Where to eat is an everyday choice that Neenah students face at lunch. With many different choices, students must choose what fits their needs best. Many students may want something quick or something tasty. Some are looking for a meal to satisfy their cravings, when others may want a healthier or more quality choice. In just a couple minutes drive, quite a few different options for fast food exist in Neenah. Anywhere that someone may go, students always weigh out their options with a few different aspects.

As a senior in high school, I have experience choosing where to eat for lunch. I will be analyzing three restaurants near Neenah High School for which is the best to eat during lunch, Culver’s, A&W and Taco Bell. 

The three aspects that are being analysed in the review: speed, cost and satisfaction/ sustainability. Speed is the time for the order to be made and received. Cost is the price of the food. This bleeds into the next and final critique, the satisfaction from the food and how well it does at keeping a “full” feeling. 

These three areas are angled toward teens that go out to lunch. With only a limited time of 30 minutes for lunch, speed is always an important factor. Lunch being something that everyone eats everyday, no one wants to spend half of a paycheck on one meal, that is why it is also an important aspect to look at price when dining. And with that cost, whether high or low, does the meal give enough fuel to finish out the rest of the school day. Now knowing how the criteria is being evaluated, I will go into explain my experiences at each restaurant. 

The home of the famous Root Beer float, A&W is the closest restaurant to Neenah High School out of the three. After a good look at its menu and researching other reviews on popular items, I ordered a Papa Burger meal with cheese curds and a root beer float (Swenson, L.). When ordering, I was surprised when there was an up-charge on getting cheese curds instead of fries with the meal. I believed since their curds are popular, that they would be able to come with the burger, but I was mistaken. It is possible that A&W owners know that customers craving for the restaurants classic side will overthrow the cost (and it obviously worked for me). 

By the time I had ordered and gotten my food only eight minutes had passed. That is a reasonable time to receive food. When the cost for me to eat was just merely $15, I was expecting a quality meal, and I was not let down. For being someone who is usually a big eater, I almost could not finish the double fist full of a burger that was the Papa burger. The meal left me full and with enough fuel to do other after school activities. The swiftness of the order and satisfaction I had from A&W was good, but the cost was a bit for a high schooler to fork out everyday or even every other day. 

The next restaurant that I visited was Taco Bell. The go-to for quick Mexican food was a snail in this race of fast food places. Taco Bell had near double the time from either of the others restaurants. With a limited staff of only two people in the building taking orders and making food, my order took 16 minutes. I was told that the lack of employees would make the order take longer, but that is still on the management of the company. I know nothing about the behind the scenes info as to why they would be so low on staff — but it definitely put an impact on how I view the restaurant. Though the order was a  long time, the cost was much lower. A family member and I both ate for about the same price as a meal for one cost at A&W (each meal came out to about $6.50 each). It could be assumed that the price of the meal would show in the quality of the food, and that assumption would not be far off. While the fan favorite bean burrito (Fulton, W.). I had was good in taste, that, a hard shell taco and a Crunch wrap left me still a little hungry. 

Taco Bell has a low price for its food but that directly shows in the meal. The meal I ordered seemed to be more of a snack than a fuel boost for the rest of my day. When talking to a Neenah senior, Ron Kuusisto, who has been going to Taco Bell for many years, claimed that Taco Bell has been dropping in quality recently. When asked if he considered Taco Bell a decent restaurant to go to lunch, he replied: “No, they often take too long and there is almost always drive thru problems.” While it may be a good place to get some tasty food at a cheap price, Taco Bell does not satisfy the hunger of a teen. 

Finally, the masters of whipped custard and salty French fries, the Northwestern’s own, Culver’s. Culver’s was a quick order with a hefty price. An order of a Butter Burger and fries with a concert mixer (Culver’s) only took about six minutes. The time was much faster than I thought it was going to be. The quick service is great for high school students. Although, the price once again was higher than the average student would want to spend often, costing $11.50. The price was worth the satisfaction. The burger was delicious, and I was perfectly full after finishing my meal. 

For quality meals A&W and Culver’s hits the spot. Taco Bell is more of a guilty pleasure than a place to fuel up. After this test I choose Culver’s because it was cheaper than A&W but still filled my hunger. To choose where to eat has many different angles to look at. Price may be more important to some than others, and others might want a quality meal compared with a craving filler. It can always be agreed upon that students time is valuable and important; speed of an order is always a high priority. To choose where to eat is always up to the person eating, and the more options the better.