Just opened in Wilsonville. No indoor seating (but there is a table outside). Issues:

1) Discourages public transportation use (including the new WES nearby, bikes and walking) most of the year. To go to Sonic, you gotta go in a car. Yup, needlessly wastes the Earth's resources and pollutes the environment.

STRIKE ONE!

2) To enjoy your food in a car most of the year, you have to leave the motor running to either, run the heater or run the A/C (and/or stereo system's amp). Yup, needlessly wastes the Earth's resources and pollutes the environment.

STRIKE TWO!

3) [I need another issue to call a third strike on Sonic's ancient business model -- it's so 1990's. Help me out here! ]

STRIKE THREE!

You're OUT!



Sonic's tasty menu items were discussed in another thread.

Yeah - the drive-up thing is part of the Sonic theme. I'm guessing most people won't be taking WES to Sonic anyway, given that WES is a rush hour-only train.

Visit Albuquerque sometime. There are Sonics like every other block - they are everywhere. But they fit right into the car culture of the SW USA. You're right - not so much in Oregon.

Andrew

Oh, yeah...New Mexico Sonics have green chile available on nearly every menu item, too...

YUM!

Sonic is the best fast food place period!

If you ride a bike and don't own a car, Tough shit you're out of luck.

I am not impressed with their food. Burgers are average, anything chicken is below average in my opinion. Their drinks and deserts keep them afloat, excuse the pun.

BTW, Chick-fillet has entered the Rocky Mountain region...not bad, albeit a bit pricey.

Isn't or wasn't there a Chick-fillet in the Clackamas Town Center?

I had the name slightly wrong. Should be Chick-fil-a. Their locater does not show Oregon locations.

"If you ride a bike and don't own a car, Tough shit you're out of luck."

Ah well, it's their loss then. If they don't want my business that badly then I won't waste my time trying to give it to them.....yup, their tough loss.........

Shyguy, there used to be a Chick-Fil-A at Clacamas Town Centre years ago (think, mid-1990s when they closed down.) There also used to be one at Lloyd Centre up until a few years ago. I don't know why they all shut down specifically, but for some reason a little voice in my head keeps echoing dot com boom & bust.......dot com boom & bust............. ;o)

Who knows, maybe that might have had something to do with it?

I know for certain that I was highly disappointed when I went to LC a few years ago and found that my favourite CFA is now a Taco Time (or whatever the hell it is now......)

I still miss Boston Market. :-( Glad they are still in biz in the rest of the country...

Isn't it amazing how many restaurant franchises are either small or non-existent in the PNW? No Boston Market, just a few Sonics, no Chick-Fil-A...even Dunkin' Donuts couldn't make it here!

Andrew

"If you ride a bike and don't own a car, Tough shit you're out of luck."

I think Beano should try the new Sonic Fecal Burger!

Playing on the stereo: Doobie Bros "It Keeps You Running"

A lot of franchises seem to be regionally oriented, (Carls Jr. is just in the west and southwest, Jack in the Box is nowhere to be found in the east, and of course, thread fave In 'n Out is just CA, AZ, NV.) As someone pointed out before, that can be a good thing as the food is fresher when chains have regional operations. (myth?, not sure)...Of course, Oregon has its Burgerville, Seattle with Dick's, and Arctic Circle is all over the mountain west.

When I lived in the Chicago area, there was a multitude of chains you don't see here. Culver's, Steak and Shake, White Castle, to name a few.

As for Chick-fil-a, interesting they were in mall locations here at one time. What I am seeing in the Mtn west, is new stand alone stores.

The Dunkin' Donuts thing I don't get. They were here, now they're gone.

Carl's Jr. IS on the east coast...via Hardee's, a chain the parent company bought years ago. If you go into a Hardee's, it's eerie; the menus and everything look just like a Carl's Jr although the menu items themselves aren't the same.

FYI, when I was in college in the 80's at Arizona State, someone opened up a Dick's Drive-in (yes, same one) two blocks from my apartment. My roommates and I used to eat there all the time. I have no idea why it closed. I was bummed at the time. I never knew it was a Seattle-based local chain until I visited Seattle years later! I still visit Dick's in Seattle when I am up there, just for the college nostalgia.

Andrew

Andrew, yes, but I still separate Carls and Hardees because of those different menu items. Hardee's got into a little trouble as I recall with their Monster Thick Burger, something like 1500 calories.

I doubt that was the same company that had a Dick's in Arizona. Most likely a rip-off, because I'm pretty sure that the Seattle Dick's has never expanded outside Seattle. (98% sure anyway!) There is also a Dick's in Spokane...not the same company.

One I particularly miss is Rax.....they used to have one at the Jantzen Beach mall years ago, right across from the merry-go-round. First time I ever had a French Dip roast beef sandwich was there (aged 5 or 6, more or less.)

Of course, to put it in perspective, that was when they still had a movie theatre, bowling alley and Stereo Super Store there......oh yeah, and Pietro's Engine House was right across the parking lot........ ;o)

Whatever exactly happened to Rax? I know they don't have too big of a national presence nowdays, at least not as they used to have anyways........

Chaplain said

"I think Beano should try the new Sonic Fecal Burger!"



I already tried it Chaplain and it tastes like shit! (no pun intended

God, that's funny.

You just know I'm gonna go in the drive-thru and ask for one of those! When they ask what or why or to repeat it, I'm gonna say, "You know, a number two!"

Hey Motozak!

The real question is, what happened to the Jantzen Beach Mall? It used to be pretty cool.

Now, looks kind of abandonded.

Discourages public transportation use...
Wilsonville has a less than remarkable bus system anyway... getting there is next to impossible on Saturday (you're waiting for almost half an hour), and forget it on Sunday.
IMO, 201 to Barbur TC is only so-so, and 1X to Salem (their best route, at least AFAIC) runs weekday rush-hour only.

Warner--

Yeah, I was in there about a month ago and it was practically DEAD. Just myself, a younger couple with their three small screaming children, and another older man who looked like he could have easily been pushing 200.

When I used to go there years ago it was full of life! Now, it seems almost surreal....and kinda' eerie at that........

Chik-Fil-A has been replaced by Subway, and WazWan (I loved them!) has been replaced by Tanya-i-want-on-ya Harding's infamous Hot Dog on a Stick at Lloyd Center.

Barf on both. Yuck.

"Wilsonville has a less than remarkable bus system anyway..."

Huh? Surely you're jesting.

For one thing, its FREE!!!! -- a very good price by the way. Secondly, emergency? Give them a call and maybe they'll pick you up! Late for your connection? No prob, the bus driver will phone ahead and have your connecting bus hold a few minutes until you get there.

Weekends? Exactly what is there to do in Wilsonville on the weekends?

They're shaming TriMet by making do with LESS money (lower tax rate) yet they run buses out of town including to Salem and the Barbur transit station.

Nothing is "free". The bus drivers don't volunteer their time and the gas companies don't donate the gas.

Frankly, I think the bus system should be self-funded by the riders.

A super sonic with Cheese sounds so tasty right now!

Nothing is "free"

On the contrary, about 15 years ago Wilsonville took itself out of the TriMet district and created their own transit district at a substancially lower tax rate to businesses. As a result, businesses save $$$ and ANYBODY can ride in Wilsonville FREE.

And TriMet STILL runs a bus out to Wilsonville, heh.

I remember going to Sonic in Vegas, and thinking it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I've been twice since moving up here to Spokane, once at each location in the area, and it's been disappointing. The first time, they forgot all about me ... at least I got it for free. The second time, I specified several times NO ONIONS OR MUSTARD on the burger. Not hard, folks. Sure enough, it's loaded with both, and when I ask for a new burger the manager dude rolls out on his rollerskates and throws it at me.

Now if you're talking about Dick's Hamburgers, the ones in Seattle are imposters. 3rd and Division, downtown Spokane is the original, and still best!

Weekends? Exactly what is there to do in Wilsonville on the weekends?
Hit up Fry's (the only reason to go to Wilsonville anyway; unless you're 10, in which case there's also that Family Fun Center place). Several years ago they announced they were going to open a Jantzen Beach location, but those plans went away real quick when the recession started.

Also, the free service ended a few years ago. Yes, it's free in Wilsonville, but not on the portions of the routes outside the city anymore.

To be fair, I should probably mention that they do have better bus service than many places that don't have anything whatsoever, and it wasn't meant to be a personal attack on anyone. They do have a good plan in place once WES starts up. It's just kinda strange that for years they've had routes running through parking lots of businesses, but very few people use them because their work hours are outside of SMART's service hours.

BTW, SMART pays TriMet for both the portion of WES that operates in their service boundary, and the portion of TriMet route 96 that operates there, and SMART will soon start service to the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, even though it's technically in TriMet's district, because TriMet has no interest or resources to provide service there.

Enough of this... let's get back to delicious, artery-clogging fast food, OK?!