Sonic Drive In

I got lost on the way to Davis recently. Okay maybe not exactly lost. I missed my normal Starbucks/clean bathroom turn off, so I started taking every exit trying to locate a coffee stop. But then I came across a sign. 'Sonic Drive In" next exit. I took a chance.

We get Sonic commercials on TV here all the time but the closest Sonic's are, I believe, in Hayward and Gilroy. Neither of which I pass by on a regular basis. I have friends who swear by their hot dogs, their drinks, their burgers. But more importantly...Sonic sells Tater Tots.

So I went through the drive through. And got some tater tots. And, well. I'm hooked. I know, they are fried, they are fast food, they are probably not even made out of real potatoes (yes, they are, but you know what I mean). I don't care. They are manna from heaven. And when I sorely needed some comfort food to get me through that drive, Sonic and their Tater Tots were there. I was a happy woman. (As far as the tots, think McDonalds Hash Brown patty. Except in Tots form. Meaning more crunchies. And you can get Cheese Tots and Chili Cheese Tots).

Having had those little heavenly nuggets on my first encounter I forced coerced Mr. L to stop by there a few days later when we had to drive back to Davis. Except this time instead of going through the drive through, we went inside. Only to stop dead in our tracks. There is no counter. How come no one told me they had no counter? Never been to Sonic? Seriously, you walk in to a wall, that has an electronic panel that you peruse. Once you have decided on your order, you push a button, give your order and then a bit later, somehow, mysteriously, a carhop walks out and hands you your goodies. But not knowing this, we walked towards the wall and kinda stopped and stared. This probably happens a lot because out from the mystery door came this nice woman who said in a very cheery lilting voice "First time at Sonic?". Were we that obvious? She then explained the procedure (yes folks, we have arrived at the Jetsons) and then suggested to be more comfortable, we could actually go back into our car, place our order through the outside drive in menu (yes folks, a real drive in fast food joint) and the nice carhops would bring us our order.

So we went back to the car to order and eat. I was thinking that being in my car with the radio going would be more comfortable. I'm thinking Mr. L was envisioning the cute little carhop on roller skates in a short skirt delivering our meal. Luckily our carhop came wearing pants.

We ordered burgers and tater tots. Now mind you, after trying them, I'm not really fond of Sonics burgers. (They sell burgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, etc). They had at least ten different sodas available but I was most surprised to find they sold Coke Zero (a first for any fast food place I've ever frequented). They also have a ton of desserts and dessert type drinks (maybe you've heard of the Sonic Blasts). But since we weren't really hungry we just ordered burgers and tots. Frankly, nothing compared to the tater tots.

Will we go back to Sonic Drive in? Yes. I refuse to drive by without getting some Tater Tots. Maybe next time we'll try some of their special drinks and their world famous hot dogs. But the Tots? Favorites. Right up there with Jack in the Box tacos and KFC hot wings.

 

Comments

[Shannon]

That's funny, because I HATE the tots, but LOVE the burgers. And the poppers. And the onion rings. And the Large Diet Dr. Peppers.

Oh, who am I kidding. I love most of it. And their blasts are pretty good too.

[Mrs. L]

Well, we'll have to go back and try the poppers and the onion rings and maybe a different burger (cuz trust me, I'll be going back :)

[@makfan]

I love those tater tots. I need to try the chili cheese version.

FYI, the Chipotle near the tank now has Coke Zero.

[Tater Tots]

They sound tempting. I need to test them.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th7hEvqX7CU Although as you say it's fried. I'd love the skip the rules for once and i love spicy version. Wanna give the chilli cheese a try. Cool information.

[Mrs. L]

Makfan - Heck if we can drive all the way out to Tracy for In-N-Out, it's not that far to drive for some Sonic Tots now is it? A see a road trip for the chili cheese versions!

[Chris]

Sonic was one of our favorites when we first moved to Knoxville because we didn't have access to them before. Your right, the burgers are generally terrible. But I'll always take a batch of chili cheese tots.

[foodhoe]

I'm with you on the burgers, greasy and leagues behind In-n-Out, but those tatertots are good. The chili cheese ones are especially delicious!

[Lara]

So weird! I haven't checked out your blog in a while and last Sunday, I got pregnancy cravings to go to Sonic...just out of the blue. We didn't go, but now I wish we had!