EATONTOWN, N.J. — When my brother was getting married this past July, the topic of White Castle hamburgers came up once or twice. It seems one of my uncles was noted for having eaten them by the sack back in the day. There was also some discussion about where the term “sliders.” I can’t forget reading about deep fried sliders either, although I probably wish I could. We never did find out why they are called sliders, but on Saturday we finally ate at a White Castle.
We stopped at the Eatontown location on Route 35, just south of the Monmouth Mall. We actually missed it on the first pass and had to turn around at the Route 36 circle. No big deal. We pulled in hungry, but not expecting too much. My brother, who had also never been to White Castle, had gone earlier in the day at a different location and advised us of being disappointed. We didn’t have high expectations anyway, but were so hungry it really didn’t matter.
Despite a short line, we waited a few minutes to order. We wound getting the #3 (with cheese), 10 sliders with two orders of french fries and two drinks. As we sat in the booth waiting for our number to be called, someone in hte next booth over was humming “Dancing in the Dark” which was kind of amusing. After about a ten minute wait that seemed needlessly long, we were ready to dig in.
We had to wait a minute or two to start because those sliders were quite hot. The fries were at a more reasonable temperature and I had a few. The verdict on them — dry and starchy, not real great. As for the burger, after putting on a whole packet of ketchup and removing the pickles (sacrilege?) I took a big bite.
My reaction — this is okay. The meat was awfully gray and of quality less than most fast food burger joints. The rolls were just right though and the cheese tasty enough. They weren’t good or bad, just kind of bland. Had it not been for all that ketchup, I probably wouldn’t have gotten through all five. If I hadn’t have gone without protein for the most of the day, I certainly wouldn’t have eaten all of them.
In the end, my overall take on White Castle and its sliders is “meh.” I won’t specifically seek White Castle out, but I won’t avoid it either. I guess I have to see Harold & Kumar (IMDB) now.