Whos down in Whoville, and underwater residents of Bikini Backside, there’s information for each of you: McDonald’s and Burger King, longtime fast-food rivals, are going head-to-head. Or, to be extra correct, scary red-wigged, face-painted clown head towards equally scary red-bearded crown-wearing head.
On Tuesday, McDonald’s launched The Grinch Meal, and on the identical day, Burger King rolled out its SpongeBob SquarePants menu. So when you’re sick of Thanksgiving leftovers and wish some quick meals as an alternative, you possibly can determine in case your style buds resonate with the crabby inexperienced Grinch or the all the time cheerful SpongeBob.
Each are limited-edition choices, so get to your native McDonald’s or Burger King quickly if you wish to check out the meals.
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McDonald’s Grinch Meal Assessment
Truthfully, McDonald’s Grinch Meal is not as inventive as BK’s choices — the place are the green-dyed buns, the inexperienced shake or the McRoast Beast burger? Primarily, the Grinch Meal is an grownup Pleased Meal, consisting of your alternative of an everyday Huge Mac or a 10-piece Hen McNuggets, fries and a medium drink.
Fries with Grinch Salt (dill-pickle seasoning)
McDonald’s common fries include a bag of Grinch Salt, which is just dill-pickle seasoning. You additionally obtain a lunch bag-sized sack to dump the fries and seasoning in so you possibly can shake them up collectively.
McDonald’s provides just one uncommon meals merchandise with the Grinch Meal, and that is an adjunct for the fries. They arrive with a small bag of tangy dill pickle seasoning, labeled Grinch Salt, that you simply’re alleged to shake in your fries for a puckery addition. Pickles, just like the Grinch, are inexperienced and bitter, so I assume that is the connection right here.
My assessment: How did they style? Fairly good! I am a pickle fan, and as soon as I shook them up, the fries have been bitter and salty and general pleasant. Two inexperienced, furry thumbs up. I want there was a pickle-flavored dipping sauce too.
Grade: A-.
No Grinch toy, however … socks?
Pleased Meals all the time include an additional toy or prize of some sort. However there is not any Grinch stuffed animal or Cindy Lou Who figurine with McDonald’s Grinch Meal, though the field all of it is available in is cute and Grinchy-themed.
Each McDonald’s Grinch Meal comes with one in all 4 completely different pair of Grinch socks, every of which has a scrawled message from the Grinch on them.
As a substitute, you get the one Christmas present that is so cliched there are countless jokes about it: a pair of socks. There are 4 completely different Grinch-themed socks exhibiting The Grinch, Cindy Lou Who, Max the canine and a few McDonald’s logo-themed ornaments. Every pair additionally has an all-caps, hand-scrawled-looking message from the Grinch.
The blue socks learn: “These socks stink.”
The yellow socks learn: “Nostril Hazard.”
The pink socks learn: “Property of the Grinch.”
And the inexperienced socks learn, “The Grinch was right here.”
My assessment: I ended up with the yellow pair of socks. They appear to be of respectable high quality, and contemplating how lame some fast-food prizes are, this was a rating for me. I’d truly put on them.
Socks are a laughed-at vacation present, however for a fast-food prize, they are not that unhealthy.
Grade: A
Burger King SpongeBob SquarePants menu
If McDonald’s type of went Grinch-appropriate stingy on its Grinch choices, Burger King went Sponge Bob-overboard with the beneficiant SpongeBob SquarePants menu. SpongeBob followers, you would possibly as effectively go all out and order the Bikini Backside Bundle, which supplies you all 4 of the themed objects in a pineapple-shaped field.
King Jr. children’ meal in a pineapple field
The SpongeBob figurine that got here with the children’ meal was fairly cute, for a fast-food toy.
There is not any grownup meal, however there’s a King Jr. children’ meal, in a field formed like SpongeBob’s underwater pineapple dwelling. It consists of one in all six SpongeBob toys.
My assessment: My toy was a figurine of SpongeBob carrying a pirate’s cap and clutching a ship’s wheel. There was alleged to be a Burger King SpongeBob crown too, however my location should’ve forgotten to present these out. The SpongeBob toy was fairly cool as children’ toys go, although. And the pineapple field is cute.
Grade: A-
Krabby Patty? Nearly!
As each SpongeBob fan is aware of, the cheerful sponge is a fry cook dinner at The Krusty Krab, serving up Krabby Patties all day lengthy, so he is aware of his quick meals. Burger King has loads of themed menu objects, far more than the McDonald’s Grinch choices.
SpongeBob’s Krabby Whopper
SpongeBob’s Krabby Whopper has no crab (or krab), fortunately. The yellow, squarish bun is type of neat, although. That is not a chunk I took out of it, the sting of the bun was simply type of damaged like that.
SpongeBob’s Krabby Whopper is the closest factor to the Krabby Patty from the present. (Wendy’s had a Krabby Patty and Pineapple Frosty final yr, you would possibly recall.) It appears to be a reasonably abnormal Whopper till you get to the bun, which is sq. and yellow, identical to our spongy hero. The yellow dye is made with pure spices, Burger King says. In any other case, the Whopper is only a common Whopper.
My assessment: The Whopper shouldn’t be my favourite burger, however I’ve to say the light-yellow, squared-off bun appears tremendous cool. It did not style any completely different, however I appreciated it.
Grade: B
Mr. Krabs’ Tacky Bacon Tots
Mr. Krabs’ Tacky Bacon Tots have been about as likable because the stingy Mr. Krabs himself. That’s to say, by no means.
Mr. Krabs’ Tacky Bacon Tots are crispy, coin-shaped potato tots crammed with cheese, bacon bits and potatoes, served in a treasure chest-themed carton.
My assessment: Ugh, cross on these. The bogus style of the bacon is fairly terrible, and it dried out in about 3 seconds.
Grade: C-
Patrick’s Star-berry Shortcake Pie assessment
Patrick’s Star-berry Shortcake Pie was probably the greatest fast-food desserts I’ve ever tried.
Patrick Star is SpongeBob’s greatest buddy, and in his honor, you possibly can order Patrick’s Star-berry Shortcake Pie. It is a strawberry shortcake pie slice that includes strawberry and vanilla-flavored creamy layers, a crunchy cookie crumb crust, shortcake cookie crumbles and pink star-shaped sprinkles.
My assessment: Yum! I am not often a fan of any fast-food dessert, however this was candy and creamy, and the crust was tasty, too.
Grade: A
Pirate’s Frozen Pineapple Float assessment
The Pirate’s Frozen Pineapple Float was a delight. Assume a pineapple Slurpee, however higher.
Honoring SpongeBob’s pineapple dwelling, you possibly can order a Pirate’s Frozen Pineapple Float, described as “an icy, refreshing frozen pineapple-flavored beverage topped with tropical-flavor chilly foam.”
My assessment: This was my favourite merchandise amongst all of the meals. I did not actually detect any tropical flavoring within the “chilly foam,” however the drink was type of like a classed-up pineapple Slurpee, refreshing and candy.
Grade: A+
Grinch Meal or SpongeBob Menu, which tastes higher?
Quick meals is what it’s, however the design of the SpongeBob and Grinch bins have been fairly cute, and the SpongeBob figurine and Grinch socks have been higher than most included objects in these type of meals.
Is it incorrect to say I appreciated the non-edible components of each meals virtually greater than the meals? The Grinch socks have been respectable high quality and cute, and the SpongeBob figurine was enjoyable.
Meals-wise, Burger King will get factors for the tasty pineapple float and the Patrick pie. The McDonald’s meal is simply McDonald’s meals with the dill-pickle seasoning for fries added. That is tremendous so far as it goes, nevertheless it does not go that far.
My vote, then, is when you’re solely going to go to one in all these chains earlier than the limited-edition themed meals go away, hit up Burger King and check out the Bikini Backside Bundle. Until you are an unlimited Grinch fan, pickle lover or actually need some new socks.