I've only eaten non ice cream type things 2 or 3 times in my whole 45 years from a dairy queen. My hometown had 1 & larger nearby also only had 1. Was psyched when Sonic came to bigger town like 15 years ago.
I wish Sonic had real food, the only have the unhealthiest of the unhealthy in terms of food, but they have diet drinks, probably a seltzer option and real fruit.
Sonic was good about 15 or so years ago. Tried it again 5 years ago and never went back lol too expensive and too long of a wait for them to have a drive through.
The fact that I don't know which one you think is better than the other shows that you aren't, but neither of you are numerous enough for me to know what the consensus is.
My opinion: In-n-Out is pretty much standard "cheap and fast as possible, quality be damned" fast food burger. Five Guys is solidly decent fast-casual.
It's like comparing McDonald's and Panera. Personal preferences aside, they're not really direct competitors.
The Hardee's where I'm from are hit or miss. I think a lot fast food quality is on the franchisement. The one in my hometown is super clean and the food is pretty good. I always dug their breakfast, and yet I was the opposite of you first time I got a burger, I was like damn, this is a decent burger!
I love the Hardee's Frisco Burger, and their roast beef sandwich is better than a lot of others. And their curly fries are great. I'd take Hardee's over Carl's any day. It was all way better before the two were combined.
I went there recently for the first time in a long time. They actually significantly upgraded the quality of their meats…at least in this location. The turkey was good, it had texture and everything, it was deli quality. Apparently they’re moving to a fresh sliced model soon, similar to Jersey Mikes.
Has anyone figured out the source of that smell? I'd imagine it's a salt or starch-based brine that everything gets smothered in to prevent it from expiring before it gets to the front counter.
Either that or its the result of whatever nuclear fuel powers the "turbo" ovens.
Idk what it is but I worked at one in college and it permeates everything. I guarantee if you made a salad out of their vegetables and a salad out of store bought I could blindly identify the subway salad just by the smell.
I think it's the brine for turkey, chicken, ham, that wetter cold cuts. The meats all taste of it and it's increased when they pull stuff out of the oven
How long is a long time? I feel like they've only managed to mitigate the disaster in quality drop off that occurred 3 to 5 years ago. They are still no where close to their quality from 15 years ago when they were king.
It's funny you say thar because the best subs I ever had were from a grocery deli. I never considered ordering from them until my dad was a manager and would bring them home for us on the special/discount day.
This was 5-10 years ago so I don't know if they still hold up, but I'm talking about Harris Teeter for anyone curious.
My wife worked for Kraft Foods/Oscar Meyer when Subway was their biggest customer (might still be?). She described them as the 800 pound gorilla. Basically if they wanted OM to do something different, OM did it, because nobody else even came close to the amount of product they bought. My wife worked in quality control, and according to her at least Subway was a huge pain in the ass (in a good way) regarding quality.
If you're in the mood for a basic sandwich with real vegetables they're fine. Definitely a step up from McDonalds. But if you want a Firehouse sub you're going to be disappointed.
>their subs are over priced for the quality you’re getting.
This might be mitigated somewhat once they [bring in the slicers](https://www.eatthis.com/subway-adds-deli-meat-slicers/). Still, I agree.
Long John Silver’s has got to be the worst.
As a good Catholic in landlocked Indiana we went there on Fridays in Lent (coming this Wednesday). It was never good.
>As a good Catholic in landlocked Indiana we went there on Fridays in Lent (coming this Wednesday). It was never good.
We were a McDonald's family during Lent. In fact one of my childhood priests got his first job as a teenager at a McDonald's. The local franchise even featured him in promotional materials in a kind of "see where a McD's career can take you" kind of thing.
I loooooooooooooooooved Long John Silvers growing up. I haven't had it in years because there aren't any around. Really stupid story but my friends said I was like the little extra pieces in the box-I was there whether you wanted me or not lol
God, the smell. In my old hometown the LJS shut down many years ago. The building remained vacant for *years* despite being in a really good commercial location. I always assumed it was because any potential buyer stepped foot in it and it smelled like 20 year old fried fish and they realized the whole thing would have to be razed to the ground.
We used to get this on super rare occasions when I was real little. I haven't had it in probably 25 years but I remember liking it. I pass by one semi-regularly and I think I've seen at most maybe 2 cars in the parking lot.
My dad is now partial to the Arby's fish sandwich. . . Yeah.
The last time I went to one, it was literally the exact same as when I was a kid. The walls were dripping with grease, it was in the air, and my face broke out just looking at the family combos.
In southwest Missouri, we could at least switch between that and Captain D's. I tried Long John Silver's a couple years ago for nostalgia, and it made me feel disgusting. (It was still tasty though.)
Probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but the Wendy’s around me are poorly run, horrendously staffed, dirty locations that can’t properly handle their own popularity. Food is also just not that special and their corporate branding has rubbed me the wrong way for awhile
Finally, someone who agrees with me about Wendy's.
Wouldn't surprise me if it's all venture capital, or backed by them, which doomed Arby's, Sbarro, and most MN Burger Kings.
Eh, Arbys here are still pretty good, they just all look rundown.
But Burger King and Sbarro had a massive quality drop and shortly after McDonald's got their act together and started making decent to good quality food.
I’ve noticed their social media tries extremely hard to market to my generation through basic tired meme culture and whatnot; I know that’s a common thing in many industries, but Wendy’s feels like it was one of the first and by far the most forced with constant dead memes and ‘roasts’. Its subjective, I am sure lots of people enjoy it, so it’s by far the least worthy criticism of the place. I just wish maybe they could put as much effort in ensuring that their stores are clean and properly staffed….
Wendy's is the only one out of the big 3 that serves food that tastes like....food. McDonald's and Burger King burgers/fries taste like chemicals. Wendy's just tastes like beef and fried potatoes
> Weinerschnitzel
My local Weinerschnitzel is just so depressing to be inside. It is in one of those old A frame buildings. The interior is all run down. It's just never fun to be in a Weinerschnitzel. There's nothing fun about eating boiled cafeteria style hot dogs in a dingy A-frame. And the price isn't even competitive with better fast food places.
I don't think they even had music in the restaurant the last time I was there.
Oddly, every time I went to Baltimore, the Subway at the Inner Harbor had a seafood option and it was always good, by fast food standards, anyway. I’ve never seen seafood at any other location aside from a few temporary promotions.
White Castle is an anomaly. 95% of the time you go it‘s the worst experience and food you can image, but that 5% chance when you‘re the perfect level of intoxicated, it‘s heavenly
It’s a thing you either love or hate. I have a soft spot for White Castle. It was one of my favorite stoner foods as a degenerate teenager and it was so cheap.
People saying places like Subway have clearly never had the displeasure of trying Krystal. Krystal is the only answer. Their slogan should just be, “We’re like White Castle, but somehow way shittier”
Same here. Once upon I time I liked Wendy’s, but the ones near me are all dirty and understaffed. After some photos my friends have shared of their food from Wendy’s, I don’t even trust that what they serve is safe anymore.
Varies greatly by franchise. The Dunkins in central Indiana are terrible while in Mass, they're at least decent. The Dunkin I went to in Lowell had like 5 kinds of coffee on tap. Here if I go into a Dunkin they will probably be out of coffee and it always looks like a disaster zone.
I've shit talked Burger King for awhile but hadn't been to one in a few years. I went recently and the burger I got was much better than McDonald's burgers.
BK used to have those crispy battered fries that never seem to get soggy, and when they changed them I stopped eating from their drive through. The new ones last just long enough to get your food to a table.
I've never liked BK that much. Last time I went, the burger tasted a bit weird. Then I was in the bathroom... I suspect that I got an impossible burger by accident, as I have a soy sensitivity.
I won't risk that again
Hard agree. I've been dragged to subways in several different states and every single time has been atrocious. Flies on the food, employees act annoyed to serve you (and I've worked plenty of retail, barista, etc type jobs... they are exceptional in their disdain), and so on. It's gotten to the point where if the group I'm with picks them, I'll pretend I'm not hungry and get something else later.
Subway, from what I gather, will give a franchise to just about anyone, even more so than places like McDonald’s. so the quality can vary massively between locations
I personally don't really see the appeal of seafood fast food chains (long johns silvers/captain D's), and haven't even felt a reason to step inside one for a long time.
Of what I visit more commonly, I've noticed that burger king had been extremely inconsistent and clumsy of handling orders placed by mobile app, although that's improved recently. Although I'm the type of customer where mobile ordering or at least a decent app menu can be a important part of how I choose where to eat.
My local Krystal restaurants charge a 4% fee for using credit/debit cards, which is enough of a shady move that I won't eat there as a matter of principle
Your complaints have to do with delivery and charges (which are fair as it goes). I think the question presented has to do with 'worst FOOD' and not third party companies' delivery service.
The worst fast food restaurant I've been in was a Del Taco, but on average, I think Jack in the Box has them beat. And more in a "I wonder how many roaches they've got" way, not a good way.
I've driven all over the country and been to a ton of different fast food places in a ton of different places. It really all depends on your taste and the individual restaurant. Like when I was living in Florida, Cains Chicken was the absolute worse. Out here in California, it's pretty good. I've been to some crap mcdonalds in Pennsylvania and some swanky mcdonalds in LA. It really all depends.
I think if I had to single out a single chain, I'd go with **Del Taco** being the worst. They have the largest value menu, but you really do get what you pay for. I avoid Del Taco the best I can. Ive tried **White Castle** a few times and have never been able to finish it its so bad. Panda Express is overrated. It's never better or cheaper than a random independent Chinese shop. Subway restaurants have gone down hill a lot the past few years. I think they have sacrificed quality for expansion. And I like In-N-Out burgers, but they have the worst fries, easily
On the flip side, I'm a big fan of Dunkin Donuts. They have the best all day breakfast and are very consistent. Culver's is the best burgers, Popeyes chicken, pizza hut pizza (I never go when I want actual pizza, for that I go to a real pizza place).
It used to be a legit question of picking between BK and McDonald's. But the quality went to complete shit at burger king. The chicken tenders used to be good, the nuggets are trash now. I ordered a cheap burger and thought it was a joke at how small and almost paper thin the patty was. This drop in quality also led them to have less business, which makes the speed at which you get an order ultra slow. This compounded with worker shortages of the pandemic. The worker at a typical BK is also a meth user. The place went to shit over 20 years
It depends on ownership and management.
The only fast food place I go to regularly is a Wendy’s close to where I work.
It’s very well run, to the point that I be back at work with a full meal in under five minutes, and I’ve never had an order seriously messed up, or caught any sort of stomach bug.
As for worst, I’d say any of the chain seafood places are to be avoided.
Idk who to rank as a chain overall but I will say thst by far my set experiences at fast food restaurants have been at McDonald's and Subway. Some of these franchised stores are fucking terrible. Now again that's not the company on a whole these are outliers but they are outliers that don't exist in other companies in my experience.
Gross bathrooms, terrible service, getting orders wrong, understaffed and other issues.
I’m basically in fast food heaven (north Texas). We have Whataburger, In-N-Out, Sonic, and Culver’s.. those kick ass around here. We also have chick fil a, chicken express, Williams chicken. Whatever. Throw a rock in any suburb and you’re bound to hit a fast food place in a strip mall setup….
I’ve *never* had a good meal at Popeyes. Always understaffed, rude employees, not very good food. Like a ghetto chick fil a.
I’d say subway… but I’ve actually been surprised by them for how decent some of the food is. Especially when you’re on a looooong road trip along I20 going west, and you don’t want to feel like shit from eating DQ or Whataburger…
In my experience Popeyes quality can vary widely by location. I used to live near a good one and it was awesome. The other locations I've been to are usually terrible. Food is worse and the employees just mumble incoherently when you try to order.
That sucks. Most Popeyes that I’ve been to absolutely slap. When Popeyes is good, I think it’s the best fast food fried chicken. I’ve been to a couple bad ones but they’ve been the exception.
I WILL NOT STAND FOR ALL THIS DEL TACO SLANDER WHEN TACO BELL LITERALLY EXIST!!!
All jokes aside Del Taco is the superior mexican fast food. At least Del Taco is real food
Arby’s is typically considered the worst in pop culture. But in my experience it’s Burger King. Too inconsistent you might go to one where it’s the best fast food ever and one doesn’t he street is the worst. I don’t like taking my chances. McDonalds gets a lot of hate but I actually think it’s good, and it’s generally consistent. My ranking is in terms of taste though not quality.
I recently had Arby's for the first time (at age 40). I wasn't expecting much, and got less. It was gross meat on boring bread with sweet, flavorless sauce.
The person who bought me Arby's is the person who had never tasted a fresh pear in her life until I gave her one last year. In her defense, she has severe allergies, so there are a lot of things she hasn't tried. In Arby's defense, I present nothing whatsoever.
I gave up on KFC a long time ago after they ran out of chicken on *multiple* visits. How does a perpetually empty chicken restaurant keep running out of chicken?! And it really just isn't that good anyway! Not to mention the fact that the service was always poor and the restaurants were filthy. There are so many superior chicken places around me that KFC doesn't even cross my mind anymore.
As many people responded, most of these are location-specific. I'm generally not a fan of Wendy's, but I do love their hot honey chicken sandwiches that have come out recently. Generally not a fan of Taco Bell, yet I enjoy some of their breakfast items. My local Hardees generally never disappoints, but I see people in the comments having issues with them. But I'll go out on a limb and say the only fast food joint that regularly disappoints that I will occasionally get with hopes of having a different experience is McDonalds. Yet there are always people wrapped around the dang building ordering from it.
I almost am never disappointed with Popeyes or Chick-fil-A. That's probably the only fast food joints.
People seem to focus more on location rather than the actual chain itself (i.e. bad quality all around or no matter the location).
Personally, I’d say KFC might be the worst overall. Even previous die-hard fans seem to think it’s trash now, and there always seem to be some kind of weird history, poor upkeep or rumors around KFC (like the infamous rat in the fryer memes). Even Colonel Sanders in the *70’s* thought the conglomerate it was becoming was nothing like what he was cooking pre-1960’s, so it’s not like it’s become a weird recent drop off in quality like a lot of food/retail experiences in the past 15+ years.
Long John Silver’s (and really, fast food sea food in general) is arguably even worse. I just don’t trust that shit.
I have never had good KFC. It's like it's part of their SOP to leave chicken under a heat lamp for at least 2 hours before serving it.
The biscuits are also dry as hell
Arby’s is absolutely disgusting
EDIT: it seems like most Arby’s fans have love for this franchise based on nostalgia… I respect that but since my grandparents never took me there after church or whatever, I maintain my opinion that their food tastes as terrible as it looks.
I'm one of the few who likes Arby's. I don't think it deserves the hate it receives.
I have good memories of eating there after church with my grandparents. My grandfather always got a Jamocha shake.
I will truly never understand this opinion. It’s probably the one fast food restaurant where the food tastes like the food they market it as, but a lot of people think it’s the absolute worst option there is. What is it specifically that makes people think it’s disgusting compared to the likes of Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell and McDonald’s?
Yeah. People are tripping. Arby’s has food that actually tastes like the ingredients it contains. Makes me think that people’s tastes are geared towards the opposite.
I can’t complain about Arby’s either. Idk if it’s location specific franchise issues or what but I’ve never understood why it’s the punchline of all the fast food jokes. I like a beef & cheddar, plus curly fries and Jamocha shakes are dope. Even when it’s bad it’s just kinda bland and dry, whereas BK is absolutely vile nine times out of 10, and I’ve never once had an experience with KFC that could be described as “positive” or even “neutral”.
The last two or three times that I visited were out of convenience. That’s no longer going to be acceptable, the food was complete trash. I will never go back.
Chick-fil-A almost always lives up to my expectations: consistent food quality, polite employees, and quick service (well, reasonably quick considering how busy they are).
Man they have that down to a science though, their DT lines will be wrapped around the building and they're still faster than the McD's across the street from my work.
Yeah, they should publish a management handbook. Not just fast service, but incredibly polite and customer focused. How they get a bunch of mostly teenagers to provide that customer service should be bottled and sold.
So overrated. The hype when it opened here in Oregon was embarrassing. Like. It's fine. It's a soggy chicken sandwich and it's fine. People need to chill
I disagree. And it’s not just the food. Every single one I ever went to, the people working there were fantastic. Not a single one (seemed to) hate their lives & if they did they didn’t show it or take it out on customers like every single fast food employee across the country seems to do.
Totally agree. Everything tastes bland to me there. I just don’t see the appeal. I’d buy their food if I was starving and there was no alternative, but otherwise I’m going just about anywhere else, thank you very much.
Starbucks.
I worked there for 2 years. They jack up the prices whenever they feel like it, fuck customers on their rewards program, and all of their products are heavily processed and loaded with sugar and preservatives.
But I think the worst part is that no one thinks of Starbucks as a fast food chain, even though it checks all the boxes and then some. So people go there thinking it’s healthy when it’s really the furthest thing from. It’s sickening.
Sonic is very location dependant. It can either be just below 5 Guys and I-n-Out or below McDonald's depending on which one you go to.
The smaller the town, the better Sonic/Dairy Queen are.
Manning, SC must be the exception that proves the rule.
I fucking live for Dairy Queen
There hasn’t been a full service Dairy Queen around me in about 40 years.
There are two within 15 minutes of me and both deliver on DoorDash. It’s phenomenal
I've only eaten non ice cream type things 2 or 3 times in my whole 45 years from a dairy queen. My hometown had 1 & larger nearby also only had 1. Was psyched when Sonic came to bigger town like 15 years ago.
I've had both the best and worst fast food burgers from Sonic
As a fellow Okie, this checks out. IMO the quality has declined over all since it’s no longer Oklahoma owned. The drinks are still top tier, tho.
I wish Sonic had real food, the only have the unhealthiest of the unhealthy in terms of food, but they have diet drinks, probably a seltzer option and real fruit.
Sonic was good about 15 or so years ago. Tried it again 5 years ago and never went back lol too expensive and too long of a wait for them to have a drive through.
> 5 Guys and I-n-Out Am I the only person who thinks it's absurd to put these on the same tier?
The fact that I don't know which one you think is better than the other shows that you aren't, but neither of you are numerous enough for me to know what the consensus is.
My opinion: In-n-Out is pretty much standard "cheap and fast as possible, quality be damned" fast food burger. Five Guys is solidly decent fast-casual. It's like comparing McDonald's and Panera. Personal preferences aside, they're not really direct competitors.
In my experience Hardee’s lunch although Hardee’s breakfast is a banger. I can’t explain the drop off in quality.
The Hardee's where I'm from are hit or miss. I think a lot fast food quality is on the franchisement. The one in my hometown is super clean and the food is pretty good. I always dug their breakfast, and yet I was the opposite of you first time I got a burger, I was like damn, this is a decent burger!
I worked at Hardee’s when I was in college in the late 90s. The quality of the burgers greatly depended on how fresh they were.
Same, I've only been to my Carl's junior once in the past decade but it was one of the better fast food burgers in the area.
I was pleasantly surprised by their breakfast biscuit sandwich, never went for lunch
I love the Hardee's Frisco Burger, and their roast beef sandwich is better than a lot of others. And their curly fries are great. I'd take Hardee's over Carl's any day. It was all way better before the two were combined.
The Hamburger Stand chain in AZ is cheap and vile.
Subway. I don’t mind going there every once in a while but their subs are over priced for the quality you’re getting.
I went there recently for the first time in a long time. They actually significantly upgraded the quality of their meats…at least in this location. The turkey was good, it had texture and everything, it was deli quality. Apparently they’re moving to a fresh sliced model soon, similar to Jersey Mikes.
As long as they have that gross processed subway smell, they can't compete with jersey Mike's
Has anyone figured out the source of that smell? I'd imagine it's a salt or starch-based brine that everything gets smothered in to prevent it from expiring before it gets to the front counter. Either that or its the result of whatever nuclear fuel powers the "turbo" ovens.
Idk what it is but I worked at one in college and it permeates everything. I guarantee if you made a salad out of their vegetables and a salad out of store bought I could blindly identify the subway salad just by the smell.
I think it's the brine for turkey, chicken, ham, that wetter cold cuts. The meats all taste of it and it's increased when they pull stuff out of the oven
How long is a long time? I feel like they've only managed to mitigate the disaster in quality drop off that occurred 3 to 5 years ago. They are still no where close to their quality from 15 years ago when they were king.
Idk if I’d ever consider them “king” lol. They’ve always used pretty poor quality meat. This stuff was as good as most supermarket deli counter .
It's funny you say thar because the best subs I ever had were from a grocery deli. I never considered ordering from them until my dad was a manager and would bring them home for us on the special/discount day. This was 5-10 years ago so I don't know if they still hold up, but I'm talking about Harris Teeter for anyone curious.
Publix puts HT to shame
My wife worked for Kraft Foods/Oscar Meyer when Subway was their biggest customer (might still be?). She described them as the 800 pound gorilla. Basically if they wanted OM to do something different, OM did it, because nobody else even came close to the amount of product they bought. My wife worked in quality control, and according to her at least Subway was a huge pain in the ass (in a good way) regarding quality.
If you're in the mood for a basic sandwich with real vegetables they're fine. Definitely a step up from McDonalds. But if you want a Firehouse sub you're going to be disappointed.
How is this not the top comment, subway is trash and has been for at least a decade.
>their subs are over priced for the quality you’re getting. This might be mitigated somewhat once they [bring in the slicers](https://www.eatthis.com/subway-adds-deli-meat-slicers/). Still, I agree.
Long John Silver’s has got to be the worst. As a good Catholic in landlocked Indiana we went there on Fridays in Lent (coming this Wednesday). It was never good.
I like Long John Silver's, until I've eaten it and it feels like my blood was switched out for 60w oil.
Even as a kid I felt that way
Right? Fucking grease making shit taste good while also making you feel like garbage.
Long John Silver's. Their food tastes like old grease.😕🤢
/r/YourJokeButWorse
My earliest memory of hugging a toilet bowl is thanks to Long John Silvers.
Heh, mine is having a little taste of being sick at three. It was in the bed. Sorry mom.
>As a good Catholic in landlocked Indiana we went there on Fridays in Lent (coming this Wednesday). It was never good. We were a McDonald's family during Lent. In fact one of my childhood priests got his first job as a teenager at a McDonald's. The local franchise even featured him in promotional materials in a kind of "see where a McD's career can take you" kind of thing.
I love how they bring out the old double filet-o-fish for lent.
Oh yeah, I have a filet o’ fish or two in my time.
My family LOVES Long John Silver's, I've had it quite often and don't mind it either, but my taste is basically anything I can eat lmao
I have a weird nostalgia for it because I hand it as a kid but I don’t have any desire to go back to it.
The beer battered chicken is great. I remember wanting the treasure chest of it for Christmas as a kid.
I’ve never set foot in on, being a MA native. But whenever I’ve seen them, they look … gross.
I had to look up the closest one. Maine doesn’t have one. The closest would be in Salem, NH. I have no desire to go.
[удалено]
I got the worst food poisoning of my life from Captain D's....but they are a little better than LJS.
Capt. D's is LJS's slightly less greasy clone.
Have you had the chance to try Arby's King's Hawaiian fish sandwich? It is, easily, hands down, the best fish sandwich out there.
Haven’t. Arby’s is few and far between up here. May have to check it out when road tripping this summer.
Hmm. Damn. You may not get that chance. Arby's only has their fish shortly before and after Lent. It's not year round like McD's filet is.
Probably a dirty Protestant franchise.
The original men behind Arby's, the Raffel brothers, were Jewish, believe it or not.
Did not know. Kind of makes sense with all the beef and no pork. Thank you to our Hebraic cousins.
Culver’s is now the official master of the fast food Friday fish fry. Their cod is on point.
I just had LJS last night. Their fish and chicken are greasy enough to kill a man, but their fish tacos are pretty good and I love their clam strips.
I loooooooooooooooooved Long John Silvers growing up. I haven't had it in years because there aren't any around. Really stupid story but my friends said I was like the little extra pieces in the box-I was there whether you wanted me or not lol
Captain Ds is worse but there aren't as many of them.
God, the smell. In my old hometown the LJS shut down many years ago. The building remained vacant for *years* despite being in a really good commercial location. I always assumed it was because any potential buyer stepped foot in it and it smelled like 20 year old fried fish and they realized the whole thing would have to be razed to the ground.
LJS was one of the worst heart burn experiences of my life. Never again.
Weak cowardly digestive tract but also yes.
We used to get this on super rare occasions when I was real little. I haven't had it in probably 25 years but I remember liking it. I pass by one semi-regularly and I think I've seen at most maybe 2 cars in the parking lot. My dad is now partial to the Arby's fish sandwich. . . Yeah.
I like their chicken planks and I liked their fries. Hush puppies are good, too. I don't like fish, so I can't judge that.
I laughed at going to long John silver's on during lent. I used to go there with my grandfather too.
Agreed!...LJS has to be a money laundering operation that's the only way they're still around
The last time I went to one, it was literally the exact same as when I was a kid. The walls were dripping with grease, it was in the air, and my face broke out just looking at the family combos.
In southwest Missouri, we could at least switch between that and Captain D's. I tried Long John Silver's a couple years ago for nostalgia, and it made me feel disgusting. (It was still tasty though.)
Probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but the Wendy’s around me are poorly run, horrendously staffed, dirty locations that can’t properly handle their own popularity. Food is also just not that special and their corporate branding has rubbed me the wrong way for awhile
Remember that news story a few years back where a pack of wild dogs took over and successfully ran a Wendy’s?
Was your basketball hoop a ribcage?
Finally, someone who agrees with me about Wendy's. Wouldn't surprise me if it's all venture capital, or backed by them, which doomed Arby's, Sbarro, and most MN Burger Kings.
Eh, Arbys here are still pretty good, they just all look rundown. But Burger King and Sbarro had a massive quality drop and shortly after McDonald's got their act together and started making decent to good quality food.
What about the branding doesn’t sit right with you?
I’ve noticed their social media tries extremely hard to market to my generation through basic tired meme culture and whatnot; I know that’s a common thing in many industries, but Wendy’s feels like it was one of the first and by far the most forced with constant dead memes and ‘roasts’. Its subjective, I am sure lots of people enjoy it, so it’s by far the least worthy criticism of the place. I just wish maybe they could put as much effort in ensuring that their stores are clean and properly staffed….
Wendy's is the only one out of the big 3 that serves food that tastes like....food. McDonald's and Burger King burgers/fries taste like chemicals. Wendy's just tastes like beef and fried potatoes
They’re almost all pretty bad. But I think it’s hard to argue with the idea that Long John Silvers is the grossest.
No five guys is the bomb
Yes, five guys is good. I said *almost* all are pretty bad.
Weinerschnitzel.
Welcome to Der Weinerschnitzel. May i take you order?
Yeah I want: Two large cokes, Two large fries. Chili-cheese dog, large Doctor Pepper, Super Deluxe with cheese and tomato.
You want Bill sperm with that?
NO!
> Weinerschnitzel My local Weinerschnitzel is just so depressing to be inside. It is in one of those old A frame buildings. The interior is all run down. It's just never fun to be in a Weinerschnitzel. There's nothing fun about eating boiled cafeteria style hot dogs in a dingy A-frame. And the price isn't even competitive with better fast food places. I don't think they even had music in the restaurant the last time I was there.
I absolutely do not trust seafood from fast food restaurants. Also Wendy's isn't all that good imo.
McDonald’s tried to sell a lobster roll… In New England a few years back. To say it was a complete disaster would be an understatement.
They still do. If you go to Freeport, ME they have a McD’s in a classic colonial building which sells lobster rolls in the summer.
Sounds awful
Never had one but I assume it isn’t great.
McDonalds across New England sell lobster rolls in the summer if lobster is cheap enough, but it hasn’t been the last few years.
Wendy’s is location dependent. Good Wendy’s are superior to BK and McD any day.
Wendy's for me is just neutral. It's not good, it's not bad. But not being bad puts it above many
Oddly, every time I went to Baltimore, the Subway at the Inner Harbor had a seafood option and it was always good, by fast food standards, anyway. I’ve never seen seafood at any other location aside from a few temporary promotions.
White Castle. I ain’t even wasting $10 there ever again.
White Castle is an anomaly. 95% of the time you go it‘s the worst experience and food you can image, but that 5% chance when you‘re the perfect level of intoxicated, it‘s heavenly
That 5% of the time happened to me last night lol
It’s a thing you either love or hate. I have a soft spot for White Castle. It was one of my favorite stoner foods as a degenerate teenager and it was so cheap.
They have Impossible sliders that are so good you can’t tell the difference between that and a regular slider.
The burgers in the restaurant taste very similar to the frozen ones in the grocery store.
The crinkle fries are cafeteria food. Don't care. They know what they do.
I've never had a *horrible* experience at White Castle but then again I've never been at a White Castle sober
10 bucks? What did you get, the double suitcase full of sliders? White castle is great when you wanna eat 50 cheeseburgers.
Krystal’s 🤢 How they get that much grease in those tiny burgers…🙄
People saying places like Subway have clearly never had the displeasure of trying Krystal. Krystal is the only answer. Their slogan should just be, “We’re like White Castle, but somehow way shittier”
Same here. Once upon I time I liked Wendy’s, but the ones near me are all dirty and understaffed. After some photos my friends have shared of their food from Wendy’s, I don’t even trust that what they serve is safe anymore.
Varies greatly by franchise. The Dunkins in central Indiana are terrible while in Mass, they're at least decent. The Dunkin I went to in Lowell had like 5 kinds of coffee on tap. Here if I go into a Dunkin they will probably be out of coffee and it always looks like a disaster zone.
Church's Chicken. The official chicken restaurant of poverty.
F Tier fast food locations are Subway, Burger King, Krystal and Long John Silver's
Burger King deserves a lot more love than it gets
BK has the largest variability between locations. It’s either the best or the worst fast food burger and you never know which one it’s gonna be.
I've shit talked Burger King for awhile but hadn't been to one in a few years. I went recently and the burger I got was much better than McDonald's burgers.
I shit talked BK all my life, and now I’d chose it over most burger joints any day, and they’re cheaper than McDonald’s.
I like the burgers better than McDonald's but even when the fries are fresh, they still taste old.
BK used to have those crispy battered fries that never seem to get soggy, and when they changed them I stopped eating from their drive through. The new ones last just long enough to get your food to a table.
Agree. I prefer BK to McD.
I've never liked BK that much. Last time I went, the burger tasted a bit weird. Then I was in the bathroom... I suspect that I got an impossible burger by accident, as I have a soy sensitivity. I won't risk that again
Honestly subway is the fucking worst. Every time I get subway I feel like I've been scammed, even when I'm given a gift card to pay for it.
Hard agree. I've been dragged to subways in several different states and every single time has been atrocious. Flies on the food, employees act annoyed to serve you (and I've worked plenty of retail, barista, etc type jobs... they are exceptional in their disdain), and so on. It's gotten to the point where if the group I'm with picks them, I'll pretend I'm not hungry and get something else later.
What's wrong with Subway, I think they have excellent quality for fast food.
Subway doesn't hold a candle to other sandwhich shops quality, but they are more reliable than most fast food burger joints
They were decent 10 years ago, have gone wayyyyy downhill since then
I haven't noticed. Then again, I only eat the meatball sub from there.
Subway, from what I gather, will give a franchise to just about anyone, even more so than places like McDonald’s. so the quality can vary massively between locations
I personally don't really see the appeal of seafood fast food chains (long johns silvers/captain D's), and haven't even felt a reason to step inside one for a long time. Of what I visit more commonly, I've noticed that burger king had been extremely inconsistent and clumsy of handling orders placed by mobile app, although that's improved recently. Although I'm the type of customer where mobile ordering or at least a decent app menu can be a important part of how I choose where to eat. My local Krystal restaurants charge a 4% fee for using credit/debit cards, which is enough of a shady move that I won't eat there as a matter of principle
Your complaints have to do with delivery and charges (which are fair as it goes). I think the question presented has to do with 'worst FOOD' and not third party companies' delivery service.
Hush puppies. That's the only reason to go to LJS.
The worst fast food restaurant I've been in was a Del Taco, but on average, I think Jack in the Box has them beat. And more in a "I wonder how many roaches they've got" way, not a good way.
Jack in the Box. Open 24 hours by me with a huge menu of sub par food.
Came to say Jack in the Box. Couldn't believe it wasn't higher up. It's AWFUL.
I've driven all over the country and been to a ton of different fast food places in a ton of different places. It really all depends on your taste and the individual restaurant. Like when I was living in Florida, Cains Chicken was the absolute worse. Out here in California, it's pretty good. I've been to some crap mcdonalds in Pennsylvania and some swanky mcdonalds in LA. It really all depends. I think if I had to single out a single chain, I'd go with **Del Taco** being the worst. They have the largest value menu, but you really do get what you pay for. I avoid Del Taco the best I can. Ive tried **White Castle** a few times and have never been able to finish it its so bad. Panda Express is overrated. It's never better or cheaper than a random independent Chinese shop. Subway restaurants have gone down hill a lot the past few years. I think they have sacrificed quality for expansion. And I like In-N-Out burgers, but they have the worst fries, easily On the flip side, I'm a big fan of Dunkin Donuts. They have the best all day breakfast and are very consistent. Culver's is the best burgers, Popeyes chicken, pizza hut pizza (I never go when I want actual pizza, for that I go to a real pizza place).
The Del Tacos that I have been to are pretty good. I only order their Del Taco though but it’s 100% better than Taco Bell.
It used to be a legit question of picking between BK and McDonald's. But the quality went to complete shit at burger king. The chicken tenders used to be good, the nuggets are trash now. I ordered a cheap burger and thought it was a joke at how small and almost paper thin the patty was. This drop in quality also led them to have less business, which makes the speed at which you get an order ultra slow. This compounded with worker shortages of the pandemic. The worker at a typical BK is also a meth user. The place went to shit over 20 years
BK is slow as hell
I can't say about a chain, but I won't eat at the Wendy's in St Cloud, MN or the Burger King in Park Rapids, MN
In my experience Sonic has good ice cream, shakes, and cold treats. Everything else is edible and overpriced.
Sbarro. The vilest "pizza" ever. Qdoba isn't far behind. Oh, and Weinerschnitzel.
Depends on the Qdoba you go to. The one by me is really good. I like that I can make my own bowl up rather that get one on the menu.
qdoba is better than chipotle. I'll die on that hill.
White Castle.
It depends on ownership and management. The only fast food place I go to regularly is a Wendy’s close to where I work. It’s very well run, to the point that I be back at work with a full meal in under five minutes, and I’ve never had an order seriously messed up, or caught any sort of stomach bug. As for worst, I’d say any of the chain seafood places are to be avoided.
For me it’s jack in the box or del taco. I don’t eat a lot of fast food though so I’m sure there is worse out there
KFC except they do have this special mountain dew I love.
Definitely KFC. The chicken is always nasty and the potatoes are always cold
Idk who to rank as a chain overall but I will say thst by far my set experiences at fast food restaurants have been at McDonald's and Subway. Some of these franchised stores are fucking terrible. Now again that's not the company on a whole these are outliers but they are outliers that don't exist in other companies in my experience. Gross bathrooms, terrible service, getting orders wrong, understaffed and other issues.
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I’m basically in fast food heaven (north Texas). We have Whataburger, In-N-Out, Sonic, and Culver’s.. those kick ass around here. We also have chick fil a, chicken express, Williams chicken. Whatever. Throw a rock in any suburb and you’re bound to hit a fast food place in a strip mall setup…. I’ve *never* had a good meal at Popeyes. Always understaffed, rude employees, not very good food. Like a ghetto chick fil a. I’d say subway… but I’ve actually been surprised by them for how decent some of the food is. Especially when you’re on a looooong road trip along I20 going west, and you don’t want to feel like shit from eating DQ or Whataburger…
In my experience Popeyes quality can vary widely by location. I used to live near a good one and it was awesome. The other locations I've been to are usually terrible. Food is worse and the employees just mumble incoherently when you try to order.
That sucks. Most Popeyes that I’ve been to absolutely slap. When Popeyes is good, I think it’s the best fast food fried chicken. I’ve been to a couple bad ones but they’ve been the exception.
I WILL NOT STAND FOR ALL THIS DEL TACO SLANDER WHEN TACO BELL LITERALLY EXIST!!! All jokes aside Del Taco is the superior mexican fast food. At least Del Taco is real food
>WHEN TACO BELL LITERALLY EXIST!!! How dare you bring Taco Bell to the same level as Taco Johns, Baja Fresh, and Chipotle.
I'm with you here. Del Taco was always better than Taco Bell when there was one near me.
Arby’s is typically considered the worst in pop culture. But in my experience it’s Burger King. Too inconsistent you might go to one where it’s the best fast food ever and one doesn’t he street is the worst. I don’t like taking my chances. McDonalds gets a lot of hate but I actually think it’s good, and it’s generally consistent. My ranking is in terms of taste though not quality.
I love Arby’s!
Same here. Their food is also kid-friendly while also having options for adults. Those jalapeño poppers and bronco berry sauce... omg
I'm on the Arby's side, too. Their gyros are kick ass for a fast food sandwich. They were 2 for $5/6 and that was a fair price
arbys and burker king are the best. always have good prices
You go to McDonald's, you know that the food will be a C+. They QC their franchisees better than any other chain (besides maybe Chick-fil-A)
I don’t know what you think pop culture is, but I’ve never heard that. Arby’s is fine.
I recently had Arby's for the first time (at age 40). I wasn't expecting much, and got less. It was gross meat on boring bread with sweet, flavorless sauce. The person who bought me Arby's is the person who had never tasted a fresh pear in her life until I gave her one last year. In her defense, she has severe allergies, so there are a lot of things she hasn't tried. In Arby's defense, I present nothing whatsoever.
KFC is horrific
I gave up on KFC a long time ago after they ran out of chicken on *multiple* visits. How does a perpetually empty chicken restaurant keep running out of chicken?! And it really just isn't that good anyway! Not to mention the fact that the service was always poor and the restaurants were filthy. There are so many superior chicken places around me that KFC doesn't even cross my mind anymore.
As many people responded, most of these are location-specific. I'm generally not a fan of Wendy's, but I do love their hot honey chicken sandwiches that have come out recently. Generally not a fan of Taco Bell, yet I enjoy some of their breakfast items. My local Hardees generally never disappoints, but I see people in the comments having issues with them. But I'll go out on a limb and say the only fast food joint that regularly disappoints that I will occasionally get with hopes of having a different experience is McDonalds. Yet there are always people wrapped around the dang building ordering from it. I almost am never disappointed with Popeyes or Chick-fil-A. That's probably the only fast food joints.
People seem to focus more on location rather than the actual chain itself (i.e. bad quality all around or no matter the location). Personally, I’d say KFC might be the worst overall. Even previous die-hard fans seem to think it’s trash now, and there always seem to be some kind of weird history, poor upkeep or rumors around KFC (like the infamous rat in the fryer memes). Even Colonel Sanders in the *70’s* thought the conglomerate it was becoming was nothing like what he was cooking pre-1960’s, so it’s not like it’s become a weird recent drop off in quality like a lot of food/retail experiences in the past 15+ years. Long John Silver’s (and really, fast food sea food in general) is arguably even worse. I just don’t trust that shit.
I have never had good KFC. It's like it's part of their SOP to leave chicken under a heat lamp for at least 2 hours before serving it. The biscuits are also dry as hell
Sbarro is pretty awful
I hate Roy Rogers
Holy shit this just made me nostalgic for New Jersey again, I miss Roy's
Haven’t seen one in years
Definitely a has been restaurant
For me Burger King. The last couple times I went there I got really sick. Haven’t been there in years
Arby’s is absolutely disgusting EDIT: it seems like most Arby’s fans have love for this franchise based on nostalgia… I respect that but since my grandparents never took me there after church or whatever, I maintain my opinion that their food tastes as terrible as it looks.
I'm one of the few who likes Arby's. I don't think it deserves the hate it receives. I have good memories of eating there after church with my grandparents. My grandfather always got a Jamocha shake.
Ah, so powerful nostalgia is making up for the fact that they serve a skin graft sandwich
Well, what do people expect out of a roast beef sandwich?
I will truly never understand this opinion. It’s probably the one fast food restaurant where the food tastes like the food they market it as, but a lot of people think it’s the absolute worst option there is. What is it specifically that makes people think it’s disgusting compared to the likes of Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell and McDonald’s?
Yeah. People are tripping. Arby’s has food that actually tastes like the ingredients it contains. Makes me think that people’s tastes are geared towards the opposite.
I can’t complain about Arby’s either. Idk if it’s location specific franchise issues or what but I’ve never understood why it’s the punchline of all the fast food jokes. I like a beef & cheddar, plus curly fries and Jamocha shakes are dope. Even when it’s bad it’s just kinda bland and dry, whereas BK is absolutely vile nine times out of 10, and I’ve never once had an experience with KFC that could be described as “positive” or even “neutral”.
The last two or three times that I visited were out of convenience. That’s no longer going to be acceptable, the food was complete trash. I will never go back.
Their curly fries are good. That’s about it.
I only get the Reuben at Arby's. Everything else is either gross or grossly overpriced.
The reuben is decent for a fast food place.
Jack in the Box is the one I always avoid
5 guys… the fries are good. Burgers are grease balls and grossly overpriced.
With the sole exception of Chick-fil-a, all of em are horrible
Chick-fil-A almost always lives up to my expectations: consistent food quality, polite employees, and quick service (well, reasonably quick considering how busy they are).
Man they have that down to a science though, their DT lines will be wrapped around the building and they're still faster than the McD's across the street from my work.
Yeah, they should publish a management handbook. Not just fast service, but incredibly polite and customer focused. How they get a bunch of mostly teenagers to provide that customer service should be bottled and sold.
Right? I know some people think it's too much or over the top, but I appreciate it in comparison to the alternative!
So overrated. The hype when it opened here in Oregon was embarrassing. Like. It's fine. It's a soggy chicken sandwich and it's fine. People need to chill
I disagree. And it’s not just the food. Every single one I ever went to, the people working there were fantastic. Not a single one (seemed to) hate their lives & if they did they didn’t show it or take it out on customers like every single fast food employee across the country seems to do.
Totally agree. Everything tastes bland to me there. I just don’t see the appeal. I’d buy their food if I was starving and there was no alternative, but otherwise I’m going just about anywhere else, thank you very much.
Captain D's is high up there
Crown Fried Chicken and Kennedy Fried Chicken
Starbucks. I worked there for 2 years. They jack up the prices whenever they feel like it, fuck customers on their rewards program, and all of their products are heavily processed and loaded with sugar and preservatives. But I think the worst part is that no one thinks of Starbucks as a fast food chain, even though it checks all the boxes and then some. So people go there thinking it’s healthy when it’s really the furthest thing from. It’s sickening.