worst fast-food burger joint

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