Culver’s — Restaurant in Wyoming

There was a brief period of my life after I lived free of the confines of family or school, yet before I could legally acquire alcohol. Attending school at the time in the middle of nowhere, with few amenities and fewer pleasures, meant traveling further afield for what would otherwise be mundane. I took several such sojourns with my roommate to the nearest city and the nearest Culver's - a mere half hour's drive away - whenever our other roommate abandoned us for the weekend to spend time with his loving girlfriend.

He is a man of few, strong passions: economics, beer, the Green Bay Packers, and Culver's. As I journeyed the five minutes down the street from my apartment last night to my neighborhood Culver's, my mind hearkened back to simpler times, when the warmth of cheese curds and a butter burger warmed the cockles of my cold, dead heart, giving me some small measure of meaning and purpose in those dark times. I think my roommate just liked eating at Culver's.

With the convenience of fast food comes many a sacrifice for other luxuries. Despite the simplicity of the presentation of these onion rings (a small blue and white Culver's branded bag), I find myself oddly charmed. As I assume is taught at culinary schools around the nation, the quantity of onion rings exceeds the immediate space of the bag, spilling out in their circular glory.

The onion rings themselves are cooked to a crisp, golden brown, with occasional specks of darker brown throughout. They are wildly variate in size, though fairly uniform in thickness. The battering is pockmarked, though this rarely exposes the onion core. As such, they do add a bit of pizzazz to the plate as a whole.

The Culver's website, which has long been an authoritative source of information on the questions that wrack men's souls, notes that the onion rings are "salted the second they leave the fryer." True to their word, these onion rings are perfectly salted. There's enough to bring out the flavor of the battle, but not so much that it eclipses all other tastes. Taste-wise, the batter is the highlight of these rings, with other spices subtly mixed in with the salty flavor.

Unfortunately, the onions fail to live up to the batter's standards. Though they are soft, plump, and juicy, there's next to no onion flavor coming with it. Such onion flavor that exists is pleasant, though skimpy.

In what I can only assume is a remarkable feat of Wisconsin engineering, the batter was a marvelous mixture of brittle, yet firm. My first bite led the batter to crack and splinter, almost dissolving instantly in my mouth, and yet the rest of the onion ring remained firm. It's as though the batter was chemically designed to collapse after a bite, but only in the exposed areas. The strength of the batter was truly a marvel.

However, its structural integrity was not matched by the plump onion within. The onions were perhaps a bit too soft, and prone to noodling out from inside the thick salty walls, though full-on slippage was thankfully rare. The onion portions were soft, but seemed at times more slimy than juicy.

Though somewhat lacking in onion taste, these well-seasoned rings provided a filling snack for a mere $2.99. Though I would be shocked if these onion rings weren't frozen, they were clearly cooked fresh and seasoned with love (which I assume tastes like salt). The batter is a shockingly high quality for mass-produced onion rings, and the quantity...

just nowI think it’s ridiculous to leave a bad review over a strawberry shake but that unfortunately is what this is. I was greeted so nicely placed my order for a meal and I asked if I could have my shake made on the way out. I was told yes.I ordered it thick and I have no idea what that means but it always gets me what I’m looking for. Leaving I asked for my shake and it was already made waiting on me . I said it’s probably melted some and not quite what I need. The AST GM comes up and then begins to talk to the cashier in front of me about how he rang it up wrong. I said I’m sorry not trying to be a bother this is my favorite treat and my daughter and I just left a funeral. He didn’t acknowledge me speaking to him at all he just told someone else “add a scoop of malt to that” the other guy looks at me and shakes his head he says “don’t worry I’ll make you a fresh one” my mouth is wide open. He makes it with the extra malt and it was so gross. So I go back in and explain to the AST GM that the extra malt was really bad tasting and I’ve never ran into this before.the response was my suggestions were wrong and they follow procedures there. He walked away talked about me to the workers by the drive thru area like I couldn’t hear him. He remade the darn shake and it was perfect. It was fresh and perfectly thick. All he had to do in the first place is just remake the shake that had been made too early. That’s it. He focused on wanting to be “right”. Just ridiculous. Not at all service friendly. His super power is the customer service demeanor even if he doesn’t have it to give. I empathize I’ve managed restaurants for 18 yrs at some point you humble yourself to lead and serve. I hope he has that moment and goes forward with a wonderfully career and much success. People are hurting out here. Kindness and your service...

I have always been a fan of this particular Culver's however, my last three visits rendered my burgers raw! If a burger that thin is pink, it surely never got up to high enough temp to kill bacteria crawling all over. I called back and had the unfortunate pleasure of speaking with Katie. I called and she informed me that she didn't know what to say then said "I'm sorry that it was undercooked in your opinion". In my opinion?! It's pink! I asked if I could speak to the restaurant manager and she said she was the manager. After about the fifth time she said Bart is the owner/manager. I asked if she had her sefvsafe cert and she said she would not divulge that information with customers. She also said "I just don't want to be questioned by customers". Wow! If this is what your customers can come to expect, dangerous food and bad attitudes, count me out! As far as this Katie goes, she should never be allowed to deal with upset customers. On a side note, a group of young employees were arguing with who seemed to be another employee but in non_work clothing. I had to wait until they finished to place my order. Will be returning for a...