Versus Episode 2: Bill Gray’s Vs. Tom Wahl’s
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Welcome back to another edition of versus! This time, we take on two titans in the plate world, Bill Gray’s and Tom Wahl’s. We sat down to compare them side-by-side to try and determine which one was better. I’ve reviewed both these places before, independently. On my first round of reviews I felt that Tom Wahl’s was a bit better.
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HEALTH INSPECTION NOTES:
Bill Gray’s: One critical violation found from an inspection dated 2/27/20. Their previous inspections were no cake walk either, and seemed to do poorly overall with food safety.
Tom Wahl’s: No critical violations found from an inspection dated 1/13/20. Their previous inspections were also fine going back a number of years.
Conclusion: Based on the inspections, Tom Wahl’s is the safer of the two.
Point, Tom Wahl’s. Score 1-0 Tom Wahl’s.
MEAT (CHEESEBURGER):
Bill Gray’s: 5
Tom Wahl’s: 4
I’m as surprised as you are; Bill Gray’s claims to have the world’s best cheeseburger and I’ll be honest, it was pretty damn good. I don’t know if I caught them on a particularly good grill day or what, but it was quite tasty. The burger from Tom Wahl’s was nothing special; just a solid burger.
Point, Bill Gray’s. Score 1-1, Tie.
MEAT SAUCE:
Bill Gray’s: 4
Tom Wahl’s: 5
While both plates had good meat sauces, I felt the meat sauce from Tom Wahl’s was a bit hotter, and therefore, better. I like spicy foods though, if you don’t like spicy foods, you may prefer the meat sauce from Bill Gray’s.
Point, Tom Wahl’s. Score 2-1, Tom Wahl’s.
POTATO SIDE:
Bill Gray’s: 4
Tom Wahl’s: 4
I once again screwed up and ordered two different potato sides. That said, they were both fine; nothing special. I’d imagine that they both come from frozen bags (probably the same distributor too).
Tie. Score 3-2, Tom Wahl’s.
MAC SALAD:
Bill Gray’s: 4
Tom Wahl’s: 4
Again, tough to differentiate the two mac salads. It didn’t taste like either one was made in house but I could be mistaken. Both are solid, but nothing special.
Tie. Score 4-3, Tom Wahl’s.
BREAD:
Bill Gray’s: 3
Tom Wahl’s: 3
Both places give you bread, which is nice. That said I couldn’t tell the difference between the two rolls. They were the same. They probably get them from the same bread distributor or something. They were a lackluster part of the plate for both places.
Tie. Score 5-4, Tom Wahl’s.
PRICE:
Bill Gray’s: $12.95
Tom Wahl’s: $11.76
Tom Wahl’s is the cheaper option between the two.
Point, Tom Wahl’s. Score 6-4, Tom Wahl’s.
CONCLUSION:
This was a tough one, and initially, I felt that the only thing that set these two plates apart was the price. This was before I learned of the health inspection information from Bill Gray’s. Of the two I felt that Tom Wahl’s meat sauce set it above because it was full of flavor and quite spicy. I recognize that not everybody enjoys spicy food so some may prefer Bill Gray’s. While the taste profile of the two plates are quite similar, due to the reasons I outlined above, I believe that Tom Wahl’s offers a slightly better plate at a better price. Both plates are a benchmark for which we can measure other plates. They are both solid choices and I would happily return to either spot. Please leave a comment below for who you want to see on the next episode of versus!