7th Street Burger, NYC

I don't seek out fast food that often.  I don't seek out burgers that often these days (although, many years ago, I hosted a weekly burger night, where we went to get burgers from places all over San Francisco, ranging from fast casual to high end steakhouses that served burgers only in limited quantities in their bar, etc).  Yet I was very excited recently when I got to finally try 7th Street Burgers, when my office had a special event at Barclay's Center, and they were one of the vendors.  I was so impressed by that first encounter, I quickly sought them out back in Manhattan at their regular stores.

"Craveable smash burgers, loaded fries, and late-night bites. 7th Street Burger serves fast, greasy goodness across NYC, Brooklyn, DC, and beyond."

7th Street Burgers has been on my radar for a while, often sited as a great, affordable, smashburger around New York.  The concept is fast casual, and pricing is lower than pretty much anywhere else.  The chain started in the East Village in June 2021, and has a slew of locations now in New York, New Jersey, and DC.  They are known for, well, the smash burgers.

"A "smash burger" is made by smashing the meat patty on the grill, creating a crispy outer crust while keeping the center of the burger juicy. Our house sauce brings the whole experience to the next level!"

7th Street has a very streamlined menu.  Cheeseburger or spicy cheese burger (with jalapeños and ghost pepper sauce).  All have onions cooked in.  Single or double. Vegetarian impossible burger option.  Fries, loaded or not.  And that is it.  No sides besides fries.  No fresh vegetables, e.g. lettuce/tomato as toppings.  No appetizers.  No desserts.  No chicken, salads, etc.  Heck, they don't even have a non-cheeseburger on the menu.  No ability to specify the done-ness of your burger.  Smash burger, the way they make it, and fries. That is it.  I'm sure this helps keeps costs down.

Visit #1: June 2026, Barclays Center

My first visit was to their stand at Barclays Center, just a concession stand.

Cheeseburger & Fries.

Since I was at a concession stand at Barclays, things were even more streamlined - the burgers were already made, and just handed over in a tray.   We had no choices, just the cheeseburger and regular fries.  They were handling steady lines so items were actually fairly fresh, but, obviously not quite the same as ordering at a real location.

Fries.

"Crispy, golden fries with a perfectly salted exterior and fluffy interior."

The fries did not impress me.  They were very generic, very simple, basic fries.  Not particularly flavorful, not particularly anything.  They just were.  With Fuku right around the corner with seasoned very crispy waffle fries, why would you ever pick these?

One of my co-workers however did like them, saying, they were "basic but not badly executed if that makes sense. I.e. they are crispy, not soggy, but lacking any good seasoning."  He was right, they were that, but to me, that didn't make them worth eating.  I was glad someone else wanted them.  2.5/5.

At their regular stores, these are $4.50.

Cheeseburger.

"Single patty, 100% fresh beef burger served with American cheese, grilled onions, pickles and house sauce on a Martin's potato bun."

The burger though.  That was something else entirely.

Wow.  Um.  This was good.  Really good.  Really satisfying.  And yes I'm talking about basically a fast food burger, not even from their own store, but from a stadium concession stand.  I then really, really wanted to try one at their real restaurants!

But backing up.  I really liked everything about this.  The burger had a great char.  Loved the crispy edges.  The beef was nicely seasoned.  It was fairly juicy inside for a thin burger.  The cheese was well distributed and perfectly melty.  Plenty of it, but not overwhelming.  Simple American, nothing more needed.  Yay for grilled onions and pickles.  Creamy flavorful house sauce (although I did add a bit more ketchup on some of the edge bits that had no sauce).  No "fresh" elements like tomato or lettuce, but I didn't mind. This was just a very satisfying burger base!

And then the bun.  Unlike most fast food or fast casual buns, this was not a generic bun at all.  Flavorful Martin's potato bun with a bit of sweetness.  Lightly toasted.  I often do lettuce wraps or open-faced burgers because I want to taste more of the burger/toppings and want to have more fries/sides and don't want to fill up on bun, but this was a bun I gladly devoured.

I truly enjoyed every bite of this, and can't wait to get another.  4.5/5.  Yes, for a concession stand burger (but again, it isn't trying to be a thick, mid-rare, truffle topped, $30 burger.  It is a cheap smashburger.  But a damn good one!).  At their regular stores, this is $6.50.  Insane value.

Visit #2: June 2026, Times Square Location

So, uh, a few days later I visited a real location, the one near Times Square, when the Knicks won a game in the finals, and 7th Street gave out 777 free burgers, and I of course snagged one.  You know how much I love my freebies!

Sidewalk.

Outside on the very busy sidewalk was two tables only, standing room, for devouring burgers on the spot, which I saw several people do, in impressive record time.

Counter.

Inside was a simple ordering counter, old school Coca-Cola branded menu board, and some booths.  The music was loud, the place had grit.  I liked it even more.

Cheeseburger.  $6.50.

The burger looked nearly identical to the one from the concession stand, slightly less scorch mark on the top of the bun, slightly less beef overhang, but, very close.  The bun did seem perhaps a bit softer, a bit more fresh.

Cheeseburger: Inside.

Inside was the real difference ... while it had all the expected cubes of grilled onions, it did not have any pickles!  I loved the pickles last time, and they should have been included.  Alas.

The onions were good, the cheese was perfectly melty, the sauce well distributed, the burger was nicely charred.  All just very nicely done for this style of burger.  3.5/5.

Visit #3: June 2026 - Flatiron Location

A week later, another visit, this time I picked the Flatiron location just to try somewhere new.  Also, yes, another freebie when the Knicks won again.

Spicy Jalapeño Burger. $7.

"Single patty, 100% fresh beef burger served with American cheese, grilled onions, jalapeños and ghost pepper sauce on a Martin's potato bun."

Next I tried the only other burger, the spicy jalapeño one.  Same basic burger, but this swaps in jalapeños for the pickles (a loss to me actually, I love the pickles) and uses ghost pepper sauce instead of their house sauce.  I got this mostly for completeness and curiosity, not because it sounded better to me than the basic cheeseburger.

I was a bit sad to see it seemed made with less care - the burger had part ripped off, and it wasn't warm, even though I had arrived ahead of my pickup time, it clearly was ready much earlier.  It seemed less juicy and less charred as well.  It did have the best bun toasting of any so far though.

Spicy Jalapeño: Inside.

I was also a bit sad to see the jalapeños were raw.  I somehow thought they'd be cooked and maybe chopped up like the onions.  They were just raw jalapeños.  I'd definitely go back to the pickles in the future.

As for the ghost pepper sauce, it was fine, a bit spicy, creamy, but there was only a pool of it in the middle of the bottom, so I found it didn't spread much onto the rest of the burger.

My least favorite burger so far, partially because I prefer pickles/house sauce over the jalapeños/ghost pepper sauce, partially because it was less fresh, partially because it just didn't seem as well made. 3/5.

Visit #4: June 2026 - Times Square Location

So I went back to the Times Square location, also wondering if location made a difference.

Spicy Jalapeño Burger ($7) + Extra Onions ($1).

Ok, this was the worst made one so far.

The bun had no toasted mark on top at all.  I ordered extra onions, and got the regular amount.  If anything, it had less than usual.  The cheese was barely melted.  The patty was dry.

Spicy Jalapeño Burger: SO MUCH JALAPENO!

The burger was loaded with jalapeños.  I ordered extra onions, regular jalapeños.  Did they just mix those up?  It had jalapeño under the top bun as well.  Way way too much raw jalapeño.  And where were my onions!

This was just not well prepared, on any level - the bun lack of toasting, the burger dryness and cheese not melted, the lack of customization followed ... if it was my first one from here, I never would have returned.  3/5, everything did taste good but wow, execution was off.

Visit #5: June 2026 - Times Square Location

Impossible Burger ($8)
w/ extra onions ($1), pickles ($0.50).

"Single Impossible patty served with American cheese, grilled onions, pickles and house sauce on a Martin's potato bun."

At first glance, the Impossible burger really did look exactly the same as the regular.  Same thin smashed patty, etc.  The patty had decent char on it.  The bun was lightly marked on top.  But closer examination showed the patty didn't crumble apart in quite the same way.  Still, this is the closest thing I've ever seen to a vegetarian smashburger.

This costs $1.50 more than the regular beef version.

Impossible Burger: Inside.

The patty was decent, it tasted like any other Impossible burger I've ever had, albeit more thin than I've had at other places.   It tastes vaguely meaty, with a slightly odd taste that makes you realize it isn't beef, but the texture and look are pretty close.  With enough cheese and special sauce, and my extra pickles and onions, it was pretty easy to nearly miss the fact it was a veggie burger.

Slight point miss though because the cheese was barely melted.  Overall though, good if you want a vegetarian option, or just aren't feeling like red meat.  I'd get it again if I was in the mood for that.  3.5/5.

Double Cheeseburger ($9.50).
w/ extra cheese ($1), extra onions ($1), extra pickles ($0.50).

"Double patty, 100% fresh beef burger served with American cheese, grilled onions, pickles and house sauce on a Martin's potato bun."

My next order I went big.  A double.

This guy weighed a lot!  Very noticeably heavier than my previous single burgers, as you'd expect since it is a double.  And was considerably more greasy than any previous burgers, likely due to the double cheese and beef?  The wrapper was totally saturated in oil.  It was also a bit mushed together and slightly hard to eat as it was bulging out of the bun.

I got this to compare the experience of the double to a single mostly, and because the single really is a kinda small burger compared to a standard burger elsewhere, so I thought this would be more like getting a quarter pounder or something, although I realize now that two of these patties are still much bigger than a regular McDonald's quarter pounder, as they are 3 ounces each (so, 6 ounces for double, quarter pounder is obviously 4 ounces).  

Anyway.  This was a tasty pile of meat and onions and cheese and pickles loosely held together by buns doing a valiant effort, but I wouldn't really recommend a double as it is just a bit hard to navigate (perhaps fork and knife would be better?).  Everything in it was good though, melty cheese, tasty onions, creamy sauce, nicely charred patties.  4/5.

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Wayback Burger, NYC

I only eat a few burgers per year at this phase of my life.  I grew up with ground beef as really the only animal protein served in our household regularly.  My dad simply didn't eat any others, and he had no tolerance for the smell of seafood, so, for dinner, we had basically vegetarian food and ground beef in many forms - yes, lots of casseroles.  Lunchtime deli meats like bologna, summer cookout hotdogs, and occasional pepperoni on pizza basically rounded out my meat exposure until I went to college.  Fast forward to when I first moved to San Francisco post-grad school, and I ran a dining club where every Tuesday night we celebrated "B-night", which was usually going to get burgers (sometimes, burritos, it was SF after all).  I ate a lot of burgers in those years.  I think I OD'ed on them, and really just stopped ever seeking out burgers for quite a few years.  I've recovered from that era, but I still don't eat them very regularly.

"Wayback symbolizes the inner “rebel,” who might not eat their veggies, but holds the door for grandma EVERY TIME. Slightly irreverent towards those who don’t understand, but always reminded. Wayback is honest and straightforward, reflecting our guests: hardworking people who want simple, uncomplicated things. Coming here is a treat. It’s a place for everyone to feel comfortable, and no one is excluded. It feels revived – young and fresh with a nod to how things were “back in the day” but with a twist."

Anyway.  This is a review about a burger chain, Wayback Burger.  I was unfamiliar with the brand until I moved to New York, but I do like their charming brand mentality.  They have about 150 locations in the US, so I'm a bit surprised I had never encountered one before.

I didn't seek them out for a burger, given the above, although that is clearly their main product.  They also have chicken, garden burgers and Impossible burgers, hot dogs, salads, and a decent line up of fried sides (not just fries, but cheese curds, fried pickles, tots, and onion rings).  I wasn't there for any of that though, I was there for dessert of course.  And a freebie.  Ah yes, now this is more on brand!

Interior.

The interior isn't particularly nice, with an ordering counter (or kiosks on the side), Coke soda machine, and a few quasi-clean tables to sit at.

Interior.

The only interesting piece of decor is the subway tile wall, with a slightly actually welcoming "Welcome to Wayback" printed above.

Hand Dipped Milkshakes.

Shakes are available in one size only.  In addition to the standard vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry options, they also do more premium selections like brownie, banana cream pie, or Oreo cookie, with actual brownies, fresh bananas and Nilla wafers, etc mixed in.  They use Blue Bunny ice cream, so at least real ice cream and not shake mix, but, Blue Bunny is relatively average/not premium ice cream to begin with (as I've reviewed before).

Vanilla Shake. $6.99.

"These hand-dipped delights, crafted to order with Blue Bunny ice cream and milk, are the perfect complement to any meal you choose."

I visited on National Vanilla Milkshake day, where they were giving out free shakes.  Vanilla only.  So, that is what I got.

This really was a decent milkshake.  It was not fast food style, where it comes out of a soft serve-eque machine.  This was real scooped ice cream and milk, blended.  It was nicely thick, a bit watery around the sides, and had reasonable flavor.  A bit boring overall, but, exactly what you'd expect from a basic vanilla shake.  Far better than any fast food one, not on par with a real ice cream shop just because Blue Bunny isn't that great of ice cream to begin with.

3/5, acceptable, but not something I'd go running back for.

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Burger King

Update Review, February 2026

Fries. Value Size. $3.99/250 Crowns.

The last time I had fries from Burger King, it was 2013, and they were crinkle cut fries, and I didn't care for them.  I was curious to see how they'd changed over the years, as I knew they reverted back to regular non-crinkle fries at some point.

The fries were actually not bad.  Fairly hot and fresh.  Nicely salted.  Perfectly crispy, that part in particular really impressed me.  A thicker style than McDonald's, and I preferred that.  They tasted less ... fast food than McDonald's.  I think I mean less generic oil taste to them, more strong potato taste.  I certainly preferred them to McDonald's.  I did have 1-2 that seemed underdone, a bit raw, but otherwise, these were truly not bad for fast food style fries.  If I was craving, or for some reason needing to eat fast food, I'd get them again.  A random thought I kept having is that they'd go great with chili (I think they must have reminded me of Wendy's in some way, where I always got a small chili with cheese and biggie fries from the $1 menu, or perhaps of ski lodge fries and chili).  3.5/5.

Burger King. Cheeseburger. $3.99/200 crowns.

"A flame-grilled beef patty with crunchy pickles, yellow mustard, and ketchup on a toasted sesame seed bun."

I recently learned that the cheeseburger is basically the same as the Whopper Jr. (what I always got ... when I went to BK as a kid).  Same patty, same everything, but the Whopper adds the lettuce/tomato/onion.  Given that I never care for their tomatoes, and had my own lettuce and onion easily on hand, I felt no need to "splurge" for a Whopper Jr, particularly because the cheeseburger was so much cheaper (and the Whopper doesn't include cheese by default).  The regular Whopper *is* different, a bigger patty and all, but the Jr?  Same-same.

Anyway, it came with the regular extremely lackluster Burger King bun, yes, sesame seed, yes, sorta toasted inside, but these never taste particularly good to me, and I swear I had actually clicked the "low carb" button to just get it as a salad bowl, but, alas, I got the bun.  Eh.

Cheeseburger: Contents.
(+light mayo: Free!).

My burger came with the expected allocation of 2 pickles, a little bit of mustard and ketchup sorta just a squirt of each in the middle, and my addition of mayo (the only free modification allowed).  Anything "fancier", like lettuce/onions/tomatoes would have been extra, so I omitted, as it isn't like BK is known for these things.

The ketchup/mustard/mayo is certainly not fancy by any means, but it really does have classic fast food burger nostalgia for me, and I find that trio to work quite well.  The pickles delighted me in much the same way - one bite of one of these, particularly with a little ketchup/mustard/mayo on it because they are adjacent in the sandwich construction, and classic fast food burger vibes are so strong.  No, they aren't my great aunt's "famous" pickles, they aren't even good grocery store pickles, but they are fast food pickles, and I kinda adored them and wanted more.  Highlight of my burger.

The cheese was a single thin slice, American, as is their standard (I could opt to upgrade to swiss, but, nah).  Again, not fancy, but, it works in this setting.  I did kinda want double cheese though, it felt a bit meager.

And finally, of course, the burger patty.  Thin.  Fully cooked.  Firm.  Not particularly beefy.  It is what it is, no more, no less.  It wasn't worse or better than any other BK or McD's patty to me.  Certainly best with the cheese and condiments.  Not really my style of burger, I'd prefer thicker, juicier, mid-rare, charred on the outside, and well, higher quality beef, but, again, it met expectations, and was fine for what it was.

I'll give this a low 3/5 because it truly was an absolutely fine burger of this style, no surprises whatsoever.

Update Review, March 2025

It turns out, I've been missing out at Burger King.

Now, I haven't actually been to Burger King *that* many times in my life (my family and field hockey team were always McDonald's bound when fast food was in order, my high school friends and I were team Wendy's, and, well, I pretty much stopped eating fast food other than out of novelty for freebies or in other countries since actually growing up), so I suppose it makes sense that I had never tried some hits on the menu (no, not burgers or fries), but I was still a bit surprised that folks don't mention some of these things more!  (and, as I went through my love affair with the Hershey Sundae Pie, and proclaimed its goodness to everyone around, none of THEM had ever had it either ...).

Anyway, without further ado, I had some random BK rewards points (er, crowns) to spend, and decided to have fun with them.  Spoiler: zomg, the sundae pie!

Onion Rings (Value Size).
$4.09 / 250 Crowns.

"Golden brown, hot, and crispy."

Behold, my first Burger King onion rings.  If you are unfamiliar with these, just a warning: they are really quite different from most people's expectations of onion rings (including mine, but I had done my research so I knew what I was getting in to).  For example, um, they don't have an actual slice of onion inside the ring form.

Yes, onion rings can come in different shapes, sizes, and styles in general.  They can be crumb coated like these, or beer battered, or Japanese tempura. They can be seasoned or not. They can be thin, they can be just strings, they can be thick and juicy inside.  They can be petite, have a large girth, or be a mix.  The batter can fall off too easily, the onions can be overly slimy inside, etc, etc.  I personally prefer beer battered or tempura, thick, and assorted sizes.  These are crumbed, small, and all about the same size.  And yes, again, they don't have an actual onion slice inside.

The crumb coated style and petite size already makes them a bit 'eh' to me, but they had some good qualities.  They were very well seasoned (high salt level!), and remarkably crispy.  I got my order fresh from the fryer, and they were piping hot inside too.  Well drained, not too greasy nor oily.  For all these reasons, I did like them.

But then there is the whole glaring issue: the lack of onion inside the ring!  They taste vaguely onion-y, but really its just more a savory fried crispy crumb ring.  Which is good, much in the way that Funyuns can be good, but, when I think of an onion ring, I want more than just vaguely onion-y savory fried things.  I applaud Burger King for having onion rings in the first place, as they aren't very common at generic fast food restaurants, but ... you kinda gotta just think of these as fried savory crumb rings.  As fast food fried side items go, I'd give them a high ***+, but if I was judging as onion rings, they'd only get a **.  They really are so crispy and I did enjoy them, all the caveats aside.

Best dipped in bbq or honey mustard.

(And if you are curious, the ingredients list for these is amusing.  Of course, they do not actually contain actual onions, you will not see "onion" listed as an ingredient.  Only minced onion.  And that is the 5th ingredient, behind #1 corn meal, #2 vegetable oil, #3 salt, and #4 rice flour.  MSG, whey, buttermilk powder, and a whole lots of chemicals round them out.)

Soft Serve Cup.
$2.79 / 250 Crowns.

"Cool, creamy, and velvety soft serve."

It had been a while since I last had Burger King's frozen soft serve confection, which, you will note, is not called "ice cream" on the menu, and is not described that way either.  Like most fast food soft serve, it is not, in fact, ice cream, as it contains too little milk fat.  Soft serve frozen dairy delight it is.

The soft serve can come in a cup or cone.  One small size only, thus, I got two.  No toppings available.  McDonald's definitely has the edge in that they at least have sauces to put on top of a sundae, or obviously mix-ins for McFlurries.  Burger King has none of that.  Just soft serve.

But the soft serve really is decent.  The most remarkable aspect to me is just how creamy it is, and how perfectly it melts.  Kinda exactly my mental model for how soft serve should melt, including the rate at which it should do so.  The flavor is sweet but not cloying.  Vaguely vanilla-ish maybe?  

I wouldn't go out of my way for this soft serve, but if I had a craving for a cone on a hot day, or wanted a soft serve pairing with a dessert, it would do just fine.  ***.

Hershey Sundae Pie.
$3.69 / 400 Crowns.

I've heard about this pie for years.  People on the internet rave about it.  Strangely, no one I've ever been around in person has ever mentioned it.  I certainly hadn't ever sought it out.  Until now.  

The pie comes packaged in a cardboard box, and in this case, even labelled with the date it had been pulled from the freezer.  They take no care to make this look homemade or special in any way.

But that's ok.  Because once you have this, you'll know it is special.

Hershey Sundae Pie. $3.69.

"Say hello to our HERSHEY’S®? Sundae Pie. One part crunchy chocolate crust and one part chocolate crème filling, garnished with a delicious topping of fudge drizzle and real HERSHEY’S® Chocolate Chips."

"A crunchy chocolate crust filled with chocolate crème filling and garnished with real HERSHEY’S® Chocolate Chips."

OMG, OMG, OMG.

One bite is all it took to break into extreme joy.  This this was good.  Really, really, really good.

I don't even know where to start.  Every element was glorious.  Amazingly sweet, crispy, chocolate crumble crust.  Definitely not a throwaway component, and I loved the texture it added.  Light as air milk chocolate mousse and sweetened whipped marshmallow-like fluff (er, "crème filling").  Although it looks like the marshmallowy one was only along the back crust, it actually was under the chocolate filling, and vice versa (under the marshmallow one was chocolate crème).  Then the decoration, a chocolate drizzle that hardened a bit like magic shell, and a few little chocolate chips, both added a stronger, darker chocolate component and more texture.  Did I wish there were more chips?  Well, sure, mine literally had just 5 (!), but still, a minor quibble. 

Glory.  I loved every bite of it.  Definitely not something you share, and the light nature of it makes it extremely easy to devour and not feel weighed down.  I can't wait to get another!  ****+.

Update review: 

I had it again and loved it.  Sooo fluffy and whipped like.  The marshmallow layer did dominate this time, so it was really quite sweet, I somewhat wished for more chocolate flavor, but, I still did quite enjoy it.  It also seemed to have less crust to add that fun texture and chocolate element, but more of the shell-like chocolate drizzle on top, so, some slight differences and trade-offs.  Still fantastic, and something I'd gladly get again.  4.5/5.

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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Crumbl Cookies

Update Review, August 2025 Visit

My second ever visit to Crumbl.  We don't have a location in SF surprisingly, so I've only ever visited while traveling.  Even my hometown in NH has one now, so I find it a bit puzzling that they haven't opened any in SF yet ... but anyway, on to the review!

Display Cookies.

The week I visited, Crumbl had a fairly boring (to me) lineup of 7 primary cookies, along with one trendy Dubai Chocolate Brownie, plus the minis.  From the 7, two of the cookies featured Oreos (one golden, one regular) and I dislike Oreos, so those were out.  One was just the basic chocolate chip, which is just boring.  The Kit Kat, S'mores, and chocolate peanut butter just really didn't call out to me.  I was striking out.  But the final one, strawberry pretzel pie, was at least vaguely interesting.  Still, not a week that excited me, but I still picked up a cookie.

As always, the cookies were showcased in a display when you enter.

Strawberry Pretzel Pie Cookie.
(Chilled). $5.29.

"A buttery pie-inspired cookie rolled in pretzel pieces, adorned with whipped cream cheese topping, house-made strawberry jam, and more crunchy pretzel pieces."

My choice was easy, the only interesting (to me) one: strawberry pretzel pie.  Inspired by strawberry pretzel salad/pie, if you are familiar with that sorta retro Southern 1960s dessert with strawberry Jello, Cool Whip, and cream cheese, usually on a pretzel crust base as a bar, or made into a pie crust shell.  The Crumbl spin on it of course was a cookie.  This is one of the chilled offerings.

It was assembled to order, with the whipped cream cheese topping, jam, and pretzel garnish added to order.  It was presented to me for my approval, and handed over.  I immediately plucked off the pretzel from the top, dragged it through the jam and whipped topping, and plopped it into my mouth.

I was let down but also quite happy, all at once.  Let down because the pretzel was soft, soggy, kinda stale ... even though assembled to order and consumed literally on the spot.  This confused me.  Clearly the pretzels in the assembly station weren't exactly the freshest.  So, -1 point for the "more crunchy pretzel pieces" being well, not that.

But the jam!  Oh the jam.  The jam was incredible.  It looked a bit ho-hum, and I know people really like it and that it is house-made, and, yeah, it is rave worthy.  Intensely fruity, concentrated berry flavor.  It was far from generic strawberry jam you'd find at a diner.  They make it in-house at the individual stores.  Excellent jam, although it was very sweet.  4/5.

Then, the whipped topping.  This sorta reminded me of slightly cream cheese-y Cool Whip.  Far lighter and more like a mousse than cheesecake, but with some of those flavors in there.  It went great with the jam, just like it would go great with the strawberry jello in the classic pretzel pie, but it too was really fairly sweet, particularly alongside the jam, I found myself wanting it to have the sweetness toned down a bit, and the cheesiness amped up.  Probably 4/5 for that too, isolated, but maybe 3.5 in this application due to sweetness. (Oh, wow, I looked up the ingredients, and yes, it actually *is* Cool Whip and cream cheese, lol).

And then of course, there is the fact that this is a cookie after all.  The cookie base was quite interesting.  A thick, soft cookie.  Buttery, sweet but not too sweet, sorta like a softer shortbread almost with the high buttery flavor.  But also it was studded with candied pretzel pieces, so many pretzel pieces, baked inside and then it was rolled in them.  They added a lot of texture, flavor, and salt.  It was a fairly decadent tasting base cookie. 3.5/5 base.

Put it all together, and you have sweet, fruity, creamy, salty, yep, yep, yep.  But it still trended too sweet for me overall, fine in small pieces, or with black coffee or red wine, but hard to really devour on its own (not that you should necessary try to take this down in one sitting anyway. T his is actually one of their more modest desserts, only 620 calories (the rest of the lineup was more in the 800 range, or even over 1000 for the Dubai chocolate brownie), but still, an undertaking (it is also available in mini form).

I enjoyed trying this, but I wouldn't get it again. High 3.5/5.

Original Review, January 2024

I spent many years not really being into cookies, mostly considering them a snack, and not worthy of a full fledged dessert slot.  Sure, a cookie could be an element of a dessert, but you'd never find me eating just a cookie and calling that dessert.

Sometime during the covid lockdown, I got a bit more, let's say, adaptable, and settled on eating cookies more.  Yes, I did still normally warm them up and serve them with ice cream sandwiched in-between, or I'd dunk into whipped cream and sprinkles, but, I finally started eating more cookies, and even, gasp, craving them from time to time.

This past summer, when I was in New York for my birthday, I of course did my annual birthday freebie crawl, and was delighted to have so many more venues to hit up.  One of those was Crumbl, a fairly popular nationwide cookie chain, that somehow doesn't have a location in SF.

Crumbl is a relatively new chain, started only in 2017.  They have more than 800 stores in the US now, and some internationally.  Rapid expansion, for sure.

They started out with serving literally just chocolate chip cookies, but quickly expanded the menu too.  The concept now is actually fairly unique, with 6 cookies offered every week, the same 6 at every Crumbl location, and they change weekly on Mondays.  Seasonal offerings abound.  This gives a consistent experience across locations, but, a constant sense of missing out and thus needing to visit, stat.   They have a decent loyalty program, and, yes, a free cookie on your birthday.  I'll gladly return, and wish they'd open in SF.

Daily Offerings.

Every week features a new rotation of 5 cookies (I think chocolate chip is always offered), which run Mon-Sat (they are closed on Sun, nationwide), and every store can do a "mystery cookie" of their choice, which changes throughout the week.  The lineup includes a mix of both warm and chilled cookies.  They are all quite large, bigger than average cookies (I later looked it up, and saw the serving size is 1/4 of a cookie ... doh).  They do also make some mini (e.g. normal size) cookies.

The week I visited, the lineup was: semi-sweet chocolate chunk (warm), caramel pumpkin cake (warm), chocolate peanut butter ft. Oreo (warm), key lime pie (chilled), chocolate toffee cake (warm), and the mystery flavor was another chocolate one (also warm).

Box.

Cookies are prepared to order, so, warm ones are warmed up, and *then* toppings are applied as needed (which makes sense, as the toppings would melt as the cookies are warmed, and most have some kind of frosting/whipped cream/etc on top).

Since mine was a chilled cookie, I didn't realize it too would be prepared to order, but it was filled and topped to order, and then put in a box, perfectly sized to fit the (very large) cookie.  Again, these are not normal size cookies.

Key Lime Pie.

"Our refreshing classic key lime pie rendition includes a chilled buttered graham crust, zesty lime filling, whipped cream, graham cracker crumbs, and a fresh lime wedge to squeeze on top."

If you read my blog much, you'll realize what an odd order this is for me.  I don't tend to like citrus based desserts.  But ...  I didn't want something with chocolate (as it was evening and I avoid caffeine), so, that left with me with the choice of the pumpkin cake one, or this.  As it was just barely the start of September, and 95* out (!!!), I certainly was not ready to delve into pumpkin spice themes, I was in full on summer mode still.  Thus, key lime pie it was.

I was very pleased with this "cookie".  Calling it a cookie is a bit odd, but, I guess, at the heart, the base *is* a cookie.  It was a fascinating graham cookie, not anything like a graham cracker, more, well, like a sweet sugar cookie, perfectly soft and sweet, but ... it tasted exactly like graham cracker.  Also not like a graham crust you'd find in a normal key lime pie either, it was not crumbly and dusty like that.  Really unique and interesting.  Far better than any graham cracker I've ever had, or any graham cracker crust, which I generally really do not care for.  Very thick, yet so soft.  **** cookie base.

And then, the key lime filling.  This was a little bit more runny than what you'd find in a well set key lime pie, but, it was smooth, creamy, tangy, lightly sweet.  Not a curd, which I appreciated, as I don't tend to like citrus curds.  Nice lime flavor.  Also quite good.  ****.

The little dot of whipped cream, the sprinkle of graham cracker crumbs, and the half a thin slice of lime really elevated the presentation dramatically, even if they were fairly easily lost in the end creation.

Overall, soft, sweet, tangy, unique, and definitely one of the most interesting cookies I've had in a long time.  I'd get it again, but now really want to try more of their offerings!  **** overall.

I was a bit thrown off by the fact that the sign said "180 calories" for the cookie ... that just didn't make sense, given the size, and decadent taste and fillings.  When I looked in more detail on the website, I found the reason why: the serving size is 1/4 of a cookie.  Aha.  If I was to eat the whole cookie, it clocks in at 720 calories!  Which definitely makes more sense, but also is far more than I expected.

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