Roadhouse Burger from Checkers Is All Guilt, No Pleasure

To wrap up our burger tour of Springfield, we visited Checkers on Route 22 to sample the newest addition to its menu, the roadhouse burger. In the last five weeks, we've had everything from a half-pound burger with to a .

And until this point, each burger has been a pleasure to consume.

After , , and , our run of burgers took a turn for the worse at Checkers.

Home of the signature Big Buford, Springfield's Checkers location sits in the median of Route 22, not far from the township's border with Union – and right next to a Valvoline Instant Oil Change. Though part of the lot borders Rahway River Park, it's probably the least appetizing location in town.

Outside are large ads promoting Checkers' food, including a larger-than-life picture of the Big Buford, announcing that it is now served on a bakery-style bun. A few months ago, we had this to say about the the signature burger, the “seared and seasoned” Big Buford:

On the company's website, this looks amazing. In person, in Springfield, it was a real let down. The meat tasted neither seasoned nor seared--nor charred, nor like anything. Like the two patties, the melted cheese, sliced tomato and special sauce offered little flavor as well. The sliced pickles and slice of red onion were the tastiest parts of the burger. And the bakery bun was not memorable. Reading later that this part of my meal was 670 calories with 40 grams of fat added insult to my disappointing lunch.

This week, we tried the newest item on the menu, the roadhouse burger. Again, the website makes it sound good: double seasoned beef and cheese, crispy onion tanglers, BBQ sauce and crispy bacon. And again, the result was a disappointing mess.

Any flavor the “double seasoned” beef may have had was drowned out by the cheese, which looked more like a gooey special sauce than a slice of melted cheese. It also drowned out the barbecue sauce, which might have saved this burger if I could taste it. The onion tanglers were soft, not crispy. The bacon was mediocre. 

This sloppy attempt at a burger is served not on a bakery style bun like the Big Buford, but on two slices of “sourdough” that looked and tasted like small slices of dense white bread. 

At 620 calories and 33 grams of fat, this was a waste.

We don't expect gourmet food from fast food joints. But we expect a guilty pleasure. Twice in a row now, Checkers is all guilt, no pleasure.