Carl’s Jnr

I am surprised Carl’s Jnr does not have better ratings really! OK, this is fast food so it should be rated differently from your local café joint offering home made goodies… Compared with other similar places (I’m thinking McD’s, BK, Wendy’s and the likes) this place is really not too bad.
I like the diversity of their menu and they even offer a low carb option. But the 3 reasons I really like Carl’s Jnr are:
— chargrilled taste of their burgers
— the crisscut fries
— the friendly staff
Seriously, I would go there just for the crisscut fries, they are so crispy, fatty and yummylicious! This is the only place where I can eat the whole portion of fries, they are thaaaaat good. Then, as mentioned on other reviews, the food is actually brought to your table, I do not feel like it is such a big deal but the staff working there always had a nice word like «hope you enjoyed your meal» or «have a good night» while clearing my tray. I think it is not easy to work at such a busy place in the centre of town so service with a smile is all the more appreciated.
The downside for me is that I find the floor is always dirty and the layout of the tables/​line to order is a bit awkward. But all in all this is not a place where I hang out for long anyway, and the crisscut fries make it worth to go to IMO.

When I talk to peeps in their teens about this place they get super excited as «they bring the food to your table» … just like in a … restaurant we reply …
We went there late on Thursday and order some fries and two shakes. I think the staff were a little over it — you know when you make an order and you have a gut feeling that they are going to get it wrong. I must have said chocolate milkshake about three times but got the wrong one. To their credit they did sort it out really quickly with no problems.
The Queen Street branch does look very cute. If I had to organise a birthday party for a 11 year old girl — I would totally take a group of kids there. I would just hope they didn’t want to go to the toilet — they were GROSS.
Like some of the other reviews said … not really sure why we need another fast food joint…

I don’t see what the big deal is. I couldn’t help noticing this place as I walked past, it was packed. If it good enough to for all of those people… I had to wait in line for like 15 min, which is not too bad considering that the line was all but coming out of the door. Talk about an anti climax, it was just another fast food burger, completely ordinary, completely disgusting. No different to any of Queen Streets existing 3 Burger Kings, 2 McDonalds, or Wendy’s. I know there are probably fast food conisuers out there who want to take me to task right about now — «You don’t know what you are talking about dude! Carl Jnr is way better than McDonalds, and McDonalds is way better than Burger King.» All I know is that a restaurant who has to flavour its meat with meat flavouring is not worth getting excited about.

The first time I went to Carls Jnr was when it first opened in Auckland in St Heliers. I knew about it because on one of his many trips my boyfriend’s dad had come across this fast food outlet. I liked it because it was different from McDonald’s and a change fron Burger King. Still unhealthy and greasy but somethinf different.
When it opened on Lincoln Road I was like oh crap now it’s close to home, aftee a few months it’s now on Queens Street close to uni. I say it is temptation and in these times of obesity having more and more fast food restaurants opening up is lind of silly. Nonetheless the chips there are delicious plus I can’t fault the oreo shake. Nom nom nom

My boyfriend has been bugging my to try this place for ages now and it just never appealed to me, but tonight I had it for the first time and wow am I impressed! We went to the new location in Queen St and the place looks great, I love their circular booth style seating and modern looking lampshades. The service we received from the lovely guy behind the counter was like nothing I have ever had at a fast food joint. He was calling us sir and madame and he was so polite, he also repeated our whole order to make sure it was right before he took our money. We had ordered small combo’s and he made the mistake of giving us medium cups which he quickly realised but said don’t worry you guys can have that size. Our burgers were sooooo good! I ordered their chicken tenders sandwich with bacon and chose their cross cut fries which tasted like wedges, yum! My boyfriend got the jalapeño thick burger and struggled to finish it all! I am throughly impressed with this new burger place and I will definitely return, I’m keen to try out the other branch in Glen Innes and see how that compares.

People seem to love Carl’s. I can’t quite work out whether it’s the novelty of an American chain being brought to New Zealand or if people really rate the burgers. Personally, I’m more of an ‘In ‘n’ Out’ or ‘Shake Shack’ fan when it comes to American burger joints, but Carl’s is all right in my book. I can’t say that I would rate it above Burger Fuel, but it’s better than Burger King or McD’s.
The food is as you’d expect — it’s a bloody American fast-​food chain — so, high calorie, high fat food. The waffle fries are good and they offer mayonnaise as a dip, which I love considering I kind of despise ketchup. I wasn’t sold on the fried zucchini. Sarah loves the chilli cheese fries. The other Sarah likes the chicken ‘sandwich’ (it’s a decent chicken burger). They both like the Oreo shake. The fish and chips is pretty tragic and processed, the beef burgers are worth trying. The breakfast menu looks frighteningly heart-​attack inducing, but I’m still curious.
Give it a go.

If your in the market for a grease induced heart attack and you want to die reasonably happy, you should probably check out the new Carl Jnr’s store on busy Queen Street. Just recently opened this American franchise is set to rival Burger King, McDonald’s and KFC in popularity .
This burger joint specialises in ‘Charbroiled’ burgers (to be honest I can’t really tell the difference between these burgers and other chains offerings) and has been heavily criticized for its mantle of the ‘worlds worst’ high calorie, high fat meals.
If you are after a healthy meal of sorts, definately do not come here. I was in here for breakfast with my workmates this morning and tried to find something reasonably good for me, but to no avail. I eventually decided on the French toast dips and an Oreo Shake, which don’t get me wrong were yummy but ain’t no health food. I could literally feel my arteries clogging on the spot.
Other recommendations I have had given to me are the chilli cheese fries (how American can you get) and the Western Bacon Thickburger
Be advised that these thick burgers are massive! If your after a smaller size go for the cheeseburger style meals which are still pretty big and on the same size par as a quarter pounder from McDonald’s.