So I had to try this Whataburger in Lebanon, TN. The restaurant opened its drive thru service on July 18, 2022 at 11am. The goal is to open the dining room area within the next few weeks. This is the third Whataburger in the Nashville area. The other two are in nearby Hermitage and Gallatin. There are six more that will open throughout Middle Tennessee before the end of 2022.
Why I Shouldn’t Review Whataburger In Lebanon TN…
Let me be completely honest right off the bat: I’m probably one of the least qualified people in all of Wilson County to review a fast food joint. From 2014-17, I spent nearly three full years as a vegetarian. To this day, I’m still mostly a pescetarian who eats some chicken and even less sausage.
I quit the vegetarian habits because I have much better energy when I eat tuna or salmon. On the other hand, I avoid most red meat because it clogs my stomach and stabs my chest. My regular nutrition consists of quinoa, millet, lentils, tuna, salmon, Greek yogurt, spirulina, eggs, spinach, peanut butter, sunflower kernels, nighttime casein protein powder, lots of fruit, water, and way too much coffee.
This is not an exaggeration: I’ve eaten maybe two hamburgers in the last 15 years. My stomach doesn’t like them and I just don’t have a taste for it. The only good hamburgers are when they’re cooked off a home grill. Fast food hamburgers are awful. I assume people eat them because they’re convenient and not because they’re good.
I’m reviewing this for fun.
…Why I’m Still Reviewing Whataburger In Lebanon TN
I’ve driven past this restaurant multiple times over the past two days. Three of those times came after 11pm. The third time was at 1am when the drive thru looked short enough to where I could get out in 20 minutes. I waited behind the car with a Texas license plate. Maybe this person is a super Whataburger fan who drove from Texas to try a restaurant in a new state?
I spent $17.52 on an order that included a Whataburger, Whatachick’n, chocolate malt (20 ounces), and a cinnamon roll. That’s not too shabby. I just finished a triceps workout so I needed some protein anyhow. I could’ve gone without the 2,300 calories though, yikes. I’ve lost about 35 pounds since the beginning of the year so this won’t kill me. Got to do some cardio later on.
Can Whataburger change my mind about fast food hamburgers? What will I think of the rest of this food?
Whataburger Lebanon TN Review
Whataburger (590 calories)
The first thing I ate was the iconic Whataburger without the onions and mayonnaise. I’m no hamburger expert nor am I a sandwich connoisseur like Jon Moxley. However, even I can tell that’s a thin, dry slab of meat. This is about 20, maybe 25 minutes after I left the drive thru. They probably made these sandwiches far in advance because the drive thru lanes were so long. My Whataburger wasn’t hot nor was it warm.
This was easily the worst part of the meal. I did some research beforehand to see the positive and negatives that I should’ve expected from eating a Whataburger. There was a Reddit comment about how you have to buy a double patty.
I knew about buying the double patty before ordering my meal. I decided against it because I had all this other food. Why should I have to purchase a double patty if it’s such a great hamburger? The one patty alone looks unappetizing enough.
SoBros Network Editor In Chief Stoney Keeley reviewed the Whataburger in Hermitage. Keeley loved his double cheeseburger meal. He compared it to Sonic. That’s funny because I would’ve said that Sonic hamburgers were the worst thing on their menu. I haven’t eaten one in more than 15 years but I still remember them having more flavor and juiciness than this Whataburger.
Whatachick’n Sandwich (540 calories)
Believe it or not, I liked the Whatachick’n more than the Whataburger. I’m not saying that I’d buy this over chicken sandwiches at other restaurants or even the Publix supermarket. The good thing about this sandwich is that it had more flavor and warmth than my Whataburger. I’d even say that the lettuce was crisper and the tomatoes were much more juicy on this.
Chocolate Malt (20 ounces) (590 calories)
The image makes it look bad but it was very good. It reminded me of the Big Boy Restaurant malts that I had when i lived in the Upper Peninsula during the early and mid 1990s. It was very easy to drink and went well with the meal.
I’d definitely buy this over those Cook Out milkshakes where it’s as if I’m trying to suck a bowling ball through the straw. You can have 40 flavors but it doesn’t matter when the process to drink it is so unpleasant. Those Cook Out milkshakes are almost as bad as those Sonic cream pie shakes where they had to give you that super straw that still barely did what it needed to do.
The Whataburger malt is the one item that I’ll definitely buy again.
Cinnamon Roll (580 calories)
My favorite spice is cinnamon. What I hate is when cinnamon rolls either lack cinnamon flavor or it’s as if I’m eating a tub of icing. That is to say that Cinnabon sucks. Prepackaged cinnamon rolls are almost always super poo.
Whataburger made a pretty good cinnamon roll. The most important part about a cinnamon roll is that the cinnamon is prioritized over the icing. Whataburger does a better job of that than Cinnabon. Homemade cinnamon rolls are still much better but this is good enough on the go.
Final Review
There’s a Junior Honey Barbecue Chicken Strip sandwich that looked good on the menu. I’ll probably try that at a later date. The treats were solid enough that I’d eat them again. The Whatachick’n sandwich was decent enough but there are better options elsewhere. As for the Whataburger, no thanks.
Go ahead and give this place a try if you’re into this kind of food. It’s hard to eat this type of food when I eat the types of cleaner foods that I do. I don’t understand why anyone would eat that hamburger but hey more power to you.
And now it’s time to chug some water.
Cook Out vs Whataburger (EDIT: July 25)
I’ve since eaten at Cook Out and have compared the two restaurants.
