Carl'S Jr.

[isawasnake]

Took the family today. Total clusterf&^k. Expensive, way more so than BK unless you re talking the airport. Dirty tables, had to ask someone to clean up so we could sit down. The softdrink machine was down as was the ice lemon tea yet they were still selling combos and people were getting angry so they sent a couple of staff to buy cans of drink from Big C! The Chocolate shake didnt have a lot of choc in it, in fact we sent it back because it looked and tasted more like vanilla but no, it was choc. Food took quite a while to come but the one saving grace was the burger was excellent.

If you fancy watching Thai employees running around panicking without doing anything, then this is the place for you!

Why cant they get this right? Or why aren't they compelled to get this right? I am always amazed at Mcdonalds when there are 10 people waiting in line, and the girl taking the orders INEXPLICABLY goes off to pack the order too, and is now obviously unavailable to take another order. I will just never get it. Seems like Mcdonalds would be on that shit in 2 seconds. I guess not in Thailand. Maybe Thailand is even for Mcdonalds to give up and throw its hands in the air.

[impulse]

Why cant they get this right? Or why aren't they compelled to get this right? I am always amazed at Mcdonalds when there are 10 people waiting in line, and the girl taking the orders INEXPLICABLY goes off to pack the order too, and is now obviously unavailable to take another order. I will just never get it. Seems like Mcdonalds would be on that shit in 2 seconds. I guess not in Thailand. Maybe Thailand is even for Mcdonalds to give up and throw its hands in the air.

Can you even imagine the cluster____ if you went into a McD's in the USA unable to speak the language?

I am NOT a McD's fan, but I am impressed by the patience of their employees in BKK dealing with folks who don't speak Thai and many don't speak English, either. Yet the transactions flow and the folks get fed...

Frankly, my service in BKK has been as good or better than the majority of the McD's and BK I visit in the USA. And at least here, my orders inside don't get second class treatment after the drive-in orders.

[isawasnake]

Why cant they get this right? Or why aren't they compelled to get this right? I am always amazed at Mcdonalds when there are 10 people waiting in line, and the girl taking the orders INEXPLICABLY goes off to pack the order too, and is now obviously unavailable to take another order. I will just never get it. Seems like Mcdonalds would be on that shit in 2 seconds. I guess not in Thailand. Maybe Thailand is even for Mcdonalds to give up and throw its hands in the air.

Can you even imagine the cluster____ if you went into a McD's in the USA unable to speak the language?

I am NOT a McD's fan, but I am impressed by the patience of their employees in BKK dealing with folks who don't speak Thai and many don't speak English, either. Yet the transactions flow and the folks get fed...

Frankly, my service in BKK has been as good or better than the majority of the McD's and BK I visit in the USA. And at least here, my orders inside don't get second class treatment after the drive-in orders.

The transactions flow? I guess so, I am talking about efficiency though. The presence of lines loses customers too. It is really very far from rocket science to have one girl take the orders at the register, and another one to put the order together. It is actually especially disconcerting here in Thailand seeing that every business seems to have way too many employees, for whatever reason. Maybe we are talking about different things anyway.

[impulse]

The transactions flow? I guess so, I am talking about efficiency though. The presence of lines loses customers too. It is really very far from rocket science to have one girl take the orders at the register, and another one to put the order together. It is actually especially disconcerting here in Thailand seeing that every business seems to have way too many employees, for whatever reason. Maybe we are talking about different things anyway.

Sorry if you thought I was disagreeing with you. It's not a well oiled machine by any stretch, You got that right.

But that's not at all limited to Thailand when you're dealing with entry level ("kids" to us old folks) employees.

Edited October 14, 2012 by impulse

[isawasnake]

The transactions flow? I guess so, I am talking about efficiency though. The presence of lines loses customers too. It is really very far from rocket science to have one girl take the orders at the register, and another one to put the order together. It is actually especially disconcerting here in Thailand seeing that every business seems to have way too many employees, for whatever reason. Maybe we are talking about different things anyway.

Sorry if you thought I was disagreeing with you. It's not a well oiled machine by any stretch, You got that right. But that's not at all limited to Thailand when you're dealing with entry level ("kids" to us old folks) employees.

It should be a corporate decision though. And I just dont get it. Mcdonalds obvisouly does not want it run like that. What if the Thai employees wanted to collect the money and put it in paper bags, and do the math in their heads. Never would happen, right? I'm not sure why Mcdonalds lets the cashier inefficiently multitask like this though, it is just as ludicrous to me. One girl takes orders, one (or two) girls bag orders. Really really simple stuff. But no, the girls who takes your order then hauls off to bag it too, while people then wait to order while the lines grow bigger and dollars fly out the window. Anyway....... lol

Edited October 14, 2012 by isawasnake

[FarangTalk]

The problem with every fast food type operation here is the quality of the produce they secure locally.

For example, Tomatoes tasteless and beef mediocre. But thats what they have to work with.

That will be why they are not offering their premium burgers in Thai branches of Carl's Jr.

650thb for two non-premium combo meals is more expensive than Singapore branches so I will avoid.

Just wondering, but what premium burgers are you referring to? With the exception of the Six Dollar Burger and Guacamole Burger, the menu is more or less the same as in the US.

I think the prices are reasonable, I actually thought it would be more expensive, but that's just my opinion.

The Angus Thickburgers. Obviously the quality of beef is not available.

Sent from my GT-I9100T using Thaivisa Connect App

[shishafiesta]

Carl's Jr is overall better than Mc and BK, although the beef itself is a BK is better, but Carl's has better options/toppings. Higher prices, though. If you're craving a real American burger, check out Fatty's Diner on Din Daeng road near Phra Ram 9 station. It's in a league of it's own. All of their American food is the real deal, especially the jalepeno poppers, corn dogs, pastrami and philly cheese steak, and it's cheap enough that you can eat there often.

[AdamBKK]

Which branch is opening this weekend, 24th Avenue or Thaniya Plaza? Or are they both opening?

24th Avenue, Thaniya is supposed to open end of next month.

Looking forward to finally having a decent burger there tomorrow!!

Will probably wait for the thaniya branch as that'll be near my office. Incidentally there's a Bangkok Burger company branch opening not too far away on soi sala daeng.

Bangkok Burger company has to be the biggest disappointment for burger places. Spongy weird meat, small burgers and overpriced. Give me The Burger Factory over all of these any day of the week.

I have been going to Bangkok Burger Company since it opened, sure, it had a few issues in the beginning but now its great, the meat certainly has improved...aussie ribeye and Wagyu. I tried the burger Factory, I went on a Saturday afternoon, no customers and over half the menu was not in stock. I cant wait to go to the Silom branch. I have tried Carl's Jnr both in the states and hhere...its still processed food no matter how you look at it!

[Kananga]

Will probably wait for the thaniya branch as that'll be near my office. Incidentally there's a Bangkok Burger company branch opening not too far away on soi sala daeng.

Bangkok Burger company has to be the biggest disappointment for burger places. Spongy weird meat, small burgers and overpriced. Give me The Burger Factory over all of these any day of the week.

I have been going to Bangkok Burger Company since it opened, sure, it had a few issues in the beginning but now its great, the meat certainly has improved...aussie ribeye and Wagyu. I tried the burger Factory, I went on a Saturday afternoon, no customers and over half the menu was not in stock. I cant wait to go to the Silom branch. I have tried Carl's Jnr both in the states and hhere...its still processed food no matter how you look at it!

The Carl's Jr Jalapeno is pretty good for fast food. The meat had a good char grilled taste on it which is more than I can say for BBC.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

A couple odds and ends here... Late to this thread, and haven't tried the local CJ yet....

But as for their operation....

1. Their Facebook page says they're using 100% Australian beef in their Thailand branches... Why that over U.S. beef???

2. Their Facebook page also apologized for running out of beef in their opening weekend last Sept. I guess you could take that as either a good or a bad thing...

3. I believe their page did also claim that they have unlimited refills on their soft drinks.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Carl's Jr. stores

1. 3rd floor, beach side, near glass elevator @ Central Festival Pattaya Beach

Operating Hour: 11:00 AM until 11:00 PM

2. 24th Avenue @ Sukhumvit 24th near The Davis Hotel, Bangkok

Operating Hour: 11:00 AM until Midnight

3. Opposite Thaniya Plaza @ Silom, Soi Thaniya

Operating Hour: 11:00 AM until Midnight (SUN-THU)

11:00 AM until 2:00 AM (FRI-SAT)

http://www.facebook....r.Thailand/info

No breakfast menu???

Carl's Jr is making a comeback with an aggressive business plan aimed at having 25 restaurants in five years _ almost on a par with Burger King, which has 27 stores after 15 years in Thailand.

The R&R Restaurant Group holds the rights to operate Carl's Jr in Thailand and plans to operate five Carl's Jr stores by year-end and nine more next year.

And it seems as though a Mega BangNa branch was in the works, because they were advertising jobs for that branch previously, along with the three locations that have already opened.

Edited February 10, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Here's an interesting news release, excerpts quoted below, on their local launch in Thailand....

BTW, it's great to have a "premium American burger" offered here in Thailand with 100% Australian beef!

R&R will spend around 80 million baht to market the new chain in Thailand and the country is the 8th place in Southeast Asia to be chosen, after being a huge success in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, New Zealand and American Samoa. Carl’s Jr. has more than 70 year history in America and now boasts nearly 3,263 branches worldwide.

Mr.Nitinan Thamhatai, Chief Operating Officer of R&R Restaurant Group Co., Ltd. said “This is the first and biggest opportunity for the company to bring a foreign franchise to Thailand.”

The brand will also debut Thai presenter Krystal Vee as its brand Ambassador. Krystal is a Thai actress working throughout SoutheastAsia and a rising star on the Hollywood movie scene, who has the honor of being the torchbearer for Carl’s Jr. in a number of markets across the region.

Not finding much info about just who or what is the R&R Restaurant Group Ltd.

http://www.bangkokbu...ket/#more-19683

Edited February 10, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Dropped by to visit the new Carl's Jr. on Soi Thaniya near Saladaeng BTS this afternoon between about 3 and 4 pm. There were at best only a couple other customers in the place the whole time I was there, but overall, based on the food and the place, I'd give it quite a good endorsement -- particularly considering the competing fare around these parts.

The restaurant is divided into a smaller main level where the ordering counter, kitchen and some limited seating is, although the downstairs seating along big open windows provides for nice people watching along Soi Thaniya. The restaurant was clean, well-maintained and good air con.

Upstairs they have a much larger dining area and that's where the unlimited refill soft drink bar is, featuring Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, iced tea and two flavors of Fanta, along with an ice dispenser. There's also separate men's and women's bathrooms in the back corner with actual soap dispensers and paper towels, which is pretty rare around here. One warning about the upstairs dining area though: it's got a VERY low ceiling, making it rather uncomfortable for anyone who's reasonably tall, such as myself. Also, no windows or view of anything upstairs...just walls.

Here's the menu, which is pretty reasonably priced considering the food, which actually tastes somewhat close to the real Carl's Jr.'s fare back in the States.

No Mexican food here, and no breakfast choices either. Unlike many places in the U.S., these Carl's aren't open during breakfast hours. They do, however, in addition to their 65 baht milkshakes, curiously serve Heineken beer on tap for 95b per serving.

As for the food, I'd give it a pretty good rating, for the following reasons: the beef tasted OK, the burgers were formed as thin and wide, which is my preference, the buns weren't great but certainly better than the routine store variety. But more importantly, and this is a hard thing to find around these parts, the burgers were actually prepared and served in a way that allowed you to enjoy and actually taste all the different ingredients/makings...instead of having them all slathered together into an indistinguishable mush...as Burger King here tends to do.

Thumbs up for serving burgers with whole leaves of iceberg or similar lettuce, large single slices of tomato that filled out the entire bun, slices of fresh white onion, and slices of melted cheese...and not drowning the entire thing is some kind of indistinguishable sauce. The burgers tasted somewhat like a burger is supposed to taste.

On the down side, as best as I could tell, at least during my mid-afternoon visit, there was no burger cooking/grilling/frying occurring. I scanned the kitchen behind the counter and didn't see any, didn't hear any and didn't smell any. And accordingly, the burger patties I had (while tasting OK) certainly didn't taste or have the temperature like they were fresh off the grill.

Here's what their 185b Jalapeno Burger looks like:

And a closeup with the top bun folded back. That is one of the Jalapeno slices, not a pickle.

And here's what their 85b Chicken Tenders Jalapeno Burger looks like:

All in all, the Jalapeno Beef Burger was pretty good, and I'd certainly go back to try some of their other burgers... Though I'd REALLY prefer if they were cooked either fresh upon ordering or at least sometime shortly before serving.

Edited February 16, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[kaspercat]

Yup, looks like the one at Mega will open in about a month or so. We will see how's CJ!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Have to wonder a bit about the initial location choices that the local Carl's operator has gone with...

Re Soi Thaniya, the Carl's there is actually about a block's distance up the soi from the main Silom Road on the right hand side of the soi... If you were walking along Silom Road or just going through Saladaeng BTS, you'd never know it's there. Now, I know some Japanese like hamburgers as well., and the location is near where a lot of farangs come and go... but it's hardly a central or particularly prominent and visible locale.

Re Soi 24, once again, the locale is far off the main Sukhumvit Road and the BTS Sukhumvit line, and actually closer to the parallel Rama IV Road. Once again, in the right area very generally speaking, but hardly particularly visible or prominent.

I can't help but think they'd be likely to do better business if they were located in one of the main malls, or even along Sukhumvit near the heavily farang trafficked area like where Sunrise Tacos and V8 Diner are located -- close to a BTS station and in a much heavier foot traffic area.

I hope they do well. But as I mentioned. the whole time I was at the Soi Thaniya store on a Saturday afternoon, there was no more than a couple other customers in the store at any one time. Contrast that with the customer business I saw at the Burger King on the ground level of Siam Paragon when I stopped for shopping on the way home... and I think it likely is a pretty substantial margin.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

One other interesting thing I noticed today...

Unlike some other local places like BK, Carl's doesn't seem to have made any accommodation to local tastes by adding the option of PORK burgers to their menu.

Carl's has lots of beef burger choices, quite a few chicken burger/sandwich choices, and a couple of fish items. But I didn't see a single pork item anywhere on the menu.

BTW, FWIW, I'm glad they've kept their menu just to their traditional items and leaving out pork....

Edited February 16, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[DP25]

Does anyone remember prices back in the states? $6 for a double western cheeseburger? Isn't it like $3-4 at home or am I out of date?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

To be fair, the base burger starts at about 159b... And that's for beef imported from Australia...

Edited February 16, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[arkom]

Have to wonder a bit about the initial location choices that the local Carl's operator has gone with...

Re Soi Thaniya, the Carl's there is actually about a block's distance up the soi from the main Silom Road on the right hand side of the soi... If you were walking along Silom Road or just going through Saladaeng BTS, you'd never know it's there. Now, I know some Japanese like hamburgers as well., and the location is near where a lot of farangs come and go... but it's hardly a central or particularly prominent and visible locale.

Re Soi 24, once again, the locale is far off the main Sukhumvit Road and the BTS Sukhumvit line, and actually closer to the parallel Rama IV Road. Once again, in the right area very generally speaking, but hardly particularly visible or prominent.

I can't help but think they'd be likely to do better business if they were located in one of the main malls, or even along Sukhumvit near the heavily farang trafficked area like where Sunrise Tacos and V8 Diner are located -- close to a BTS station and in a much heavier foot traffic area.

I hope they do well. But as I mentioned. the whole time I was at the Soi Thaniya store on a Saturday afternoon, there was no more than a couple other customers in the store at any one time. Contrast that with the customer business I saw at the Burger King on the ground level of Siam Paragon when I stopped for shopping on the way home... and I think it likely is a pretty substantial margin.

I went to the Silom location on a weekday during lunch and it was very crowded, took about 30 mins for my food to arrive after ordering.

Edited February 16, 2013 by arkom

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

What were the customer demographics like?

[arkom]

What were the customer demographics like?

Mostly office workers 30-40 yrs old, both Thais and expats but seemed to be more Thais.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Stopped by the Carl's on Soi Thaniya again this afternoon, this time about 2:30 pm on a Friday.

Admittedly and intentionally missed the formal lunch hour. But similar to my visit last Saturday, there were only about two other patrons in the place during the time I was there.

After last time having a quite good Jalapeno Burger, this time I decided to go down-market and just order their basic Famous Star Burger with Cheese, 159b solo but 219b as a combo with a small fries and small drink. Today, I upped the ante a bit by upsizing to the medium fries and drink for an extra 20 baht, for a total combo price of 239b.

Overall on a repeat visit, I'd say everything was pretty much comparable to my original visit, and the burger and fries were quite OK. I'm not a big fan of the famous sauce they add to this particular burger, but the beef, bun, fresh lettuce, tomato and onion slices were comparable to the Jalapeno burger and were OK. The buns they're using are quite soft and taste fine (much better than the typical store bought variety), though their toasting or warming seems to be minimal.

Once again, though, the burger patty came out tasting like and with a temperature suggesting it had been cooked long before. So I ended up talking to the shift manager about it. And we had one of those typical my English vs. her Thai-English kinds of conversations, wherein she assured me my burger had been "cooked" fresh.

And I replied to her I understood she had "prepared" my hamburger fresh (as in it -- burger, bun and fixings -- had not been sitting pre-packaged in a warming tray, and they just fished it out upon my order. I told her understood she had "assembled" my burger fresh, but that clearly the beef patty had been cooked well before.

So we went back and forth on that a couple times, before she finally offered that if I wanted my beef patty "lon, lon," (hot, hot), then she could do that for me if I asked her when placing the order. So I guess I'll try that next time I'm by there, and see what happens.

They're not great burgers. But from an American fast food standard, they're pretty good burgers for Thailand. And they bear a closer resemblance to the real thing back in the States than most food/restaurant things that get transplanted to Thailand. Now if I just could get a little more freshly cooked burger patty and a little more toasted bun...

Edited February 22, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[ihunnieibee]

Tall Guy! Why don't you try going during regular lunch (around noonish?) or dinner hours (6pm-7pmish) ?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I'm anti-social... Don't like crowds... Like to enjoy my burger, fries and drink in peace and quiet...relatively speaking, for Thailand.

I will say, though, I've found myself becoming quite a modest fan of having the Carls Jr. here... almost to the point of it being one of the few eating stops I'll making a definite effort or plan to visit at least once a week.

Mexican food and various others things I can replicate pretty well at home. But for various reasons, I find it difficult to prepare a hamburger at home that resembles the taste and ingredients of what Carls produces here.

So it's become a bit of a guilty pleasure for me... notwithstanding its limitations.

Edited March 2, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[camble]

Good Burgers

[Kananga]

I think I know why the burger seemed cold. The jalapeno burger has a huge slice of lettuce and tomato which comes directly out the fridge at 3 degrees above freezing immediately zapping the heat out the burger. The burgers are cooked to order so otherwise they would be hot. They need to let the lettuce sit at room temp for a bit before serving.

Next time upgrade the fries to chilli cheese fries. Much better experience.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I don't think so... Was there again today, and every time I look back into the kitchen and I never see/hear any burgers cooking.

I just see the cook staff assembling the burger makings.... But never actually anything resembling cooking meat.

Also, from the order time to the delivery time, it's not enough to cook a burger from scratch. They clearly are pre-cooking.

Had the jalapeno burger again today at Soi Thaniya, and unfortunately, it wasn't nearly as good as the original one I had there. The burger again was tepid right upon delivery, no juice at all in the patty, and there was only a single, thin soft slice of lettuce on the burger. It simply didn't taste fresh and tasted like the whole thing had been sitting packaged for a while -- unlike the original one I had on a prior visit.

That and, I brought my Thai wife for the first time, who likes hamburgers/beef. She ordered a Carl's Superstar via speaking Thai with the Thai order taker. They ended up charging us for and delivering a Famous Star instead (single patty instead of two). But at least, once we called the mistake to their attention, they replaced her burger with the correct one without any extra charge.

Overall, it was quitea disappointing vist... though the french fries were fresh and hot...and quite good, as usual.

Edited March 3, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[bangkokburning]

I would not expect much. Isnt Carls the outfit with the 6.00 burger? Sorry, I should know, Im from So CA.

Cant see Thai's dropping b250 on a fast food burger.

Wife and I went to the Southwest via Vegas. Went to In and Out Burger, what a mistake. Not the same burger I recall from my youth in California. It was hugely expensive. The burger was tiny, dry and overcooked. People that rave about the place in present tense are out of their minds. The fries were not that good either but dont recall why.

Had a five guys burger abt a year ago with my father. Most expensive, overrated meal I have ever eaten. Two burgers, two drinks, nearly 20us. Never, ever, ever again. Burger was not even cooked to order.

Just eat Thai food, rarely disapoints.

Edited March 5, 2013 by bangkokburning

[Stradavarius37]

No wonder most farangs around here look like human planets...

[isawasnake]