Sonic Drive In - Hasbrouck Heights, NJ

We were just lazing in front of the TV, trying to figure out what to do for dinner on Saturday night when we saw a commercial for Sonic came on. Those commercials always looked so good! :P We have been meaning to check out Sonic for the longest time but we never really got around to it. Come to think about it, we don't even know if there was a Sonic near us. So, I went online to their website and searched for the nearest Sonic. It's located on Route 17N, in Hasbrouck Heights. Of course, of course it's on Route 17. You can pretty much get any fast food you want on Route 17. It's like a fast food super highway :P Hasbrouck Heights is just about a 20 min drive away from us, not too bad. So, off to Sonic we went!

As the name suggest, Sonic Drive In is a typical all American drive in, complete with carhops on roller skates and loud 50s music blasting from the outdoor speakers. It's actually quite a large chain, with over 3,500 restaurants all across the United States. For those of you who are not familiar with drive ins, here's how it works. You pull up, park and order your food. You will then be served by carhops (yes yes, just like American Graffiti and Happy Days :P) and you eat your food, while sitting in your car.
It was still pretty early for dinner ( I want to say, maybe around 6pm?) but Sonic was already packed. The drive thru line wasn't that long but almost all of the drive in spots were taken up. Thankfully, we managed to snag one of the last few remaining spots, right at the edge of the lot. Alrighty, time to order some food!!
Check out their menu! All kinds of yummy local favorites, combos, sides, desserts and drinks. They even have kids meals and a value menu. Everything on the menu looked so good, Kevin had a tough time deciding what to order. I, on the other hand knew exactly what I wanted. From moment I saw the ad for it on TV (that's what got us here in the first place :P), I knew I just had to try it!! Once we were ready to order, we just had to press the red button and somebody came on the speakers to take our order. After we were done ordering (and checking to see if he got our order right on the little green screen), all we had to do was slide our debit card into the slot beside the red button to pay. How convenient is that? :D
In about 5 minutes or so, the carhop brought our food to the car. Talk about fast service! Here's all the stuff that we ordered. Two combo meals, one extra side and two drinks. Talking about drinks, Sonic is well known for their drinks. So well known til their slogan is "Your Ultimate Drink Stop"! Why? Well, that's cos you have the possibility to add in flavors (stuff like vanilla, cranberry, strawberry, cherry, chocolate, apple...etc) to your regular soda. According to their ads, there are over 168,894 possible drink combinations that you can make. This means, you could have a new drink every day for the next 462 years! What did we pick? Hahaha, we are boring people. We just went with Unsweetened Iced Tea and regular Dr. Pepper :P
Kevin ordered the SuperSONIC Cheeseburger Combo ($6.89). That comes with fries (or you could choose another side) and a drink. The cheeseburger was huge. It was so huge til Kevin couldn't finish the entire burger, so he had to pack half of it home! Two pure beef patties with two slices of cheese, crinkle-cut pickles, chopped onions, fresh shredded lettuce and ripe tomatoes, topped with mustard, mayo and ketchup. Mmmm mmm good!
Now, THIS is what I came to Sonic for. I ordered the all new Footlong Quarter Pounder Coney Combo ($5.49). I got that with a side of onion rings and a drink. You can also order just the Footlong Quarter Pounder Coney (minus the drink and side) for only $2.99! Doesn't it look yummy? An extra long juicy blend of beef and pork frank, topped with yummy chili and melted cheese, in an equally long bun. All this weighs in at a whopping quarter pound! Boy, that was a looooong coney dog. It was so yummy and good. Just like Kevin, I couldn't finish my meal. So, I had to pack half of the dog back home.
This are the sides that came with our combo and we also ordered an extra serving of Ched 'R' Peppers ($2.99 for 4 pieces). Ched 'R' Peppers are basically jalapeno poppers, with a fancy name. They were good but a tad bit overcooked though. Would have been better if they took it out of the fryer about half a min earlier. Kevin said the fries were pretty good and my onion ring, well, my onion rings were so so so good! Seriously, I didn't expect it to be so good. Those handmade onion ring were so sweet and juicy in the inside and crispy on the outside. Yummers! The total bill came to $17.41. Not bad, not too bad at all. It's almost the same amount as we would spend on say, 2 combo meals and dessert from McDs. Of course, the food in Sonic is wayyyyyy better. I'm glad we tried Sonic and we will definitely be back! *starts to drool while thinking of her Footlong Quarter Pounder Coney :P~~~~

Sonic Drive In - Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
156 Route 17 North,
Hasbrouck Heights, NJ 07604
Tel: (201) 464 0400
Web: http://www.sonicdrivein.com/
Hours: 6AM - Midnight (Everyday)

Hooters - Union, NJ

After getting our car from Planet Honda last weekend, we decided to look around for a place to eat dinner. We really didn't expect the whole process of getting a car to take THAT long, so by than, we were famished! It's the first time we were ever in that part of Route 22 and we didn't really know what restaurants are out there. We were pretty excited (for different reasons, I guess :P) when we saw a Hooters opposite our dealership. I loveeee the wings at Hooters and Kevin (so he claims, he always says that it's all about the wings and nothing else) does too. Since it's been a while since we went to a Hooters ( I believe the last Hooters we went to was the one in Clarke Quay, Singapore about 4 years ago), we decided to go check it out.
The exterior of this Hooters doesn't really look like a Hooters at all. Usually, the decor of Hooters would shout fun and would make you want to go in. This Hooters is a little bit different. It looked so plain on the outside, it reminded me of an auto parts shop! :P Also, there is a 7 eleven sharing the same shop lot with them. How weird. The interior decor however looked like all the other Hooters out there. The only weird thing was that it was almost empty! There were only a few creepy looking guys (who kept staring at the girls) and two couples in that whole large place. You would think that it would be packed during dinner on a Saturday night. Granted it was pretty early for dinner, but still...
Another thing I noticed about this Hooters is that the Hooter girls don't look like Hooter girls. We all know that Hooter girls are usually pretty hot looking and have certain errm...assets? The girls working here looked like any other girl, working in any of the local bars. Putting looks aside, they also looked unmotivated and downright bored. Now, that's pretty bad, since Hooters is known for their fun and energetic atmosphere. Thank goodness we were only there for the wings, so it didn't really bother me much. :P
Our waitress took our drinks order and left us to look at the menu. We ordered a soda each ($2.99). Look at the guy in the background. That's what it looked like throughout the restaurant. Single guys sitting alone or in pairs, just eating their food or ogling (nothing much to ogle at anyways) at the girls. There is just this depressing overall feel to the whole place. Definitely don't feel like a Hooters at all.
Ahhhhh the main attraction. This was the whole reason why we came to Hooters. The wings! We have always loved to wings at Hooters, they are just so mmmm mmmm good! There are 8 different sauces to choose from and you can get the wings either breaded or naked (unbreaded). Of course, if you are feeling rich, you can always get the Gourmet Chicken Wing Dinner. For $50 bucks, you get 20 wings and a bottle of Korbel champagne! :P
Kevin ordered the 10 piece wings with BBQ sauce ($8.49) and I got the 10 piece wings with Samurai (Teriyaki style) sauce ($8.49). We both got our wings 'naked'. Hmmm, somehow that sentence didn't come out right..LOL! Anywaysss, the million dollar question. Was the wings as good as we remembered them to be? Simple and short answer - NO. Not only were the wings pretty small, they were a little bit overcooked too. Kevin said his BBQ sauce was 'just alright' but my Samurai sauce wasn't really the greatest at all. It tasted weird and wayyy wayy wayyy too sweet. I do not know if the low quality of wings served is just confined to this particular branch or the standard of wings have generally gone down in all Hooters nationwide. Either ways, the wings were not as great as we remembered them to be. Definitely not worth the $8.49 for 10 pieces.
On the other hand, the Onion Rings ($4.99) that we ordered to share was really good. I would say that it was the saving grace of our meal! Really yummy and crispy. I am not so sure that type of sauce it comes with, but the sauce tasted great too! Overall, we were pretty bummed due to the 'wings letdowns'. Also, the atmosphere in this particular branch is just terrible. Maybe it's just a bad day for this restaurant, who knows. Oh well, I am guessing we won't be returning to this branch anytime in the near future. The good thing that came out from all this is, Kevin can now not use the line " Oh, I want to go to Hooters for the awesome wings. It's all about the wings and nothing else". We all know that the wings are not that great anymore...so what now? :P

Hooters - Union, NJ
2319 US Highway 22 Ctr
Union, NJ 07083-8535
Tel: (908) 964-5317
Web: http://www.hooters.com/