Jack in the Box (Battle Creek)
2588 Capital Avenue SWI’m a somewhat patient person. My wife would disagree with that statement but I’m a patient enough person to know not to go to a new restaurant right after it opens.
A Jack in the Box opened up in Battle Creek back in June. It’s the first Jack in the Box in Michigan since the 1970’s when the last one in the Detroit area closed.
I try not to get caught up in all the hype, but eventually, I do. I was actually really excited to eat at a Jack in the Box back in April when I was in the Chicago area just to prepare myself for this one opening in Battle Creek.
When it did finally open in early June, I did not run as fast as I could to get there. I knew there would be long lines and long wait times and there were.
I was in Battle Creek late last week and I thought I had given it enough time. My colleague and I pulled in there around 12:30 and the line was nuts. We didn’t have that much time so we bailed.
We were still in Battle Creek around dinner time. We finished up our work for the day then started to head back towards Kalamazoo. My co-worker asked if we wanted to try Jack in the Box again. There didn’t look to be a line in the lobby when we pulled in the parking lot, so sure. Let’s stop at Jack in the Box.
The Battle Creek Jack in the Box location is on Capital Avenue SW just to the north of Knapp Drive and the I-94 interchange. The building is a brand new build on the west side of the road in a space that was an empty lot next to the BP gas station. The parking lot is a little tight and the building’s foot print is actually pretty narrow. It’s easy to get block in a parking spot by cars waiting in the drive thru line on a busy day.
The lobby is way smaller than I was expecting it to be. It always looks full when I drive by because there isn’t much room. There is an order counter right inside the door but it was pretty much just being used as storage. No one was manning it because they have kiosks to take orders.
There are only two kiosks and they’re not really set up all that well compared to the Jack in the Box in Tinley Park, IL I visited earlier. One of them is on the order counter.
The other is right inside the door next to the window. If there are too many people waiting on food, this space gets very cramped very fast.
The dining room isn’t really very big either. You can definitely tell they wedge this location in here. Instead of a full dining room, there is a long hallway that runs the length of the building. There are tables for two on one side and bench seating on one side with a little bit larger tables on the other.
The decor is what you’d expect. Bright purple walls with the Jack Box painted on the walls.
My colleague and I each put in orders on the kiosk and then we waited…and waited….and waited….and waited…for our food to come up. The restaurant wasn’t really busy. The kitchen just looked like it needed an adult. There seemed to be a lot of confusion and double checking orders. I was hoping they’d have some of the kinks worked out by now but it took a full half hour to get our meals. We were hoping this was going to be a quick stop but it turned in something much longer.
I finally heard my name called 27 minutes after the order time on my receipt. I grabbed the bag and headed to the car. We had already been sitting there long enough and we were both ready to get home.
I started with the fries when I got in the car. I got the Bacon Double Smashed Jack combo and made it a large so I got a large order of fries. As far as fast food fries goes, these aren’t bad. They’re really crispy and slightly salty. The large wasn’t quite as large as I was expecting so I finished them off pretty quickly while waiting for my colleague to get his food.
I waited until I got home to eat the rest of my meal. The sandwich I got was the Bacon Double Smashed Jack. This is a pretty typical burger with two 1/4lb smash patties, hickory smoked bacon, American cheese, pickles, grilled onions, and Smashed Jack Sauce on a brioche bun. I replaced the grilled onions with jalapenos because why not. The sandwich obviously looked nothing like the picture on the menu. I tried really, really hard to find a good angle to photograph it but I couldn’t find one so it is what it is. All that said, it actually tasted pretty good. There wasn’t a ton of bacon like I was hoping and the jalapenos were wedged in between the patties so I almost didn’t even realize they were there. That third bite I got a little bit of a surprise. Looks aren’t everything and that’s a really good thing for this burger. It’s probably still one of the better fast food burgers.
The big reason I wanted to stop at Jack in the Box was the tacos. I probably could have ordered and eaten a dozen of them but I only ordered four. The tacos are made by smearing meat on to a corn tortilla, folding it over then deep frying it. The tacos are opened slightly after that so they can stick a slice of American cheese, lettuce and their taco sauce on to the cooked meat. That taco sauce it what makes these tacos so damn good. It tastes a lot like Taco John’s to me and I love Taco John’s. These tacos are really the reason to go to Jack in the Box. The rest of the menu is pretty typical, although slightly better, fast food. The tacos are something else.
The cost for this meal was around $18 but I didn’t need to add on the tacos to make it a little on the expensive side. If I had left them off it would have been under $14.
There were plans to originally build Jack in the Boxes in Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids after this one found it’s footing. Our experience wasn’t great but, hey…everyone has off nights. It’s not going to stop me from going back and hoping things go a little bit smoother.
I really hope they do open in Kalamazoo at some point…and if they do, those tacos are going to be dangerous.
SW Michigan Dining 