Carl’s Jr. — Restaurant in Tucson

What makes a great hamburger? Even if you’re not a celebrated chef, you probably know how to cook a burger on a grill, right? And if you’re like me (I’m average), your burgers are probably better than any fast food restaurant’s. You may not score them a 10 out of 10, but you know they’re better than a Big Mac, right? So let’s rank our own grilled burgers an 8 out of 10 which would artificially set the range for fast food joints at “1 to 7”. I can’t fathom what the 10 out of 10 burger would taste like… but then, it’s only a burger. The winner of this competition will move to the next round to face another of America’s fast food burger giants yet to be determined.

Carl’s Jr. California Classic Double Cheeseburger === My first observation is… no avocado! How can this be a “California” recipe without having avocado amongst the ingredients? Every “California” recipe always has avocado — even a California King Mattress comes with avocado! I guess they’re trying to tell us Carl’s Jr. is somehow a legendary "California Classic” Culinary institution. Anyway, this misnomer is actually quite delicious.

It’s the rough equivalent of the Big Mac, with two beef patties, a single slice of cheese (“double” cheeseburger?), lettuce, onions, a slice of tomato, “Classic Sauce” on a plain bun with no sesame seeds. The beef charbroiled. (A short sentence packed with meaning much like “Jesus wept.”)

With the first bite, I forgot all about the absence of sesame seeds or pickles. The charbroiled beef flavor was abundant, the ingredients fresh. This burger satisfies. Score: 6 out of 10. Reasoning: It was far tastier than the Big Mac for less than half the price at $3.58.

Service: Fine. Atmosphere: Drive thru, so not scored.

McDonald’s Big Mac === Considered by many in the world to be the very definition of a hamburger, perhaps the very definition of America.

Everyone who spent any years in front of a 1970s television can recite what this sandwich’s ingredients are: “Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onion on a sesame seed bun.” Remember that jingle? Sounds impressive until you actually taste the thing. The Big Mac I received today was freshly assembled as evidenced by the photo. As I labored my way through it, the overriding flavors were of “pickle” and “special sauce” couched between too much bread. Tiny shreds of iceberg would drop out the sides covered in sauce. The meat was not charbroiled — just tasteless — pretty much as tasteless as videos of the pink slime they used to use to make those patties. Boring.

Service: Below average. Had to wait five minutes. Atmosphere: Drive thru, so not scored.

Bottom line, the Big Mac was the least interesting of the two burgers, paling in comparison, and yet was the most expensive at $7.71 Score: 1 out of 10. Reasoning: “Corporate greed serves boring corporate chow to the masses who can no longer afford it.”

Results === WINNER: Carl’s Jr. California Classic Double Cheeseburger (6/10) LOSER: McDonald’s...

Terrible Experience, Bad Customer Service... Ordered a chicken sandwich and they charged me but I didn't get the sandwich because they didn't have the sauce. I went back multiple times trying to get my sandwich or a refund, even talked to the manager Alegria, each time it was one thing or another. Went in today to get my sandwich because they have the sauce, ordered a extra one for my daughter but they charged me a BOGO... I asked if they were trying to give me a BOGO because of the trouble I went through and give me a refund for my other sandwich. The manager was giving me attitude as if I was trying to get something for free, I already paid for 2 sandwiches, I was just asking if they were trying to help me because of all the days of trouble I went through coming back multiple times... One nice lady tried to offer me a cookie, good customer service, but the manager Alegria quickly shook her finger at her to say no. After she did that and tried to make me feel small as if I was trying to get over on them, I just asked for a refund. She didn't not care how offensive she was treating me, I told her I was a local guide on Google and I was thinking of leaving a review, she said she didn't care.... The food is usually good at this Carl's Jr and I come to this one often, but after this customer experience No Thank You, I deserve to be treated better and she really needs better customer...

The day I went was not a good experience. As we were paying for breakfast, we asked for a veteran discount. We were told that they gave those so we showed our military card. The cashier looked at it and immediately rang up our order. When we saw the receipt, we saw that she didn't give us the discount. We tried to get her attention but she wouldn't look at us. My husband decided to just forget it since we were in a hurry that morning.

As we were searching for a place to sit, we realized that all the tables were dirty. We chose the cleanest table we could find and proceeded to wait for our food. That took over 15 minutes and my husband had to go up and complain. Again, we were in a hurry so we ended up with a very short time to eat.

When that same lady brought our food, she apologized. I have been to this restaurant in the past and the service has been like this enough to make me think that our experience was normal. I may try going back again but only if I'm out of options elsewhere.

Update time: I really wanted to give them a chance but it keeps getting worse. Tonight I asked for a Beyond Famous Star with no cheese after work. Sadly, I took a bite and there's cheese. I'm too tired to drive back tonight so that means my dinner is the drink and fries while I let my kids finish the burger. It must be my luck this week to have...