I can’t believe you LA folks haven’t mentioned Pinks. That’s what I miss from LA. I used to live about four blocks from Pinks and saw all the celebs coming in their limos. Good dogs and good service.
And I can’t believe you guys are nostalgic for Sonic?? DH and I went to Sonics for hot fudge sundays shortly after moving to Austin and it was so awful we threw both in the trash. Fake chocolate and pretty sure fake ice cream too. Ick.
Pink’s is great. That’s the chili dog place. Tommy’s is for burgers.
Marty’s is another great chili burger/dog place in West LA that isn’t a Tommy’s ripoff. They used XLNT chili.
The heart wants what the heart wants.
Lines are too long. That’s why I like Tommys- there are several and they aint that busy.
But yeah, Pinks has great dogs. I get two with mustard only and one with chili, cheese and pickles.
Or The Shack, or The Pantry…
Yeah, the only things worth getting at Sonic are the corn dogs and the diet Ocean Water.
Quoting myself for context …
I now remember that the last time I was in SoCal ~1 year ago but down in south/central Orange County I searched out a The Hat and a Tommy’s.
The The Hat in Lake Forest was good as that sort of food goes. And a decent experience as fast food goes. I’d never been to any of them in the old days, so there was no nostalgia factor plus or minus.
The Tommy’s was in Fountain Valley and was an utter disappointment. Zero ambience, zero nostalgia, zero quality to the food, and just nasty overall. I admit I was still sorta full from sampling The Hat’s fare, so that may have colored my impression of the food. But not of the rest of the non-experience. Which was “meh” to “uggh!”, but heavy on the “uggh!”.
I might still visit the Beverly / Rampart location for a hit of nostalgia, but no way I’m ever trying another location again.
No love for Carney’s?
Didn’t Carney’s used to use Pinks as their supplier?
If we’re just name checking classic LA chili dog places, don’t forget Tail o’ the Pup in West Hollywood.
If you download the app again, you should be able to turn off notifications in your settings screen. At least that’s how it works with all the major fast food apps I’ve installed (when I forgot to hit “turn off notifications” on set up.) (I’m assuming you’re talking about push notifications to your phone, not junk email or something.)
I do like a good corn dog, but, I admit, I’ve never been to a Sonic even though there’s been one for like 20 years about a mile and a half from me, as I’ve not wanted to deal with the drive-up style service. Though I think you can walk in like any other fast food joint, right? At any rate, my impression of how their service works has been so engrained in me that I’ve never bothered pulling in to see what service options I have.
It’s been years, but IIRC they (Sonic) have a walk-up window and sometimes even tables in addition to the park-&-order parking spaces.
If nothing else, almost all locations have more parking spaces away from the building than the traditional spaces under the metal awning with ordering stations. Why would those spaces exist if there was no way to park, get out, and get food?
I’m going to my closest outlet for a snack today for the first time in ~20 years. I’ll report back on ordering, etc.
I went to a Sonic last year while on a long road trip. It was right next door to a charging station. I walked in and ate at an outdoor bench while the car charged.
You misspelled ‘cherry limeade’.
Sonic is the only place I’ve ever been that made me complain the food was too salty.
Ya’ll just dont get it.
Sonic is not fine dining.
But it does scratch an itch.
Yes, I’m the same way with White Castle. Hell,I’m typing this from a McDonald’s.
and quoting myself for context:
So I went to Sonic.
This Sonic is in late 1980s early - 1990s era middle class suburbia. No rich folks about, but also no po’ fokes. It’s an out-pad in a strip mall on a major boulevard with an Aldi, a couple beauty salons, a chain sports bar / casual restaurant, etc., and a Starbucks on the adjacent out-pad. IOW, generic upper middle class suburban Americana.
They have outside:
Inside was a large and pleasantly decorated room, ordering counter, & restrooms. It could easily have been any major fast food chain, and in fact is nicer than a generic McDs, BK, or Wendy’s around here. It had:
With indoor + outdoor seating for 90 people but space for only 7 cars with carhop service, clearly that’s their signature anachronism, not their mainstream use case.
The corndog was smaller than I remembered they typically were from any/all sources way back when, and the breading was sweeter. Perfectly adequate though.
The banana shake was indifferent. In Ye Olden Dayes they had real chopped up bananas in there w some big chunks. This was more or less minimally flavored soft-serve w banana flavoring added, then run through a shake mixer enough to soften it even more. Adequate, but uninspiring.
On this experience I would not hesitate to try their burgers & dogs if I was needing fast food and there was one nearby. But by and large I’m not a fast food eater and this may turn out to have been the last Sonic stop of my life. We shall see.
Interestingly enough, The Hat also makes a chili cheeseburger that is very similar to Tommy’s, which I’m sure wasn’t by accident. The chili has a very similar flavor and texture, which I can say with confidence since when I tried the Hat version, it was a week after I’d had a Tommy’s chiliburger. I was pretty surprised by the similarity.
I’m not a fan at all of The Hat’s pastrami, but I will go there for a chiliburger now, since they are much closer to me.
Nice review. Sounds way nicer than the one I frequent.
Sorry about the shake, I figured that might be disappointing.
Now you know.
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