Monday, April 30, 2007

Potbelly's Rancho Cordova not Chicago Review

Potbelly Deli and Burgers
2878 Zinfandel Drive, Suite B
Rancho Cordova , CA

When I first saw this place a few months ago, I was half excited. Why just half? Well I thought this was the same chain as Potbelly Sandwhich Works originally from Chicago, as where I am from. So I thought it was nice that a little bit of home would be here in Sacramento. On the other hand their sandwiches, IMHO, are mediocre. They do the Quizno's thing where the sandwich gets toasted through a conveyor belt toaster.

When I first ate here, I was looking for that contraption and did not see it. I did not see any fresh sandwiches either. Well they were there, but I was enthralled with the hot sandwiches and burgers. The chain in the Sacramento area is more of a grill with sandwiches. To my delight, this place serves better food than my hometown Potbelly's.

I think the food is generally good here. Today I had a grilled Chicago dog with mustard and relish. The hot dog had nice flavor and was cooked just right; a nice amount of char on the outside while being tender on the inside.

The item I was most please about was the onion rings. Anyplace that serves onion rings, I will usually try them. I hate some onion rings like at Burger King (although I think their burgers are good). The texture seems like grated onion somehow bound together in a rings a deep fried.

These onion rings came in a variety of sizes, were breaded just right (not too thick) and the onions they used were sweet. They were nice and crunchy, but you could still taste the onion.

The one caveat is that I probably would not eat here if I had only a 30-minute lunch. The service is rather slow for the lunchtime crowd. It is generally good service, but I think they take the time to make a good product.