Sonic Drive-In

We got several shakes and some snacks. The shakes were nice and thick with lots of flavor (sooooo many different options!) The mozzarella sticks were crispy and didn’t just taste like grease. The guy who brought out our order was friendly.

Fast food salt lick. Give me a break, even McD’s can out perform this hopeless lunch location. A&W did it so right for so many years, why can’t Sonic figure this out. Wish our olé Grant’s location was still here…

I sat in line at the drive thru for 20 minutes waiting for a milkshake. TWENTY MINUTES. People were driving out of line at the drive thru. When the girl working opens the window to hand me my shake, I asked her what took so long and she just handed my shake and shrugged. I asked for the manager to let them know that it was a disappointing visit and the girl said that the manager wasn’t there until morning. I emailed corporate to pass along my concerns with the night crew at Sonic and got a call back from the manager who pretty much said that it was my fault that I had such a crappy experience because I asked for the manager, not the shift manager, who was working. Excuse me? Shouldn’t the shift manager be aware when there is a 10 car back up at the drive thru and it’s taking 20 minutes an order? Or is it just the general manager who should know? Smh.

Great service, good attitude, food was fresh and tasty. Only complaint is I expected more tots, onionsx and chile since I ordered a large. But at $ 4 it was fair.

Sonic has a great concept, good location right off of I5 and friendly staff.
The order box can be a little hard to hear when your trying to place your order due to street traffic noise and the loud music they play so you may have to repeat yourself.
The menu has a wide selection of items and everything appeared to be cooked to order and fresh. The sweet tea is refreshing and does not taste like it is syrup based.
The lack of a star is they place a lot of ice in the cup (even when you order light ice) and refills are not provided for free. This is the only fast food location I have been to that does not provide refills– shocking they think people will not care about this…

Somewhat better food than McD, Burger King, and Jacknbox. Somewhat more expensive. No indoor seating or play area. That about covers it.
Fiama Burger in Bellingham is waaaay better.
Burgerville (mostly Portland Oregon area) is a waaaay better chain.
I suspect (though haven’t been in a very long time) that the burger place on main street Ferndale is better, but I don’t think they’re open all that late.
Sonic pushes the word «Fresh» a bunch… Odd how my burger came out in 30 seconds :(… in all its prefab glory. I don’t mind the pre-​done food (actually I do, it’s a reason I don’t eat much fast food) that’s how they get fast fast food. But don’t market «fresh» if it’s not. Makes me want to give them one star.
The whipped topping on the shakes is good.
If you are in Ferndale, late at night, and don’t have too high a standard cuisine wise, go for it. Otherwise get some real food.

One of my guilty pleasures is driving through Sonic’s circle lot and parking my car at a station with a magnificent view of Mt. Baker. Yes, it’s fast food, but it’s fast food with a million dollar view.
You can get a burger at a lot of competing restaurants, but I like how Sonic doesn’t have a secret sauce. Instead, you get to choose your own toppings of mayonnaise, mustard, and/​or ketchup. Plus you can add extas like jalapenos to spice it up. Generally, I indulge in a combo and order those delicious crispy tater tots instead of fries. My stomach is growling now just thinking about it.
Even though it is a drive-​thru, you can take as long as you like to study the menu since you are parked at your own private stall. When you’re ready, push the red call button and an employee will take your order over the speaker. Mini LCD screens have been installed so you can see the total expense and run your credit card. Don’t forget to tip the car hop as she delivers your order along with peppermints.
My biggest beef with this chain is that they still use styrofoam cups for their drinks. Sadly, my stomach always overides and overrules my mind’s desire to be environmentally conscious.
On your way out, stop by the drive-​thru garbage can. It has an angled attachment so you can toss your trash without leaving your car.

How I heard of this place: Cross-​country travels throughout my childhood and into adulthood present a plethora of opportunities to partake of the greasy goodness known as fast food. Despite numerous drive-​bys, a stop at Sonic was never warranted nor completely desired. Until our neighbors got to us.
Type of cuisine: The great American diet: burgers, foot-​long Coneys (hot dogs), fries and tater tots. With, of course, plenty of über-​sweet items with which to wash down your sodium-​rich, greasy meal: including sodas, milkshakes and other blended beverages.
Ambiance: The dream of every American family in the 1950s is achieved: to pull their cars up to the order menu, press a big red button to get the attention of their carhops, and then see their food zooming through the parking lot on a red tray by a young woman in roller skates. The vastness and brightness of the restaurant is obvious not only from the yellow sign, but also the neon lights that surround the borders of the establishment. Including seating indoors (presumably) and out, on the covered patio, there are options for everyone to be comfortable and enjoy their calorie-​dense, nutrient-​less meals.
What I ordered: Being my first visit, I felt the need to order a burger despite the good-​lookin’ new Premium Asiago Grilled (or Crispy) Caesar Chicken Club. I followed suit when the two men in our party ordered the Super Sonic Bacon Double Cheeseburger ($ 5.19), one in a meal ($ 6.99) with medium tater tots and a beverage: the Oreo Sonic Blast ($ 2.20 for substitute). I chose the single patty Bacon Cheese Burger ($ 4.49), and the last in our party chose the Footlong Quarter Pound Coney ($ 3.69) with onions and mustard. The two in the front seat, also enjoyed their very own Milkshakes in the following flavors: Banana Cream Pie ($ 2.99) and Chocolate Cheesecake ($ 2.99 per medium).
What I loved: Tater Tots. mmm. mmm. Good.
Why I loved it: It’s fun to drive up to a bright plastic menu, be served through your car window and continue your seated adventure in gluttony throughout your entire meal.
Cost: Average ($ 3.50 — $ 7 per meaty entrée)

The food here is unbelievably terrible, as is the service. They messed up my order twice. Fries taste like shit. The coney dog was like eating a turd. When I got the food there was no thanks or have a good day, she just walked off after giving me the food.

I guess this place isn’t a fast food establishment, even with a drive through.
I came for breakfast and ordered chicken strips, took about fifteen minutes to get the order out to me? If I had known how long an order would take this long, I would have changed my order to something that didn’t require so much prep time. I’ll also add there was only one other car in the «dine-​in» area.
Their watermelon slushy with nerds, didn’t have that many nerds…
Being from the Seattle area, it was weird to find a food establishment that still uses Styrofoam cups.

A bit torn b/​c marketing-​wise, they sure have their act together, but i can only say the quality of their chocolate milkshake? Sucked big time, even McDonald’s barely beats it. Heck, In-​n-​Out wins hands down.
Tasted very artificial, too thick, can barely get it out of the straw.
But there’s no indoor sit-​down area, just the outside with hard seating. Cool ordering speak system too, and if you park your car, they’ll bring it out to you, a la old fashioned days.
Quite a large area for cars and drive thru. Nothing like this up in Vancouver in terms of eating in your car.

Was there at peak hours, but no one was there. the lot was empty. Now it could be the location as Ferndale just doesn’t strike me as a prime market for this. I had a burrito meal and it was okay. The burrito could have used either gravy, salsa or something to make more savory. The slushy was a nice twist, but despite all the exotic flavors, they missed a lot of core flavors like Bubble Gum, Rootbeer Raspberry, etc
The bag was also soaked through from grease and I had to question of my food was the source.
In general, Sonic has funny commercials and they make everything look so amazing, but the fact is it’;s a fad, if this menu was serviced in a regular brick burger shack it would be Dairy Queen. Sonic needs better locations in the greater Seattle area and they need better tasting food if they want to move beyond the average rating they are generating.

My husband and I drove 1 hour 30 minutes to get here and they messed up our order MULTIPLE times. Yes fast service but not when you get the order wrong. When we ordered out meals they girl had to repeat everything twice and still got it wrong. For driving the distance we ended up paying $ 30 for dinner! That’s outrageous! Most likely won’t be back for a LONG time. =(

Went here with the family a couple of days ago. What a disappointment!!! We’ve been here a few times but it seems that each time we stop here, the place gets worse and more run down.
Service was slow even though they were not busy at all. Several items were forgotten and other items we ordered were not available. We had to pay extra for condiments.
The kids didn’t receive any toys with their meals and when we inquired we were told that none were available.
The fries were cold. The onion rings tasted horrible like they were cooked in old oil. The burgers were soggy.
The bathrooms are disgusting and the whole place looks really run down. Too bad. Other Sonic locations I’ve been to have been fairly good but I won’t be back to this location.

Why is everything sweet?
The onion rings had a salty and sweet batter. Even the tater tot fries had a slight sweetness to them too. Luckily, the chili cheese dog was mediocre. Maybe I should have stuck to their burgers.
On the plus side, their staff were very friendly and the prices were cheap. The drive-​in only without the dining area is a great idea to keep costs low, however I’m not a fan of eating in my car. There were tables outside, but it was too cold.

If you live under a rock and have never been to Sonic you should definately take a trip. This is an eat in your car type they do have some outside tables if you dont want to dirty your car. I am glad that Sonics is so far away. The food and shakes are so good I would eat here all the time. I love the slushies, they have several different flavors that will quench your thirst. The service was pretty good too.

I drive by this place just about every day, but I only stop in about once every 6 months. Because I’m health conscious? Kind of, but the big reason is because this place is lacking in every department.
Food quality: low. It’s one of those places where everything looks different, but it all pretty much tastes the same. They used to have a couple of really tasty salads on the menu but have ditched them, the burgers are unremarkable and the tots and fries aren’t anything you couldn’t buy in the frozen food section.
Price: On par with the rest of the industry, but with no option to dine inside I feel like costs should be lower.
Drinks: I’ll give them this one. They make a hell of a root beer milkshake. Lots of options and a Happy Hour. Not happy about the styrofoam, but their ice is perfect for ice-​chewers like me.
Kids meals: I’ll concede here as well. They have a lot of choices, but the toys are always a disappointment to my kids. They’re rarely interactive or themed toward their age groups, preschool and 1^st grade (always seems like the toys are for older children?)
Customer service: I would take more stars away for this than anything. SLOW with the orders, attitude at the window over simple requests (like the special sauce I paid extra for), they seem poorly trained, and could care less to make you feel welcome in their establishment.
So one star for kids meals because they have variety, and two stars because they can mix flavors into soft serve. I would love to write a rave review because I love the concept of the place, but they just don’t earn it at this store.

open late? check
greasy processed foods? check
a soda/​shake/​drink lovers paradise? check check
only available in small towns in the middle of nowhere? check
Had the chili cheese dog. Everything you’d except from a fast food spot like Sonic. Dry bun, plain flavorless dog and sloppily dredged on chili. But was it tasty? Yes.
The pineapple shake was also quite delicious… I could have done without quite so many pineapple chunks though. By the time the ice cream was gone, there was still a huge amount of pineapple on the bottom — do they use a whole can or diced pineapples per order?!
Their drink menu is top notch nonetheless is and the main reason why we stopped by, ½ shakes late night? Yes Please!

Hot damn! Why don’t we have more Sonics near Seattle? You know, nevermind. It’d actually be problematic if that were the case!
Having only been to a Sonic once before (in 2005 in Las Vegas) visiting again had been on my to-​do list for many years. Last week my boyfriend and I rented a cabin up in Whistler for a ski trip and after a long drive down the mountains in BC he looked over at me and said, «Ya know there’s a Sonic in Ferndale, right?» And boom — lunch decisions were made in a second.
For the next few minutes we chatted about how awesome their menu was and that you could add tater tots ro just about anything. We get to the Sonic, pull up and order about 3x too much food. We were too excited and the crazy amount of options made it impossible to order any less. And remember the comment about tater tots? Yeah, I got chili cheese tots as a side to my BLT sandwich! Yum. I couldn’t even finish the meal but I certainly tried.
I also loved the limeade drinks! He opted for a cranberry limeade and I had the strawberry. Both were delicious and complimented our multi-​thousand calorie meals.
Just as I’d expected, I sort of regretted our trip because I didn’t really need the calories, but it was so worth the wait after all these years. Now I know Sonic will be a stop whenever we’re headed to BC.

I grew up eating Sonic but having lived in Canada for the last two years and not having access to one has really killed me.
Recently, on our first trip to the states in more than two years I was so tickled to find out there was a Sonic in Ferndale. As soon as we crossed the peace arch border I made this Sonic my first destination. My husband has never had Sonic before so I made sure to order him a Cherry Limeade and a double cheeseburger. He was blown away!!!
I have to tell you, these burgers blow away anything I’ve had in Vancouver. Yup, they are fat and juicy and smothered in cheese, just the way they are supposed to be. This burger literally melted in my mouth and I was groaning in pleasure. My husband thought there was something wrong with me!
I have eaten at «bad» Sonics before but this one was top notch. I was so happy about that. I didn’t want to face any disappointment on that day. We are going to Bellingham again this weekend and once again, this will be my first stop. Chicken sandwhich and cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper, HERE I COME! Or do I want the chili cheese coney with tots and a slushie…