Review: Carl's Jr. - Western Fries

Carl's Jr.'s Western Fries features the chain's natural-cut fries sprinkled with a seasoning that's meant to taste like the Western Bacon Cheeseburger--barbecue sauce, charbroiled beef, cheese, sesame seed bun, and all. It comes with barbecue sauce for dipping.

A small order cost me a rather pricey $3.99 (the seasoning and barbecue sauce costs $1.40 extra at my local Carl's Jr.).

The fries were freshly fried and hot and crispy as a result. Unfortunately, the seasoning really didn't live up to the promise. It basically tasted like generic barbecue sauce. There was an overall light flavor with a combination of tang, sweet, and smoky--kind of like a weaker French fry version of barbecue potato chips.

I was hunting for any hint of beef, bacon, cheese, onion, etc. but wasn't able to pick up on any of that.

The barbecue sauce just served to underscore the pointlessness of the seasoning as it offered the same general flavor but in a much stronger dose.

When it comes down to it, Carl's Jr. Western Fries didn't do anything for me. The seasoning was a far cry from tasting anything like a Western Bacon Cheeseburger and as the fries were they could have just given me regular fries and barbecue sauce to achieve the same flavor with less of a mess.