KFC

Holy heck, I haven't reviewed KFC yet? This is a shocker. KFC is a solid fast food chain in my book because apart from their desserts, they've always been nut free. One tragic point in my past is that the chocolate chip cookie that came with all their box meals used to be safe for me, per the website menu anyway, and I ate it every few months and it was a fresh warm cookie and one of my only joys in dessert-life. And then once I checked the menu and it was no longer safe. RIP cookie. But their chicken is still fine, and I like the biscuit and cole slaw a lot. Today I decided to go partially because I'm super stressed out but also because I was getting gas from the Wawa next door and I wanted a treat for doing the stressful gas-getting. (Long story I guess). Anyway, KFC is cool.

Spicy Famous Bowl: This was off-menu and cost 3.99 instead of 3$, but that's still a solid deal per calorie. This is mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, popcorn chicken, shredded cheese, and hot sauce drizzle. It was super hot and is giving me mad reflux. But it was good enough, warm and filling. I liked the potatoes and gravy a lot; the rest was just OK. I would say it was good but too spicy for my tastes! 7/10

Regular Famous Bowl: OK, this was weird. They made it nicely, lots of gravy and fresh and the cheese was nice and melty on top. But now that I could taste it, that was weird. I mixed it with a frozen bag of brocco and cauliflower lol. It was filling and warm but made me freak out about allergies, which is maybe dumb but IDK, I think my soy thing is actually legit now that I read about other people who can't eat canned soups and frozen chickens. The gravy might be sketch! But anyway, it tasted OK. Lol. The potatoes had that floral taste. I like the gravy but it was spooky. 6/10

Popcorn Chicken Combo: I got this with Mountain Dew and Cole Slaw, and also it comes with a biscuit. The chicken is a little box and I didn't get a dipping sauce because the server didn't have a mask and I was distracted. Anyway, Allergy Genius me didn't realise there's potentially soy protein in the popcorn chicken (per their good allergy menu), but I ate it before and lived so I ate it again even though I've been avoiding all soy protein. I lived, again, though it was scary I didn't really get any itchiness. Apart from that the chicken tastes good but I'd never repeat this, it is too scary. Slaw/'scuit/dew were are tops. 4/10 for fear, 7/10 taste. 

Finger Lickin' Good Sauce: I am aware this is not a meal, but you can get some for free with a meal (as I did with my #3 3 piece combo) so I was excited to try it out. But to be honest, it didn't live up to the hype for me. Allergen free but not especially tangy/spicy/savory, just kinda an oily version of thousand island dressing almost. Maybe it is better with fries than with chicken, but I think I'd rather have BBQ sauce than this! 5/10

 

Crispy Colonel Box: The Crispy Colonel is a chicken sandwich made to compete with Popeyes, I guess, cause it's got a pickle and a tiny bit of mayo-that-tastes-like-tartar-sauce on the bottom. The sandwich itself is pretty good, the chicken is fresh and moist and not too greasy, and they didn't overdo it on the mayo. The bun was a little old (and firm), but it tasted very neutral. The box comes with popcorn chicken, which is fine but soy-containing, and cole slaw which I love, and their new fries, which I don't really like -- they look fun but have basically no seasoning. However I also asked for 2 packs of BBQ sauce with this, so that made the fries (and the chicken) a lot tastier. This is also a ton of food, probably good for 2 meals. I didn't even drink the Pepsi that comes with it! 6/10 sandwich, 5/10 box (box is 10$, not very cheap!)

3 piece chicken combo: This is #3, and it comes with 2 wings and a drumstick. I like the wings, they are like smaller thighs. The drummie is OK. The biscuit I got was super hard, but I think the Lebanon KFC is just bad (sorry, dad). Cole slaw is bangin' as always. Pepsi was a lil watery. It is what it is. 6/10

Sweet Lightning Mountain Dew: This is a limited edition flavor of Dew! It's supposedly peach and honey. The peach is very real. It tastes like peach rings candy, which it turns out, I don't really like. Massively inferior to regular mountain dew. It is a fun color and tastes more juice than soda, which is neat, but it's just not for me. Glad I collected this rare bird anyway, though (on a road trip to see my favorite band! but with weird medical problems that prevent me from fully enjoying any thing :( ) 5/10

Overall
Cost: 7/10 (Usually very cheap for a meal - 5$!)
Taste: 7/10

Q says "It's pretty bad. 3/10"

Rey Azteca

OK, I can't really give this place a fair rating because it is not peanut free!!!! I went here with my parents, who were super excited to try a new Mexican place close to home. This is a nice looking resto, too, big and bright and cozy all at once. I ordered a fajita quesadilla with chicken, and it was good and the chips and salsa were good. But! I started to feel allergy anxiety midway through and asked about nuts. They said there were no nuts in the food. And indeed I did not die. But then a few hours later I got home and saw the response to the FB message I sent earlier asking about nuts, which was basically "yes we use peanuts for our mole sauce". Eek! I could have died!!! So I will never go back, but I bet my parents will, and if I had no allergies I would too. But you, dear reader, should not.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 5/10 (hard to be objective)

Wendy's

Wendy's is a classic! It's no Burger King but it's not bad. Their burgers are square and don't taste that good, but honestly Burger King are the only burgers I think taste good, so I might be broken. Their chicken is decent, their salad/potato selection is on point, and they have a cute redheaded mascot. Plus it's cheap and everywhere! Road trip!

Spicy Chicken Sandwich: Pretty good! Just chicken, bun, a little mayo but not too much, tomato, and lettuce. A solid and filling sandwich, and a little spicy but not too bad. 6/10

Junior Cheeseburger 4 for 4$ meal: What a deal!!! The cheeseburger gave me heartburn but was pleasant otherwise. The fries were good and soft, good in BBQ sauce. I got coffee for the drink(!) which was very tepid but otherwise fine, they even included creamers. The nugs were the worst part, they tasted a little rancid but that's probably because I ran out of BBQ sauce to cover them up. I should buy BBQ sauce for home! 7/10

Junior Bacon Cheeseburger: This is a classic, although maybe a little too much mayo and could use more ketchup. But a nice compact burger, solid and reheatable in the microwave if you take off the top bun! 7/10

Caesar Side Salad: I keep getting this instead of the garden side salad by accident. Hmph. Anyway, it's decently big for a side salad, and the croutons and dressing are separate and have ingredients right on them for peace of mind. The salad just has lettuce, cheese, and cheese on it (parm of two types) which is kind of a lot, but it tasty enough. Fine but nothing special. 5/10

Junior Cheeseburger Deluxe: This is like the JBC but with no B. It's not bad, but I wish there were no mayo or pickles too. Also the burger is no Burger king burger. But it's filling. 6/10

Garden Side Salad: I finally got one, but it was labelled as "taco salad". IDK if that's a mistake or not, but this was pretty basic -- it's just lettuce, cheese, tomato, crouton. It was fine, not tasty or really healthy, but took a while to eat which is good. 5/10

Southwest Avocado Chicken Salad (half size): I got this because they got our order wrong and charged 20$ for just this and a fry. Oh well. The salad is good. The chicken and fact that it's a salad made me nervous, but it was fine. I didn't use the dressing, but it was still moist enough. The cheese was not cheddar which was surprisingly good. And the salad was then like 220 cal total, which is great. 7/10

Fries: I mean, fries are fries. But I like Wendy's fries way more than McDonalds, since they are softer and thicker. Fries are good if you have a ton of ketchup, otherwise they're pretty boring. Solid but I'm not sure the calorie information, might be spooky. 7/10

 

Cold Brew: Yikes. I was so excited about the addition of cold brew and breakfast over all, but the Wendys in Lanc is hot garbage. They don't wear masks and they gave me a frosty instead of a cold brew and we had to drive back around to get this. And then it tasted very bad. Did they pee in it? Honestly I hope so, because it tasted like trash. Chemically and very weird and bad. I still drank it but only out of desperation. 3/10

Maple Bacon Chicken Croissant: I'm not into mixing sweet and savory, but the internet likes this so I tried it. It was "meh". I didn't even realise I got the right thing because the croissant was like a regular bun almost -- I think it was just really stale? The bread still tasted good, with a syrupy sauce, but overall this package was not great. The chicken patty was fine, no soy, but it didn't seem to go with the sauce. The bacon also tasted really stale. The potato wedges side seemed like they could be decent but felt a little spongy/old. I should try a different non-shit Wendys someday when Covid is Cov-done. 5/10

Pretzel Bacon Pub Cheeseburger: Yo, this was good. It could maybe use ketchup, because the patty flavor on its own isn't great, but the bread is nice like french toast, the pub sauce and onions are great, the bacon was more like bacon fat than pieces of bacon but was still good. Overall it was very tasty and honestly not TOO much food. 7/10

Dr. Pepper: Amazing soda even though I don't like soda. 7/10

Vanilla Frosty: This was OK, but not as good as the vanilla dessert options you can get at McDos or Arbys as a nut free human. Too icy or fake or somethin'. 6/10

Crispy Chicken BLT: You can't get this in a combo! But it's a solid chicken sandwich with bacon and cheese on there. Tasty. 7/10

Chicken Nugget Kids Meal: Honestly this is such a good deal. Less than 4$ for fries and nugs and a drink AND a toy! The nuggets were better than the spicy ones usually are, which is interesting. McDos has pea nuggets and Wendys has pea bread, so I have to check the ingredients 5000 times, but this was safe, anyway. And I got a bottle of water and a little crayon toy! What a life. 7/10

Iced Tea [Sweetened]: If you order Iced Tea, they give you sweetened Iced Tea. This is bad. It is way too sweet and not even lemony or complex. Also, I spilled it and it is sticky. 4/10

Iced Tea [Unsweetened]: After many failures, I finally converged on the unsweetened iced tea! (After reading the recipt, I learned it's just Diet Fuze). It tasted like plain iced tea. Much better than the sweetened one, although sadly, still sticky (and I didn't even spill it, but yet)! 6/10

Cobb Salad: This is the only safe salad left! It's fine, but there's no veg. Just chicken, cheese, egg, baco, tomato, and ranch dressing. It's supposed to come with onion crisps, but they only gave us one open bag for two salads, so neither me or my dad risked trying those. The salad was frozen, but it tasted OK. I wasn't allergic. 7/10

Overall
Cost: 8/10
Taste: 6/10

Lisa's Cafe

This resto is most definitely my favorite in Palmyra, PA. It's been around for like 10 or 15 years now and it's not a chain, so you know it's decent. Whenever family visits we go there because we know there's something for everyone to enjoy -- they have a good variety, and nothing is really bad.

I like the corn nuggets a lot, they are a classic. I also like the stromboli and the chef salad is huge and meaty. I got the garlic pasta recently, and it was tasty and just the right size, and then their pizza slices have a lot of topping options and they put the sauce over the cheese which I like for some reason. Anyway, it's solid! And eating in is usually quiet with good service, even though they are rarely empty. It's a good atmosphere and cute inside.

Chicken Cheese Steak Stromboli: As a teen, I always got this without peppers and onions, and it was really good (duh, it's cheesy bread). My grandma always got the same thing, too! But I decided to try it with all the fixins since I am now an adult. It was still good, but honestly, not as good. I think I'm gonna try a different as-is boli next! 7/10

Meat and Cheese Stromboli: Well, I tried this one next! It had all the right properties: meat, cheese, mustard, no onions. But there was SO MUCH ham, and not enough salami/mustard, maybe? It wasn't quite what I dreamed of, even though it was still good. And a small one is also very filling, which I appreciate. Maybe time to leave the boli fields.... 6/10

Regular Stromboli: This is the same as Meat and Cheese Stromboli, but with mushrooms, peppers and onions, and I asked for no peppers and onions, but they didn't do it (wah). So I picked them off which was annoying, but after so doing, the proportions were much tastier than the meat and cheese one, and I don't think it's all down to the few mushrooms in there, but anyway, it was really good! Nice salami/cheese/mustard/crust distribution. Very oily and made me heartburny, but, delicious. 7/10

Overall
Cost: 6.5/10 (standard, but not bad)
Taste: 8/10