So, I was driving across 29th St. the other morning, on my way to I-83, when all of a sudden I saw it. The new Burger King. No more driving all the way to Towson for the best fast food on the planet.
Now, you have to understand, I love this place more than the guy on the commercial who used to use that line. When I drive between Baltimore and New Jersey, I purposely go out of my way to stop at Burger King instead of McDonalds. Though the fries are not as good, the hamburgers are better. And while this is probably partly psychological (because I love those broil marks painted on to the burger) there is something objective to it. The smell of the flame-broiled burger is just 10times better than that microwaved piece-of-crap patty that Micky-D's gives you. Anyway, I digress.
Being that I was hungry on the morning that I passed this place for the first time, I decided to stop for breakfast. I parked the car and went inside for a bite.Let me tell you, this was a treat. First of all, there was no bulletproof glass on the server's windows. That is unlike most of the fast-food places around here. I felt pretty safe, although there was some police activity at the door which I could not quite figure out. Second, the place was clean. I mean really clean. It did not smell like crap; the floor was not sticky from a recent spill that had not been cleaned up and it just felt like a normal restaurant.
Another good thing was that the workers were actually nice. The woman working behind the counter was friendly and did not raise her voice in frustration because I could not make up my mind right away and was really helpful. When I ordered my food, which consisted of an Egg McMuffin, or whatever Burger King calls the egg sandwich, home fries and pancakes, the woman let me know that the pancakes would not be ready for a while. While this does, in a way, defeat the point of a fast-food restaurant (the fact that the food was not ready-not that the woman was actually courteous) it was helpful because the woman gave me the option of getting the egg sandwich first and not having to wait for all the food just because a portion of it was not yet ready. I took this option and sat down with the egg sandwich.
In doing so, I realized another nice thing about the place - it was not very crowded. Now I do not know if this is a usual phenomenon, but it was definitely nice to sit there, finish my food and be able to just walk back up to the counter and get more food without waiting on line; though the woman laughed at my abnormal appetite, it was a good-natured laugh and made the whole experience more comfortable.
I finished my breakfast in peace and drove away satiated physically and mentally. It was a great experience that all people should have once in their lives.
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