Review: Jack In The Box Waffle Breakfast Sandwich

There are two things about Jack In The Box that are awesome: 1) a lot of their stores are open 24 hours, and 2) they have breakfast all day. ALL DAY. When you’re craving brinner, Jack’s got you covered. When it’s 1 AM and you need a Sausage Croissant, he can make that happen, too. More importantly, Jack’s breakfast is fantastic. It features croissants, biscuits and burritos, as well as real eggs.

Well now there’s one more breakfast item that’s available whenever you want: the Waffle Breakfast Sandwich.

Fried egg, American cheese, and a sausage patty nestled between two lightly sweetened maple waffles.

If you’re thinking that sounds awfully similar to McDonald’s McGriddles, you would not be wrong. It’s basically the exact same thing. The only difference is that the McGriddles have pancakes instead of waffles, and McD’s offers more variety (sausage only, or bacon instead of sausage). But in essence we’re talking about the same idea: a breakfast sandwich with maple-flavored cake variants serving as buns.

For the record, I think McGriddles are the best breakfast sandwiches ever constructed. When they first came out, I was skeptical. I’m the kind of person who likes to keep my foods separate on my plate. For example, I don’t want maple syrup touching my eggs. So eggs and cheese together with maple syrup flavor was not intriguing to me. It wasn’t until I read Tucker Max’s I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell that I wanted to try McGriddles. This excerpt is what piqued my interest (Warning – probably offensive):

Tucker: “Dude–That thing looks disgusting. It has to be nasty, with the syrup shit in it. What is that?”

Slingblade: “I can only assume from your cavalier attitude that you have not yet partaken the wonderment that is the McGriddle. Let me enlighten you. What happens is the One True God grows them on trees in the Elysian Fields using a heretofore unused incantation. He then proceeds to magic them down to your local eatery where whatever Ghetto Bastard cook your McDonalds has rescued from welfare that week proceeds to wrap it in cellophane and pass it along to you, the fortunate consumer. You proceed to ingest this finery in the vain hope that your obviously overmatched taste buds can somehow grasp the delectable intricacies it is suddenly faced with. Is that egg? Why yes it is, and bacon too. But wait–they didn’t add… yes they did, yes they did indeed. They added cheese. And then, then my friends, they wrapped it in a sumptuous pancake bun! As your taste buds try to process that amazing piece of information, IT hits them…the syrup nugget. THE MOTHERFUCKING SYRUP NUGGET! It announces itself with a burst of confectionery grandiosity the likes of which your palate has never seen.”

Tucker: “So you like them?”

There’s a reply from Slingblade, but I’ve deemed it to be too explicit to post. You can read it here (page 30-31). Anyway, Slingblade’s representation is shockingly accurate. If you’ve ever eaten one, you understand. But I digress.

The topic at hand is the Waffle Breakfast Sandwich. It costs $2.79 at my local JITB, which, if memory serves, is a little less than McGriddles. I brought mine home to eat, but had to make another stop on the way. I popped it in the microwave for 20 seconds to restore some heat. It may have soggified the waffles a tiny bit, but I think I can still paint a pretty accurate picture for you.

Let us begin with the meat of the sandwich – sausage. More specifically, JITB’s new “country-grilled” sausage, whatever that means. Was it grilled in the country? Anyway, since we’re comparing this sandwich to McGriddles, let’s compare the sausage. This new stuff from JITB is actually very similar to its McD’s counterpart. The appearance and texture are exactly the same. The only difference is that McD’s version seems to employ more spices so it has a little more flavor. With that said, Jack’s is still very good.

Then there’s the egg. I think that, out of all fast-food chains that do breakfast, JITB has the best eggs by far. They’re real fried eggs, just like ones you would make at home. Needless to say, that beats McD’s weird folded egg, which is dry and rubbery because it’s made from some sort of egg mixture that features a shocking 15 ingredients.

There is also cheese on this sandwich, but it’s not that noticeable. However, it does melt, unlike McD’s cheese, which leads me to believe that the cheese Jack uses is more…real, I guess.

Finally, you have the waffles. The first thing I noticed was that they were really soggy in the middle. Again, some of that may have been from the short time the sandwich spent in my microwave. But I think the real problem is that they wrap the sandwich, locking in the moisture and soggifying the waffles. That was a little disappointing, but not enough to ruin it. Jack describes these waffles as being “lightly sweetened maple waffles,” and that’s a pretty accurate representation. Maple flavor is certainly present, but not overwhelming. The subtle sweetness from the syrup nuggets perfectly counters the savory sausage, creating a scrumdiddlyumptious, swavory symphony of breakfast badassery.

So yes, I liked the Waffle Breakfast Sandwich. Enough to give it 8.5/10, in fact. It still doesn’t quite match McGriddles, since the sausage doesn’t pack as much flavor and the maple syrup flavor is relatively subdued. Nonetheless, this is a delicious sandwich and I would certainly recommend it. The price may be a little high as it relates to the size of the sandwich, but as I always say, the greatest things in life aren’t free. In conclusion, go forth and eat the Waffle Breakfast Sandwich immediately.