I Tried Every Sonic Burger On the Menu & The Best Was Crispy and Gooey

Sonic has never been a burger chain that comes to mind when I think "guilty pleasure burger." McDonald's? Always! Wendy's? Yes! Burger King? Sure, if I must. But Sonic? Never even crossed my mind, and I have to admit, I had never eaten there before this taste test. But seeing as the chain recently launched its first smash burger to much fanfare, and considering the fact that it's the fourth-largest burger chain in the country, I wanted to fill this huge void in my fast-food burger knowledge.

So, I embarked upon the quest to try the entire Sonic burger menu, from the simplest, humblest cheeseburger to the new fancy smash burger iteration with queso. I decided to order each burger as it came—no customizations—to experience it the way that Sonic intended. And for burgers that come in double and triple versions, I decided to stick to the doubles as the default.

I ended up trying nine items and ranked them from my least favorite/most forgettable to my absolute favorite. All in all, Sonic had some pretty decent offerings, and there were even a few burgers I'd order again.

Plain Sonic Cheeseburger

Sonic's humble, plain cheeseburger is made up of three bare-bones ingredients: the bun, the beef patty, and a slice of American cheese. I rated this little guy last, not for being the worst of the bunch, but as a neutral starting point with not much to judge. A blank canvas. And that's basically the experience it delivered, too. It wasn't too dry, but I wouldn't call it juicy, either. The bun was nice and warm and soft, which I find pretty important. The cheese was melty and fine. Now to the meat. I generally found Sonic's burger patties to be a little rubbery and taste a little too much like a fast-food factory—you know, that beefy flavor that clearly comes from mass production of cheap meat. While most fast-food chains suffer from this problem, I found BurgerFi's and Wendy's patties to taste much better. And because there wasn't much to mask that beefy flavor in this little burger, it was the main aftertaste I was left with. This one cost me $6.49.

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Cheesy Bacon Sonic Stack

The cheesy bacon stacks (there's a double on the menu as well) may seem like a good idea in theory: diversifying the burger menu with a simple bun swap makes it seem like the menu is more interesting than it is. But this was a fail for me. The Texas toast this burger was sandwiched with was so soggy and rubbery that it almost felt like I was eating stale French toast. The rest of the elements would make this a pretty standard cheeseburger with the addition of mayo, ketchup, diced onions, and pickles. My main takeaway was that Texas toast has no business replacing the bun on a cheeseburger. This one cost $7.49.

Quarter Pound Double Cheeseburger

This mini cheeseburger has the makings of a decent burger. It's just small, featuring two junior-sized patties and a smaller bun. I did like the combo of ketchup and mustard. The whole thing, along with two slices of American cheese, made for a pretty juicy, flavorful experience. The pickles brought a nice tang, but I did miss the crunch of the diced onions, which I thought were a saving grace in many of these burgers at Sonic (I like raw onions, sue me.) It cost $3.89 and was by far the cheapest burger on the menu.

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SuperSonic Bacon Double Cheeseburger

This is a hefty, meaty burger with two burger patties and what felt like a handful of bacon. Sadly, all of that made for a pretty dry, rubbery pile. The bacon was crispy and possibly juicy at one point, sure, but it had traveled to me via delivery and by the time I bit into this burger, the crispy had turned to crumbly and kind of cold. Luckily, it had a bunch of juicy elements: double the melty cheese, mayo, tomato, and lettuce. All of this helped balance out the meat pile to an extent, just enough to make it a decent attempt. This is definitely a bang-for-buck kind of item, one that will satiate and satisfy the hungriest among us for just $8.89.

Super Sonic Double Cheeseburger

This double cheeseburger sans bacon was more my speed. It's another super hefty item that features the kitchen sink of fixin's but benefits from the absence of bacon. Without that portion of dry bacon, and with both ketchup and mayo, pickles, onions, lettuce and tomato, this burger immediately felt juicier and more delicious. If I were perusing Sonic's menu again and was starving, this would be my pick—and it's only $7.99.

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Double  Sonic Queso Smasher

Now we're getting into Sonic's premium offerings—the smash burgers. Sonic just launched them this year, and it already came out with this limited-time iteration that features a whole range of unique toppings. (Well, unique for Sonic, that is.) There's the queso sauce, the Southwest sauce, the sliced jalapeños, the onions, and the crunchy tortilla strips that dress up Sonic's classic Smasher here. The burger also has better-quality Angus patties that are smashed on the grill and are supposed to have crispy edges and a juicy middle. Not to mention, the Smashers come in cardboard boxes à la McDonald's, as opposed to wrappers like the other burgers on the menu. This one cost $8.59, a dollar more than its classic Smasher with fewer bells and whistles.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

And while this clearly felt a little more luxe, this guy didn't travel well and arrived all discombobulated. Still, I was able to take several bites where all the ingredients were represented well, and while this was a visual mess, it turned out to be quite a delight in terms of taste. The beef patties were indeed crispy on the edges, but I don't know how much they retained their juiciness. Funnily enough, my colleague reviewed the classic Smasher a few weeks ago and had the opposite experience, which just goes to show that the quality of execution varies dramatically here. The most pronounced delight of this burger was the combo of the sauces and the jalapeño slices. The creaminess of the queso and the other sauce would get overwhelming fast, but as soon as I got to the jalapeño, the cheesy one-note flavor was cut with a wonderful tang and a slow-building heat. The tortilla strips were inconsequential, and I promptly forgot they were there. For $8.59 in New York City, it was a decent attempt at a fancy burger, and I might give it another chance in the future.

Garlic Butter Bacon Cheeseburger

As much as I disliked the bacon in the bacon cheeseburger, I was able to tolerate it much better here, where it was combined with the finger-licking grease of garlic butter. That's right! This burger has a bun topped with garlic butter, which makes it smell delicious straight out of the bag—and the flavor isn't far behind. Sure, it's a cheap trick to add garlic butter, but one I wasn't bemoaning as I ended up eating a lot more of this one than I intended. (I had nine burgers to taste, after all.) Also, one neat little addition is the grilled onions instead of raw ones, which kicks the flavor up another notch or two. All in all, this was one of my favorites on the menu, and I'd definitely go for it again should I find myself perusing the Sonic menu. It cost $7.39.

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Sonic Cheeseburger

The single cheeseburger was even better to me than the double because the ingredients were balanced well, and the addition of another patty didn't throw off the entire thing with its rubberiness. The Sonic veggie quartet—onions, as many as five pickle slices, lettuce, and tomato—and two sauces made everything nice and juicy. The burger was still compact and easy to handle and eat with one hand without falling apart. That's a testament to a good bun! This one cost $6.49, and I thoroughly enjoyed it as a staple classic on the menu.

Double Sonic Smasher

Turns out that Sonic's efforts in the Smasher department are paying off, after all. While I felt that the Queso Smasher could use a bit of work in the patty department and in balancing its creamy components, the chain's original Smasher was the best burger on the entire menu. As it turns out, the chain's mission statement of serving something resembling a gourmet burger at a reasonable price (just $7.59, in this case) has been accomplished.

The essence of a good smash burger is a hand-smashed patty that's juicy in the middle and crispy on the edges, and this melty, gooey burger came pretty close to that goal—the edges were quite crispy, and the overall burger was gooey and juicy. Even that pronounced beef flavor wasn't as overwhelming here, thanks to the patties being smashed and, therefore, thinner. The veggies were well-balanced with the proprietary smasher sauce (which tasted a lot like some combo of mayo and ketchup), although if I could make one tweak, I'd grill the onions, just like in the Garlic Butter Bacon burger.

Sonic, I applaud you for creating a very enjoyable smash burger at a price that doesn't break the bank. And I'll be recommending this little number to friends and family.

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