I couldn’t help myself. After all that I’ve heard about American Airlines’ “all-American sliders and fries,” I finally ordered them. Were they what I was expecting? Well, sort of…

American’s very popular first class sliders & fries

I’m not going to get on my soapbox here (okay, maybe I will), but I have a general system I follow when it comes to ordering airplane food. I typically try to avoid ordering things that don’t reheat well, given the obvious logistical challenges of preparing airplane food.

Sometimes airlines like to get creative with the food they serve in premium cabins, and earlier this year, American introduced sliders and fries as an option in domestic first class, only for pre-order. Now, I must admit, I’m not a huge burger person in the first place, but it seems that serving good sliders and fries on a plane would be especially challenging, given how they have to be reheated.

Nonetheless, American has been serving these sliders and fries in first class for quite a while now. Several months back, they apparently became so popular that American had to temporarily suspend them, as catering facilities reportedly had a hard time keeping up with demand. It’s a wild world we live in, eh?

It seems this became a larger than life thing, so I couldn’t help myself. How could I not order the thing that everyone else is ordering? I was even more intrigued because I heard some people raving about the sliders and fries, and others saying they were disgusting.

American’s sliders & fries were exactly what I was expecting

I finally did it, and tried American’s sliders and fries. Admittedly I had very low expectations, but they were exactly what I was expecting:

• The pretzel buns on which the meat was served weren’t exactly fresh or soft, but instead, were quite hard
• The fries of course weren’t crisp, but to my surprise, they also weren’t terribly soggy; instead, they were a bit more tasteless than I was expecting, and almost just tasted like slightly stale potatoes
• There wasn’t actually much meat, but it was fine; it’s not like you’re expecting amazing quality meat on American, or anything
• Side note — as an almost lazy vegetarian, I actually quite liked the side salad!

So yeah, the sliders and fries basically tasted exactly how I was expecting. They were quite satisfying and reasonably tasty, but then again, what fried and carb filled dish isn’t?

I tend to think this is one of those areas where we collectively do a bad job as a society with how we categorize and describe food. Sure, most things that have a lot of carbs, or sugar, or whatever, are also rather tasty… right? I mean, I’d love to devour a bag of Oreos, or a 2,000 calorie ice cream sundae.

The sliders and fries are certainly a comfort food that’s easy to chew on and to not complain about. I guess the way I view, if I’m going to indulge in something, I’d rather it be something legitimately great, rather than falling in the category of “well, it’s fried, so of course it’s not bad tasting.”

Let me put it this way — if I were served this on the ground, I wouldn’t be impressed. And I think most people being honest with themselves would agree. But of course we lower our standards a bit on planes, and for good reason.

Bottom line

I finally tried American Airlines’ first class sliders and fries, given that they’re apparently very popular with travelers. I wondered how good sliders and fries could be on a plane, given that airplane meals are prepared many hours in advance, and are then reheated.

So yeah, the dish was as expected. Were the sliders and fries of comparable quality to what one would hope for on the ground? I’d say no. Is fried stuff and bread pretty tasty, even if it’s subpar? I’d say yes.

If you’ve had American’s sliders & fries, what’s your take?