Does Roy Rogers still have the goods? I went to the new Cherry Hill spot to find out.

Nostalgia isn’t enough. Just ask all those people who subscribed to Disney+ in 2022 to watch Hocus Pocus 2.

So when I saw that Roy Rogers was making its return to the Philadelphia area, nearly three decades after the last one in the region closed, I was optimistically pessimistic.

After all these years, does Roy’s still have the goods?

I went to the new location in Cherry Hill off Haddonfield Road to find out.

Fast food is essentially cafeteria food.

But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. When done well, and consistently, fast food can be a delightful adventure. Just think about the joy of a Happy Meal, or the mouth-watering crunch of a chicken bucket.

And for fans of Roy Rogers, it’s been a while. There were around 140 stores in the Philly area at the franchise’s peak in the 1980s.

But lately, fans could only get their fix of roast beef sandwiches and fried chicken buckets at turnpike pit stops.

So when it returned to the area over the summer, people were pumped.

And from the nostalgic perspective, I get it.

My first memories of Roy Rogers were stopping on the way to ski trips with my aunt, uncle, and cousins.

And to hear my aunt, Carol O’Neil, tell it, we were more interested in the food than the actual skiing.

“We spent all this money,” she used to say, “and all you people wanted to do was eat.”

I’ll never forget that first trip to Roy’s. It was roughly 8 a.m. and in the grab-and-go, cafeteria-style outlet at the Allentown Service Plaza, there was a fried chicken sandwich. It had probably been sitting there for a good eight hours, but I had zero reservations.

And it hit the spot.

The crunch of the fried chicken at the new location nailed the texture: it was like eating potato chips, and that’s exactly how I remembered it. Each piece was super fresh, and while sitting in the spacious dining room, you can hear staffers announce the latest batch every 30 minutes or so.

But the fresh-baked biscuit was the star. The buttermilk beauties were born from well-mixed biscuit dough.

The chicken breasts on the signature sandwiches were fried evenly and lightly. In each bite you could taste more of the chicken than the oil, and the sauces were a tasty compliment rather than a cover-up for poor quality. The fries won’t make any best-of lists, but they scratched enough of the salty itch.

One highlight was the cheeseburger, which is on a kaiser roll and maintains both taste and consistency. It gets a boost from Roy’s extra tangy barbecue sauce, which carries a kick of Worcestershire sauce.

To my great disappointment, the roast beef was not what I remembered. The meat on the sliders tasted like expired deli meat that had been sitting in your fridge a few days too long. And roast beef as a fast-food item is hard in general, especially without a homemade gravy.

I was excited to see that the new spot brought back the fixin’s bar. I like that you can add your own toppings. Being in control of your own condiments and garnishes helps prevent sandwiches from turning soggy. The station included fresh slices of tomatoes and pickles, and a bevy of sauce options.

The staff was engaging, helpful, and cordial. The inside of the restaurant was spacious and modern, with free Wi-Fi.

And it still gets busy. On a recent Monday afternoon, it had consistent crowds — on a day the cashier said was lighter than usual.

Maybe it’s nostalgia. But just one bite into a crunchy piece of Roy Rogers chicken rocketed the chain back into relevancy in a crowded field of 21st century fast-casual options.

Fast food has to clear a low bar, but memories are memories, and delicious is delicious.