hello everyone this is Running on Empty Food review well hello ladies gentlemen and everyone
watching welcome one and all to this newest edition of The Running on Empty Food review
series I'm your host the report of the week always happy to be here did a little bit of
a throwback with the introduction it has been a very long time since I actually started the
camera and uh walked on but why not always fun to change things up a little bit let's
get right into things Burger King has a major release they've actually released two limited
time items for Halloween so they're going to be here just for the month of October pretty
much and I going to be trying both of them out in today's review so this is going to be a rapid
fire review because there's two things I want to try out first and foremost and I think the
thing most people are excited for is the ghost pepper Whopper I paid $8.40 for it and here's
what comes on it has a qu pound beef patty bacon jalapeno ghost pepper cheese it has ghost pepper
queso and it comes on an orange and black bun so it's supposed to be Halloween themed it's
supposed to have a special orange bun and it is supposed to be very spicy as well and likewise
I have also released the ghost pepper chicken fries I paid $5 for the chicken fries I believe
I just got an eight piece thereof and these are your white meat chicken fries with ghost
pepper seasoning thereon so with that said first things first going to try out the ghost pepper
Whopper you could see right there it comes in even special little wrapping with cheese it
says let's take a quick look at it oh you could see the bun right there
there's the orange bun very prominent the black sesame seeds there on you
could see the cheese as well the jalapeno pieces little bit of the
bacon there's more of the jalapeno I think the queso is mixed in there as well and
let's see if there's anything on the bottom bun no that's just regular your normal fair
so there you have it and I'm going to try it out right now again this is going to be a fast
review so let's just get right into it the ghost pepper Whopper from Burger King going
in
I wanted to get into things right away just so that then there's plenty of time to be able to
assess this and analyze it here's just a real quick cross-section of it uh as you can see
it's very layered you can see the bun you can see the beef patty and then all the stuff on top is
that mixture of the bacon the jalapeno crisps the cheese and uh all of that so immediately
going into this one and now I'll take my time a little bit with the assessment I have tried this
I think they released this once before I'm pretty sure they released this last year and I remember
my impression of this when I tried it out then about a year ago was that it was very spicy and
I am pleased to say it is still just as spicy as I remember it being when it comes down to a
lot of these fast food places these days and I'm sure we're all very familiar with it uh you will
have so many establishments out there that will say oh we have the ghost pepper this and we have
the ghost pepper that and it's going to be so incredibly spicy and obviously you try it and
you know for a fact it's not going to be and you know you don't even need to to drink anything you
don't need any sort of cool beverage it's it's like mild and they say that oh it's the ghost
pepper this it's going to be so hot this on the other hand is definitely spicy now obviously any
major fast food establishment is still going to tone things down a little bit but as far
as items from Burger King are concerned here this is one of the spicier items on their menu I will
say that definitely and there's a few different layers of spice as as well what I would call this
is a combination of both flavorful spice and then that just that plain old heat that it has as well
and here's what I mean by that as you bite into this Whopper the first thing you will notice is
just this wave of heat that hits you uh the first thing I could actually taste was the queso where
it has this sort of you know this cheesiness to it obviously um but it's mostly overpowered
very quickly by just this heat it doesn't taste like anything it's just hot and I believe that's
a mixture of the ghost pepper that's in both the queso and the cheese uh that is on this Whopper
and that's the first thing that I notice is that wave of heat that just hits you and it lingers
that heat is very persistent from the moment that it stays uh where that it that it hits you
it stays there and I still taste it and feel it as sort of a spicy aftertaste in the back of my mouth
as I'm sort of enunciating this that's still there and it doesn't really taste like anything like I
said it's just heat but it is very potent then the next thing that I notice is the beef patty
as I'm sure you could see with the crosssection uh it is definitely you know substantial I would say
that you could obviously taste it there they're flame grilled as they say at this point but you
know it's juicy it's flavorful has that meaty sort of flavor uh but it's good it's it's totally
fine for what it is uh definitely believe me I've had worse especially from Burger King where it's
still juicy it's flavorful I've had instances where their their beef patty is this tough and
dry and this this is not any of those things so as far as the beef is concerned quality is just
fine you have the bacon as well which is always a nice accompaniment to all sort all these sorts
of things has a nice crisp to it gives a little bit of fattiness to it as well um but that is
a pleasant accompaniment but then these sorts of flavors right here are essentially an afterthought
yeah it's what makes the sandwich but compared to what you taste the most of it is essentially
an afterthought because while you could taste that that sort of spice is still prevailing
and then what I notice immediately thereafter is what I would describe as the flavorful Spice in
the form of all these jalapeno uh crisps as you could see right here I'll hold one up for the
the camera real close and when I was holding the sandwich up well I guess the focus doesn't want to
cooperate well you could just make something up and say that this is a rebellious jalapeno crisp
anyway you could kind of get the gist of it that um there are lots of those they add a little bit
of a crunch texturally speaking and that's when you could really taste again that additional heat
but also it now has that sort of jalapeno note to it as well and that sort of spice is flavorful but
it is definitely much shorter lived it's like you notice that but then as soon as you swallow
that bite uh that sort of spice dissipates along with that so the spice that the jalapeno crisps
provide is noticeable it's flavorful but it is not long live the ghost pepper spice most
definitely is long lived now that aftertaste is just starting to fade but that is the persistent
spice but all in all it's a spicy Burger obviously I think that's supposed to be the appeal that's
supposed to be the goal the end game as they say and I think they were most successful with
that because again there's that Spice in every bite definitely one of the spicier items I've
had from Burger King the thing that that I like about this one that I'll say you have these you
have these sorts of releases I'm trying to say that are occasionally very gimmicky and it's not
very practicable doesn't make all that much sense doesn't even taste that good but it's supposed to
be one of those sorts of things that oh it's just a novelty get it and post it on social
media endure it and then move on this is not one of those sorts of gimmicks it actually tastes good
is it something that I would necessarily get again personally probably not just because it's so the
spice can be a bit overwhelming especially as you take bite after bite but it tastes totally fine
and as a burger it tastes good and even though again the flavor of the meat and the bacon is
drowned out a bit by the spice it is not lost completely and purely just as a sandwich as a
burger it tastes good so I'm happy with that but again obviously the appeal is the special orange
bun all the spice that it has I am just going to try a little piece of the bun just by itself real
quick in this case the bun is just a regular bun now it's just orange in color but there's
nothing particular to it so there is no extra Spice in the bun it's just a regular bun that
happens to be orange so I'm happy with it tastes good spicy it's a novelty but it is
also a decent item for what it is it is slightly overpriced though $8.40 just for this by itself
and uh that is a little steep I will say I wish that the price were a bit more reasonable but
it is what it is at this point but at least as a novelty it still tastes good I'm happy
with it so therefore out of 10 I'm going to be giving the ghost pepper Whopper from Burger King
an 8.1 out of 10 it's fast food but for what it is I'm happy with it all right now quickly
getting into the next one we have the ghost pepper chicken fries again these are just your regular
chicken fries which are the white meat little strips of chicken uh cut into those sorts of
fries that has ghost pepper seasoning though that's the big thing here I do
like that it comes in a little bit of a special package you can see the the uh
cow on the front right there what does it say ghost pepper chicken fries looking at
you there little what is that what does that say it's scary delicious little
ghosts let's take a look price for these was $5 for an eight
piece there they are and again these are pretty basic I think
it's just the chicken with some ghost pepper seasoning and the breading
there the ghost pepper from the burger is giving me a little bit of a runny nose just
a testament to its spice and actually glad I was out of focus for that but you could see
crispy and now I'll try those out so the ghost pepper chicken fries
from Burger King actually I'll take a quick sip of
water just as a little bit of a pallet cleanser
and now I will try them out the ghost pepper chicken fries go
in well I guess this is the way it usually goes with Burger King despite how good the
the the W herb was and it was a very solid a solid item I was I was pleasantly surprised by
it the ghost pepper chicken fries I'm afraid just well you'll see the issue in a minute
obviously there's not as much to these as far as both the components and the ingredients and all
of that as there was to the Whopper essentially it's just supposed to be the chicken with some of
that ghost pepper seasoning on them and while I will admit there is a noticeable spice and
again similar to the spice that was on the Whopper it's not something that you could
necessarily discern and pin point it's just more or less a sort of heat that still does linger a
little bit it has all the same characteristics as what I explained with the Whopper so I don't
think I really need to go on with that again where it's just persistent has the aftertaste
and all that first things first they aren't as spicy still as the Whopper but here's the
issue now I don't know how well will focus I will try but if it doesn't work you know it
doesn't Okay it actually did work a little bit this time if you're looking at this this little
crosssection here and it might be a little tough to see what you're really looking at I don't know
if you could really tell just by looking at it but they are dry they are absolutely bone
dry and uh they're essentially more akin to like sticks of jerky than they are chicken fries I've
had their chicken fries before I've had them for years and I've always enjoyed the chicken fries
you know like as a little snack they're fun to eat Etc and I've reviewed them many times
before as well normally the chicken quality of course isn't going to be the highest it's fast
food it's supposed to be just inexpensive chicken generally speaking when I have their chicken fries
the chicken is usually that sort of spongy uh fast food chicken but in the end you could still taste
it it is still flavorful it is still discernible as Chicken in this case it is extremely dry it
is totally flavorless and aside from the heat that is in the breading there is no discernible quality
whatsoever to the chicken as well there's nothing you really You' think this is just a hard stick
of just matter with no other flavor to it I feel like they were maybe overcooked um that's that's
what it seems like to me anyway that it's just kind of it doesn't want to cooperate it is what
it is you know that it just doesn't have those sorts of characteristics to it again that that
you would have hoped that I've even noticed in the past again it's just overcooked most likely
anyway I don't know what the other how else it could get this way it's just very dry it's
tough It's flavorless sure it has heat to it but it has none of the qualities that their chicken
fries usually have and I say this again having had their chicken fries many times before so that's
very disappointing and I've had numerous ones here that's why I showed you the cross-sections from
two different chicken fries because obviously I didn't want to just have one and then assume
that the rest are this way in case there was just one outlier but the entire batch of the
chicken fries is this way and that's disappointing because obviously I've had them many times before
I know what they are capable of being I know that it's not going to be the highest quality chicken
in the world but it still is supposed to at least have some sort of existing flavor uh pertaining to
it and it doesn't have any of that uh they're just dry yeah there's a little bit of heat but what's
what's even the point when they're not enjoyable it's dry it's tough It's flavorless I do like the
packaging that's cool but that's not going to salvage this and they're slightly overpriced
too again $5 for these uh the heat similar to the Whopper you know now it's starting to dissipate a
little bit mostly as an aftertaste but again the quality of the chicken fries that I received very
disappointing so the Whopper was good very happy with that the chicken fries I'm afraid they just
don't have something wrong with them that's all that I could really say so therefore out
of 10 I'm going to have to give the ghost pepper chicken fries from Burger King a three out of 10
because you couldn't even really tell that it's chicken uh not that it's inedible but you're just
consuming this tough overcooked matter that's no fun so they really need to improve on those yours
might be a little bit better but just understand the issue that I had it might be possible on your
end as well and that's all that I have for you thank you for watching tried out two new items
from Burger King today that's why this was a bit of a quicker review because I was trying out two
but I feel I was able to get the point across hope this made for an enjoyable viewing that's all that
I have for you thank you for watching and until next time I'm your host the report of the week