We’ve been going to Circle K a lot more all thanks to the special deals from GasBuddy and GetUpside…especially lately, with gas prices seemingly climbing every week, we can use all the help at the pump we can get. Lately, I’ve been noticing that they’ve expanded their snack selection to include their own brand of potato chips. I thought it was weird that a convenience store would have their own brand of products, but I guess it makes sense; besides 7-Eleven does it (we sadly have no more 7-Eleven stores in our neck of the woods, as they all closed down years ago).
After waffling about the idea a few times, I finally decided to grab a bag of Circle K’s cheddar and sour cream rippled potato chips. Anyone who’s read probably any chip review on this blog knows that I’m a huge fan of ripples over the plain flat chips, which I find to be pretty boring. (I also think the ridges do a much better job of holding the flavors and seasonings on). I literally had no idea what to expect, but hey, I wasn’t going to learn by just staring at the packaging every time we went.We’ve been going to Circle K a lot more all thanks to the special deals from GasBuddy and GetUpside…especially lately, with gas prices seemingly climbing every week, we can use all the help at the pump we can get. Lately, I’ve been noticing that they’ve expanded their snack selection to include their own brand of potato chips. I thought it was weird that a convenience store would have their own brand of products, but I guess it makes sense; besides 7-Eleven does it (we sadly have no more 7-Eleven stores in our neck of the woods, as they all closed down years ago).
Holy hell what a surprise. This is one of the better cheddar and sour cream potato chips I’ve ever had, and that’s not just by default: that happens to be one of my favorite flavors. There’s an abundance of cheddar flavor to go around, but it’s perfectly offset by an under layer of sour cream. It’s a weird descriptor for a chip, but the flavor is “smooth”, and goes down easily, with no bizarre aftertastes or other anomalies that some products have. Another potential pitfall it avoids is tasting too much like salt. Obviously most chips do contain a lot of salt, but it’s one thing to have a lot and it’s quite the other to taste like you do. Circle K’s chips don’t have any excess sodium flavor which means more of the taste is devoted to the rich blend of cheese and sour cream.
One downside is rather obvious: the proposition of value. As most of us know, Circle K is a convenience store, usually (always?) attached to a gas station, and those types of places are never known for their blazing deals. These are no exception: they retail for $2.50 per bag. While that doesn’t qualify it as any kind of outstanding offer, it is still a little cheaper than getting name brands, and is probably one of the better convenience store deals you’ll find.
Really, I’m shocked.
Overall: 8/10. Going solely by taste, these chips from Circle K (yes, the convenience store chain) are one of the best cheddar and sour cream chips I’ve ever had, with a perfectly-balanced blend of the two titular ingredients coming together to form blissful harmony inside your mouth. However, the excitement of the taste is somewhat offset by a slight lack of value: each bag retails for $2.50, which is cheap for convenience store standards (and about a dollar cheaper than most name brands), but not all that extravagant overall. That being said, I would definitely get these again, and would recommend them to fans of cheddar and sour cream chips who don’t mind paying a dollar over other store brands. They’re worth it.
