The big red letters above the building’s entrance, spelling out W-A-W-A, shine bright from Route 33, attempting to flaunt its excellence. Well, the big red letters lie. I found that Wawa is essentially Sheetz’s younger iPad kid sister. I was expecting something mind-blowing, but I left with nothing amazing to write home about, so I’ll write about it here instead. 

I will start with the good: there were many things that I noticed immediately. The space was clean and tidy, and the air smelled of freshly grilled warm food. My nose was definitely having a good time. The food selection was vast, and the stations for coffee and food ordering were organized. When I went up to order some food to try, I was met with SO many different options for every meal of the day, from toasted bagels for breakfast to build-your-own burgers for dinner. This was a one-stop shop! I decided to order a cookies-n-cream milkshake, five breaded chicken strips, a build-your-own burger, and a three-count of garlic knots to spice things up. Everything I got came out to a little less than $23. Of course, exactly like Sheetz, you order on a tablet where your receipt prints, and you have to take it to the register to actually pay. However, there was no option for cash at the self-checkouts. As for the food, once they killed my cow to cook it and I actually got my food—I will get to that in a second—it was outstanding compared to Sheetz. The bread from the knots was soft (but needed more garlic), the milkshake was creamy, the tenders were, well, tender and crunchy, and the burger basically melted on my tongue. But this is where the excitement of the place started to wear away for me.

Once I ordered the food, everything started to go downhill. I began to realize just how cramped the space was. There were about 10 people waiting to get food, and I felt trapped. I felt like I was in everyone’s way, yet there was nowhere for me to move. I ordered my food at 8:25 p.m., but I did not receive it until 25 minutes later. I was in no rush, but for people just stopping by for a quick lunch on the road, this may have been an issue. I would like to note that, unlike Sheetz, there is a space for the food to come out, and there is a separate space for the drinks to come out. Once I actually received my food, I was handed three small white boxes stacked on each other, with two “Boom Boom” sauces on top. On top of now carrying my milkshake—which I got not too long after ordering—my keys, and my phone, I had to stack these boxes on myself since I was given NO BAG. Not only did my food take forever, but the people behind the counter also did not announce the orders very clearly. They would either look around and ask if an item was yours with a bored expression on their face, or they would shyly call out the number, expelling a sound quieter than a Bourke Parakeet. 

I noted two weird things. First, there were three different beverage areas: a refrigerated station, fountain drinks and coffee, and the specialty drinks behind the counter, such as the milkshake I got. Plus, there’s a clear bathroom sign in case all of the drinks catch up to you before your food does. Second, instead of food being the first thing that met my gaze, I saw car equipment like oil, fuel cleaner, and power steering fluid, which really puts the convenience in a convenience store. Overall, I give Wawa eight out of ten Wally’s for the food (Wally the goose is Wawa’s mascot) and a five out of ten Wally’s for environment and space. For a place that opened on Sept. 12 and is so widely enjoyed, I guess I expected something fantastic, but I can’t say I won’t find myself wandering through those clean doors again.