Review: Sweet & Spicy Melt from Wayback Burger

Bottom Line: Wayback is grilling up some decent burgers, though its Sweet & Spicy Melt needs less sweet and more heat.

There are plenty of places to get a good burger these days, many of which are well above typical fast food quality. One of these is Connecticut-based chain Wayback Burger, which focuses on good burgers, shakes, and fries, and also has chicken, wings, and other items on its menu. I had not made a trip to the location relatively near me, though it has been on my to-do list for a while. But they have been promoting their Sweet & Spicy Melt pretty heavily online, so I decided to stop by and give that a try. This new menu item includes the following:

Two made-to-order beef patties, topped with Pepper Jack cheese, crispy fried onions, and pineapple jalapeño jam, sandwiched between an inverted, grilled, buttered bun.

As mentioned, I have not visited Wayback Burger in the past, but I can definitely say they grill up a darn good burger. It has two patties, but they are not huge, probably totaling about a third pound of meat. The meat is cooked up perfectly and seasoned nicely, and it is quite beefy without being greasy.

The three slices of melted Pepper Jack cheese deliver plenty of creaminess and maybe just a touch of sharpness, though I did not detect much heat from them. The promised crispy fried onions were almost non-existent on my burger, though I didn’t really miss them. The inverted, grilled, buttered bun is interesting, as it acts almost like sourdough bread and works quite well for the burger.

Then there is the pineapple jalapeño jam, which almost derailed the burger. It sounds like an odd condiment in the first place, but sweet can work well on a burger, as evidenced by ketchup, relish, Thousand Island dressing, and other toppings. But the jam was pretty much all sweet with almost no heat. If it had a kick to balance things out, that might have blended better with the other ingredients. But the sweet dominated, and they put a lot on the burger, to the point that it nearly overwhelmed it.

As for the overall heat for the burger, there was maybe just a slight sting, but this one did not even get to Mild on my scale. And with the sweetness to the forefront, I did not enjoy the otherwise wonderful burger as much as I could have. I will definitely go back to this place, but next time I will order something like the Cajun Burger or just one of their regular burgers with jalapeños added (they also have a tasty-looking Buffalo Chicken Sandwich).

They don’t show the calories for the Sweet & Spicy Melt, but their regular cheeseburger has a similar construction (minus the jam) and totals up to 830 cals. That is a bit on the hefty side, but about what you would expect for this type of burger. If you get their seasoned fries on the side, those are adding at least another 400 cals, and don’t be looking at that shake unless you are planning to tack on some extra time to your treadmill tenure every day for a week!

The Sweet & Spicy Melt runs $10.99 in my area, and the fries add another four bucks, which is on the high side but not uncommon for fast-casual restaurants these days. And considering the price of beef in stores lately, that’s not too bad. Wayback is definitely grilling up some good burgers, and I recommend checking them out. But I would advise selecting something other than the Sweet & Spicy Melt unless jam on a burger is your thing. You can check for a location near you on their website.