Wendy’s pioneered the fast food pretzel bun a few years ago but the bun has been gone now for some time. The hyped, Oktoberfest style bun makes its triumphant return with Wendy’s Pretzel Bacon Pub Cheeseburger and we’re taking a look at how it stacks up.
Wendy’s website describes this burger as:
“A quarter-pound* of fresh, never-frozen beef, warm beer cheese sauce, Applewood smoked bacon, smoky honey mustard, crispy fried onions, pickles, and a slice of muenster cheese all on an extra soft pretzel bun. Come for the Pretzel bun. Stay for everything else.”
When any fast food burger has this many ingredients and the actual title of the sandwich is this big of a mouthful, any seasoned eater will typically assume that the sandwich will be either sloppy and soggy or there will be multiple elements missing.
While there are two sauce elements, two meat products, and multiple savory and crunchy pseudo vegetables, most people seem to focus on the pretzel bun. To me pretzel buns are vastly overhyped and overrated, as I’ve always envisioned biting down into a Rold Gold and it ends up feeling like any old bun.
Wendy’s is offering this sandwich in both chicken and hamburger varieties, but to me when you think pretzel and pub you think burger. Wendy’s prices have gotten somewhat extreme over the years for fast food, and this burger with a small combo will run you almost $9.
The burger, as predicted had a bit of a ragged, clustery feel. It’s hard to prepare a burger like this for takeout, without it congealing into a bit of a hurricane of ingredients strewn about. All in all it was mainly intact after the reveal, even though some bacon and onions were already escaping the bun.
After dismantling the sandwich and giving it a full inspection, all ingredients were surprisingly present. Biting down this burger definitely has a bit of a premium feel. With the cascade of ingredients thrown at the proverbial wall mostly landing.
The pub cheeseburger had a wide ranging array of tastes, from melty, savory, cheesy, and even hearty. The pretzel bun, per usual, has more of a visual effect than taste, but it provides enough substance to not get soggy with the multiple sauce and melty beef elements. Wendy’s beef is near the top of the mega chains, with their bacon always providing a solid compliment.
The acidity provided by the pickles and mustard were very evident and definitely were a strong force of the overarching taste. I felt that both of the cheeses were kind of muted in flavor. I ate a dab or two of the beer cheese alone and it really was somewhat bland, while the actual slice muenster seemed to provide more texture than anything, while the taste got lost in the shuffle. I’m a huge fried onions fan in general and these were quite good, crispy and textured, while not soggy or petrified.
Overall the flavors of the Pretzel Bacon Pub Cheeseburger from Wendy’s came together mostly well. I’d probably eliminate a sauce just for sloppiness sake, because there is a whole lot going on here. Regardless this is a very solid fast food burger, that is well worth a try.
Wendy’s Pretzel Bacon Pub Cheeseburger: 7/10