Bearcats have been getting their drivers license and two kinds of fuel in the tank are eventually needed: gas and food. Most notably, meal deals. Gas station hot food isn’t meant to be fine dining; you get it when you want something fast, tasty, and affordable. The rating of these meals will be based on taste and value. Both of these will be ranked out of 5 and added up to make the overall score.
Orlando:
AM/PM: AM/PM has a $4 meal deal available to any customer, no loyalty program required. The meal includes a warm hot dog with a selection of toppings, your choice of a bag of big grab chips (1-2 oz.), and an extra large fountain drink. The drink selection and the sheer size of the drink was impressive. The chip options were limited, (options vary from location) but had a decent roster of flavors. The quality of the hot dog itself surprised me as it felt fresh and had a genuine beef taste. It helps that AM/PM has a diverse array of toppings and condiments. Overall, the drink options and the quality of the hot dog surpassed my expectations.
Quality: 4/5 Value: 5/5 Overall: 9/10
Gerald:
Extra Mile: Extra mile has a $5 meal deal similar to AM/PM, as it does
require a loyalty program. This meal includes hot dogs, roller bites, taquitos, pizza slices, cheeseburgers, and chicken sandwiches. As for the side it is your choice of a big grab chips (1-2 oz. bag of Lays) and an extra large fountain drink. The drink selection here was very customizable as it came with the typical large fountain drinks but also had the option to mix in flavors; for example you could mix vanilla into Dr Pepper. The chip options weren’t all limited but it was still just a bag of chips. I didn’t expect Extra Mile to have this much diversity in their food options for the price of $5.
Quality: 4/5 Value: 4/5 Overall: 8/10
Gerald:
7/11:
7/11 has a variety of different meal deals according to the website, for example the $5 pizza and drink, or the $5 hot dog and drink. One thing that I noticed about 7/11 is that they didn’t resupply the food as the only thing in there was pizza. However, the two slices weren’t lacking, but they didn’t offer a small snack like the other gas stations did. The pizza tasted pretty good though, it wasn’t too greasy and was very flavorful. The drink, however, was just a standard bottled soda that was added into the meal deal. Overall 7/11 lacked the most out of all the gas stations, as they did not have a lot of variety or anything to make them unique.
Quality: 3/5 Value: 3/5 Overall:6/10
Orlando:
Valero: Valero was a unique experience. Rather than having a meal deal, Valero had a selection of food which included chicken wings, potato wedges, chimichangas, and much more. Due to the lack of a meal deal, we ordered a variation of food that was a total of $5 before tax. This consisted of potato wedges and a chimichanga. The amount of wedges we received and the sheer size of the chimichanga was more than reasonable for the price. The potato wedges were well seasoned and had a good crunch. The chimichanga’s tortilla had a crispy—yet not stale—tortilla. It was filled with meat and beans that had a pleasant taste. Not offering drinks was disappointing and the fact that their hot food is only served during breakfast was unfortunate. Aside from these downsides, Valero is definitely worth checking out.
Quality: 5/5 Value: 4/5 Overall: 9/10
