- Hey, I'm Alex.
So today I'm gonna be testing and reviewing
the Retro Pop-up Hot Dog Toaster by Nostalgia.
We'll be looking at how well it works,
if the food it makes is any good,
and if you should consider buying it.
Let's hot diggity dog.
(jazzy music)
On first impression I would say, it looks pretty good.
It says, perfectly delicious hot dogs every time.
Fits thicker hot dogs that plump.
So it looks like you can put two hot dogs, two buns.
I like the diagram of the hot dogs they got.
And voila.
Our hot dog toaster.
Ooh!
I mean, I do like the color, it's a really beautiful red.
Nice.
It's very sleek, I have to say.
There's these two little, oh.
There's like a cage.
(laughing)
This is a hot dog cage.
So I'm assuming you put your hot dogs in there.
You can lower it in.
These are for the buns.
All right, we got a metal tong here.
It's more like a something you find at Home Depot.
I'm anticipating it'll be a little hard
to pick up anything with this.
This isn't a tong.
(laughing)
For the heat options we've just got a dial,
it goes from one to five.
It doesn't look like you can change the heat
specific to like, I want my bun a little toastier,
I want my hot dog a little toastier.
You're at one level of heat and it's going,
you're going, you're stuck with it.
Oh, there's a little more action than I thought.
We've got a crumb catcher.
Ah, the crumb catcher is actually here.
Crumb catcher, interesting.
So that's probably for any of the toasty bun bits that fall.
Hot dogs and buns, helpful tips.
All hot dogs and buns are not the same.
Wow, this is like some life advice.
Therefore you will need to adjust
the variable heat controller accordingly.
All right, so I'm feeling pretty good about this.
I think we're ready to go.
Time to see if this thing is a winner
or a wiener.
(peppy music)
So we're gonna go pretty classic here, pretty standard.
Your average hot dog, your average bun.
Hot dogs are not a sandwich.
I mean, just because something is in bread
doesn't make it a sandwich.
Put me between two pieces of bread
and you wouldn't call me a sandwich.
We're gonna crack open our supplies,
again, pretty straightforward.
One hot dog, uh.
It's dripping.
All right, these are your standard hot dogs.
Just gonna put 'em into the hot dog slots.
Just to give you a little visual.
They're in their little cages.
But if you had a plumping hot dog, it'd fit in there.
It's not snug as a bug in a rug.
And for our bun, just open it up like so.
And I'm assuming we stick it into the half-moon.
Oh, these are very standard hot dog buns.
I didn't get a thick hot dog bun.
This is a normal hot dog bun.
And it's a little snug in there.
It's tight.
It's like already kinda squishing the bun too much.
They should've given the hot dogs a little less room
and then the buns a little more room.
I think I'm gonna start off cooking these at a three.
I feel like that's kind of like a middle ground heat.
I also, I'm a little worried about
the buns because they're so close to the heat
that maybe a five will just get really hot.
All right, I guess we're good to go.
Let's, oh.
Okay.
Only the hot dogs went down.
Should I just push 'em in?
I guess I'm pushing 'em in.
Ooh.
I'm smelling some smoke stuff.
So I hear, (coughing).
God, it smells in there.
You immediately hear the toaster going,
the sound of like the (whirring).
And I can definitely see the red coils heating up.
It's definitely hot right away.
I feel, it's pretty hot in there.
So it's definitely toasting.
I hear a little sizzling.
Oh!
All right, something popped.
I guess I'm gonna check it out.
Oh.
Maybe I'll use the tongs.
This is maybe where the tongs come in.
It's warm to the touch.
They don't look toasted at all.
The buns...
That's a sad toasted bun, I have to say.
Not only is it ripping apart
because it was so squished in there,
but it literally just burnt the edges
and didn't, it's lightly toasted in the middles.
Oh, and it's breaking.
I'm not happy.
This is not perfect every time.
I've already been lied to.
Bad first impression.
So the buns are not great.
Let's take a closer look at the hot dog.
Yeah, I mean, it's warm.
But it's lukewarm.
I was kind of excited to get a little char on a hot dog.
I don't know, this is basically just heated through.
So I think the move to make is crank it up to a five.
I am looking for a toastier bun,
a toastier hot dog, and I think I'm just gonna
have to accept that the edges of the bun are gonna burn.
Before we get started on our second attempt
I just wanna check out the crumb catcher
to see what's going on in there.
Ooh!
As anticipated, we got a little bit of hot dog juice,
a little bit of crumbs in there.
Definitely something.
It did the job.
I think that's the part of this whole thing
that worked the best, actually.
(laughing)
Is the crumb catcher.
All right, we're gonna try this again,
but this time we're going full blast.
I'm gonna turn this up to a five.
I'm really going for that classic summer cookout hot dog.
The nostalgia factor that this thing is named after.
Round two.
Hot dogs going in.
Straightforward.
Let's see, maybe they can just squish 'em in.
That's all you can do.
Next one.
Trying to be gentle so they don't rip again.
Okay, crank it up to a five.
All right.
Moment of truth.
Again!
Just push 'em down.
Yeah, and again you can see
because it's this half-moon shape
the edges of the buns are what's touching the metal plates.
Whereas the middle of the buns are pretty far from it.
So it makes sense that the edges of the buns are burning.
There's really just no way of...
(laughing)
That was almost like a volcanic eruption.
Oh!
Oh my god, I'm nervous.
I don't wanna put my face too close.
You get a hot dog facial steam.
At least it's doing something more.
Ooh.
They're moving around, they're steaming up.
They're like, ooh.
Oh!
Again, the thing definitely popped,
but it's stuck so it doesn't pop up all the way.
I'm just gonna give it some help.
Oh my god.
All right.
Yeah.
So that's what was moving in there.
They've got some splits.
No char or anything.
But definitely looks a little toastier.
These buns man.
Okay.
It's really stuck in there.
Okay.
Uh, yeah, same old.
Even with the five toast it's like
just the edges got even more burnt
and the middle is like exactly the same.
Maybe I need the tongs at this point.
- [Man] How are the tongs working?
- The tongs suck!
The tongs don't even work.
All right, same old with this bun.
I just ripped it even more.
All right, well, we have one that's passible.
I think this hot dog was our winner.
Of course you can't eat your hot dog without a condiment.
I'm gonna recreate what the box did,
a little mustard squiggle on here.
Oh, I already messed that up.
I mean, the bun was so fragile
because it took a real beating in that toaster,
that now the bottom has ripped in half.
All right, so let's compare our hot dog to the box.
So I'm gonna go ahead and take a wild guess
that they did not use the Retro Hot Dog Pop-up Toaster
for this photo.
Let's give this a try.
Can I say I'm that excited for it.
No.
It's a hot dog.
I would prefer the bun to be a little more evenly toasted.
I would probably prefer even more of a char on the hot dog.
But, I'm not mad at it.
(upbeat music)
All right, let's break this thing down.
So function-wise, I would say, it didn't work quite well.
I had some issues with the sizes of the containers.
I think the bun slots are too small.
The tongs were just a whole 'nother story.
Pop-up function was a little tricky.
It didn't pop-up, which would've been more satisfying
and more clear whether it was done.
I would say that the only good thing
was the crumb catcher, which did work pretty well.
Definitely a stove-top or grill would've been easier.
Even a microwave might've worked better.
To be honest, if I'm gonna buy a gadget this specific
it better work so well that it sells me to the point
I can't eat another hot dog again, I need this toaster.
And sadly, this just didn't do it for me.
So I would say, I would not recommend
buying this and overall, I'm giving it a two thumbs down.
All right, well that's it for this gadget.
If you wanna see us test any other gadgets
leave 'em in the comments below.
And I'll see you guys next time.
(upbeat music)