Sonic: How good is it? I wouldn't know.
This may sound dumb to some of you on my flist, but ...
The greater "Chicagoland" area doesn't have a Sonic ... until last Tuesday when one opened in Aurora, the suburb west of where I'm at. Chicago has the big 3, McDonald's, BK, and Wendy's; and we have White Castle ... and we have the local Portillo's chain, where out-of-towners make it a must-stop for either a burger or a Chicago-style dog.
We used to have Hardee's, but they moved out & Culver's has taken over their locations. We used to have Checkers, but they're gone. And we've got a couple of Steak n' Shake's, where the food quality and service is about as consistent as the weather.
So the local tv news and papers hyped their opening and since I had the afternoon off last Tuesday to take my dad to a dr. appt., we decided to check it out after. We got there around 2:30 in the afternoon & it looked omnious when we arrived; there were guys and cars blocking the parking lot like a crime scene. They would not let any cars in, they would not let any pedestrians in due to the crowds. We didn't see a "wait" unti we looked to an adjacent lot and they had a shitload of cars queued up waiting to go in. The cars were bunched so closely, that if you changed your mind about waiting, you'd be screwed. We overheard the wait was 45 minutes; I think that was a generous estimate. The staff blocking the parking lot seemed unapologetic and unsympathetic and pretty much ignored you and your queries unless you were trying to physically cross the demarcation line of the lot to get in. Some of the kid workers (on a break?) were in an adjoining lot seemed it was a joke and debated whether to return to work. I later found out that a co-worker's wife was there around 1:30 and waited a hour and 45 minutes to get in. No, we didn't eat there; we left quite frustrated. You'd think it was the fiasco when Disneyland first opened. Yeah, it's the novelty of a new place, but IF I ever try to go back, it will likely be a couple of months; I really don't go to that immediate area, and I was really turned off by the initial experience.
So, Sonic ... those of you who have it, do you like it? Worth it? Do you HAVE to have a car to go to one?
The greater "Chicagoland" area doesn't have a Sonic ... until last Tuesday when one opened in Aurora, the suburb west of where I'm at. Chicago has the big 3, McDonald's, BK, and Wendy's; and we have White Castle ... and we have the local Portillo's chain, where out-of-towners make it a must-stop for either a burger or a Chicago-style dog.
We used to have Hardee's, but they moved out & Culver's has taken over their locations. We used to have Checkers, but they're gone. And we've got a couple of Steak n' Shake's, where the food quality and service is about as consistent as the weather.
So the local tv news and papers hyped their opening and since I had the afternoon off last Tuesday to take my dad to a dr. appt., we decided to check it out after. We got there around 2:30 in the afternoon & it looked omnious when we arrived; there were guys and cars blocking the parking lot like a crime scene. They would not let any cars in, they would not let any pedestrians in due to the crowds. We didn't see a "wait" unti we looked to an adjacent lot and they had a shitload of cars queued up waiting to go in. The cars were bunched so closely, that if you changed your mind about waiting, you'd be screwed. We overheard the wait was 45 minutes; I think that was a generous estimate. The staff blocking the parking lot seemed unapologetic and unsympathetic and pretty much ignored you and your queries unless you were trying to physically cross the demarcation line of the lot to get in. Some of the kid workers (on a break?) were in an adjoining lot seemed it was a joke and debated whether to return to work. I later found out that a co-worker's wife was there around 1:30 and waited a hour and 45 minutes to get in. No, we didn't eat there; we left quite frustrated. You'd think it was the fiasco when Disneyland first opened. Yeah, it's the novelty of a new place, but IF I ever try to go back, it will likely be a couple of months; I really don't go to that immediate area, and I was really turned off by the initial experience.
So, Sonic ... those of you who have it, do you like it? Worth it? Do you HAVE to have a car to go to one?