Versus Episode 2: Bill Gray’s Vs. Tom Wahl’s

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.

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!