Review: Wendy's X Wednesday Meal Of Misfortune Scares Up Some Serious Fun

Ask someone who the most famous pigtailed girl in the world is, and names like Pippi Longstocking, Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, or even the spunky comic book villainess Harley Quinn quickly spring to mind. Two more names that round out that list are perhaps more modernly popular than the rest — Wendy of Wendy's fast food fame, and Wednesday Addams. The titular character of the Jenna Ortega-starring Netflix show "Wednesday" is returning for a second season, and to help hype things up, it's partnering with Wendy's for a promotional meal hoping to capture its haunting spirit to scare up some business of its own.

The result is dubbed the Meal of Misfortune, apparently drummed up by Wednesday herself, where eerily renamed nuggets and fries can be dipped in some mystery hot sauces, and then customers can cool off with a hopefully bloody good Frosty. In a statement, Wednesday Addams apparently admitted, "Normally I'd be against this kind of capitalistic corporate synergy, but when the fast food-slinging pigtailed provocateur said I could do whatever I wanted to her customers, I couldn't resist."

On paper (bags), this already sounds like a dream pairing, as the two similarly named girls are uniting for a playful looking and sounding meal. Addams Family production values aside, does this meal bring anything new and delicious to the table, or is it just a retread for familiar foods given a Hollywood spotlight shone upon it? The Takeout took out this meal for a closer investigation to see where the truth lies in this thorough chew and review.

Recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

The Addams Family was born within the pages of The New Yorker in 1938. The family members eventually got first names when the TV series launched in 1964, including the forever mischievous daughter Wednesday Addams. Wednesday has stayed relevant thanks to a Netflix series. Melinda Lou Thomas was the daughter of Dave Thomas, who used her nickname and an image of her smiling with pigtails, as the namesake and icon for his new hamburger restaurant Wendy's, which first opened in 1969.

The Addams Family had lent itself to tie-ins with food products before, like last year's Halloween menu at Burger King. Several more are in motion this summer with "Wednesday"'s return, including Betty Crocker cake mixes and frosting, Gushers snacks, and the super hot, and super delicious Flamin' Hot Fiery Skulls Cheetos. Perhaps the biggest tie-in this season is reserved for the confines of Wendy's, which is offering up the Wednesday Meal of Misfortune. 

This meal offers up familiar Wendy's fare, but now with a touch of ghoulish flair. It comes with chicken nuggets, punningly called Rest in 10-Piece, and two of four mystery dippable condiments dubbed the Dips of Dread. The four dips go by the names You Can't Hyde, This Will Sting, Grave Mistake, and Nowhere to Woe, which don't really tell you much about the sauces beyond their cautious monikers. The meal is rounded out with Cursed & Crispy Fries, and a small Raven's Blood Frosty, which comes in either vanilla or chocolate, which can be scooped up with accompanying Spoon of Gloom.

The Wednesday Meal of Misfortune will be available for ordering at participating U.S. locations starting on August 4. Canadian locations get a crack at it starting August 11, and diners in Puerto Rico, The Bahamas, and Guam will also soon be able to sink their teeth into the meal as well. This combo will be available for an unspecified limited time only.

The meal comes with 10-piece nuggets, either regular or spicy, two random cups of Dips of Dread, small fries, and a small Raven's Blood Frosty. The combo can be upgraded to have a larger size Frosty or fries, or to even add toppings to the fries like Baconator, Chili Cheese, or Cheese, or swap it out altogether for a baked potato. The Raven's Blood Frosty and chocolate version can be ordered à la carte in the following sizes — small, medium, and large. Prices and availability may vary by location, but the Meal of Misfortune costs $9.99, and the Frosty on its own ranges from $2.99 to $3.99 at my Manhattan location. Upgrading of sizes will incur additional charges. Prices may be higher for delivery, or when ordered through third parties.

These items can be ordered at Wendy's when breakfast ends and lunch begins. This meal will be available for the rest of store hours, while supplies last. Customers can order the meal and the Frosty in-store at the counter, kiosk, or drive-thru, where available. They can also be ordered in advance for delivery, pickup, or dine-in through the Wendy's app or website.

If one ordered the standard Meal of Misfortune with regular nuggets, small Cursed & Crispy fries, and the small vanilla-based Raven's Blood Frosty, it would net 1,250 calories, 69 grams of fat, 16 grams of saturated fat, 120 milligrams of cholesterol, a scary 2,080 milligrams of sodium, 159 total grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of dietary fiber, 87 grams of total sugars, and 36 grams of protein.

The Blood Raven Frosty uses a vanilla Frosty as a base, and includes such ingredients as milk, sugar, corn syrup, cream, nonfat milk, whey, natural flavor, and molasses. It is further outfitted with a dark cherry syrup made up of such elements as pure cane sugar, water, dark sweet cherry puree concentrate, corn syrup, natural flavors, and fruit and vegetable juice for color. In the contiguous United States, it contains the allergen milk, and in Alaska and Hawaii, soy. The chocolate version has essentially the same makeup, but leans on the standard chocolate Frosty as its base. A small order of the vanilla Raven's Blood Frosty nets 350 calories, 8 grams of total fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 160 milligrams of sodium, 66 grams of total carbohydrates, 59 grams of total sugars, and 7 grams of protein. The chocolate version has similar numbers, but with 1 less gram of carbs and total sugars, but yields an additional gram of protein, as well a single gram of dietary fiber.

The ingredients for each of the four Drips of Dread can be found on the cups' labels. They net 100 calories each and contain the allergen egg.

Who doesn't love a good mystery, but without Sherlock Holmes at my side, I had to tackle this sauce puzzle all by myself. I ordered two Meals of Misfortune to ensure I'd have at least four dips to try (the dips are not available to purchase separately). Not sure if I got one of each, multiple of one, or four of the same, as the ingredients listed on the label were all aligned — featuring sugar, honey, pepper, distilled vinegar, salt, translated garlic, and unspecified spices. Pulling back the lid, a dark aura of liquid resided within the black cup. Usually a black cup hides the color of the actual sauce, but when I used my Spoon of Gloom to bring this one into the light, this goopy liquid maintained a dark purple hue.

The smell actually equaled its taste. Without dipping anything into it, I tasted it as is, and it was like a honeyed soy glaze, with a little peppery, garlicky kick at the end. It was nothing super spicy, but it certainly left a heated cooling behind in the recesses of my gums. Wendy's nuggets are nothing spectacular, but are certainly serviceable vessels for dipping. Its crispy crust did a good job of holding onto this riddle of a sauce, and helped to bring out its comely flavor even more. For those seeking a bit more fire to add to the cauldron, the Spicy Nuggets are an easy ticket to get one there. If you have any room leftover, don't forget to dip your fries into it too, as they have less to add, and therefore the sauce stands out even more.

One aspect I really dug about Meal of Misfortune is its packaging, with a standout "W" emblazoned on the fry and nugget boxes, and even the cups that housed the two versions of the Raven's Blood Frosty. The back of the cups spelled out some true words of wisdom — "best served cold like revenge." These desserts essentially looked like strawberry sundaes you probably had a million times hitting your neighborhood Dairy Queen, where the syrupy fruit batter is beautifully swirled around the main frozen dessert-base.

I started with the vanilla Raven's Blood Frosty, as vanilla is naturally a better pairing for any fruit topping. My standard suspicion quickly proved to be spot on, as the softness of the vanilla played as a really great host to the dark cherry syrup. The syrup straddled a place where it didn't exactly taste natural, nor artificial. It tasted like a stock cherry syrup that was tartly sweet, and a joy to scoop into my mouth, especially thanks to the fun, purple and elongated Spoon of Gloom.

Next up was the chocolate Raven's Blood Frosty. It had the same look as its vanilla brother, but the redness receded a bit more with its muddy brown surroundings here. While it made for a tasty treat, the cherry didn't mesh quite as well with the chocolate as it did with vanilla. It was as if the cherry had its own flavor agenda, and chocolate Frosty decided not to play along, doing its usual thing. Still, I had no issue gobbling it up.

While the Wendy's x Meal of Misfortune aimed to be a sort of unhappy meal for fans of the "Wednesday" show, it's hard to walk away from it without a smile plastered on your face. Sure, there's actually not a lot new here, beyond a fruit syrup and a tangy dipping sauce, but it's certainly a wicked good way to get into the early spirit for Halloween.

There are several options to complete your Meal of Misfortune makeup, and I'd suggest going with the Spicy Nuggets and the vanilla Raven's Blood Frosty. The spicy nuggets add an extra level of pep that brings out the fullness of the secret dipping sauces. Come to think of it, it's nice for a change to not know the name of the sauce I was trying, as to not have anything influence my judgment, other than what it actually tastes like. Again, I'm not sure any of my dipping sauces were different from one to the next, but I liked it whatever it was.

The only fruit chocolate bests vanilla as a topper for is strawberries, but for this Frosty, the vanilla was a true winner. The dark cherry syrup had a nice taste to it, and worked really well swirled up in that creamy vanilla. Usually after finishing my Frosty, the spoon joins the cup in the trash can, but the Spoon of Gloom is such a neat memento, you'll want to wipe it down and bring it back home for future use. The only missed opportunity in this meal is perhaps a bonus toy or keepsake, featuring Wednesday's likeness within the Wendy's logo, like some lucky fans got at a pop-up location in California last week. There's always the next (season of) "Wednesday."

On the very first day of its release, I went to a local Wendy's in Manhattan to order the Wendy's x Wednesday Meal of Misfortune. I ordered two to receive as many sauces as possible for testing. To maintain freshness of the food items, they were purchased, photographed, and consumed onsite. The items were eaten in order of temperature, with the nuggets and fries going first, followed by the Frosty. Further bites were taken, and items mixed and matched to complete this foodie investigation.

The items were consumed solely by me, and ultimately, this chew and review is based on my own personal opinions, palate, food tastes, and past and present experiences with Wendy's, and appreciation of The Addams Family. The final criteria to come to a culinary conclusion were flavor, appearance, aroma, texture, uniqueness, familiarity, Wednesday-ness, spookiness, overall lovability, and likelihood I would order the meal again. The quick answer is ... it was such a bloody good time the first go around, why not have another go of it. I mean, I have to figure out if I had only one of the four mystery sauces or if all four are actually the same. Also, if you really want to frighten things up a bit, including onlookers sitting next to you at Wendy's, try dipping the Frosty into the Dips of Dread for a sweet and savory scoop you won't soon forget.