I went to Arby’s for the first time. I paid $38 for a delicious, meat-filled feast that easily could’ve fed 3 people.

Arby’s has a vaguely Western aesthetic, even though the chain was founded in Ohio. According to Arby’s, the Raffels did initially want to call the chain Big Tex, but that name was already in use.

The Columbus Dispatch reported that the Raffels decided to make their restaurants Western-themed in keeping with the simplicity of their food — out in the Wild West, you’re eating simple foods like meat and potatoes, or a roast-beef sandwich with potato chips.

This explains the Longhorn statue outside, the 10-gallon hat in the logo, and the art inside.

I liked that the sauces were self-serve. I’m a big sauce fan, so I always feel slightly self-conscious when I inevitably need to ask for extra at places like Raising Cane’s and Chick-Fil-A.

I took a cup of every sauce to try.

This was the only sandwich that came in a box — the other two came wrapped in foil, reminding me of other fast-food chains I’ve visited.

The Smokehouse Brisket sandwich comes with 13-hour smoked brisket, cheddar cheese, crispy onion strings, and barbecue sauce, all on a toasted bun.

I was prepared to douse my sandwich in one of the sauces I had gotten, but I found I didn’t need to — the brisket was so moist it almost melted in my mouth.

The cheese, onion strings, and barbecue sauce flavors combined nicely. You could’ve told me this was from a fancy barbecue joint, and I would’ve believed you.

Sometimes, I experience “chicken anxiety,” a phenomenon that’s been detailed on TikTok. It’s the feeling that you could be eating undercooked chicken — sometimes, one wrong bite of chicken will give me the ick.

This was not the case at Arby’s. This chicken wasn’t chewy in the slightest, and I really liked the flavor of the crumbs that comprised the crust.

I did end up adding the Horsey Sauce, which is the chain’s mayo-based horseradish sauce. I thought it added just the right amount of kick.

This sandwich has slightly fewer calories, coming in at 510.

This is the sandwich that put Arby’s on the map, but I was underwhelmed. It was pretty dry, so I added Arby’s Sauce, which tasted like barbecue sauce to me. That was better, but I thought it was still a pretty bland sandwich.

Now I know for the future that I should (at least) go for the Classic Beef ‘N Cheddar, which comes on an onion roll with roast beef, cheddar sauce, and Red Ranch sauce.

But, if you’re a picky eater or just looking for something simple, this might be the sandwich for you. The roast beef had the right amount of smokiness, though I prefer my roast beef to be more rare.

This sandwich has 360 calories.

Not every fast-food chain really delivers on the corkscrew goodness of curly fries, but Arby’s did. I also tried them with every remaining sauce I had — ketchup, Honey Dijon Mustard, and Three Pepper sauce, which tasted like Tabasco — and the fries paired well with each one.

A medium order of curly fries has 410 calories.

I know Arby’s is famous for its Jamocha Shake, which is a chocolate/coffee milkshake, but I was so full that I thought I would burst.

Instead, my mom and I split a chocolate-chip cookie with chunks of Reese’s peanut butter cups.

According to a post from the Arby’s corporate account on X, formerly known as Twitter, Arby’s locations have had a bell to ring since at least 2013.

A Buzzfeed post from 2015 cautioned me that employees actually hate when you ring the bell, and as the place was still almost empty, I decided to just thank our cashier on the way out.

I barely made a dent in Arby’s offerings. They have burgers, chicken wings, gyros, Reubens, fish strips, hush-puppies, and more. But I am only one person with one stomach, so I was limited.

But I’ll definitely be coming back. I got so much food for a relatively low price — at a New York City sit-down restaurant, this could’ve cost me $100 easily.

Arby’s gained two new fans after this visit, and we can’t wait to try more.