Arby's — Restaurant in Niles Township

It was back in 1979 as a high school Senior that I first attended an Arby's restaurant. Back then we had an "open campus" so that we were free to leave the school building to have our lunch if we wanted to. And there were plenty of choices available within walking distance, but if you had access to a car your choices grew exponentially. If willing to cut a class, even more so. There were burger joints everywhere, a couple of subway places, pizza, taco's... all the usual fast food stuff. But Arby's offered something entirely different and I really enjoyed the Beef & Cheddar Sandwich. Over the years I kind of moved away from the fast food establishments but one day a few years back my wife and I saw a commercial and knew of our local Arby's location so we decided to have our lunch at Arby's one day.

It was immediately apparent that they had really upped their game with their newest sandwich lineup so we became a little bit more frequent. I love their Brisket offering, the curly fries are really tasty and those salted caramel chocolate chip cookies are just to die for! But let's now jump to the current year, 2022. Arby's now offers a cheeseburger on their menu for the very first time, and it's not your typical fast food variety burger!

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd see it happen and as of now it's only for a limited time but I'm telling you, this is the best tasting fast food burger I have ever eaten. It beats McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, 5 Guys and all of the rest that I have tried before by a huge margin. To be more specific I am referring to their Bacon Ranch Wagyu Steakhouse Burger.

I'm not much a fan of onions and if I want lettuce I'll have a salad so I have removed these items on each of the five occasions I have had this burger. From the very first bite this burger has it going on. The Brioche bun is such an upgrade to the standard sesame seed bun. It's a fluffy and buttery treat in itself but it really helps to soak up the abundance of sauce and other condiments. The Peppercorn Ranch sauce is SO GOOD. The pickles have a nice crunch and taste terrific and combined with the sweetness of the tomato give this great burger what I think is the perfect package condiments. Nothing else is necessary on this burger.

But the burger itself is the star of the show. It has been perfectly cooked on each instance, giving a nice crust on the top and bottom of the patty with just a hint of pink on the inside. That pink gives a slight hint of a contrast to the texture of the exterior of the burger, as if you were eating it straight off the grill. It's a BIG, rich, buttery tasting patty which is perfectly seasoned. I highly recommend this most excellent taste treat!

It's kind of ironic that the fast food establishment I used to choose when I wasn't in the mood for another burger (probably my favorite food item ever) now has a better burger than all of the rest of them. I hope that Arby's does so well with this burger that they are forced to keep it in...

I am a moody eater. There are days when I'll eat whatever is handy. But other days when I get a taste for something and nothing else will do. Like when I want roast beef & a mild horseradish. That's when I head to Arby's. My love affair with Arby's started years ago, long before they closed the one on Peterson in Chicago. After that I came here. It was right on the way to work. Folks gripe the decor is not updated. True. Who cares. I come here for food not atmospherics. It's basic. Warm. Comfortable. Come as you are decor. Melamine tables. Wooden chairs. But plenty of light streaming in through the floor to ceiling glass windows. Eating areas, counters, condiment station all clean. As are its bathrooms. Overhead menus easy to read. Until I wrote this review I did not realize Arby's stood for the Raffel Brothers - RB's. That cowboy hat logo has changed - as has their menu - since it's not just beef. Moist tasty fish sandwiches. I still will get plain double roast beef sandwiches on those soft sesame seed buns, load 'em with Horsey sauce. That mayo with horseradish mix which is not too harsh. Heaven. Get some curly fries. Perfect. With the smokehouse brisket, the Gyros and the Roast Beef Cheese with Jalapeno's sliders - my palate has expanded. I have not tried shakes, breakfasts. I fondly remember the 5 for $5 deals. Long gone. The deals offered are competitive. Nothing comes cheap. As I come early afternoons I have not found the issues with service others have mentioned. I don't mind waiting a few minutes - no clock to punch. My orders are simple - but I check them to avoid any issues. Plenty of parking. Easily accessible to the handicapped. Yes the drive through gets busy. Depends on the time. This remains my favorite place for simple roast beef sandwiches. When I get that yen, only...

The last three times I attempted to grab lunch here all met in failure. The first time, I have no idea what happened, but I waited in a line for 10 minutes and never even made it to the ordering screen.

The second time, I sat for 20 minutes. (I was on a conference call so I didn't immediately realize how long I had waited) When I finally got to the ordering screen, all I heard was the worker cursing out his register and yelling at someone about how "it was locked up". Never once did the worker make any attempt to take an order, etc. I drove off like the customers in front of me.

The third time, yesterday, I pulled into the pot hole filled driveway and pulled right up to the ordering screen. There were only two cars in front of me that had already ordered and pulled up ahead of me. Once again, I waited.... and waited..... and waited.....6 minutes went by. No one even bothered to go on the speaker and acknowledge they were busy, etc. Nothing but silence. The cars in front of me were still there. No activity at all. About 8 minutes in, someone finally comes over the speaker and asks for my order. I start giving my order and then the employee starts talking to someone else..... (I believe the car at the front of the line) Once again nothing..... Another couple of minutes go by and then the employee comes back on completely unaware that she had started taking my order and disappeared mid-order..... I try giving her the order again and midway through she cuts me off and says to pull up.....

I'm done ordering from there, period.

On a side note, this location is in serious need of maintenance. The building exterior is very worn. The parking lot is in a state of serious disrepair and is littered with potholes and bad...