Today had turned into a long day.  I ate lunch earlier in the day and with it being 9pm already, I was debating about running through a drive-thru restaurant or just wait until I arrived home to fix something.  I have been cooking at home a lot lately so I didn’t feel guilty about thinking about fast food.  I was pretty thirsty and decided to run through McDonald’s for a $1 large coke and maybe a chicken snack wrap.  As I was in the drive through, I noticed they had new burgers being advertised.  Their New Sirloin Third Pound Burgers.  Since I still had money on an Arch card I had won during a Coca-Cola twitter contest, I decided to give one a try.

The new burgers come in three styles.

The Lettuce and Tomato

Comes with third pound sirloin patty, white cheddar, leaf lettuce,

tomato, red onion, pickles, mustard, and mayo

The Bacon and Cheese

This is a third-pound sirloin beef patty, thick-cut bacon, white cheddar,

red onion, pickle, ketchup, and mustard

The Steakhouse

This is a third-pound sirloin beef patty, new creamy peppercorn sauce,

grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, and white cheddar

As I am not a fan of tomatoes, onions, or mayonnaise, I always ask what is on a new burger before I order it.  I appreciated the team-member’s honest answer telling me it was new to them that day, so she wasn’t familiar with it, but she would have an answer for me in just a minute.  She came back to tell me but was clearly telling me the wrong one because I had asked about the Cheddar and Bacon and she said mushrooms at first.  Once we had it figured out, she went over it again.  I ordered it without the three items I don’t like and a large Coke.

After some issues with my order in general, I finally received it.  As I pulled away, I took a minute to take the burger out and take a look at it.  The first thing I noticed was the box.  It was very colorful.  McDonald’s spared no expense in making sure you felt like you were getting a quality product.  Upon opening it, I was reminded of Hardee’s.  The burger was wrapped on one end in paper so you could hold it without everything leaking onto your fingers.  I’m sure some people appreciate this, but I always feel like it is a waste of paper and a little bit of overkill.

I want to make it clear I am not usually a fan of McDonald’s burgers.  I think they always taste too much like salt.  For this reason, if I do order a burger, I usually go cheap and just get a double cheeseburger or the chicken snack wrap (their hidden gem in my opinion).  I put this disclaimer in because I was surprised by the lettuce on the sandwich.  It was really tasty.  You could taste the lettuce.  It was crisp, fresh tasting, and noticeable.  I’m not sure if they use this same lettuce in other sandwiches, but I was impressed.

As you can tell from the breakdown of items, they are using white cheddar as the cheese.  I like white cheddar, but I feel like it is a much milder cheese, so the seasonings and toppings really need to bring out the flavor of the burger.

Another difference you may notice in this burger is the pickles.  They are slightly different than the ones used on the double cheeseburger.  They seem to be a little milder.  I liked them so no complaints there.

I WISH I could comment on the bacon, but sadly, they FORGOT the bacon!!!!  At $5 for the burger, it is disappointing but that is something I will have to address with McDonald’s.

Now, on to the real question, how was the sirloin patty.  One pro, if you aren’t a fan of the “salty” taste of McDonald’s other burgers, you will like this burger.  I was looking forward to biting into the burger, hoping I would have a new favorite McDonald’s burger.  While I could still taste the salt slightly (which I don’t taste in other companies’ burgers) it was not overbearing like I find in their other patty’s.  It definitely had a slightly better taste than other patties purchased there.  I was disappointed with how dry the burger was.  For some reason, they continue to overcook their burgers and cook all of the juice right out of it.  The flavor didn’t pop either.  As I mentioned earlier, the lettuce flavor overpowered the flavor of the actual burger.  I wish I could have tasted it with the bacon and if I decide to splurge and get it again, I will update my review.

Overall, with a $5 price point, I will not be making this my new burger of choice at McDonald’s.  It is, once again, a little disappointing with the competition continuing to come out with better burgers all the time, I would think McDonald’s would be working towards a better, juicer, tastier burger.

If you try it and like it, please put it in the comments.  I’d love to hear your thoughts…..or share your favorite fast food burger.

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