History and Culture by Bicycle: Search for the best Loose Meat

Friday, May 16, 2014

Search for the best Loose Meat - Riverside Dairy Queen

The Riverside Dairy Queen in Sioux City, Iowa serves local menu items in addition to their normal menu as a franchise restaurant. One of these local menu items is taverns.

The good:
When I first walked in between 2:00 and 2:30 pm on May 13, 2014. I was greeted by the employees and asked right away if my order was going to be for there or to go. I answered for there. After I placed the order for two taverns and paid I looked around the establishment. It was very clean and pleasant. On the walls are photos of historic Riverside buildings and businesses and a tribute to Colonial Bud Day. While I was there the company who provides the mop heads and utility rugs arrived to exchange them. One of the employees wiped off the tables even though they did not appear to need to be cleaned.

The bad:
There was a high chair that needed to be put away, it was in an area where people would normally walk.

The very bad:
While I was waiting for my order I noticed it was taking a long time. Longer than it reasonably should. I also noticed there were customers in the drive through waiting for their order, longer than they reasonably should. This is when I noticed the employees goofing, off, joking around, playing "grab ass" games, etc. This explained the length of time it took to get my order. When I finally did get it it was in a to go bag, not on a tray. I was asked when I walked in if my order was to go or for dine in. I told them dine in. The fact they were goofing off and playing "grab ass" when they should have been concentrating on and filling my order correctly and the order for the drive through customer speaks volumes in the quality of their service.

The awful:
The tavern sandwiches were downright awful. The heal or bottom of the bun was way too thick, I'm talking Texas toast thick. Both sandwiches looked like they were thrown around and were used in a game of catch. When I pulled the sandwiches out of the bag one of the wrappers was not completely wrapped as it should have been. The top of the bun on both sandwiches was smashed in. One tavern the top of the bun was off set and there was mustard and ketchup all over the inside of the wrapper. The condition of the sandwiches leads me to believe when the employees were playing their "grab ass" games my sandwiches were part of said games. I wonder how the drive through customers food came out.

The meat was terrible. Way too much moisture So much my tongue was very confused as to whether or not I was eating a tavern or a hamburger. There was way too much mustard. The sandwiches had pickle and ketchup on them. But I didn't know it until I saw it and bit into a pickle. The mustard over powered the flavor of the other condiments. The spices, especially the pepper was not well blended at all. Part of the meat was very bland and the other was way to peppery. I only know this because I used a spoon to take a bite of the meat without condiments. With one spoon full all I could taste was pepper and the other just the meat, no spices at all.

The photos below will show the condition of the sandwiches

Total points: 0 There were not enough redeeming qualities of the Riverside Dairy Queen to warrant anything more than a zero. I will not be returning to the Riverside Dairy Queen to have any more of their food, even if it is not a tavern sandwich.