It’s decent food… but fails to reach it’s potential due to service problems.

When I was a kid growing up in Connecticut, I would occasionally see these stores named “Wawa” but at some point they all disappeared. Wikipedia says the company abandoned most of the New York Metro area and New England because it was too competitive. Wawa stores remain in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. It’s a basic convenience store, similar to 7-11, and most newer locations also sell gas. For me, what makes Wawa great are their delicious hoagies.

There’s a self-service touch-screen ordering menu in each store where you can order hoagies, soups and more. The chicken salad hoagie with extra provolone cheese is my standard choice, and I would pick it over Subway or Quiznos any day. For the amount of meat they pile on, and the price, those other chains don’t compare.

I’d never eaten other items from the hoagie shop, but recently a billboard for their Hot Turkey and Stuffing Bowl got my attention. I hoped their bowls would be just as good as their hoagies, and since Thanksgiving is right around the corner, it might help me get into the holiday spirit. After trying it twice, it appears my order was incorrectly made both times. According to the WAWA website I should have received hot turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. When ordering the first time, there was no stuffing in my bowl. I’m not sure why… maybe they ran out. For that matter it was NOT an option on the menu screen. They did offer cranberry sauce, which I decided to add.

So I got my first bowl and was quite excited. It felt pretty hefty, though I suspected it was probably just mashed potatoes weighing it down. When I opened the container and got a whiff, for some reason my first thought was cat food. After a few seconds, and to my relief, I was getting a familiar aroma of turkey and gravy. There was a lot of gravy, so much I worried it was going to spill. As I thought, the majority of the bowl was mashed potatoes. Thick sliced turkey was sitting on top, with a small amount of cranberry sauce finishing it off. When I finally jumped in, I devoured everything pretty quickly. The potatoes and gravy were great, but the turkey didn’t stand out. If I took a piece of turkey alone, I could taste it, however it wasn’t very flavorful. If I took an entire forkful of different ingredients, the turkey flavor got lost completely. There wasn’t much cranberry sauce but it was strong and tasted great. I kept thinking it would have been better with stuffing, and how it should be mandatory in a Thanksgiving Bowl.

On my visit to another WAWA location, I discovered they had stuffing available there. Problem solved, right? Not exactly. This time, I received NO turkey and NO gravy. Yeah that’s right, my second bowl was just stuffing, cranberry sauce, and mashed potatoes. Maybe something went wrong with the automated ordering process, or maybe since it was 11:30 at night the person preparing it just wasn’t in the mood to do it correctly. Whatever the reason, it was very disappointing to see no turkey in my Hot Turkey Bowl. I didn’t want to waste my $3.17 and didn’t feel like driving back, so I dove in. It was actually not too bad. The stuffing was very tasty and just moist enough. The mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce tasted just like the first location. Even though it was incomplete and made incorrectly, I still enjoyed what was given to me.

This was a tough review for me to grade. Despite the lack of stuffing in the first bowl, and lack of turkey in the second, I still enjoyed both. They’re not in the same league as the excellent hoagies, but they’re good. If I had received all of the correct ingredients, I would probably be giving the Hot Turkey Bowl a score of B, but with errors on both visits and turkey taking a backseat to other ingredients, a C- feels appropriate.

Trying something new and different from the Wawa sandwich counter was a decent overall experience, but I think I’ll be sticking with the hoagies in the future. They actually offer this bowl in hoagie sandwich form, so maybe I will try that next. At the very least, eating two of these bowls from Wawa has gotten me excited for the real Thanksgiving meal that’s coming soon, and I know my mother and sister will prepare it right!

Price: $3.17 / Website: Wawa.com

Fast Food Critic Score: C-

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Nutrition Facts - Wawa, Hot Turkey and Stuffing Bowl.

Calories - 871
Calories from Fat - 414
Total Fat - 46 grams
Carbs - 78 grams
Saturated Fat - 16 grams
Trans Fat - 0 grams
Cholesterol - 51 milligrams
Sodium - 2783 milligrams
Protein - 37 grams

I’m not a cook, and I have no desire to become one, but I still enjoy being involved with my food (playing with it) whenever possible. Quiznos gives me that chance with their Chili Bread Bowl. It’s like a food kit, with all the parts you need to assemble your own meal. First, you get a large round sourdough loaf of bread, which has the top cut off to form a lid, and the majority of the inside scooped out to create a bowl-like receptacle. It’s a beautiful piece of bread, no doubt. Obviously not a typical fast food offering.

Quiznos calls it “Artisan” bread. What does that mean? By definition, it indicates the bread is crafted by a person or company who pays special attention to the ingredients and preparation. It’s created in smaller batches, as opposed to being mass produced. It contains no preservatives and no chemical additives. Artisan bread makers are often compared to craftsmen who work on jewelery or fine furniture. It’s a true art form, and a return to the old ways where quality was more important than quantity.

Truth be told, I’m not sure bread purists would consider what Quiznos serves as real Artisan bread, and I’m sure they could give specific reasons why, but I’m not here to debate the fine points of bread making. I only wanted to explain what’s going on with this particular item, and it’s indeed a nice piece of bread. It has a brown crispy outer crust that crackles and flakes when you bite or cut it, a soft warm white center that’s slightly chewy, and it’s coated with olive oil, garlic and oregano.

Before I talk about the chili or the cheese, I must tell you about the wonderful surprise I found at the bottom of my bread bowl. As I removed the lid preparing to pour my chili inside, I saw a thinly sliced piece of Black Angus Beef covered in melted cheddar. Did it somehow get dropped into my bowl on it’s way to another customer’s sandwich? Nope, a Quizno’s manager informed me that at one point, it was a regular practice for them to include a small portion of steak or beef at the base of each bowl.

Eventually they stopped doing it, for whatever reason, and today it depends on the store and staff on duty. Some stores do it, some don’t. Some use Beef, others uses Steak or Chicken. So it’s a guessing game as to whether yours will include this extra ingredient, or which type of meat it might be. Ask them when you are ordering, to be sure, and once you verify that location does it, you can request whatever meat you want. I was assured by 2 different store managers this will never be a problem.

The chili and cheese each come in their own container, ready to be poured into the bread bowl. The chili is excellent, and I had no idea it was Turkey Chili until I asked. I’m so accustomed to the standard beef chili from almost every other source, this was a real surprise to me. It had all the hearty flavor and authentic taste that I’m used to, but with less fat content. It’s a thick mixture with big plump kidney beans, chunks of tomato, green and red peppers, onions and other spices. It’s mighty tasty!

The cheese is shredded into fairly large thick pieces. It’s a good tasting cheddar by fast food standards, and unlike most food items there’s a chance to sample the cheese before it gets added to the mix. Don’t get carried away though, because your going to want all that cheesy goodness to be melted on top of the chili.

Simply pour the chili into the bread bowl, then top it with the cheddar cheese, grab your spoon and start enjoying. And when you’re done with the great tasting main course, you eat the bowl it was served in. Very cool. Now, if only the spoon was edible.

Eating Tips - A) The thickness of the chili might tempt you to use a fork, but use a spoon. The spoon helps to gently carve away the soft bread lining inside, so you get tasty bread included with each bite. A fork can puncture the outer shell, causing a messy chili leak to occur. B) Save a little chili in the container, so when you’re left with the empty crusty bread, you can fold it up like a sandwich or large chip, and use that extra chili for dipping. I eat the whole bread shell. Every bite, even the lid.

The Turkey Chili Bread Bowl from Quiznos is delicious and different. It’s also fun to eat and build. For those unaware, this chain of stores has no drive-thrus, and it would be difficult to eat this in the car, but it’s definitely worth a trip inside to grab one. Some locations offer home delivery service. The chili was tasty enough that it inspired me to purchase several brands of turkey chili at the supermarket this week. I can cook those quickly and easily at home, with less fat than beef versions. I haven’t found anything as good as Quiznos recipe, but my eyes have been opened on the turkey topic.

Price: $5.49 / Website: Quiznos.com

Fast Food Critic Score: A-

Click here for rating system details.

Nutrition Facts - Quiznos Turkey Chili Bread Bowl.

Calories - 730
Calories from Fat - 200
Total Fat - 22 grams
Carbs - 104 grams
Saturated Fat - 7 grams
Trans Fat - 0.5 grams
Cholesterol - 50 milligrams
Sodium - 1680 milligrams
Protein - 31 grams

Editor’s Note: The slice of beef at the bottom of the bowl is NOT included in the nutrition numbers provided by Quiznos. Your guess is as good as mine.