If you want to serve a fast-food burger in style these days, you can’t just slap a beef patty on the griddle and flip it—you must smash it. Smash burgers are all the rage right now, and Sonic just became the latest chain to board the beef-smashing bandwagon.
Earlier this week, the popular drive-in restaurant launched its new “Sonic Smasher.” Described as an “elevated burger experience,” according to a press release, the new item features two “hand-smashed” Angus beef patties, topped with American cheese, pickles, onions, and a special sauce, all served on a potato bun. Customers can also beef up the experience by ordering the “Triple Sonic Smasher,” which comes with an additional cheesy, smashed patty. The new burger officially drops on Aug. 5, though you can get it now by ordering via the chain’s mobile app.
It’s a bold move for Sonic, which isn’t exactly known for producing high-quality, premium burgers. When done right, a smashed burger is a flavorful, textural masterpiece. Pressing the beef on a hot griddle helps to seal in the meat’s natural flavors and give it an exquisite sear, creating a burger that’s both juicy in the center and crispy along the edges.
Smashing patties in this fashion is an old-school technique. Steak ‘N Shake has been doing it for decades. Yet, the meat-mashing method has experienced a modern-day renaissance amid the rise of better-for-you burger chains like Five Guys, Shake Shack, and the most obviously named Smashburger. Lately, other chains have joined the patty-pressing party. Jack in the Box and even the popular pizza chain Mellow Mushroom have both introduced their own smash burgers over the past year or so.
Sonic claims its version offers a greater value than others—”balancing the textures and flavors of a sit-down restaurant cheeseburger, all at a fraction of the cost,” according to the release. The regular Smasher starts at $6.49, while the triple costs a dollar more. Meanwhile, the double-patty equivalent can cost as much as $9.99 at Shake Shack and $11.59 at Five Guys. “Consumers should be able to indulge in a premium cheeseburger without having to pay the high costs charged by many fast-casual burger brands,” said Ryan Dickerson, Sonic’s chief marketing officer, in a statement.
That presumes, of course, that Sonic’s new burger actually lives up to its premium-quality promise.
I decided to find out how Sonic’s new smash burger stacks up to the competition, stopping into a nearby location in Princeton, W.V., during my summer travels. Here’s what I found.
Nutrition:
Triple Sonic Smasher (Per Order)
Calories: 780
Fat: 51 g (Saturated Fat: 20 g, Trans Fat: 1.5 g)
Sodium: 2,070 mg
Carbs: 31 g (Fiber: 1 g, Sugar: 9 g)
Protein: 48 g
For the full experience, I ordered the Triple Sonic Smasher, priced at $7.49. Admittedly, it’s been a while since I last visited Sonic, so I also ordered the regular Sonic cheeseburger for a point of comparison. The more basic burger cost $4.99. The new triple burger weighed 10.9 ounces on my digital scale, just one ounce heavier than the standard cheeseburger.
The look: Marvelously messy. The Smasher came in a boxy paper carton, not a wrapper like the standard cheeseburger. When opened, the container revealed a burger spilling over with gobs of melty yellow cheese and radiant orange sauce. The patties themselves looked razor thin, but very moist with a visibly fatty film that glistened in the sunlight—a clear upgrade on the standard cheeseburger patty, which looked dry and overcooked, more closely resembling a slab of asphalt than actual meat.
I counted four thick crinkly pickle slices atop the Smasher and an indeterminate number of diced onion pieces under a squishy looking golden bun. Though visibly smaller in diameter than the regular burger, the Smasher was stacked higher and beamed a more glossy sheen.
The taste: Succulent to a fault. The beauty of a well-made smash burger is in the juxtaposition: juicy yet crispy at the same time. The burger I tried nailed the the first part: perfectly, chin-dribbling juicy. But it came up woefully short on the second. The oversaturated patties showed no detectible sign of sear, either in appearance or on the palate. As such, they offered none of the crisp, caramelized flavor you expect from a properly smashed burger. If these patties were smashed at all, then the timing was off—either taken off the heat or smothered with cheese way too soon.
Everything else about this burger was satisfactory. The cheese was plentiful and immaculately liquified (unlike the solid chilly slice atop the regular cheeseburger). The sauce was equally abundant, adding a layer of tangy creaminess. The pickles and onion gave it acidity and crunch. The buttery bun was pillowy soft but still firm enough to hold everything together. All told, it’s a much better burger than the regular option, but it’s still not the premium, sit-down restaurant-quality burger that was promised.
To be fair: the smash technique is completely new to Sonic, so maybe in time, the cooks at ground level will get it right. But upon first bite, this burger doesn’t quite live up to the hype, meaning it falls short on the all-important value proposition as well.
