worst fast-food burger joint

Write-in vote for UBB-BOYA.

Dairy Queen has gotten much more dire in recent years to my estimation.

Hardees will give you a coronary.

BurgerFi brands their buns. lots of competition here.

xpost

worst burgers or worst food overall?

i guess food overall

voted In-N-Out because midwestern family demand it whenever they visit, lines are huge, and fries are the worst in the biz.

I ate a lot of Jollibee in the Philippines and their burgers aren't great but they have a lot of interesting spaghetti based dishes and spicy chicken so that will not be my vote. kinda wish I had one near me and not in Jacksonville.

Legit voted for In-N-Out as well because the quality gap between how they're perceived vs what they actually are is massive.

dq burgers are awful but it's not really their billed purpose

burger king probably the worst of the big US chains

Never heard of BurgerFi until now but wow:

Bacon our way downtown for the Maple Bacon Shake. 🥓 Creamy vanilla custard shake with bacon crumbles and topped with whipped cream and maple syrup for the perfect balance of sweet and savory. #BurgerFi #UltimateBaconBash pic.twitter.com/fdDwac2PT8

— BurgerFi (@BurgerFi) December 6, 2021

ick.

BurgerFi is overpriced and their burgers are tiny.

Grill'd – Food chain in Australia

this has the worst vibes of the many options here i haven't tried

lmao

Grill'd. is an Australian food chain specialising in burgers. It was founded by Simon Crowe in 2004 in Hawthorn, Melbourne, and as of 2016 has 125 locations.[1][2] Although they state their burgers are healthy, it has actually been shown that a McDonald's burger is healthier.[3]

When 1st moved out west I was big In N Out fan, would look forward to when I was going to be near one (closest one is 50 minutes away). But one day I had the forbidden thought that 5 Guys was actually better and since then In N Out has plummeted in my estimation. Burger kinda flavorless. Animal fries are good idea but the cheese is never melted and there's always like 20 fries that aren't cooked properly or are just lil stubs. I try to limit my red meat so it's just not worth it to "blow my burger wad" on it.
But Christ it's still so much better than the likes of McD's, Jack in the Box, Carl's Jr, etc.

Of the ones I've tried Hardee's seems the most useless. But surely there's a non-US one that's worse.

the only time I've eaten at Hardees in the past decade is when riding the MegaBus from Orlando to Atlanta, because for lunch break, the bus stops at the same Hardees at the same Love's in Tifton, GA, every time.

left these morons off but shouldn't have, u could die here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Attack_Grill

also left off Habit Burger, which has >300 locations

voted BURGER KING they are all gross 100% of the time

It's a tricky poll because the ideal voter is someone who is well-travelled but also drawn to fast food burger chains, which seems like two different breeds of people

hmm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wieners_Circle

xxp >15 years ago, Burger King always felt like a step up from McDonald's. I've had it probably twice in the last 10 years, and it was so horrible.

half of the ones near here seem to have 3 employees, lots of flies, and non-functioning soda machines. and that was even pre-pandemic

I used to work at Burger King. I don't remember their food being so bad but I was only 16. We go once every year cuz one of us will be craving a Whoppy and it's always way worse than I remember. they don't really have anything good and every time I go it feels like all the food has been sitting for 15 minutes. the Hershey Pies still rule though

i worked at Steak 'n Shake in 1997. only job that I've ever quit mid-shift before.

I used my earnings to buy Slayer albums mostly

Voted McD's based on Super Size Me bits ("how many cows make up the 'one taste worldwide' slogan?", what is the hamburger actually made of?, the bonus scene showing mold rate for McDs items next to a local deli) which effectively killed my appetite for their food. Not fast-food burgers, but secondary nomination for Red Robin burgers, due to their scuttling busboys and transferring the dish gathering to their waiters/waitresses. It's the little things that drive loyalty.

Like Granny and limiting the red meat / burgers, Dick's Drive-In's greasy fries are my kryptonite. The burgers are unremarkable, low-cost nostalgia.

Haven't tried Wimpy's, though there's one up in White Center near several favorite beer spots, and http://www.lilwoodys.com/ is right next door to the Beer Star pub so they've been satisfying my burger needs lately.

If Burgerville is the Oregon-based chain, I've liked their burgers and admire their local/sustainable attitude.

Habit is good, I remember liking it but I can't remember their burger really. Only thing I remember is the fried green beans with wasabi dipping sauce, which may have been a limited-time thing.

Actually enjoyed Steak 'n Shake in college ('80s), it felt so greasy and decadent

I don't know which Burger Kings you've been going to, but the two near me are always good. The burgers always taste fresh, the salad in them never wilted or weepy.

When I clicked on this thread I was going to reflexively vote for McDonald's - for people who like their food to taste like warm cardboard - but then I saw UK slophouse Wimpy. So I voted for them. Although I suppose for a place to be considered a slophouse the food has to have some moisture in it, which Wimpy never does. Everything there is so dry it's almost dessicated. Haven't been to a Wimpy in 25 years, last time was the one in Brighton. Absolutely no desire to ever go to one again.

Also RIP Little Chef and Happy Eater. Not really.

xxp the green beans are always available, but the dipping sauce is sriracha afaik

xp I think there's wide variation in the largest of these chains. I believe it's possible to have a good local version of a BK. We have one good Taco Bell here out of 5.

just like this McDonald's, which we have, where you can get gourmet food (lolz). i've only eaten here 2 or 3 times in my life though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Largest_Entertainment_McDonald%27s

Hardee's (eastern states) and Carl's Jr. (western states) are the same company and m/l the same menu I believe. Sonic is ok but I almost always get the chili dog because they don't warm their sandwich buns before assembly so the burgers are always cold. Voted Krystal based on a couple of visits back in the 80s/90s.

I don't see Arbie's on the list but it's fucking sickening

re: McDonald's - when I saw them using the word artisanal used to describe their buns, I knew that the word artisanal was officially deceased

Arby's doesn't really do 'burgers' is why. I also worked there for 3 months lol. easiest job ever, stole lots of food.

"we put the 'anal' in artisanal"

and just wait till you meet Arti!

I worked at McDonalds when I was 16, and while it was the worst job ever (the drive-thru), I still have the Fender Deluxe Reverb amp that I bought with $3.42/hr or whatever the fuck it was, so there's that

did you play it while on the clock

"with Andy, you get service and SOLOS"

One of my coworkers used to keep his McUniform shirt in an old mayo jar so it would be extra wrinkled when he arrived for work

We also used to suck all the nitrous oxide out of the whipped cream cans and then hide the empties in the walk-in cooler

Review Brah agrees that BK is the saddest, worst and he is very trustworthy!

https://i.redd.it/d6l4d1cnxygz.png

burger king definitely the worst of these in terms of actual food, tho you used to be able to get cherry and coke ICEES there! carl's jr also pretty bad. i agree that in n out has bad fries (they're only edible if you eat them in the car immediately after getting them; as soon as they cool off, they're cardboard), but i think the animal style burger is good enough to merit their high reputation. shake shack is my favorite of any of these.

availability of veggie burgers at burger king over the past decade makes me sing their praises to the skies

yeah, to their credit BK did roll out veggie burgers pretty early on

incidentally i won't sully this poll with my vegetarian opinions

I've heard anecdotally that Jack in the Box's tacos are more or less vegetarian... they have a 'meaty' filling but they don't actually claim it's meat

thats been the legend since the 90s lol i dont think its true tho

ultimately my first choice here is McDonalds, nothing there registers to me as actual food. like if I was blindfolded and given one of their hamburger patties I don't know if I'd be able to identify what it was. that said I do love the McChicken even if it doesn't really taste like chicken. or anything else for that matter.

Legit voted for In-N-Out as well because the quality gap between how they're perceived vs what they actually are is massive.

― Milm & Foovies (Eric H.), Tuesday, December 7, 2021 1:03 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

When I was in California a couple years ago, I stopped at an In-N-Out thinking, ok, this is raved about, eager to check it out. It was slightly better than Wendy's. Baffled by the hype.

I've heard anecdotally that Jack in the Box's tacos are more or less vegetarian... they have a 'meaty' filling but they don't actually claim it's meat

― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, December 7, 2021 1:15 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

at BK we used to have tacos that were 2 for a buck. I guess the whole goal was to be cheaper than Taco Bell which is a hell of a thing to aim for. I fucking hated them because they were so hard to make, the shell only pried open like half an inch and would often just break immediately. and people would order like 12 at a time. anyway they didn't taste too bad honestly but the meat was like this brown paste and I often wondered if it was even meat at all

in n out is dope yall weirdos... their stores are always in good shape and the food is always fresh as fuck

In'n'Out has a somewhat limited menu but I don't know all the cheat codes

lol the in n out voters itt are classic ilx 'thinking too hard' votes. only one of these places has served me still-frozen food and that was burger king.

In-N-Out's "secret menu" is akin to asking Taco Bell guy to squeeze one of every sauce packet onto your meal. it's part of what makes In-N-Out dogshit.

yes but the poll is titled 'worst fast-food burger joint' and in n out is clearly not the worst

At DQ, we served people still-frozen food and they loved it (the ice cream, yes, but occasionally a chicken strip).

A while back I stopped at a McDs after many years of not going there and the quarter-pounder I had was way better than I remembered. Turns out that they had recently improved how they were cooking the meat, and had seen significant sales increases as a result. The fries were worse than I remembered though.

https://i.redd.it/3yfg7ctrhmv71.jpg

The fries were worse than I remembered though.

I think they were forced to remove the horse fat

it was beef fat, because a rich guy had a heart attack and sued

at BK we used to have tacos that were 2 for a buck. I guess the whole goal was to be cheaper than Taco Bell which is a hell of a thing to aim for. I fucking hated them because they were so hard to make, the shell only pried open like half an inch and would often just break immediately. and people would order like 12 at a time. anyway they didn't taste too bad honestly but the meat was like this brown paste and I often wondered if it was even meat at all

A friend of mine claimed to have worked at Taco Bell corporate HQ and said that TB got a fair amount of their beef by pressure-washing it off of beef skulls. Waste not want not and all that.

Oh right I'm thinking of the McRib:

McDonald’s has long claimed the mysterious meaty-substance inside the McRib is pork-shoulder, but new DNA evidence from Consumer Reports reveals McDonald’s savory little secret: The McRib is made from horse meat.

this thread was destined to result in a tangle of horse meat conspiracies and accusations

Yes McDonald's fries changed the fat and got significantly worse. Can't stand the smell of being in a McDonald's anymore and absolutely will not eat their fried offerings but I do think they bring some decent sandwich game, especially at breakfast. I get drive-thru or takeout. As a 50-year-old American human, I can simply eat McDonald's as a medicine for hunger. I know what to expect, it's easy to eat, I am not disappointed. Not a gourmet experience but by no means the worst.

I can eat a burger from Steak & Shake, Wendy's, Roy Rogers, Sonic, In & Out, or Five Guys without complaint (which is not to say that it always sparks joy, just that I can consume their offerings without being deeply sad afterwards).

Hence I voted for White Castle, which is uniformly bad & hated

The rest I have either not tried or don't remember well enough to opine

i'm loving it (this thread)

lol the in n out voters itt are classic ilx 'thinking too hard' votes. only one of these places has served me still-frozen food and that was burger king.

― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Tuesday, December 7, 2021 2:33 PM bookmarkflaglink

"now when you get home, you're gonna wanna pop this in on Meat setting for 3 minutes, or until you see oozing pus coming out of the burger and it starts to turn reddish. then put the toppings back on!"

BK has the high aspect ratio chicken sandwiches going for it

May need to quibble on Steak & Shake a bit because I don't quite regard it as a "fast-food burger joint" in the same category as most others listed here.

I'm originally from St. Louis and throughout my life Steak & Shake has been a place you went, parked, got a table, ordered from an aproned server, got food on a real ceramic plate, and then paid for as if you were at a normal restaurant.

Therefore it is taxonomically distinct, in my mind, from the rest of the places (where you order at a counter and the food is in a bag or maybe on a plastic tray). At Steak & Shake you could have a milkshake taller than your head, in a real glass vessel, perhaps even with more of it on the side in its metal shake-containing entity. An actual real cherry with a real stem.

I don't know why presentation should matter this much but it does.

Plus, I have distinct memories from the 1970s of A&W restaurants with a phone at each table, so that you could order from there - we shall never see the likes of this again, although Red Robins (and Olive Gardens) have web-enabled table kiosks that get close to that same magic.

I guess it's not so much the presentation but that the food is of a quality that's capable of being presented in that way.

Hence I voted for White Castle, which is uniformly bad & hated

Counterpoint: White Castle is good and loved.

Steak & Shake was the only restaurant I'd ever seen get entirely shutdown for too many health code violations

McDonalds fish filet sandwich is good. I think their restaurants tend to be cleaner and more pleasant in the Midwest. Shake Shack burgers are tasty, if a bit greasy. For worst, I would write in Johnny Rockets, due to an unfortunate reaction to one of their burgers about 10 years ago.

Crown Burgers – Restaurant chain based in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.

lol at this making the cut. they aren't terrible tbh.

mcdonald's has a few ok things ime but it all tastes like a simulacrum of food

Most curious to try Max Hamburgers of the far-flung options.

Johnny Rockets is very depressing. I swear it was the shit in the 80s and 90s tho.

Who will rep for Culvers? Any good?

RE: Five Guys, I was a happy customer of the original pre-franchise Five Guys location (Arlington VA circa 80s/90s), like, my burgers were made by one of the titular five guys. Very local, pretty tasty. Their handling of fries remains pretty solid, at least at the locations I go to.

Unfortunately the franchised locations - especially those in airport terminals - are not bringing the same attention to detail, so I can totally commiserate with folks who are disappointed.

xps Yeah Crown Burgers is a cut above the likes of McDs etc.

My Steak 'n Shake experience did not involve aproned servers and ceramic plates, lol. I only ever ordered via the drive-thru, but I don't think the indoor part of it was at all fancy. This was in Florida.

I have to say: A couple years back, I went into McDonalds & Burger King in Barcelona just because they had cheap beer on tap and there was a bathroom

I'll rep for Culvers. xp

Culver’s is very good

i wish i could have culvers :(
i think its very important to check out the local mcdonalds when traveling abroad. i love mcdonalds as a brand. so twisted and gross. great colors and 70s nightmare characters. theres an unofficial mcd's museum out here in some dude's house it's sick.

Culvers is ok. Which in fast food graded-on-a-curve terms means its pretty good. Custard flavor of the week or month or whatever is a good marketing tactic, though I find their custard suffers when compared to places that only do frozen custard.
I remember going to their attempt at an upscale fast casual place, Blue Spoon, near their headquarters in Prairie du Sac and liking it but apparently it's closed.

Who will rep for Culvers? Any good?

― kurt schwitterz, Tuesday, December 7, 2021 3:21 PM bookmarkflaglink

I've only had their cheese curds, which were decent, but not even the best *in my city*! (sadly the best curds here are from a guy with a food truck that you can't easily access regularly, and I don't remember the name of his business)

The Johnny Rockets at Cedar Point was the worst burger I’ve ever eaten. Awful processed crap.

My Steak 'n Shake experience did not involve aproned servers and ceramic plates, lol. I only ever ordered via the drive-thru, but I don't think the indoor part of it was at all fancy. This was in Florida.

― Josefa, Tuesday, December 7, 2021 3:28 PM bookmarkflaglink

I waited tables there but the to-go traffic was humongous and continuous, regardless of what the in-restaurant traffic was. and people also came in to place to-go orders en masse.

so it was a sit down restaurant, but one that does enough to-go traffic to really qualify for this thread IMO (agree w/ you!)

during one shift, Anthony Bowie of teh Orlando Magic came in and started making fun of me because my non-skid shoes weren't working real well. he said "You slippin' and slidin' over there!"

Johnny Rockets is the worst of all worlds. first of all, nobody wants to go to a 50s-styled indoor diner anymore, the food is mediocre af, and the 'jukebox' plays the same 3 songs over and over again cos nobody wants to waste their money playing songs because they can just put on headphones and Spotify w/e they want.

Cedar Point Johnny Rocket the only Johnny Rocket with the appropriate background of screams

nobody wants to go to a 50s-styled indoor diner anymore

I'm not sure if this is true

Culver's is, for a fast food burger, great. Not the place I'd get curds but the frozen custard is fully acceptable. I don't think it's as good as Five Guys but, despite its appearance on this list, Five Guys is not by me a fast food burger.

I went into a 90s diner the other day

it was dumb

if you go to the cedar point johnny rocket's and then a little ohio rascal cuts you in line for the raptor, did you eat at ed debevic's?

xxpost considering I've waited 15-20 minutes almost every visit, you ain't kidding.

Sometimes I like to put on my blue suede shoes and take my gal out for a malt, dropping a couple nickels in the old wurlitzer

wait what is a 90s diner?

Considered voting for A&W, which I have only been to once, and which I really remember nothing about except forming the determination not to go to A&W again. But I don't even know for sure whether I had a burger.

Instead, I voted for Mooyah. The burgers are perfectly good but it's owned by private equity and I read an article somewhere about how their employees are required to travel predetermined step-minimizing paths to avoid accidentally engaging in any non-revenue-producing bodily motion, and I found the whole thing so incredibly depressing that I never ate there again. (It helps that the one close to me is a block from Five Guys, which makes a better burger in a similar style.)

so don't blame me if Uncle Bill's Burgers Blasted Out Your Ass isn't on the list.

*scrolls down* Yup, it's Neanderthal.

I love Culvers, of all the fast food places around here it's by far the best

I live about a half mile from a Culvers that's across from a Hardees, it's funny driving by at lunch and seeing the Culvers drivethru backed up nearly into the street while the Hardees one is wide open.

Out of the ones on the list that I've eaten, Sonic is trash to me.

they fuck up tater tots, which I thought impossible

I think Burger King changed their buns recently, in a bad way, but usually they're my favorite.

The only A&Ws I've ever encountered are the ones paired with KFC.

MrBeast is one I tried recently and seems to be from the "tastes like MegaAWESOME" school of burger where it's chock-full of calories and sodium and all these massive gimmicky toppings but isn't really 'good' per se

A&W is no Dog N Suds

I'm always pleasantly surprised when I see a stand-alone A&W in the old pagoda/hop kiln style building... they've seemed like a doomed franchise for decades now

its because they have mini corn dogs. where else you gonna get those

Sonic is the fuckin pits. Saddest food. There is a Heavens Gate level cult with the drinks and the ice tho.

In 2007, Jack in the Box began a commercial campaign for their new 100% sirloin beef hamburgers, implying that they were of higher quality than the Angus beef used by Carl's Jr., Hardee's, Wendy's, and Burger King. That May, CKE Restaurants, Inc., the parent company of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, filed a lawsuit against Jack in the Box, Inc. CKE claimed, among other things, that the commercials tried to give the impression that Carl's Jr./Hardee's Angus beef hamburgers contained cow anuses by having an actor swirl his finger in the air in a circle while saying "Angus" in one commercial and having other people in the second commercial laugh when the word "Angus" was mentioned.

Amazing

I'd rather have black angus anus than carl's jr any day of the week

going down a wikipedia franchise wormhole, one of my favorite places to visit on a quiet afternoon every year or two

did you know that long john silver's used to be owned by yum! brands but is now owned by a group of franchisees

im p sure only millionaires and billionaires can afford carl's jr

wtf Jack in the Box commercial

the jack voice guy is the guy ad guy that came up with the commercials and is supposed to be a total dick

Years ago I was sternly warned against ever eating at Jack in the Box.

step one: cut a hole in a box

step two: jack in the box

ty i was worried i would have to do that myself

who's the weird karl marx looking dude? I don't remember him

https://miro.medium.com/max/960/1*XpZo2Mu7UAUtXOZrACvj5Q.jpeg

he wrote the McNugget Manifesto

For tl:Dr reasons the only time I've eaten at Jack in the Box was also the first and only fast food burger I had in 3 years (in Dec 2020) and it was amazing. Living within range of Habit - good burgers, love the fried green beans. BK is sadly sad anymore. Dick's has meh burgers but great employment policies. Culver's though, be still my heart (lololol) - when I was working in Findlay OH, I got their burgers as often as possible. Which was every night I was there because it was between the office and my hotel. I thought one time about going to the Steak and Shake a block away so I could get an orange freeze, but the double butterburger and hot fudge sundae won out.

best burger i've had recently was at burgers grilled right - looks like it's a national chain at this point. it beat out the few local places i've tried. it's really fuckin good.

it currently exists in a couple of states in the east and then utah, weird!

Carl's Jr's waffle fries are fucking legit when done right, they're certainly not the worst.

The worst is SUBWAY.

But on this list, it's BK

it's not fast though, they took their time. not unreasonably so. just like the time it takes to make and cook a burger at home. xp

I admit I also have some affection for Carl's Jr. because i used to go to the one in the Tenderloin with my husband after a night out at the bars in SoMa, just reeking of sex and booze, and it was always messy and gross but fun.

I've also witnessed people just openly smoking crack in that Carl's Jr. Love that energy.

I know I started this thread but now I'm 100% sure to have a burger tonight because of this thread.

my favorite fast food burger used to be at del taco, which is everywhere here. the double del. pure trashy cheeseburger ketchup pickle white bread goodness.

That downstairs dining room at the BK on Market St still makes me shudder

yeah i'm getting hungry

lol I've been to Del Taco a few times, but never tried the burger. hated their tacos, though, was like putting my mouth on literal disease

All of the fast food on Market is like a circle of hell, so that when you find yourself in one of those places you sort of have to just go along with what's happening. At least that was always my impression.

When I was hopping trains and stuff and ended up in Seattle, the Dick's in Cap Hill was a godsend because so many people would just leave whole burgers uneaten on the counters.

I used to think I hadn't tried a lot of fast food, but I have simply by dint of travelling a lot of weird places with limited food options. That said, I haven't had McD's in...a long time. At least five years.

We stopped in Barstow CA on a roadtrip in April.. the Del Taco drive thru line was wrapped around the block, and zero cars/customers at Taco Bell.

As suspected, Barstow is where Del Taco began. The food was pretty meh

kind of amazed on how little McD's has changed to me taste-wise since I was a kid.

the quarter-pounder still tastes like a puck with a muskrat oozing pus

I used to remember Subway being pretty good but every time I get it I'm bitterly disappointed. the bread is terrible and may not even qualify as "bread" by civilized standards. all the ingredients spill out after a single bite. the vegetables are somehow never fresh. and fuck Jared Fogle

McDonalds fish filet sandwich is good.
― o. nate, Tuesday, December 7, 2021 2:16 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I can't let this go unchallenged. I love a fish sandwich, probably more than a burger most times, and McD's sandwich is EXACTLY like the one my grade school cafeteria used to serve on Fridays. Surprisingly good one: Arby's.

And yes, Subway is mostly terrible. Only thing I get there is meatball sub, because my kid loves them so we split the footlong.

The last time I remember getting anything other than a coffee at McD's, I was very drunk and on drugs at a McDonald's in Arcata, CA, on Halloween night. The McChicken tasted like heaven.

A&W – their root beer floats were good but their burgers made me sick as a kid. bottom 3

Burger King – have never liked a single thing on their menu. bottom 3.

Carl's Jr. – top 3. the western bacon cheeseburger is a top-notch fast food burger.

Culver's – i really dont like them at all. burgers soaked in butter dont have any more flavor to me, they just taste greasier.

Dairy Queen – probably the loser for me. they exist to serve blizzards, which are now like $5 for a tiny cup of soft serve ice cream with chunks of candy mixed in. would rather have a $1 vanilla cone from mcd

Five Guys – overpriced but prob worth it for the cajun fries alone.

Freddy's - not a fan

In-N-Out Burger – best one for me but i grew up in ca and live in phx now so im biased. they know how to make lettuce wrapped burgers the right way which i appreciate. their fries are best in the business, stubs and all. the special menu is key sorry if its too cuet for you.

Jack in the Box – just an insane menu. best breakfast options of the bunch. i get the tacos monthly, maybe the single greatest fast food entree in existence.

Little Big Burger – worth it alone for the truffle fries and their special/magical catsup

McDonald's – so consistent, pretty much always bad but you know what you're getting i guess. the fries are great for about 7 minutes tops. sausage egg n cheese mcmuffin saves their rep a bit.

Shake Shack – extremely overpriced, fast food is so much about value for me. doesnt 'feel' like a fast food joint to me. food is pretty good tho.

Smashburger – i love their salads

Sonic Drive-In – they only exist in my mind as a drink/slush place to go to during their happy hour.

Wendy's – the baconator is cool but pass on the rest

Whataburger – they have a loyal following but ive never gotten on board

Burger King brings good onion ring game. There is a slightly metallic taste to their burger-topping ensemble - which is not always unwelcome! Sometimes I'm in a mood where it's exactly what I want. They have brought the "impossible" non-meat to the masses but I found it weirdly too filling and I didn't finish it.

Wendy's is good not bad. They handle vegetables WAY better than other ff joints. The lettuce/tomato/pickle etc. on their burger - particularly the Big Bacon Classic - has a welcome moistness. Also they have done things with a pretzel bun and beer mustard that are totes worthy of respect.

Arby's is salvaged from iniquity by curly fries.

Freddy's burgers are ok. But the thing I go there for is pumpkin pie concrete in the fall. An actual slice of pumpkin pie gets put in it, so you get bits of pie crust mmm. I generally avoid sugar per doc's orders but I make an exception for that shit.

Honestly it's so easy to make an Oklahoma onion smash burger at home that I'll prob never eat a fast food burger again. Save my dining out burger on fancy burgers.

it’s all good

I've only eaten at 6 of these -- A&W BK DQ McD Wendy's plus Harvey's. I'd say Burger King is the worst. Below average fries and everything else is even worse. I don't know how they're still in business.

imma make a "best fast-food burger joint" poll smh

Leaning toward Sonic - it's been a while but I remember it as just being nasty in general, everything tasted off like old fryer grease.

The only three I willingly eat at are Wendy's (chicken nuggets can be decent if they're not too greasy), In n Out (not worth its reputation but a perfectly edible fast food burger and fries) and Whataburger (also not worth its reputation but again edible - except the one nearest me is always slow as hell and the burger comes out cold).

Five Guys is In 'n' Out quality but twice the price and the fries are greasier. A Fatburger just opened near me and it was... fine, I guess. Also unmemorable despite being twice as expensive as In 'n' Out or Whataburger.

I can make a burger at home too (and frequently do) but it's almost a different food when you have to make it. The point of fast food is that it is, well, fast and you don't have to cook it yourself.

Saying that a fast food burger isn't like a fancy burger or a homemade burger is tautological - like comparing instant coffee to lovingly prepared espresso. Tang to orange juice.

last time I went to Sonic I actually couldn't finish the burger which never happens

Wendy's has really gone to shit in recent years, completely changed their burgers, smells like garbage

xxp I’ve been very unimpressed the last few times I’ve been to 5 Guys. Burgers seemed oddly flavorless. Couple that with the prices and the fact they’re total grease bombs, think I’m done with that place.

I remember them being better.

There's so many small, independently-owned and (most importantly) palatable local burger places now that I would only go to one of these chains on a road trip, and then bitch about the insane over-packaging

We went to some chain called Red Robin after Thanksgiving and left with enough plastic to build another international space station

yeah shake shack is the only one of these i actively go to occasionally, the rest i just know from my younger days and/or being stuck in various bus/train stations

McDonald's Filet-O-Fish is life

xxp I’ve been very unimpressed the last few times I’ve been to 5 Guys. Burgers seemed oddly flavorless. Couple that with the prices and the fact they’re total grease bombs, think I’m done with that place.

I remember them being better.

Huh; I have to admit, for me too it's got to be three years at least since I set foot in a Five Guys. So maybe my rating is out of date.

I like both Shake Shack and Five Guys but I'm not sure I could tell their burgers apart in a blind tasting, unless as suggested Five Guys has gone downhill, which is very believable bc it seems like every burger chain goes downhill.

When I was 9 Burger King tasted delicious, including their shakes

I just ordered from a place called "Outlaw Burger", and a buncha people on horseback came to my door

Ordered from Habit and had to coax the delivery driver to come to the end of our street (where our house is). Maybe the novices do deliveries while the nuns man the grill?

Never heard of Habit but if they employed nuns that would be the best thing the industry has ever seen

My luck I'd get Mother Superior from Silent Night, Deadly Night

Culver's is really good

It all really depends on the store and whether or not the staff care which usually means do the ownership take care of their crew.

Hardees and McDonalds are more about breakfast for me getting some coffee and a sandwich driving to work. I do like that hot ham and cheese sandwich Hardees makes.

Sonic here in town is pretty well run. Culvers is probably the most consistent but it is in the next town over.

Wendys is the chain that has gone to crap. Maybe it is me getting older, but I think they really cheapened out once Dave died. I hate that place now.

Steak & Shake is another one that I loved as a kid that I hate now. The place was around for years starting in Indianapolis and it was always a treat when I was a kid back in the 80s. It was the only place you would see Pacers out in town when I was kid. I got Waymon Tisdale's autograph there and saw both Rik Smits and Steve Stepanovich eating in the one that used to be down by the fairgrounds. Ever since they turned it into a big chain, it's kinda sucked and I think gotten worse since that dude put his name on it like he invented the joint. F'k that dude.

McDonald's coffee is surprisingly good. I buy their ground coffee too.

A&W in Canada is the best. I've heard the American version is terrible.

As Bill Bryson writes, Quick – short for Quick, a bucket.

As Bill Bryson writes, Quick – short for Quick, a bucket.

Krystal is like the suicidal version of White Castle. That place always scared me.

I wrote a review of Krystal for a writing assignment in college and I got an A on it. I covered the food but also the sociological aspects of it, like who is actually eating at Krystal.

White Castle has some absolutely strange stuff on their menu. There has to be some heavy duty smokers running their test kitchen. I think the only reason I go there a couple times a year is that they have Guldens brown mustard, which with all the cooked onion I kinda like, but is there really beef in there? It's kinda just a gelatinous thing surrounded by whitebread. I'm not proud. I still got to wonder who the heck is eating the turkey and cranberry sliders and what kind of drugs are they on?

Some old school Krystals and White Castles popularity is tied that they were always open especially back in the day when not much was open all night. They were very powerful weirdo magnets and you would see some crazy shit sometimes at those places. It always seemed like cabbies would hang out at the ones in downtown Indy or Louisville. It's like a place you could shoot a scene for Taxi Driver.

Yeah that's the aspect of Krystal that intrigued me back in the day (the day = mid '80s)

the burgers at culver's are just ok i think but almost everything else on the menu -- fries, mashed potatoes, cheese curds, ice cream -- is fantastic. sonic is great for slushies and ice cream but i think the only actual food i'd dare to order there is tater tots.

Had Carl's Jr. tonight. Famous Star baby

Five Guys has the worst ambience i can imagine for a national chain launched with considerable fanfare, and recently at that. bleak, fluorescent, dead. i've been in some sad, gross Checkers locations that smelled like mold and bleach simultaneously, but nobody is trying to put Checkers over as a super-yummy burger experience.

five guys is depressingly mediocre. the fries are too salty and the burgers are tasteless, don't get the appeal at all. also just the stupidest name.

Slightly off-topic but while we're talking "do chains go downhill," I loved IHOP as a kid but the food has absolutely sucked every time I've been in one in the last ten years, did it used to be good and is now bad, was it always bad and I was just a tasteless kid, or does it vary a lot location by location and I just live in a bad IHOP zone now?

Had Carl's Jr. tonight. Famous Star baby

Oh ok, Mr. Moneybags. Ease off the bragging.

xpost i thought badness was its allure

Never heard of Habit but if they employed nuns that would be the best thing the industry has ever seen

My girlfriend got a nasty case of e coli poisoning at a Habit... two weeks in Stanford Hospital, seven blood transfusions, and a pill that cost a quarter million dollars

I don't necessarily blame them (it was likely the romaine lettuce) but I also would never set foot in one

I haven't eaten fast food in 20+ years (thanks to Taco Bell) except one burger at Five Guys maybe 5 years ago. Meh.

In the 90s:

McDonalds: Big Mac was pretty good once in a while. When I worked in a warehouse I would run out on my break and get two bacon, egg and cheese biscuit sandwiches and two hashbrowns for breakfast, wolfed down in my car in 5 minutes. I was kind of obsessed with their Monopoly game as well.

Wendy's: Overall probably the best. The Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger was like 99 cents which was great for me at the time.

Burger King: BK burgers always had the weirdest aroma and seemed wet/humid like they were made by Baron Harkonnen and a sweaty Sting. Still, I would get a craving for one every couple of months.

Hardees: I had several drunken Monster Burgers from Hardees at 2AM since this was the only food open after 2AM in law school. The current iteration of that burger is 1420 cal.

I had one 2 minutes from my house when I lived in Kissimmee, and stuff was more spread out there, so I ate at Hardee's a lot that year. with those calorie counts, I can't believe I didn't gain weight.

(Hardees that is)

The Kissimmee Hardee's is not a name that inspires confidence.

Try Hardee, even

lol tabes

Bacon Double Cheeseburger in BK is pretty good tbf

Too many occasions where I ate a Quarterpounder in McD's to ever go near them again

I had Five Guys in Liverpool once, I really liked it.

White Castle really crappy. Wendy's frosties were amazing. rest of the menu not so great though

"The last time I was at the Kissimmee Hardee's, I got gonorrhea"

Their salad bar has Legionnaire's Disease 24/7 or your money back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkjxvgjkKgU

don't know most of these but In'n'Out def the most overrated that I've been in. probably the worst fries I've ever had at a burger chain, practically inedible, and the burger was average at best. I was taken there because it's a Californian institution apparently.

Five Guys has the worst ambience i can imagine for a national chain launched with considerable fanfare, and recently at that. bleak, fluorescent, dead. i've been in some sad, gross Checkers locations that smelled like mold and bleach simultaneously, but nobody is trying to put Checkers over as a super-yummy burger experience.

― I Am Fribbulus (Xax) (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, December 8, 2021 9:56 AM (fifty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I have fond memories of the Big Buford as a super-yummy burger experience. These memories are probably 20 years old, but I also respect Rally's battered fries as the antithesis of the misguided "we just cut potatoes directly into the fryer" puritanism.

a young steve jobs sits on the floor of his unfurnished living room, slicing potatoes directly into a fryer

Slightly off-topic but while we're talking "do chains go downhill," I loved IHOP as a kid but the food has absolutely sucked every time I've been in one in the last ten years, did it used to be good and is now bad, was it always bad and I was just a tasteless kid, or does it vary a lot location by location and I just live in a bad IHOP zone now?

― Guayaquil (eephus!)

I ate an IHOP in Manhattan about four years ago after not having been in one since the '90s and was absolutely shocked at the badness of it. Instead of the classic "international" style pancake dishes that had been my go-to back in the day, such as the Swedish pancakes w/lingonberry jam, they had these fake, ridiculous dessert-like concoctions that they give names like "Mexican pancakes" or whatever. The menu was dumbed way down and the decor of the place was much tackier than it used to be. I'd say your perception is correct.

I do love fast food locations that have their own unique weirdness amidst the normal homogeneity you see among chains.

not that the concept is different, but either the employees, or the layout of the store, or the clientele, or the in-store decorations are different.

like the old KFC I used to go to a few houses ago, it always had questionable decorations in the store at Christmas time, things you would normally think twice about.

Like one time they put this motherfucker up

https://i.ibb.co/jgn5rtJ/Screenshot-20211208-140713.jpg

wait it was Popeye's, not KFC. but they seemed to be inviting Santa into the ladies' room

Chili's is another one I could've sworn was pretty decent in the 80s and 90s but was absolute shit when I went with work ppl 10 or so yrs ago. Idk maybe it's just that my palate got sophisticated?? It was all Denny's-level gross quasi food.

Restaurant profit margins are razor thin at best, so why use genuine lingonberries when you can just slather grape jelly on everything

love grape ribs

I have fond memories of the Big Buford as a super-yummy burger experience. These memories are probably 20 years old, but I also respect Rally's battered fries as the antithesis of the misguided "we just cut potatoes directly into the fryer" puritanism.

― accordion folder full of Zoobooks (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, December 8, 2021 10:54 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

There's a poem in my next book titled, "Buford Special," because I've never been able to get over a place calling their specialty burger a Buford. What in the fuck is that.

Perhaps named after Buford T. Pusser, the real life sheriff portrayed in the Walking Tall films?

or Bufo bufo, the common toad

Is there someone called Buford involved with the company, perhaps? Someone's child, maybe, or an early manager?

maybe Big Buford is what you call your butt after you gain twenty pounds from eating that damn burger

I cannot find, for the life of me, the reason for the name. I've been googling for like five minutes lol.

There's now a Super Loaded Buford, tho, if anyone's interested.

the original commercial has no clues:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW6rgXwLYbM

lol the description says the commercial features two guys saying it was named after their Uncle Buford, but they don't say that in the commercial!

I'm now imagining a late 80s tv show where two detectives (Neanderthal, the table is the table), search for Big Buford, a missing hamburger magnate.

the trail went cold, Tabes. (takes off trenchcoat). i just don't know. maybe we never find 'im.

It's a great name. My brother and I use it all of the time to express appreciation, e.g. "Can you pick up this Christmas gift for me? I'll owe you a Big Buford."

It is, but it's also *funny*, so much so that it sounds a little bit like something in a Tim & Eric sketch.

maybe it should be typical film noir but a universe where the money is Big Bufords

Big Buford is the sickest drummer. Yes wasn't the same after he left.

Some sources say Rally's was founded in Tennessee, which is where Bufurd T. Pusser was a sheriff, so that really could be it. Although other sources say Rally's was founded in Louisville, KY, so I dunno.

There's also a town in Georgia named Buford.

perhaps the burger was big and Jim Patterson was a fan of alliteration

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I got gout after this thread, asshole

oh wait, i started it

...

asshole.

haven't had many of these but jack in the box the worst of what I've had.

my favorites of this list - off-topic I guess- are probably a&w and white spot

Jack in the Box is unspeakable

Do not wind the crank

IHOP was only good when you could smoke in there. 2AM, drunk, the glass smokers cave filled with secondhand nicotine - tastebuds are irrelevant anyway.

just want to chime in and say i love Cook Out, Cook Out rules. also we had a Rally's where i grew up in the South and it was definitely a level or two above McD's/BK/etc. Rally's was good!

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Not sure how scientific this polling is, but BK wins in a landslide... I'm a little surprised, but I haven't been there in years

I thought I voted for Sonic, but I guess I just decided to shoot my mouth off instead. Well anyway, fuck Sonic.

haha me too! add another one for Sonic

Same

Silent majority

i also voted for sonic wtf

Stop the Steal!

White Spot kind of an unfortunate name

I don't understand why Burger King polled the most votes in this. My nearest Burger King - which I went to a few days ago - rules, while the McDonald's in the same town blows goats. I've eaten in a lot of Burger Kings and the worst experience I've had is getting a burger that wasn't terrible but could have been better, and felt a bit thrown together. MacDonald's on the other hand always seems to be disappointing - some places trend towards undercooking their burgers and slapping them together so the burger in its bun looks like it's been sat on, while in other places the burgers and buns are dry. Generally I think that McDonald's was much better in the mid to late 80s.

I think Canada only:

https://s1.q4cdn.com/202642389/files/doc_news/2025/May/14/mediaFiles/GrilledCheeseCheeseburger3.png

as someone who enjoys the occasional wendy’s breakfast baconator I have to say that’s a bit much

That's a lot of unnecessary & unappetizing bread

^^^ yeah that's a poor meat-to-bun ratio