I don't see Arbie's on the list but it's fucking sickening
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 18:48 (two years ago) link
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
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 18:50 (two years ago) link
Arby's doesn't really do 'burgers' is why. I also worked there for 3 months lol. easiest job ever, stole lots of food.
― Cool Im An Situation (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 18:51 (two years ago) link
"we put the 'anal' in artisanal"
and just wait till you meet Arti!
― assert (matttkkkk), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 18:54 (two years ago) link
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
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 18:55 (two years ago) link
did you play it while on the clock
― Cool Im An Situation (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 18:55 (two years ago) link
"with Andy, you get service and SOLOS"
― Cool Im An Situation (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 18:56 (two years ago) link
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
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 18:59 (two years ago) link
Review Brah agrees that BK is the saddest, worst and he is very trustworthy!
https://i.redd.it/d6l4d1cnxygz.png
― kurt schwitterz, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:00 (two years ago) link
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.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:04 (two years ago) link
availability of veggie burgers at burger king over the past decade makes me sing their praises to the skies
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:05 (two years ago) link
yeah, to their credit BK did roll out veggie burgers pretty early on
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:12 (two years ago) link
incidentally i won't sully this poll with my vegetarian opinions
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:13 (two years ago) link
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, 7 December 2021 19:15 (two years ago) link
thats been the legend since the 90s lol i dont think its true tho
― kurt schwitterz, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:16 (two years ago) link
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.
― frogbs, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:17 (two years ago) link
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.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:26 (two years ago) link
― 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
― frogbs, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:26 (two years ago) link
in n out is dope yall weirdos... their stores are always in good shape and the food is always fresh as fuck
― kurt schwitterz, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:29 (two years ago) link
In'n'Out has a somewhat limited menu but I don't know all the cheat codes
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:31 (two years ago) link
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, 7 December 2021 19:33 (two years ago) link
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.
― accordion folder full of Zoobooks (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:42 (two years ago) link
yes but the poll is titled 'worst fast-food burger joint' and in n out is clearly not the worst
― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:45 (two years ago) link
At DQ, we served people still-frozen food and they loved it (the ice cream, yes, but occasionally a chicken strip).
― accordion folder full of Zoobooks (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:45 (two years ago) link
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.
― Kim Kimberly, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:49 (two years ago) link
https://i.redd.it/3yfg7ctrhmv71.jpg
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:50 (two years ago) link
The fries were worse than I remembered though.
I think they were forced to remove the horse fat
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:51 (two years ago) link
it was beef fat, because a rich guy had a heart attack and sued
― accordion folder full of Zoobooks (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:54 (two years ago) link
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.
― Everybody Loves Ramen (WmC), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:55 (two years ago) link
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.
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 19:56 (two years ago) link
this thread was destined to result in a tangle of horse meat conspiracies and accusations
― accordion folder full of Zoobooks (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:00 (two years ago) link
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
― Ennui de Toulouse-Lautrec (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:02 (two years ago) link
i'm loving it (this thread)
― kurt schwitterz, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:06 (two years ago) link
― 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!"
― Cool Im An Situation (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:09 (two years ago) link
BK has the high aspect ratio chicken sandwiches going for it
― accordion folder full of Zoobooks (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:12 (two years ago) link
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.
― Ennui de Toulouse-Lautrec (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:13 (two years ago) link
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.
― Being cheap is expensive (snoball), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:15 (two years ago) link
Counterpoint: White Castle is good and loved.
― Milm & Foovies (Eric H.), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:16 (two years ago) link
Steak & Shake was the only restaurant I'd ever seen get entirely shutdown for too many health code violations
― accordion folder full of Zoobooks (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:16 (two years ago) link
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.
― o. nate, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:16 (two years ago) link
Crown Burgers – Restaurant chain based in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
lol at this making the cut. they aren't terrible tbh.
― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:17 (two years ago) link
mcdonald's has a few ok things ime but it all tastes like a simulacrum of food
― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:18 (two years ago) link
Most curious to try Max Hamburgers of the far-flung options.
― Milm & Foovies (Eric H.), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:20 (two years ago) link
Johnny Rockets is very depressing. I swear it was the shit in the 80s and 90s tho.
Who will rep for Culvers? Any good?
― kurt schwitterz, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:21 (two years ago) link
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.
― Ennui de Toulouse-Lautrec (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:23 (two years ago) link
xps Yeah Crown Burgers is a cut above the likes of McDs etc.
― Kim Kimberly, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:27 (two years ago) link
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, 7 December 2021 20:28 (two years ago) link
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
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:29 (two years ago) link
I'll rep for Culvers. xp
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 7 December 2021 20:33 (two years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Tuesday, 14 December 2021 00:01 (two years ago) link
I got gout after this thread, asshole
oh wait, i started it
...
asshole.
― hopefully this review helped someone (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 14 December 2021 00:03 (two years ago) link
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
― 《Myst1kOblivi0n》 (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 14 December 2021 00:18 (two years ago) link
Jack in the Box is unspeakable
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Tuesday, 14 December 2021 01:49 (two years ago) link
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.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Tuesday, 14 December 2021 02:13 (two years ago) link
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!
― alpine static, Tuesday, 14 December 2021 07:37 (two years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Wednesday, 15 December 2021 00:01 (two years ago) link
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
― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 15 December 2021 00:18 (two years ago) link
I thought I voted for Sonic, but I guess I just decided to shoot my mouth off instead. Well anyway, fuck Sonic.
― peace, man, Wednesday, 15 December 2021 00:59 (two years ago) link
haha me too! add another one for Sonic
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 15 December 2021 01:10 (two years ago) link
Same
― papal hotwife (milo z), Wednesday, 15 December 2021 02:14 (two years ago) link
Silent majority
― hopefully this review helped someone (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 15 December 2021 02:24 (two years ago) link
i also voted for sonic wtf
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Wednesday, 15 December 2021 02:44 (two years ago) link
Stop the Steal!
― ma dmac's fury road (PBKR), Wednesday, 15 December 2021 02:50 (two years ago) link
White Spot kind of an unfortunate name
― Fash Gordon (Neanderthal), Saturday, 5 November 2022 04:06 (one year ago) link
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.
― Being cheap is expensive (snoball), Saturday, 5 November 2022 10:42 (one year ago) link