Loaded or Plain: Is $1.29 Worth It?

Baked potato: 380 plain, 530 loaded. +150 calories.

Mashed potatoes: 260 plain, 410 loaded. +150.

Steak fries: 360 plain, 510 loaded. +150.

Sweet potato: 350 plain, 740 loaded. +390.

Three of the four add exactly 150. The sweet potato adds 390 — more than double — which takes it from a mid-table side to the heaviest on the menu.

In pure value terms, yes. Cheese, bacon and sour cream added to a $2.99 side for $1.29 is proportionate — you could not buy those toppings separately for less.

In calorie terms it depends entirely which side. Adding 150 calories to a baked potato for $1.29 is a reasonable trade. Adding 390 to a sweet potato is a different decision, and one most people make on autopilot because the price is identical.

The sweet potato is also the side people most often choose believing it to be the healthier option, which makes the loaded version the single most counterproductive order in the section.

If you want richness on the plate without the loaded upcharge, Smother Your Steak at $2.29 adds mushrooms, onions, jack cheese or brown gravy directly to the steak — and it goes on the protein rather than the starch.

Or order sautéed mushrooms as one of your two included sides at no extra cost, which gets you a similar flavour at 120 calories.

And if the goal is simply a good plain side, green beans at 100 calories and applesauce at 110 are both included in the entrée price and need no upgrade at all.