I Tasted the Wendy’s x Wednesday Meal of Misfortune: Dreadfully Delicious, or Just Dreadful?

• What It Is: vanilla or chocolate frozen dessert with dark cherry sauce
• Price: from $3

Available with either a vanilla or chocolate base (I opted for the former), this spooky Frosty is begging for its closeup…as long as you don’t receive it half-melted, like I did. Wendy’s soft serve is notably aerated compared to other similar fast food desserts; although it’s creamy and gets the job done, once it starts melting, it turns foamy and excessively thin. However, I was still psyched to try the cherry sauce, hoping for a sweet-and-sour balance. Unfortunately, it leaned medicinal and had a very runny consistency. The marbled purple Spoon of Gloom was a cute touch, though.

• What It Is: skin-on fried potatoes
• Price (a la carte): from $2

Since Wendy’s launched its Hot & Crispy Fry Guarantee in 2021, the skin-on fries (in my experience) have been consistently fresh, well-salted and flavorful. These tasted a bit older than usual and were extra wilted. But I admittedly love soggy fries, so I didn’t mind them being less crisp than they typically are. I’ll also say that the small size is actually pretty substantial; with ten nuggets, you’ll certainly be full, even without a burger.

• What It Is: spicy or regular breaded, fried white meat chicken nuggets with two of four mystery dipping sauces
• Price (a la carte): $5

Even though I’m a spicy chicken stan, I went with regular nuggets, so I’d be able to taste the dips without the spicy breading interfering. The chicken was tender, juicy and seemed freshly fried. The exterior, which is more of a breading than a batter, was well seasoned and crisp. But I was most intrigued by the dips, of course.

Of the four available—You Can’t Hyde, This Will Sting, Grave Mistake and Nowhere to Woe—I received one blood-colored dip that looked and smelled like a fruity ketchup and a pinkish-gray dressing with a spicy aroma. (FYI, there’s no way to know which flavor you have before opening the container, so it’s luck of the draw.) Upon tasting, I’d say the first was like a mildly spicy, mustardy ketchup and the second a creamy, garlicky, tangy hot sauce with medium heat.