Hardee’s — Restaurant in Melbourne

Hardee's Melbourne, FL 4 Stars

I was chatting with one of my editors the other day and he made me go back and double-check my blog since The Big Boys return from the virus lock-down. Yep. I said it alright, I said I would do fast food reviews as a lot of the independent places, sadly, did not survive the said pandemic. I know a lot of Americans dine at these places daily so it was about time I bit the bullet and hit them up anyway.

My first foray into the fast-food industry was to be Hardee's (or Carl's Jr. if you are west of the Mississippi) in Melbourne, FL. I have seen the commercials for their fresh homemade to order biscuits for breakfast and I have to admit I was intrigued to try these as they are the only fast food place to advertise as such. The thing that made this Hardee's so unique from the thousands around the country is that it has been in the same hands for over 30 years and the owners (a husband and wife team) are always found working themselves and have a reputation in the area for never scrimping on quality or customer service.

I approached the counter and was greeted warmly by the wife of the team and asked if I was ready to place my order. I proceeded to ask for one Chicken biscuit breakfast sandwich, one Country-fried steak biscuit sandwich, a Frisco breakfast sandwich and a cinnamon roll.

The glory, and I mean that of these breakfast namkeens are the made in-house biscuits and the recipe is spot on. These were so incredibly delicious I couldn't believe I was at a fast-food restaurant and not a place specializing in breakfasts. The chicken biscuit was filled with an entire breast of hand-dipped chicken and this had a great combo of flavors and just danced all over my taste buds. The country-fried steak biscuit was not as flavorful nor fun on the palate as the chicken was but still mobbed with loads of flavor.

The Frisco Breakfast sandwich is the only non-biscuit one I ordered. However, I still found it to be a fun meal with tavern ham and eggs on Texas toast. It was your basic breakfast sandwich, but still a home run on flavor.

This brings us to the last item to be tasted, tested and reviewed, the Cinnamon roll. According to the owner, the know-it-alls at corporate HQ thought it was a good idea to replace the cinnamon biscuit with your more traditional roll. This did not and does not sit well with this owner as she stated that the cinnamon biscuit was a huge seller. I don't think these are made in-house, but it was very good and sugary nonetheless.

It sure is great finding owners that obviously care so much about the quality of food that comes out of their kitchen and pleasant customer service.

The Big Boy says, “If you are in a pinch for a quick pie-hole stuffing before work or just in the mood for some authentic down-home style made in house biscuit sammiches, Hardee's/Carl's Jr....

It's rare that we are anywhere near the Hardee's these days, but after a very early morning appointment we decided to stop in and grab some breakfast. (1/11/2023)

I chose the chicken bisquits, my husband chose the chicken fried steak and we both got hashbrowns.

The drive-through person who took our order sounded bright, chipper, polite and was very professional (something that I don't expect for any fast-food place really,) same as at the window. They asked us to pull up and wait, and the wait was less than four-five minutes. The staff person that delivered our food to our car was warm, polite, and charming, leaving us with a, "Appreciates ya!" which was just a nice bonus to our day.

Our food was STEAMING hot and fresh and I have to say--I still don't understand how some people can call that OTHER chicken place--the one that we do not ever buy from due to their donation choices--the best chicken and bisquit place. The biscuits where buttery, soft and flakey, a touch of salty from the butter but not too much and so, so, sooooooo fresh. The chicken coating was cooked to a crunchy perfection with no sogginess or softness and the tender white meat was juicy and delicious. I didn't need a darn thing on them, and I devoured mine so fast I had to do the "hsssaaafasasashjffaaa" thing to cool each bite down but I did not care because it was so damn delicious.

The hashbrows were golden brown and crunchy on the outside and cooked just right in the middle and stayed piping hot during the time we spent eating our biscuits first.

My husband informed me Hardee's chicken fried steak biscuits were also the best and possibly one of the only fast-food places that made them.

I would have had photos, but we inhaled our breakfast it...

I have NEVER HAD BETTER SERVICE at a fast food restaurant, or almost any restaurant!!! I only wish I had thought to get the woman's name that helped us so I could mention her by name. We were traveling home when we seen a Hardee's about two miles off the interstate and since we didn't have one near where we live we wanted to stop and get some biscuits and gravy that we both love from Hardee's. It was after noon so we didn't know if they would have any but decided to risk it. We walked in and was greeted immediately, then after helping the couple ahead of us we asked if they were still serving breakfast and the answer was no. But seeing our look of disappointment she asked what exactly we wanted so we explained the story and that we were hoping to take a half dozen home with us. Much to our surprise she said "I can do that for you", she then went to the back and made fresh biscuits and packaged it all up while also getting a lunch order together for us along with two country ham biscuits I was craving. She never quit working but still managed friendly conversation while doing so. Not sure if she was the manager, I believe maybe, but if not she should be. The entire staff was also friendly and helped get everything together. Very refreshing in today's world to have such a pleasant experience, thank you so much to the...