W.Va. Hot Dog Joint Review

7th Street Dairy Queen

Parkersburg

As I was leaving Parkersburg after a meeting recently I spied the familiar DQ sign along my route and decided to begin my DQ research here. It was also the first Parkersburg HDJ I've officially visited so I wasn't at all sure what I would find as far as toppings on an "everything" dog. I thought that maybe I might find the same mongrel dogs as in Huntington and I'd have to alienate another city along the Ohio River. I was quite relieved to find that Parkersburg has decided to be included as a full partner in good standing with the rest of the state: Chili, Slaw, mustard and onions are standard. No asking for a "slaw dog" in P-burg (which means we can now fill in Wood County with light green on the slaw map). They also have footlong versions of both their regular hot dogs and that DQ specialty, the chili cheese dog.

Unfortunately, despite finding the right ingredients on the hot dog, they weren't very good ingredients. The chili was the basic DQ Coney Sauce that has a bland taste and no character to speak of. The slaw was the regular food service kind with gigantic pieces of cabbage and virtually no taste. The bun tasted kind of old and seemed to be a little stale. Interesting since the Heiners truck was just leaving as I walked in (I must have gotten the last of the old bag). The service was very friendly and I really wanted to like their product, but it just falls short.

Now that I have verified that Parkersburg is part of the W.Va. Hot Dog universe I look forward to going back and trying some other local offerings but I don't think I'll go back to this DQ again, at least not for a hot dog.