Fast Food Critic - Reviews, News and Nutrition Information about Fast Food.

When you offer something called “Toaster Sandwiches” using extra thick sliced bread (aka: Texas Toast) it’s important you get the toasted part down. Otherwise you end up with big thick soggy bread, and it’s a turn-off. Over a period of 2 weeks, I’ve tried these breakfast sandwiches at four different Sonic locations, and all but one had the same disappointing result. Look folks, it’s not that good a sandwich to begin with, so when you can’t even toast the bread properly, it makes a big negative impact.

Anyway… moving on. The sausage patties are OK, about on average with many of the fast food breakfast competition. The egg is good, but it’s not asking much to get a decent egg for breakfast. Then again, I thought the same thing about toast. The slice of American cheese sits between the egg and sausage, melting between them and creating a nice cheesy flavor with each bite. It also bonds them together.

The inside of this sandwich would greatly benefit from a properly toasted outside. As it stands, the bread is too soft, and feels like something that I just took out of a plastic supermarket package. Of course I would never use such thick bread in the first place unless it was toasted, and I really don’t think Sonic intends to either. It seems that some employees are just not paying attention, or they don’t know any better.

Imagine biting into a crisp, golden brown toasty bread. Perhaps like this picture of the sandwiches on Sonic’s website. That would be great. That’s how it should be.

After all, this is not a case of exaggerated food photography where the burgers look bigger, vegetables look fresher, and so on. It’s just toast. Come on!

Apparently, they do place the bread over (or thru) some type of heat before serving, so technically speaking it’s toasted, but I would like to refer Sonic and their employees to this page at Wikipedia which explains what toast is, and includes pictures of un-toasted VS toasted bread. Hopefully between that page, and the picture on Sonic’s own website, they can figure it out. Big, thick, plain un-toasted white bread is NOT very appetizing, and it overwhelms the flavors of the other ingredients. My “toast” would have been better with a Bic lighter held underneath it for a few seconds.

The Breakfast Toaster Sandwich from Sonic is not bad, however it suffers from the bread issue, and it’s overall taste is nothing above average. Most fast food places have a version of sausage, egg and cheese. Some use biscuits. Some use buns. Others wrap it up in a tortilla. I was excited about a Texas Toast version, and felt it had a chance to stand out. Unfortunately there was only 1 sandwich delivered to me with the bread toasted beyond the slightest little bit. As expected, it was better that way, and I’m sure it’s the way Sonic intends for the sandwich to be served. I think somebody at corporate needs to create a “Toast 101″ class and get it started ASAP.

Price: $2.19 / Website: SonicDriveIn.com

Fast Food Critic Score: C-

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Nutrition Facts - Sonic Breakfast Toaster, Sausage, Egg and Cheese.

Calories - 630
Calories from Fat - 350
Total Fat - 39 grams
Carbs - 46 grams
Saturated Fat - 13 grams
Trans Fat - 1.5 grams
Cholesterol - 340 milligrams
Sodium - 1380 milligrams
Protein - 23 grams

I don’t eat many breakfast items these days, because I’m usually not awake early enough to visit during the limited hours they are being served. This is not a problem at Jack In The Box because their breakfast menu is available around the clock.

After so many big meals recently, I have decided to eat something ‘light’. I’ve seen the french toast sticks advertised and they appeared to be the item I was looking for. They offer a blueberry version, so I picked those. I got four sticks for $1.69, which is a good deal. They come with a small container of Log Cabin Maple Syrup on the side.

They had a golden crunchy outer layer that caved-in from the pressure of my first bite, revealing a soft and chewy warm center. The taste was similar to real french toast, and the texture reminded me of a cake-donut that had just been cooked. There’s a light coating of powdered sugar on the outside, and small specs of blueberries are barely visible. The problem is there aren’t many blueberries outside, and none on the inside. A couple of my sticks contained hardly any at all. That was very disappointing.

After eating the first one plain, I dipped the next one in maple syrup. That made a big difference, and I found myself flooded with memories of french toast breakfasts from days gone past. These little things are pretty good. They have a genuine french toast flavor, and would make a great snack for any time of day, not just breakfast. Each stick is about the size of a granola bar, but much lighter of course. Plan on eating all 4.

About those Blueberries — Not only were they hard to see, they were hard to taste. There was the occasional lucky bite, but otherwise I would never have known I was eating the blueberry variety. That’s unfortunate, but maybe I got a weak batch of sticks. I will go back again later, and post an update for this review if anything changes.

The Blueberry French Toast Sticks from Jack In The Box are light, tasty and cheap. They have a wonderful crunch followed by a soft chewy middle. They are especially good when using the included maple syrup. Jack has basically turned french toast into a portable snack. My only real complaint is the lack of blueberries, and seeing how these are the blueberry version, that’s a significant complaint.

Fast Food Critic Score:3.5 out of 5 stars.

Nutrition Facts - Jack In The Box, Blueberry French Toast Sticks (4).

Calories - 450
Calories from Fat - 180
Total Fat - 20 grams
Carbs - 59 grams
Saturated Fat - 4.5 grams
Trans Fat - 4.5 grams
Cholesterol - 0 milligrams
Sodium - 550 milligrams