Regular Arby's isn't that bad as fast food goes, as evidenced by the lower two pictures. The OP's picture, though...is horrifying.

I'm so hungry, I could eat at Arby's!

Gross. The debris pieces have probably been laying around for hours. Ewww. Ain't no amount o' Horsey Sauce gonna fix that.

Ahem. In some parts of the country, the debris is the best part.

That picture is kinda gross looking. But the pictures the Consumerist posted for comparison purposes, darn it, is making me want some Arby's.

I'd take it back and ask for a new one and/or a refund.

Cheers!

I had prided myself in never eating at an Arby's before. A couple of years ago, a coworker told me how much he liked it. I went and ordered a roast beef. Bland mystery meat on a chewy wonder bread roll. Yuch. Never again Arby's!

I just thought of that Simpsons Halloween special where Homer is eating something really gross and says, "If I can keep Arby's down." So true Homer.

To give them the benefit of the doubt, Its possible they just tried to slice too thin.

Viz:

From NOLA Cuisine

"I'm so hungry I'd eat at Arbies"
"Wow, that's really hungry."

Ha ha ha......Simpsons.

Ugh. Even though I love Arby's, I stopped eating there a year ago. Their prices are completely out of whack for the quality and amount of food they serve, and at least in my area, it's a miracle if any Arby's accepts coupons or offers any of the deals you see on TV.

The final straw was when I walked into the local Arby's and saw a sign that said "DID YOU KNOW THAT IF YOU WANT EXTRA SAUCE PACKET, THE CHARGE IS ONLY 25 CENTS"

Yeah, no thanks.

@sicknick: This was my first thought as well.

The homestyle fries are the best in the biz...IMO

My guess is that they probably ran out of the glue that holds the "meat" together that day. Arby's roast beef is like particle board is to a 2"x4"

@mdoublej: only a fool would get fries at arby's. Not when you could have the potato cakes instead!

That is something to be eaten only on a dare.

but what else am I supposed to compare female genitalia to now???

man, the decorum really drops after the first fifteen or so posts, huh?

Anyways, I was always a fan of the beef and cheddar... *sigh*

@sicknick: "Ewwwwww, Arby's!"

@sean77:

Really? Never tried them, but the homestyle fries dipped in the horsey sauce is probably my favorite fast food dish.

The Arbys here in RSM is gawd awful. They drop a pile 0' crap on the bun without even spreading it out. The cheese is vomit flavored. I gave them two chances, they blew them both, no more profit for them from me, EVER!

restaurents usually only get ONE chance, but I messed up and tried a second visit thinking the first may have been a fluke...

And to think I nearly ate Arby's today...

I really don't understand why people say arby's is gross. It tastes pretty much like any roast beef sandwich you'd get somewhere else. Maybe people just hate roast beef sandwiches.

I love Arby's. Our local one started to go downhill two years ago. I'm not sure what the issue was but about the same time the usual employees who were mostly middle aged adults and retirees who all seemed to know what they were doing were gone. In there place were some unclean McDonalds employee rejects. That was the exact same time the food went downhill. Sandwiches would be minus the normal amount of meat, or looked like someone sat on them. Fries would be cold almost all the time.

Is Arby's franchise owned or corporate owned? I am guessing this is more of a location by location thing.

Did this actually come from Arby's, or was it scraped off of the floor at our favorite Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory?

Um, yeah, I used to work at an Arby's when I was 16 (a long time ago). I will say that all appears to be is the outside of the roast, which is not like the outside of baloney, but more like the outside of shaved turkey from the supermarket. When the slicer gets to the end of the roast, the pieces get small. Very safe and edible, not very appetizing to look at.
As for fast food, Arby's used higher quality indgredients and our store continuously scored in the high nineties for health inspections.

mmmm. looks like the sammich bits that get stuck between a smoker's teeth. I can haz teh nahstehniss plz?

@bohemian: There was a big franchiser that made a bad business decision and bought a failing company. It brought down the whole Arby's franchise also. Arby's corporate came in and picked them all up for a song and most got turned around. There are a few that are franchised still, but not like they used to be.

I am an avid eater of arby's roast beef sammiches ( I LOVE them!), and THAT is not how one is supposed to look! EW!

I would LOVE to know wtf happened.

ps. Their homestyle fries, curly fries & potato cakes are awesome.

@aphex242: I DID eat at Arby's today. The Curly Fries are amazing, and the Jamocha Shake is even better. To be fair, I've had bad roast beef when it's been sitting out under the heat lamps for too long, but it's good often enough that I don't hesitate to go back.

Since when does Arby's package their roast beef sandwich in generic clear plastic containers? From what I remember, they come in paper/aluminum foil wrapping stamped with the Arby's logo. Are you sure this was an Arby's you pruchased this from, and not a homeless man distributing Things He Found In Dumpsters?

@jjason82: People say Arby's is gross because of the 'meat' used. Their roasts consist of all the remaining meat scrapings from the skeleton of the butchered animal pressed into 10lb chunks. Basically, the same meat used for pet food. If you think their 'roast beef' is the same as anywhere else, you must have eaten at some spectacularly bad restaurants. As far as that goes, what other fast food serves roast beef sandwiches? I've seen Italian beef, but never roast beef.

@Parapraxis: I thought it was just my friends who did that. Is this some national thing I didn't know about?

Arby's Marketplace sammiches are teh bomb! The bread is better than anything at any other fast-food restaurant (at least here in NorCal). Mmm, Arby's...

Heard from a friend who worked at Arbys that their meat comes in tubes...like a paste and its molded at the restaurant....ewwww ecccchhhhhh ewwwwww yuck!

@LastVigilante: the Large (used to be called the Big Montana) comes in the plastic container.

OH... YUM... the beef and cheddar's with horsey sauce... talk about a guilty pleasure. Now that it's in my head I'm going to have to stop by tonight and get one.

I HAVE gotten sandwhiches a bit like that, however. They told me it was the "end" or some junk. But they gave me another, since I complained.

I don't think Arby's is like "every other roast beef" sandwich one gets. Isn't it some kind of pressed reconstituted beef product, not actual sliced roast beef?

This particular sandwich does look pretty gross. I'm sure if you closed your eyes while you ate it, it might still taste pretty good. But that is kinda gross too.

I love Arbys. I've never had any problems with them, just add the Arbys sauce to a roast beef with cheese sandwich and have some curly fries. Mmm Mmm Mmm, my mouth is watering now. The best time to buy it is when they have the 5 for 5.95$ deals and you can mix and match like 10 different items off of their menu, pretty cheap and GOOD.

So you are upset because your meat wasn't cut correctly? It is still meat and it still tastes the same. I fail to see what you are upset about.

the only thing remotely appealing from arby's is the 'market fresh sandwiches'

@mdoublej: My favorite thing in all the world is Arby's fries dipped in horsey sauce, although I prefer the curly fries.

Although in general Arby's is just too expensive and there isn't really one anywhere near me, so the gas $$ keeps me far away from my horsey sauce love.

Hey man, cut Arby's some slack. They have just invented *pre-chewed beef*. Think of all the energy you'll save now that you can skip all that tedious chewing!

In addition, this is a glorious day for beef-lovers with no teeth. Oh, and people that want to do bad things to their body.

I'm thinkin' dog food!

Are Arby's sammiches really, technically, "roast beef" sandwiches? The meat appears to be the same as those thinly sliced packets of baloney you can get at your local grocery store for 50 cents-to-$1. Just buy that, pile the tissue-thin meat onto a cheap, doughy hamburger bun and steam the whole thing before it becomes totally soggy.

gross, you guys should read their ingredients from the website for what constitutes as "roast beef" ---

trimmed boneless beef chunks and chopped beef mixed in a self-basting solution of 9% water, salt, and sodium phosphate.

mmmm. what is the difference between chopped bef and boneless beef "chunks?"

It looks like "Chipped Beef (sort-of) on Toast" to me.

That's the kind of mystery meat WWII GI's ate, as well as my 1960's school lunch program force-fed us (which was probably leftover from WWII.)

You guys saying that arby's roast beef is made from compressed meat bits (one guy said basically dog food) and meat paste in tubes.... are lying thru your teeth! Man, I hate you types that make up shit just to try to disgust people. Arby's roast beef is sliced meat. NOT meat paste, NOT meat bits used for dog food.

That's the same kind of crap that pets-wackjobs or militant vegans say.

Home style fries? YOU GOT HOME STYLE FRIES? They don't have 'em anymore where I live ;_; They only sell curly now and I don't particularly like 'em.

I dunno it doesn't look that terrible to me. When I was growing up we called that "chipped beef" and ate it for breakfast :)

@dacker Hey! Sorry I didn't meant to be redundant. Your post wasnt' there yet ;)

@forgottenpassword:

That should have read as "peta-wackjobs"

We're debating what Arby's sandwiches are made of? Sliced or shredded? Dog food quality or better?

Eat at Arby's, you get freakin' Arby's.