[Photographs: David Kover]

The most prominent decoration at most Marie Callender's is the pie case that sits just inside the front door, with its peaks of golden meringue and crowns of whipped cream. This makes perfect sense, given the chain's history. Marie Callender started her business selling pies in the 1940s, with a first coffee shop opening in 1964, and a move towards full-service restaurants in 1969. There are now over 130 Marie Callender's locations in North America (all of them West of the Mississippi). That's a lot of places to get some pie—and potentially a burger, though only if you're on the market for one of the lesser mid-scale chain burgers out there.

Besides the contents of the pie case, the Marie Callender's I visited had been done up in olive green paint, wood-trimmed booths, and a variety of floral wall art. A generic, but perfectly pleasant setting for a Thursday lunch. The menu offered a full array of American comfort food, a salad bar, and a few Callender's-specific touches, such as the chicken pot pie, and the square of corn bread with honey butter that is delivered to each table at the beginning of the meal. For our purposes here at AHT, Marie Callender's serves a few dressed-up burgers, like the Frisco burger that comes on grilled Parmesan sourdough, or a chili burger that you're meant to eat with a fork and knife. But in the name of simplicity, it was the more basic Callender's Cheeseburger that I took for a test drive.

The cheeseburger I ate at Marie Callender's needs to be viewed in 360-degree surround to be fully understood. On one side, the patty was veiled in beautifully melted cheese, and a bit of Thousand Island dressing oozed attractively off the bottom bun.

Spin the plate, however, and the largest wad of iceberg lettuce I've ever seen on a burger threatened to explode violently from between the buns—the toothpick that kept my burger together was holding on for dear life.

Still, it wasn't over-exuberance with leafy greens that caused this burger to come up short. I was told that the patty had arrived at the restaurant pre-formed from a central commissary, a story that fit quite well with the perfectly uniform, densely packed disc of beef on my bun. All burgers at Marie Callender's are prepared medium well, and though the waiter assured me the cook could preserve a hint of pink for me when I asked, what I got was greyish-brown straight through and pretty dry. As for the meat, Marie Callender's advertises that they use USDA ground chuck and sirloin in their patties—no grade specified. And that's kind of how I'd describe the flavor of my burger: edible, in an absolutely basic sort of way.

I will say that many of the fixings on my burger were expertly applied. That iceberg lettuce? Quite crisp! (And I don't imagine that the extravagant quantity I received is standard on a Callender's Cheeseburger.) I've already mentioned the well-melted cheese, and it's also worth noting that the heft of the patty matched quite nicely with that of the bun. Lastly came the Sweet Gherkin Thousand Island dressing, Marie Callender's signature burger condiment. For better or for worse, given the lack of beefy oomph in the patty, this very sweet sauce became the major flavor in my burger after a while.

The skin-on french fries at Marie Callender's are crisp, with a thick shell of friedness on the exterior and just enough salt. They're a much better option than the plate of somewhat greasy, forgettable onion rings.

This Chain Reaction series has made it quite clear that there are some very good chain burgers out there. And if a burger is what you're looking for, I'd like to suggest you visit TGI Friday's or a Fuddrucker's instead of Marie Callender's. During my visit, the diners that surrounded me appeared to be hitting the salad bar pretty hard. This may be the right way to do things, and it certainly means you'll have saved some calories if you're planning on raiding the pie case afterward.