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.

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