Welcome to Hit Or Miss, a review series where we take the newest fast food products on the scene, eat them, and tell you whether they’re worth your time and money. We’ve all been tempted — and burned — by new food products. Do you risk it all on the new thing, or stand by your tried and true choice? Let us help you mitigate the risk of a bad order.
This week, Wendy’s added a brand new item to their ever-growing breakfast menu. Unlike most of the chain’s breakfast foods — which consist mostly of croissant and biscuit sandwiches — this time the chain is actually tackling a tried and true breakfast staple: French toast.
Wendy’s Homestyle French Toast Sticks are available now at Wendy’s nationwide during breakfast hours and will be offered as both a four-piece and six-piece a la carte, as well as a six-piece combo, served with potato wedges and a drink. According to Wendy’s, the sticks are made with real eggs and milk custard and are paired with a new syrup dip. Wendy’s has a lot of salty and savory options on their menu (biscuits and gravy and the breakfast Baconator for two) but this is the first time the chain has taken a stab at a sweet option. We were psyched to see how one of our favorite fast food chains tackled this.
Let’s see how they fare.
Homestyle French Toast Sticks
Tasting Notes:
I know we aren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover, but with food, as the old saying goes, you eat with your eyes first, and sometimes you can just tell when something isn’t going to be good. I took one in-person look at these French Toast Sticks and I could just tell they were going to be bad. Good French toast has a soft, spongey quality with a perfectly crispy outer, so that when you first take the bite you’re greeted with a buttery crispiness making way for a soft and rich mouthfeel. Wendy’s French Toast Sticks… evoke none of that.
In the marketing material for these sticks, Wendy’s makes a point of mentioning how they’re made with real eggs and dipped in milk custard enhanced with a slight hint of vanilla. My question is, when?
As in, when were these things made, because all I’m getting from these sticks is a stale blandness. It’s like eating really sweet cardboard. I’d be very surprised to find out that these things are made in-house, my assumption is that they’re pre-made and shipped to Wendy’s frozen. I don’t know if that’s true, but that’s what it tastes like.
The toast is incredibly dense, and incredibly dry without the syrup. Sans syrup, these sticks already have a sort of maple-infused flavor, but it tastes muddled and flat like it’s being held back by something. The flavors never really come through.
Once dipped in Wendy’s ’Syrup,’ (which is just corn syrup and brown sugar) things improve a lot. The vanilla and maple notes come to the forefront and it works as a great distraction for the dryness of the French toast itself. Still, it’s a bit too sugary sweet to really enjoy. With the syrup, this is sweeter than any French toast I’ve ever had, including the stuff that’s smothered in berries, whipped cream, and brown sugar.
The Bottom Line:
It’s a miss! Stale, dry, and way too sweet. It doesn’t have that spongey, fluffy, soft luxurious mouthfeel that makes French Toast a breakfast favorite.
Find your nearest Wendy’s here.