pretty good, nothing falling out, nothing mushed ...

The bun was nicely toasted inside, soft, and seemed fresh enough.  A large, kinda oversized bun though, I realized that I always got a Whopper Jr. in the past, not a regular one.  It is, uh, kinda a Whopper?  Just comparing the buns, the Whopper bun is 230 calories, the Whopper Jr. is only 120, so it really is nearly half the size, at least, the bread component.  The regular burger uses the same bun as the Whopper Jr.

Whopper: Inside.

It is the insides I was interested in though of course.

The top bun was slathered in mayo, creamy, generic mayo, that I really did love.  It went great with the lettuce and onions.  The lettuce, torn shreds of iceberg, was ... moderately fresh.  Crisp, but I did see some brown bits.  The sliced white onions gave a hit of harshness and pop of flavor, and I appreciated them.

Pickles are always one of my favorite parts of a burger, but I wasn't really into the BK ones.  Wavy style, and fine, but, I really prefer McDonald's and Subway style.  I didn't try the pale looking tomato, two slices.

Ketchup was somewhere in the mix, it seemed to be between the pickles and tomatoes, and was not well distributed.  This was easy to fix with an additional ketchup packet.  I also forgot that a Whopper doesn't include any special sauce, nor any mustard, so the ketchup and mayo really is it.  I prefer a McDonald's Quarter Pounder for the mustard, but, I do love mayo ...

I also forgot that a Whopper doesn't come with cheese by default.  Oops.  I certainly would have wanted that.

And finally the patty.  "¼ lb* of savory flame-grilled beef " ... yeah, it was barely warm, it was not juicy in any way, but at least it wasn't tough, and did have lovely grill marks?  It was basically, as expected.  No worse, but certainly not a burger you get to taste and enjoy the beef.  Again, comparing to the Whopper Jr. what I always used to get, that patty is just 100 calories, vs the 240 calories here, so this patty is actually nearly 2.5 times bigger, and I could tell.  Although it was very thin, it was a large patty, in diameter.  I guess they named this thing for a reason!

Overall, it was exactly as I expected.  No better, no worse.  It has a place in the world, but it is certainly not anything I plan to seek out again ... at least for another 10-15 years when curiosity strikes?

**+.

Whopper #2.

I blame T-Mobile for this.  T-Mobile Tuesdays had free Whoppers.  How could I resist another freebie?

My review is largely the same.  Beef patty thin and not exactly a juicy quality burger, but it isn't *that* bad.  I still couldn't bring myself to try the tomatoes.  I really did love the generous mayo, the harsh onions, and the iceberg.  I can kinda imagine enjoying a "salad sandwich", a Whopper hold the patty, extra onions, extra lettuce, definitely add cheese ... uh ...  

**+.

Original Review, October 2013

Burger King has always had a larger selection of sides than McDonalds, but they've now taken another leap, and offer not one, not two, but THREE different types of fries: sweet potato, regular, and their latest offering, dubbed Satisfries ... the healthy, yet still satisfying, fries.  The marketing behind them is genius, boasting that they contain 40% less fat and 30% fewer calories.  I assumed that they were comparing against their own fries.  They aren't.  They are comparing against McDonalds!  The numbers aren't nearly as impressive when you compare against their own versions, but given that they use the same oil and fryers, I guess it is impressive.  They developed a coating that somehow magically absorbs less oil.  But, (spoiler alert!),  they didn't live up to their name.

Value Sized Satisfries.  $1.69.

My fries were hot and fresh.  I give them credit for that.

Unlike the standard fries, they are crinkle cut.  I've never really liked crinkle cut fries, and my family always ate tons of frozen crinkle cut fries when I was a kid.  These reminded me of those exactly, not just in look, but also in taste.  They tasted like cardboard.  The outside was crispy, but the inside was just mush.  It didn't resemble potato in any way.  Burger King claims the fries are cut from whole potatoes, but I'm pretty skeptical.  They weren't salted well either.

Definitely not a win.  *+.

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