Letting The Person In Front Of Me Decide What I Eat

Trying out new foods can be both an adventure and a disappointment.  I decided to take this a step further and randomly order the same dish as the person ahead of me.  You might wonder how that would work out.  Read on.

Blame It On YouTube

A few months ago there was a goofy trend on YouTube, where YouTubers would go to fast food drive throughs and instead of picking out something of their own choice, they would tell the order taker, “I’ll take the same thing as the car in front of me.”  Talking about random choice! It was a fun way of trying out some new dishes, and maybe even being exposed to something new and tasty.  When I came across this trend I thought it was quite entertaining, and got to thinking that it could be interesting to try out for myself.

Developing The Plan

By now you probably have guessed where I am going with this.  Since I have this food blog I got to thinking, “Why not try expanding this idea to college?”  A lot of colleges have a food court in their student unions, and UNLV here in Las Vegas is no different.  So, here is plan I developed for letting the person in front of you in line decide:

• Go to different restaurants in the food court.
• Order the exact same thing as the previous person.
• Try everything that I ordered, even if it was something I NEVER would order on my own … like mushrooms.
• Write a review of all the dishes I got.

Let The Adventure Begin

Then came the first day to try it.  I was super excited to see what I would get.  As you might imagine, I was expecting the worse, but hoping for something new new and delicious, and maybe even nutritious at the same time.Now without any further introduction let’s go on this food adventure together.

Taco Bell

The first day arrived and here I was at Taco Bell.  I’m not a fast food fanatic, but here goes…

Everything on the menu looks good. I like Taco Bell a lot so I was not super nervous. The nachos supreme sound supper good so that is what I am hoping for. I am hoping for nothing too spicy. 

I got to the front of the line and saw the guy in front of me ordered a steak soft taco. Personally I like hard tacos a lot more because of the crunch. I was a bit disappointed at first.  However, after I picked up the prepared taco, it was smelling quite good. It also felt warm, which you could say was another good sign. I then unwrapped the taco, and the first thing I noticed was that it was extremely small. Not super filling, and not even a full meal. How disappointing! The taco itself had some steak pieces, lettuce and cheese, all within a relatively small soft wheat tortilla.   

Here is my review of Taco Bell’s Steak Soft Taco:  When I started to eat it I liked how the lettuce was crisp and fresh, adding a nice crunch to the taco. That made up somewhat for the fact the tortilla was soft, and I prefer hard shell tacos. The steak was surprisingingly juicy and flavorful, and wound up being my favorite part of the taco. When I was eating it, I felt like there was some kind of sauce on it but when I looked up what was in the taco online it said that there wasn’t any sauce on it.  Probably the steak was marinated in something, since somehow it got so moist.  

Overall, Taco Bell was a surprise and I really liked this taco. I just wish the guy in front of me ordered two, since just one was not filling enough for a meal.  However, I cannot blame Taco Bell for that, so all in all, 5 stars for Taco Bell.   

Jamba Juice

Next, I decided to try out Jamba Juice.  Before going, I was kind of nervous about Jamba Juice, because they have a huge menu, some of which I would never order on my own. Typically, I get a blue sky bowl with no banana, but was hoping for something different this time.  I wanted to try out their “gummy bear” smoothie, and I have seen several other people order that before, and I was curious to see if it really tastes like gummy bears. I also was interested in trying some of their food, as I never tried Jamba Juice food before. Also, I was hoping not to get a veggie-based smoothie, since I prefer fruit based. 

So how did it work out?  The person in front of me ordered a “razzmatazz” smoothie without bananas and added blueberries. It had strawberries, raspberry juice, orange sherbet, blueberries, and crushed ice. Unfortunately, it also was extremely sweet, even too sweet I would say.  It pretty much tasted like a fruit roll up more than a smoothie. On the positive side, you could definitely taste the strawberries and raspberries, and a little bit orange also. I would rate this smoothie as middling, neither awful nor very good.  It was too sweet for me, so I would not order it again. 

Panda Express

When I started this experiment, I was not nervous about Panda Express, since I like basically everything they serve.  However, after the disappointing visit to Jamba Juice, who normally I love, I was a bit nervous heading over to Panda Express for the next step of my experiment. Typically, I order an orange chicken bowl, with chow mein and a side of cream cheese wontons. I did see some teriyaki chicken on the menu that looked pretty good too, so that was what I was hoping for.

I turned out that the person in front of me in line ordered an orange chicken bowl – the same thing I always order, but with rice instead of the chow mein noodles. It was pretty good. The orange chicken was extremely crunchy and not super spicy which it sometimes is which I liked. This is probably one of the best orange chicken I have ever gotten from Panda.  Probably I would have liked it more with the noodles instead of rice, but it was good even with the rice.  All in all, I would order this again for a bit of variety.

Steak N’ Shake

 

Of all the places this was the one I had the most trepidation about. There was a lot on the menu that I was sure I would hate.  If I eat there, typically I will order a burger with fries, ranch, and a milkshake. I saw some grilled cheese with french fries that looked pretty good. A peanut butter cup milkshake would be pretty good as well. I love anything with peanut butter in it.  

So what did the guy in front of me order:

Chicken Fingers

The chicken fingers were great. I had them before, and this time they did not disappoint.  They were crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside. They needed some dipping sauce though, since they still were too dry without it.

Honey Mustard Sauce

I do not normally order honey mustard. I typically get ranch.  However, that is what the guy in front of me ordered.  It turned out that I liked it a lot. I had a bit of a spicy taste but not too much. It was also a bit sweet.  I would order it again.  I did not realize that I would like it this much.  

Fries

I honestly do not like the fries here  very much. I think they are a lot better at other places. They are just not as flavorful as fries from other places. They do give you a lot of fries though, so that is a plus. The container they give you is filled to the brim.

Butterfinger Milkshake

I love Butterfinger candy. In fact, I usually like anything peanut butter, and it is one of my favorite flavors.  The shake and the whipped cream on top both had real butter finger pieces in them, which I liked too.  The shake was made with vanilla ice cream, which I also like a lot, and I found the combo of peanut butter and vanilla delicious. 

++++++++++

In conclusion this was a very fun experience. This was probably one of the funniest blog articles I have ever done. I loved trying new things.  I would recommend that other people try this out to experience new foods.