Carl's Jr. in Calgary

[killramos]

That strip mall has always been a clusterfuck.

This is not helping.

[JustinMCS]

never a line up like it is now with carls jr.

[killramos]

No thats for sure. But even if CJ goes to 1/10 of its current volume long term i see this being a problem. The best thing Arby's had going for that block is no one went there lol.

[JustinMCS]

yep, there is just not much parking between 3 major places like carls jr, starbucks and earls :o

[darthVWader]

Went at 11:30 and the line was massive. Headed over to Jimmy's A&A

[RX_EVOLV]

The website said they close at 10pm so we went there last night at 940pm hopefully it wouldn't be too bad, but it turns out to be a huge cluster fuck. At least 30+ ppl waiting for the food inside, and ~8 cars lining up for the drive thru, beyond the parking lot and onto 16 ave. The drive thru line is actually in front of all the parking spots, and it's a narrow lot to begin with so there were a bunch of empty spots because no one could access them!

Luckily I live a couple blocks away so we just walked over. Waited ~ 5 mins to order and ~ 20 mins for the food. The food was okay but given the crowd ( mostly younger people) and the energy, it felt like I was on vacation! It was like having a midnight burger on the Vegas strip hah.

[lilmira]

If I have to wait that long for a burger, you'd better give me a beer first. Or I'm making my own, while drinking beer. Just give me a fucking beer goddammit.

[stillworking]

I had a burger that had jalapeño poppers on it. They call it El Diablo, it was pretty good.

I would avoid the bacon ranch poutine. It had bacon bits with a little ranch sauce and was terrible. Not sure if they forgot the cheese or what but even with cheese it wouldn't have been good.

[Hallowed_point]

I'm a big fan of the El Diablo burger as well as the oreo shake. I always stop in when I'm driving through Kelowna. I also agree on that strip mall being a cluster fuck though.

[speedog]

It's not a strip mall. Earl's, Starbucks and Carl's are three separate businesses and three separate parcels of land and could, if they wish, barricade their own parking lots from the others. Now wouldn't that be fun.

[R154]

Originally posted by speedog
It's not a strip mall. Earl's, Starbucks and Carl's are three separate businesses and three separate parcels of land and could, if they wish, barricade their own parking lots from the others. Now wouldn't that be fun.

For whatever reason, I just burst out laughing when I read this.

[03ozwhip]

Went to try it yesterday but like others have said, it was a cluster fuck. I was going to park and go in, until I saw how many people were in the place, jesus fuck.

Moral of the story, went to Peters instead.

[rx7_turbo2]

Originally posted by darthVWader
Went at 11:30 and the line was massive. Headed over to Jimmy's A&A

Did the same thing. Planned on Carl's Junior but on the walk over got a text from a buddy that it was a zoo, so detoured up to Jimmy's

[sabad66]

Had it today. They screwed up our order (gave me a regular $6 instead of el Diablo). Was really busy at around 12:45 but that's peak time so it was expected.

Decent overall but honestly nothing special. And pretty expensive to boot... Cost us $29.50 for 2 thick burgers, poutine, crissfries, milk shake and pop

I might go back but won't go out of my way for it

[FixedGear]

^$30 for that? Jesusfuckingchrist

[speedog]

Originally posted by FixedGear
^$30 for that? Jesusfuckingchrist

How so?

Two $6 burgers, poutine $5, fries $4, $4 shakes, $3 pop = $29.40 including GST..

[FixedGear]

What I meant is that $30 is expensive to feed 2 people such low grade food. I'd rather eat a microwave chicken burger from gas station.

[firebane]

Originally posted by FixedGear
What I meant is that $30 is expensive to feed 2 people such low grade food. I'd rather eat a microwave chicken burger from gas station.

Most places like this are stupid expensive; fat burger, 5 guys, smash burger and South street

[FixedGear]

Originally posted by firebane


Most places like this are stupid expensive; fat burger, 5 guys, smash burger and South street

How is Carl's Jr. anything like the restaurants you listed? Is Carl's Jr. taking a more upscale approach in Calgary? Here in the US, they are a typical fast food chain and actually serve lower quality food than the other big players such as McDonalds, Burger King, Arby's, etc. Their "sister chain" is Hardee's, if that tells you anything.

5 guys and Smashburger are able to charge higher prices because they serve a higher quality product. They use fresher, less processed ingredients and cook to order. That justifies the premium price. But Carl's Jr. is not that - they serve dry, pre-cooked from frozen hockey puck burgers and have to drench them in high fructose corn syrup 'sauces" so people don't choke to death trying to swallow it. It's some of the lower quality fast food you can buy. If I had to eat fast food, I'd take any of the major chains before Carl's Jr. Or like a I said, a microwave chicken burger from gas station.

Maybe Carl's Jr. is doing things differently in Calgary, or maybe they're just charging exorbitant prices from people that have seen the advertisements but never actually had the product (and are thus expecting more than they're going to get).

Does anyone really think this looks like high quality food? (note they *almost* edit out the guy grabbing a pre-cooked hockey puck from the warming tray):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kITx9j9ScLg&t=0m32s

[The_Rural_Juror]

I was there at 11:20 yesterday right before the zoo.

It came to just under $30 for two 1/3" thickburgers (combo with 2 bottles of water, poutine and onion rings) and small fries.

Burger buns were better than average, patties themselves were just alright. Fries and onion rings were average at best. Sauces were a bit too sugary and rich for me.

Overall, I still prefer 5 guys at the same price point.