We tried Burger King's new Mac n' Cheetos — here's the verdict

Hollis Johnson

Burger King will soon be serving up Mac n' Cheetos — creamy mac n' cheese deep fried into Cheeto-shaped sticks and covered with crispy Cheetos flavoring.

While the fast-food chain isn't officially debuting the limited time offering until June 27, the internet has exploded with discussion of the bizarre mashup.

A handful of Burger King locations in New York City already added the item to the menu, so, on Thursday, Business Insider ventured to a Brooklyn location to order 10 packs of Mac n' Cheetos to see if the mashup lived up to the hype.

Response was decidedly mixed. About half of taste testers hated the menu item, while the other half said they found Mac n' Cheetos surprisingly enjoyable. 

Hollis Johnson

Anti-Mac n' Cheetos reviews came from testers who found the menu item disgusting — many, sickeningly so. 

"There’s a reason why literally no one asked for this," said another unhappy taste tester. "I feel sick after one."

One of the biggest complaints amongst the Mac n' Cheetos haters was the texture — an uncanny mixture created by containing mushy mac-and-cheese in what some considered a less-than-crisp fried shell.

Hollis Johnson

"These are bad. Very bad," said one tester. "There is no flavor, no crispiness, just a mushy center that vaguely resembles mac and cheese that’s been run through a blender coated in something that looks like Cheetos and has also run through a blender."

Another major complaint: a surprising lack of Cheetos flavor. The Mac n' Cheetos' taste comes closer to that of macaroni and cheese, as opposed to the punchier Cheeto.

"As a purveyor of absurdly flavored garbage guilt food, such as gas station corn dogs and dill pickle sunflower seeds, this was seriously disappointing," said one tester. "They really need to lean in more on the Cheeto flavor. It was like they took normal breading and made it orange, it didn't have that super-duper fake Cheeto cheese flavor that I wanted."

Hollis Johnson

However, others said that Mac n' Cheetos exceeded their expectations.

In fact, most of the positive reviewers said that they were shocked by how much they enjoyed the menu item.

"Love the way the crunchy shell and the soft filling interplay," said one tester. "Amazingly, you get mac n' cheese flavor along with Cheetos crunch, but without the annoying orange residue."

"My mouth is so confused and I’m so concerned as to how much I think I like these," said another. "I ate gourmet French cuisine yesterday and I am deriving nearly the same amount of satisfaction now."

Hollis Johnson

A number of testers who enjoyed the Mac n' Cheetos drew comparisons to mozzarella sticks.

"Tastes almost like a wanna-be mozzarella stick," said one. "I would substitute fries and order them again with a burger."

Still, even the most positive reviewers said that they felt that eating more than one or two could result in a Mac n' Cheetos overload. While the item was seen as a good potential snack after a night out or as an interesting gimmick to try once, both positive and negative reviewers said that they would feel "disgusting" if they ate too many.

Hollis Johnson

The Mac n' Cheetos are just as over-the-top and bizarre as Burger King promised. And, the snack did, in fact, manage to make mac-and-cheese portable and snackable.

Ultimately, the Mac n' Cheetos were a polarizing item. The texture was controversial. Flavor-wise, some people enjoyed the emphasis on the mac-and-cheese, while others wanted more Cheeto. The very thing that one tester loved, another found disgusting. 

Some customers will hate the Mac n' Cheetos, while others are sure to love them. Either way, the new menu item is creating strong reactions — which was likely Burger King's intention all along.

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