Burger King Ribs, The McRib is Rolling Over in its Sweet and Saucy Grave

In case you haven't heard, Burger King has put "Fire Grilled" ribs (pork) on their menu. We are not talking a ground, extruded, and formed rib product (like the holy McRib, smile when you speak its name), I had heard that these were actual bone in pieces of rib meat. Of course I had to try them out and review. There is probably a torrent of BK rib reviews hitting the internets right now as offbeat fast food reviews have become quite de rigueur among the altern-y food blog set (remember the Double Down?), but I thought I would throw in my two cents anyhow.

I bought the 3 piece which is just under 3 bucks. The ribs come in a bag kind of like Chinese food spareribs.



Here is one of the little bastards.



The BK ribs are little 2 inch riblet kind of deals. All three put together would amount to 1 decently meaty rib anywhere else. The ribs are served un-sauced in their little baggy, but you get 2 packets of the standard BK barbecue sauce (aka, tangy corn syrup).



I took a bite without any of the sauce to get a feel for the meat. What we have here is a flaccid, fatty, chemically salty, pseudo smoky, frozen then thawed, chunk of rib "meat." Almost exactly what I was expecting from a Burger King rib. I decided to throw the sauce into the bag with the remaining ribs and shake them up, mayhaps this would improve the situation.



If you put sugar on your corn flakes, they are going to taste better. Same case here, the super sweet BBQ sauce renders the rib thingies slightly more palatable. Still kind of gross, but slightly improved.

Here is a rib bone, for proof that these were actual intact pieces of an animal.



The BK Fire Grilled Ribs are a thorough failure in my estimation, I don't think they are going to sell. They fly in the face of fast food philosophy as the things are relatively expensive and sloppy/difficult to eat. I get the whole transition to supposed "casual dining" that is going on in fast food marketing, but I just don't think people are ready for a product like this. I guess it is sort of a good idea to serve ribs at a fast food place, but this is just horrible execution. I think BK might have been trying to achieve the cult following of a product like McDonald's McRib (hallowed be its name). I lust for the return of the McRib, but I feel thoroughly un-lustful towards BK's ribs.

Look at all the time and effort I expended documenting a product that I knew was going to suck! All for science!