worst fast-food burger joint

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

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.