Jack In The Box (Everywhere)

As I awoke on my last day in Colorado Springs, with a flight time mere hours away, I was struck with a sense of vast urgency. I couldn't let all these opportunities to taste a myriad, a practical cornucopia, of onion rings, pass me by. Allegra was kind enough to drive me on a whistle-stop tour throughout Colorado Springs, as I eagerly looked up any fast food venue absent, or scarce, in my native home, desperate to taste the circular goodness that is the onion ring.

Here's a review of onion rings from Jack In The Box, at a Colorado Springs location.

Presentation and Appearance: 4/5

Listed on the menu as Panko breaded, my mind conjured up an image reminiscent of the quasi-covered onion rings from House of Yakitori, just down the road. when I opened the delightful carton, I was pleasantly surprised to see a relatively consistent coating of Panko bread. The presentation of the onion rings was surprisingly good for a fast food enterprise, with a sealed container to ensure freshness, heat, and no spillage within any bag or travel, and the onion rings were stacked appealingly within. 

There were some problems with the inconsistency of the breading, as might be expected with Panko, but the coating of breadcrumbs did give a pleasantly bumpy appearance, with hills and valleys of breading resembling the Rocky Mountains surrounding me. They were golden brown and seemed imbued with sheer exuberance, and were nicely of a relatively uniform size. 

Taste: 3/5

A greasy, breaded, fried onion is perhaps the best encapsulation of an onion ring. Taste-wise, the onions are the star of this dish, with my first bite revealing a surprising amount of onion flavor. The breading is tasty, but it's not terribly well-seasoned. All I really get is more than a dash of grease, and less than a dash of salt.

Possibly as a consequence of the Panko breading, these onion rings are unusually dry, even with the grease, which detracts from their overall taste.

Texture: 2.5/5

In a stunning reverse of the above, but in a way that shouldn't be surprising given the prominence of the Panko, the breading has the superior texture of these onion rings. The crumbs were fried just long enough to make the breading the ideal level of hardness. They were crunchy without being too hard, and had enough give to make a pleasant sound to the ears, and a pleasant sensation on the teeth, as the chomps reverberated through my cranium.

Unfortunately, the onion rings had far more slippage than was ideal, and on the majority of occasions, the onion slid out from the breading, leading me to functionally eat some sauteed onions with a pile of breadcrumbs. As it was since time immemorial, hubris was the downfall of these onion rings, as the shiny edifice of Panko collapsed under its own weight.

The onion texture, when present, was acceptable. They were surprisingly thin cuts of of onion, especially given the size of the onion rings, and left something to be desired. What was present, however, was good, not too mushy nor too raw.

Value: 4/5

For a mere $2.99, seven medium sized onion rings awaited me in a pleasant carton, prepared quickly and tastily. For the price, the quantity of the onion rings was terrific, and the quality, while not perfect, was a cut above the norm for fast food. I would have liked a few more, and a bit less slippage, but the value was great regardless.

Total: 13.5/20