Heavyweight Battle: Carls Jr. vs In-N-Out

This started because my uncle from the Netherlands (who is my dad's cousin and is younger than me) wanted to eat cheeseburgers after Sunday's volleyball. He heard from me that my top two are Carls Jr and In-N-Out. Joe and Chris said In-N-Out are good and Carls was nasty. I have never been so insulted in my life. Carls may not be the best but it definately is better than nasty. Jon ranks Carls up there in his top three fast food places, probably only after Wendys. I rank Carls as my #1. So we realized that to bicker about our opinions was going nowhere, and that the only manly thing to do was to have a taste test right there. Luckily, near my house in Rowland Heights the Carls and InNOut are only 2 minutes from each other. It was up to me to choose the representative from Carls, and I went with my favorite burger on steroids, the Western Bacon Six Dollar Burger. And from InNOut of course we went with the Double Double. We bought two of each and cut it into half so each person ate two halves. Joe, Chris, and I knew we were bias from the start so I wanted to use my European uncle (who only knows what McDonalds tastes like) to be our neutral judge. The results are below but if you want to see stretch out the drama, see the 2 minute video below in which he eats and decides.



Results: Overall he liked the taste of the Western Bacon more. He said first he could taste the bread, then the bbq sauce, then the meat and onion rings, then the bacon. But he preferred the InNOut burger's sauce (thousand island based).

Joe and Chris conceded that on the first bite, the Western Bacon packs much more flavor. I conceded that the Western Bacon was dry (because it doesnt have as much sauce) and that I needed to drink soda in between big bites, whereas the Double Double could be eaten without a drink. Chris also complained that the Western Bacon was too much burger and meat. Thats a wierd complaint.

Better Value: The Double Double ($3) is better value than the Western Bacon Six Dollar Burger ($5.50). However you can get the Western Bacon (not 6 dollar version) for $3. It tastes the same, only difference is the bun and meat are normal size. If that was the case, I say the Western Bacon takes the cake.

Also: While we are on the topic of sauce versus patty, I have recently found a favorite one dollar item (it takes alot to knock off the McDouble and McChicken) but Burger King's one dollar double cheeseburger is very good. You can taste the charbroiled flame on the burger, whereas the McDouble, while having an awesome sauce, isn't that great if you eat the meat alone.

8 comments:

Anh Di said...

double double...

a burger with an onion ring AND bacon vs just a double cheeseburger is not really fair...

so a competition between those two burgers cant decide which restaurant is better

in my opinion
a big carl vs the in n out double double...
or similar things such as
carl's chili fries vs animal style

Mac OBryan said...

true, this test was overkill because I needed to bring out the big guns to tell Joe and Chris that Carls doesn't suck. I've always believed their patty is superior.

test two: InNOut hamburger versus Famous Star versus Wendy's hamburger. Throw away the buns and wipe away the cheese and sauce. Have a blind taste test of the patties only.

CP said...

i thought joe and i were pretty fair. 3 vs 1 says in and out is better.

Willy Bob said...

My got...I'm drooling!

Although I've never tasted the the Western Bacon Six Dollar Burger, I can already tell that it's too rich for my personal taste (not to mention that I'm not a fan of bacon lol). I like how In-N-Out burgers are usually balanced. You have the flavorful sauce, good size meat and fresh veggies. I'll definitely try the western bacon when I'm home just to know for sure. Anyone want the other half? lol

J.Frosty said...

ok. this was a spur of the moment competition.

we will hold a grand national burger taste competition including all hamburger fastfood joints:

wendy's, carl's, BK, McDonalds, Jack, Sonics, & In-n-Out.

Anh Di said...

I see bryan.. the Six Dollar Western will change the hearts of Carls haters haha.

and if you only want the patty from IN N OUT... order the flying dutchman!

Anh Di said...

and Willy Bob, I will take that other half

CP said...

so are we going to order similar level burgers or are we bringing the best burgers of each restaurant to the test?