Trader Joe's Four Cheese Scalloped Potatoes

Not to be confused with Trader Joe's Scallopini Potatoes, which is a frozen dish available exclusively around Thanksgiving and Christmas, this cheesy potato product comes refrigerated and is still available currently at TJ's, though it, too, is marked as "seasonal." It comes in a plastic tray with a thin film covering, and they actually want you to bake the product right in the tray. Peel back a corner, plop the tray on a baking sheet, and throw the whole thing on the center rack at 375° for 25 minutes and you've got a steaming hot side dish ready to rock and roll.

This isn't the first product we've reviewed that came in an "ovenable" tray, but I'm not gonna lie, this one smelled a bit like burning plastic at the end of the heating process. There was no discernible melting going on, but the odor was a bit off-putting. The fact that the product itself wasn't exactly bursting with flavors of its own didn't help matters much.

When I read the words "Four Cheese," I expect a rich comfort food flavor that's heavy and bold in the best ways possible. There's nothing offensive about the taste of this product but if I'm honest, it just didn't do it for me. If not more cheese, it would have benefited from a more potent spice blend with onions or garlic.

The texture of the potatoes was a bit firmer than I'm used to with this type of dish—it's almost as if they weren't cooked long enough. On a more positive note, the cheese wasn't overly oily or greasy. I liked that there were shreds of leeks throughout the dish, although I would have appreciated a lot more of them.

In the end, it's a convenient side dish that's innocuous enough and quite easy to prepare, but there's better packaged scalloped potatoes out there. Would not buy this particular product again. $5.99 for the 3.5 serving package. Six and a half stars from Sonia for Trader Joe's Four Cheese Scalloped Potatoes. Five and a half stars from me.

Bottom line: 6 out of 10.