Critic's Review
We're getting close to getting back to normal, but we're not there yet. So fast food it is for now.
The reviews online for this place are beyond absurd; my initial visit here was wholly unimpressive. More than a year later I thought I'd give them another shot.
I was going to order online as I was sitting outside and I thought I could hang out in the car, but the lead time online was 20 minutes. It would be faster to just go inside.
Same old sterile feel with uncomfortable chairs and no customers. Guns and Roses blaring on the sound system. No WiFi here. I ordered a Horse and Hole sandwich and cheese tots to go. It was ready in about 10 minutes.
I live 5 minutes away and I went straight home, so it was about as quick as take-out could be to fresh out of the kitchen.
They've moved away from the branded bags; no need to pay the franchisor for things you can buy on Amazon.
I'm still shocked by the diminutive size of these sandwiches. This is half the size of an Arby's sandwich; for twice the price. Obviously not the correct packaging for the cheese tots. Note they've also moved from the branded foil to the silver standard.
Unwrapped; nothing exciting about the sandwich.
Checking to see what's inside exposed a large serving of horseradish sauce and a measured portion of roast beef.
The roast beef was completely tasteless. How can you build a business around gray, tasteless meat?
The sandwich as a whole was ok food; nothing bad about it; but this is something you buy on your lunch hour to fuel your afternoon because you work nearby.
The tots weren't crisp and as a result it was impossible to get one out whole without exploding into a hundred pieces. Even the cheese was dull tasting. These people don't season their food properly.
I should have gone for the curly fries.
Conclusion
I'm 100% convinced that every single one of the online reviews is contrived; there's no chance that any sober, conscious person could think that what I had was worth $13. This is fast food, and it's not as good as Arby's for twice the price. Many of the reviews mention the "friendly service"; the 2 people behind the counter couldn't have been more dour.
I'm giving this place exactly the same grades as I did when I first tried it; because I got it exactly right the first time.
Review 2/12/20
With the French Dip gone from most 21st Century menus; Arby's (and Subway) are pretty much the only places selling Roast Beef anymore; Arby's has 3,700 locations and sell Roast Beef with Cheese on an onion bun for $3.99. Who wants to compete with that?
These guys do. With a price point at more than twice the price; you'd better have something a lot better. We decided to see how they measured up: head to head.
The first gold star goes to Arby's. Arby's has a drive-thru. Roast Beef isn't cooked to order, so it's fast. I ordered a roast beef with cheese at the microphone and the bag was ready by the time I drove up to the window. Maybe 20 seconds. $4.27. Easy Peasy.
A mile away and I'm here; a sparkling new restaurant that somehow passes as upscale; the only real difference is that this restaurant is a week old and Arby's is probably 40 years old. They have a huge wall menu; the giant fonts will be good for their 70+yo clientelle who remember when Roast Beef and Pot Roast were special occasion treats.
Neither the big wall menu nor the take out menus on the counter tell you how much beverages cost. This location has no online ordering. They have a wine and beer license but there's nothing on the menu about them. The entire back of the take-out menu is wasted with games and drawings. You're dealing with a franchisor (and franchisee) here who doesn't know how to market a restaurant.
I order a roast beef with cheese; $8.87. I have to dismiss the tip suggestion and sign with my finger; you know how I feel about that. I paid cash at Arby's, so I don't know if you have to sign there for a < $5 order. I always pay cash at a drive-through.
At 4:30pm I don't expect them to have much of a crowd. The place is clean and bright; you'd never know a dreary taco place was here before.
They have some seasoning shakers on the table; Salt, Spices and Soy powder. No thanks.
They have some sauces at the condiments bar; I was never a mustard on roast beef guy; I liked mayo which always got me into trouble at Ben's Jewish Deli. Never ketchup on roast beef and never BBQ sauce on anything. I took a bit of the "Round Sauce" for a try. I had to ask for containers with a lid; they don't have them out. I was hoping they'd have a horseradish sauce; but they only had raw horseradish at the bar. Raw horseradish is way too harsh; it needs to be tempered with sour cream.
It took about 7 minutes for the food to come out.
Order and Service Time: ADVANTAGE: Arby's
I live a few blocks away so transit time shouldn't have been an issue for the Top Round sandwich. I'd stopped in Publix after picking up at Arby's (mainly because of Arby's difficult location) so it had been about 1/2 hour for the Arby's sandwich.
Top Round has a nicer bag. Out of the bag, the sandwiches are wrapped similarly; at quick glance the Arby's sandwich appears to be a bit larger.
Out of the wrap, the Top round is clearly smaller but also better organized. Little care was taken assembling the Arby's sandwich.
I straightened out the Arby's sandwich and cut them both in half. Arby's is an onion bun; you can see the neatly sliced meat and a good slathering of cheese.
The Top Round sandwich was less meat, less cheese on a smaller, plain bun.
I tasted them both; the Top Round roast beef was bland and there wasn't enough cheese to compensate. I needed to add salt to the Top Round. The Arby's sandwich was surprisingly good on its own. Arby's included their "Horsey Sauce" in the bag, and this is where Arby's broke from the pack.
The horseradish sauce, although not brimming with healthy ingredients, elevated the Arby's sandwich to a point that left Top Round limping 20 lengths behind.
Dammit I haven't had an Arby's Roast Beef sandwich in 35 years, and as grouchy as my palate has become over the years; this is one tasty offering.
On the other hand, the Top Round sauce is junk; some sort of cross between BBQ sauce and Worcestershire sauce.
Overal, there was nothing special about the beef that made it hold up on its own.
I wasn't going to eat both of these sandwiches; I ended up devouring the Arby's sandwich and tossing the rest of the Top Round in the garbage. Which should tell you all you need to know all by itself.
Conclusion
When I decided on doing this comparison, I fully expected the Top Round sandwich to be better. But how much better could it be? At twice the price, it had better be a lot better. When you create a business with exactly 1 competitor; it would seem that you'd have a pretty clear bar for building a better mousetrap. Meat that is clearly superior, a fantastic horseradish cream sauce; a signature roasting process; would be all that's needed to compete at a higher price; I don't see anything here that's superior to fast food.
The big problem is that the main product, the Roast Beef, isn't any good. It doesn't taste better (it tastes worse), they don't give you more and their additions aren't as good. I probably won't be going to Arby's again any time soon; I wouldn't come back for this if it was $3.99 for one of these. I got a 9" meatball hero (good for 2 lunches) last week for $7.99; in what universe is this tasteless little sandwich worth $8.29?
BurgerFi built a pretty good operation selling tasteless burgers by creating a comfortable environment for families and tapping into the fact that everyone likes burgers. That's not the case with Roast Beef; Arby's and Subway are supplying that dwindling market just fine at less than half the price.
Original Musings
This seemingly cursed location finally has a new tenant; and a curious one at that. Roast beef sandwiches that seem to be targeted to Millenials; sort of a cross between Five Guys and Arby's; Burger Fi with Roast beef instead of burgers.
For those of you under 50, Roast Beef is a food that people used to eat in the 1970's; a cheap cut of meat slow roasted and sliced very thin; my Mom used to serve it with McCormick's mushroom gravy. Today you mostly see top round labeled as "London Broil"; just as you see short loin labeled as "NY Strip"; mainly because it sounds better than the actual name. Families on budgets still buy this cut (as they do bottom round and rump roasts), you'll rarely see it in a restaurant. The "French Dip" has been out of favor for decades. Even Arby's is pushing Gyros and Brisket; understanding that roast beef on a roll isn't familiar to modern palates.