Sheetz The Big Mozz

What is actually on a Big Mozz

The Big Mozz costs $6.99 at Sheetz and carries 668 calories, which makes it the most expensive of the four chicken sandwiches and the only one that is not a straightforward chicken and bun build. Mozzarella sticks are laid into the sandwich itself, with marinara, and the result is closer to a chicken parmesan than to a fried chicken sandwich.

The base is breaded chicken rather than grilled, which is the correct call given what is going on top of it. Above that sit whole mozzarella sticks, marinara sauce and melted cheese, all inside a bun that has to work harder than most buns do. It is a sandwich you eat leaning forward.

It costs $6.99 against $5.29 for the plain Homestyle Chicken, so the mozzarella upgrade is running about a dollar seventy. On calories the gap is far wider: 668 against 197, because the plain sandwich figure is the chicken and bun before you add anything on the kiosk.

The comparison that matters more is against the burger version. Sheetz builds the same idea as a burger under the Sh'tacked range, and the Sh'tacked Big Mozz Burger costs $7.99 at 913 calories. One dollar more buys you beef instead of chicken and about 250 more calories.

It travels badly, which is the one real criticism. Mozzarella sets fast, and a Big Mozz eaten twenty minutes after pickup has firm cheese rather than the pull the sandwich is built around. Eat it in the parking lot rather than at home.

Is it worth the extra money

Against the plain Homestyle Chicken the Big Mozz is about a dollar seventy more, and it delivers a genuinely different sandwich rather than a topping upgrade. On that basis it is fair value.

The argument against it is that you can order a plain chicken sandwich at $5.29 and a six piece of Mozzarella Sticks at $4.79, spend more in total, and get six sticks rather than the two or three inside the sandwich. That is the better order if you want the cheese to stay crisp, because sticks in a sandwich steam.

For one handed eating in a car, the Big Mozz wins. For actually enjoying fried mozzarella, order them separately.

How to order it better

The kiosk gives you more control over this sandwich than most people use.

• Ask for extra marinara on the side. The sandwich runs dry once the cheese sets and a dipper at $0.60 fixes it.
• Swap to the spicy breaded chicken base if your store allows it. The heat cuts through the mozzarella and marinara better than the plain coating does.
• Add banana peppers at no meaningful cost. Acidity is the thing this sandwich is short of.
• Skip the extra cheese slice. There is already melted cheese plus mozzarella sticks, and a third cheese makes it claggy.
• Order it alone rather than with fried sides. At 668 calories it is already a full meal.