Arby’s (Stadium Drive)
4510 Stadium DriveI really gotta stop doing this to myself.
Another weekend that wasn’t really a weekend. I had a really long workday on Saturday picking up some side work then a half day of work at my second job on Sunday. Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time Monday came around.
Saturday was a really long day. I started work around 10 AM and finished up around 10 PM. The job was near Western Michigan University so it was at least close to home.
The job catered in Carrabba’s Italian Grill for lunch so we actually had a really good meal around 1:30 PM. That was the last thing I had to eat until we got done a little after 9:30 PM.
I have to drive down Stadium Drive towards US-131 to get home so I decided I’d just pick up something to eat along the way.
I pulled in to the Arby’s on Stadium Drive east of Drake Road in the University Commons Shopping Plaza. The restaurant is a stand alone building right up against Stadium Drive and right next to the Starbucks/Potbelly Sandwich Works building. The building has the newest update to the Arby’s design having been remodeled in 2023.
I wasn’t sure if the dining room would still be open but the door pulled when I grabbed it. It was about 9:45 PM and the sign on the door said the dining room closed at 10:00 so I still had a few minutes.
Arby’s is like any other fast food restaurant in it’s design. There is an order counter in front of the kitchen right as you walk in the door. The menu is on display screens above the counter. I kind of knew what I wanted when I walked in but I was also chose Arby’s because there was a new item that I wanted to try.
I put in an order for a 1/2 lb Regular Roast Beef meal with a large fry and a large Coke plus an order for the 5 piece Steak Bites. The shift manager taking my order seemed really annoyed that I had come in tot he store order and then got even more annoyed when he asked me what kind of fries I wanted and I said “regular” meaning the crinkle cut but he said “regular” here means the Curly. I didn’t want to annoy him anymore and just said that’s fine. The cost of the meal was just under $20.
I got the order to go because I wanted to get home and the dining room was about to close anyway. The dining room isn’t very big but fast food places don’t need very big dining rooms anymore. The tables and chairs are all the kind of cheap metal furniture you expect in a fast food place. It’s not super comfortable but you’re not going to be there that long anyway.
I was asked if I wanted any sauce when I ordered and I said no. I’ve never been a sauce guy but my the rest of my family loved the Arby’s sauce when we used to go to Arby’s growing up. My dad and brother would pump out several of the small paper cups and take it to the table to wait for our food. As I was waiting for my food, I noticed they now have a Spicy Three Peppers Sauce. Kind of wished I would have asked for some of that just to try it.
It took only a few minutes for the same annoyed manager to call out my name and hand me the bag of food. I grabbed it and headed home to eat.
I started with the Curly Fries which are apparently “regular” fries at Arby’s. It’s fine. I actually do really like the Curly Fries and I know that’s kind of the thing most people go to Arby’s for. The curly fries are different from most fast food fries because of the seasoning which includes paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. They’re quite tasty but I still miss the Homestyle Fries from the late 90’s/early 00’s.
I grabbed the sandwich next. Growing up, Arby’s would do Five Roast Beef’s for Five Bucks pretty often. I’m not kidding you, my parents would order 15 roast beef sandwiches and call it a meal. My brother and I would take down close to ten of them and my parents would eat whatever was left. They obviously don’t do that anymore but occasionally, you can find five for ten.
My go-to sandwich on days they didn’t do that was the Big Montana. This sandwich was a half pound of roast beef on a sesame seed bun. They don’t call it the Big Montana anymore but the 1/2 lb. Regular Roast beef is the same thing. So that’s what I order now.
I have always really liked Arby’s Roast Beef. Some of it is a nostalgia thing but I do still enjoy stopping for a sandwich every now and then. This sandwich seemed a little off to me. It had a texture more like roast beef from a grocery store deli. The sandwiches used to be really paper thin layers of meat but this was cut pretty thick. The texture of it just kind threw the sandwich off a bit. It was still a tasty roast beef sandwich. It just wasn’t what I think of when I think of Arby’s.
I was really excited to try the steak bites. I was curious how a fast food place would make steak tender and delicious. I’m still wondering that. The five steak bites in the cup were all pretty drastically different in size and they were all over cooked. I thought, ok, maybe they’re just a little dark on the outside but no, the inside was hockey puck like as well. These have promise and maybe it’s my fault for ordering this at 10:00 at night (the drive thru is still open until 2 AM so it’s not like they were getting ready to close). Good idea, not so good execution.
This whole trip was kind of a bummer. I know it was late at night. I know fast food joints have to deal with a lot of Door Dash/Uber Eats drivers at night who get bossy and entitled but that wasn’t me. I just stopped in to grab dinner on my way home at a fast food joint that I have an affection for. The meal wasn’t awful but it wasn’t the best one I’ve had from an Arby’s either. It’s nothing that will stop me from eating there in the future. It’s just one of those things…I was really looking forward to Arby’s after a long day of work. What I got was a C+.
SW Michigan Dining 