If there's one thing that we can universally agree on, it's that the convenience of fast-food is sometimes far more tempting than spending time cooking
We've all been there - it's been a late day at the office or you're just not in the mood for cooking and the thought of popping into your local fast-food chain just sounds more appealing.
The folks up here in Aberdeen are not exactly short of choice if that is exactly what they are in the mood for, whether it be Taco Bell, McDonald's or a KFC.
Like many things in life, some of these places have better reviews than others, depending on who you speak to.
For example, The Queens Links Leisure Park branch, which is next to the beach boulevard, is "pretty abysmal", according to TripAdvisor.
The burger branch currently only has a 2.5 star rating based on a total of 76 reviews.
As of May 11, 28 ranked it as terrible, nine ranked it as poor and 15 ranked the place as average. Nine people ranked it as very good and a further 15 ranked it as excellent. So, I guess it balances it out.
The reason for the terrible reviews? Well, it turns out there are quite a few reasons, mainly being mediocre food and terrible service.
An unflattering review from last week said: "Restaurant wasn't very busy, 4ish in the afternoon on a Wednesday, but the queue was long and with only 1 young man taking the orders and making up the trays, the wait was very, very long.
"Not good enough! The restaurant was not very clean and the toilets even worse. Add to this the food was extremely average. The Whopper, which used to be the only reason I would visit, was pretty poor. Sorry, but we will not return, ever."
While another said: "Very poor food burger terrible chips cold and bland price extortionate for goods served. Used to be good now terrible.
A third negative review said: "The food terrible. the cook should go to school first. Never never again. prices too high for what they serve."
The comments section was flooded with negative review after negative review. Considering most of them were fairly lengthy, I won't post them all here, but most of the criticism was aimed at wrong orders, cold food, service and cleanliness.
But, is it as bad as everyone says? I previously visited one of Aberdeen's worst rated KFC's, which I found to be poorly judged by the public, so was this going to be the same issue?
Well, there was only one way to truly find out. Armed with nothing more than my hunger and my purse, I headed to one of Aberdeen's 'worst rated' Burger King's to find out.
Setting
Out of my whole eight years of living in Aberdeen, I can honestly admit that I have never once visited the Burger King branch next to the beach. I know, its scandalous.
So, I headed there with a literal blank slate on what to expect. Well, except for the Tripadvisor reviews, but I am always open to changing people's minds.
I decided to head there after work at around 6pm, as I thought it would be a bit easier, rather than having to deal with the lunchtime rush.
And I wasn't wrong. There were very few cars parked up and there were even less going through the drive-thru. Even when I walked into the restaurant itself there were very few diners, and I only spotted one group of teenagers and a few other couples or solo diners. The rest were empty tables and a lot of silence. Like, a lot of silence.
Eerie emptiness aside, the next thing I did notice was that it looked fairly clean and tidy for a fast-food branch. There was a staff member cleaning, no bins were overflowing and there was no food left on the tables or on the floor.
There was only one member of staff serving customers, so I did find that I was waiting quite a while before my order was taken.
But all in all, I found the restaurant to be clean, tidy and well organised. As far as first impressions go, it wasn't the worst.
Customer service
Now, considering the reviews on Tripadvisor taking aim at the "abysmal service", you'll have to forgive me for going into this just a little wary.
From long waits to rude staff members, the branch consistently ranks low in the service department, which is enough to make anyone hesitant.
And I can confirm that these reviews are only half correct.
As previously mentioned, there was only one member of staff taking customer orders and, considering it was fairly quiet, this initially didn't strike me as a bad thing.
Boy, was I wrong.
The only people that were in front of me were a group of teenagers and some of them had already had their orders taken, so why I ended up standing for 10 minutes is a little beyond me.
There were a few other members of staff working for the drive-thru and putting orders together, which made me think that one of them might have jumped on another till as the queue behind me started to build up.
I did try to get the servers attention, but I must admit that I didn't want to seem rude. I did see a sign saying "collection" and not "orders", which made me initially think that you had to order before you go in.
At one stage, I turned to a customer behind me to confirm that we could order in the restaurant, and he agreed that it was taken a while.
Once I was eventually called over to take my order - a bacon double cheeseburger meal, if you want to know - I must admit that the staff member was friendly and polite. I know it doesn't make up for the long wait, but at least I can confirm that the staff were nice and never once were they rude.
The food
As mentioned, the order of the day was a medium bacon double cheeseburger meal, and at the total price of £6.49, I have some thoughts.
I'll start with a bit of positive for Burger King. Upon picking up my order, I found that no items were missing and that everything looked in place - nothing like the reviews that were left.
The chips were piping hot, meaning I must have had a fresh batch. I consider that an absolute win, because I stand by the fact that Burger King has the best chips out of every single fast-food chain. It's a hill that I will absolutely die on.
However, that's were the positives end, I'm afraid.
So, for the first time in a while, I decided to be adventurous by ordering a hamburger for the very first time. I have previously mentioned that in former reviews that I tend to stick to chicken dishes at fast-food joints - and I wish that I had never branched out of my comfort zone.
Presentation wise - it was fine and well put together. However, I found that the burger was actually pretty cold, the bacon was a little bit stringy and it all just felt a little...sad. Actually, the burger did look a little sad and deflated.
I also just expected it to be so much more. Considering Burger King is known as being the place for premium fast-food burgers, I expected it to have the famous "flame grilled taste", but it was just slightly bland.
It was also a little burnt round the edges, making some parts incredibly chewy. So not appetising.
Look, I respect that I was not in a Michelin star restaurant and that you get what you pay for, but as a company that is famous for its burgers, it might want to do a little bit more work into them.
Even the juice had some issues - not to the fault of the staff at all. It turns out that, in this branch, you have to pour your own juice from the drinks station. I went in for my usual Sprite order and out poured some cola before switching to what I wanted, which was...weird.
All in all, the chips were the saving grace of this meal. As mentioned, for a place famed for their burgers, that's not really good now, is it?
Overall verdict
So, after heading to Queens Links Leisure Park Burger King full of fear based on the 76 reviews from Tripadvisor, what did I found out?
Well, that sometimes Tripadvisor can occasionally get it right, so it seems.
There were a few positives. Mainly that the branch was relatively clean and tidy, the staff were decent and the chips continue to be the king - get it? - of fast-food joints.
I've definitely visited worst establishments in my time in terms of hygiene.
That being said, there were a few downfalls.
In this case, the reviews were correct in certain areas.
The staff - as pleasant as they were - took quite a while to get round to taking my order, despite there being not many people in-store.
The burger itself - which should have lived up to potential - was slightly sad and bland, leaving it rather unappetising.
Despite costing just £6.49, I can't help but feel slightly robbed. As mentioned, I mainly stick to chicken nuggets or chicken burgers, and I feel like being adventurous with a bacon double cheeseburger didn't pay off. I was robbed of a flame-grilled burger and I should have stuck with a Chicken Royale.
Would that have made a difference? Who knows.
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