Another stupid Internet list to get RO'd about: The Top 50 Fast Food Items of All Time

[JohnT]

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you the worst list of all time:

The top 50 Fast Food items of all time.

All right. There is a lot wrong with this list, so much I’m not even going to go through them all.

But, seriously, WTF? Chick-Fil-A’s Waffle Fries, the best fast food item in the history of fast food? Who the fudge has ever gotten in their car saying “I’m going to chick-fil-a because I want some WAFFLE FRIES!!!”??

3 dessert items in the top 10, in a list that doesn’t even include Bojangle’s fried chicken and can’t even bother to differentiate between KFC’s Original recipe (the master) and Extra Crispy (the pretender) and just lumps KFC as “Chicken”… in the low 40s. But we’ll put three dessert items in the top 10.

Subway’s cookies? Really? Seriously? Cookies?

Chipotle is not fast food. Category fail.

The Egg McMuffin, as seminal a fast food item as there ever was, an item so popular that McDonald’s changed their operations to allow it to be served 24/7… 32nd? Behind the freakin’ Pretzel from Auntie Ann’s?

No White Castle/Krystals, but 6 items from Chick-Fil-A.

Shit, just noticed… there’s a goddamned soda on this list. A SODA!

All right, I’ve RO’d a bit, have at it. But if there is one thing to be gleaned from this, it is the truism that:

Millennials just freaking ruin everything. And they don’t know shit about fast food.

[jz78817]

My only problem with the list is that it’s pretty much every fast food item from the major chains.

[JohnT]

That. And the fact that the number of chains represented show that the voters experiences and knowledge of FF doesn’t, in their totality, match that of one 45yo road warrior.

Might as well be a list of “top 50 FF items available near the office.”

[jz78817]

@JohnT

That. And the fact that the number of chains represented show that the voters experiences and knowledge of FF doesn’t, in their totality, match that of one 45yo road warrior.

Might as well be a list of “top 50 FF items available near the office.”

Good point, seems very SoCal centric (big surprise.)

[Jophiel]

@JohnT

And they don’t know shit about fast food.

That strikes me as an extremely sheltered list. I’m surprised Culver’s found its way on there.

Any such list lacking Portillo’s cake shake can be safely disregarded. I would guess there’s a number of gems from regional chains lacking while they salivate over mall pretzels.

[Annie-Xmas]

McDonald’s biggest contributions to fast food were the Big Mac, Chicken McNuggets and Egg McMuffin. Which should have been #1, 2 & 3.

[running_coach]

I would drop the Arby’s roast beef sandwich and put the Jamocha shake in it’s place.

Honorable mention to Horsey Sauce.

[DSYoungEsq]

Actually, I DO go to Chick-fil-A for the waffle fries. And I eat them in the car, before anything else. Not saying they should be #1, just saying they’re pretty damn good.

[chrisk]

@DSYoungEsq

Actually, I DO go to Chick-fil-A for the waffle fries. And I eat them in the car, before anything else. Not saying they should be #1, just saying they’re pretty damn good.

I don’t have Chick-fil-A in my area, (which is probably a good thing for my diet on the whole,) but when I can go on travels, I look forward to the waffle fries particular. I don’t think I’d eat them without chicken–but the chicken fingers, say, aren’t that extraordinary for good chicken fingers. It’s the waffle fries which elevate the meal.

[pulykamell]

Hmmm…I’ve been to Chick-Fil-A a number of times, now that they’ve been in the Chicago area for the past five or ten years or whatever it’s been, but never had their waffle fries. Best fast food spicy chicken sandwich, though.

I agree with the double double from In N Out, although I assume I’d put that over the waffle fries, had I ever had them, as I can’t imagine me preferring a french fry to a burger. I’d leave the animal style fries off the list, too.

All in all, not a wholly unreasonable list. I agree the Egg McMuffin needs to be much, much higher. And if we’re including all the Popeye’s stuff, where the red beans and rice?

[El_Kabong]

@DSYoungEsq

Actually, I DO go to Chick-fil-A for the waffle fries. And I eat them in the car, before anything else. Not saying they should be #1, just saying they’re pretty damn good.

They are, but I only care for them as a complement to my spicy Chick-fil-a sandwich, never by themselves.

Any fries are best with alternating bites of cole slaw, by the way. Just this spud’s opinion.

But yeah, crappy list. Arby’s curly fries at number six? Shouldn’t even be there. I never get fast-food shakes so I have no comment on those. I will contend, however, that JitB’s Sourdough Jack should be somewhere in the top ten, and I’d rate Whataburger’s A-1 Thick n’ Hearty way over the Honey BBQ Chicken Strip sandwich.

[Death_of_Rats]

I notice that the Arby’s Roast Beef was listed, but the picture shows the much superior Beef N’ Chedder which should have been much further up the list.

[Little_Nemo]

Here’s the complete review for the In-N-Out Cheeseburger:

I once had to drive from Fort Collins, Colorado, to Santa Cruz, California—a journey of roughly 20 hours—alone in a car with no radio. For the journey, I bought two CDs—Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by the Flaming Lips and Original Pirate Material by the Streets—and four tall cans of Rockstar Energy drink. Somewhere west of the Great Salt Lake, I pulled over at a rest stop that looked like it was the site of roughly 50 grisly sex-murders. That was the first time I stopped (not counting for gas). The second time was at the In-N-Out in Watsonville, California, just an hour from home. That’s how good In-N-Out is.

I nominate this as the most hipster food review ever.

[Just_Asking_Questions]

No Taco John 's Potato Oles??? Sacrilege!

@JohnT

Might as well be a list of “top 50 FF items available near the office.”

No shit. There’s nothing from Carls’ Jr (or Hardees) or TJ, or A&W, or Fazoli’s, or Del Taco, or…

Someone really needs to make a list of the 50 Worst 50 Best Lists.

[Grrr]

Shit, just noticed… there’s a goddamned soda on this list. A SODA!

You obviously haven’t had their cherry limeade with fresh squeezed lime.

I mean, Sonic sucks in general, but they make a damn good limeade.
Also, I think Arby’s french dip should have been somewhere on that list.

[jz78817]

@Little_Nemo

I nominate this as the most hipster food review ever.

I’ve had In-n-out twice while in Vegas. It’s good, but not the Second Coming of Burgerdom. “reviews” like that sound more like the reviewer feels the need to brag about being in an area where In-n-out is present, as though that’s a personal accomplishment for them.

@chrisk

I don’t have Chick-fil-A in my area, (which is probably a good thing for my diet on the whole,) but when I can go on travels, I look forward to the waffle fries particular. I don’t think I’d eat them without chicken–but the chicken fingers, say, aren’t that extraordinary for good chicken fingers. It’s the waffle fries which elevate the meal.

Chick-Fil-A finally opened a location near me, but I haven’t tried it yet because the idiotic hype hasn’t died down yet. The second time I went by, the line was incredibly long. and I was taken aback at how many people were there with their kids. at 11 a.m. on a school day. and I’m not talking little kids, I mean everything up to high school age.

[JohnT]

Across all stores (i.e., on average, though individual locations will vary), Chick-Fil-A is the most efficient fast food place I’ve seen and can move lines like no other. It may be a long line, and with a new restaurant they’re going to have problems, but they probably move pretty quickly.

Completely agree with Portillo’s and other regional chains needing a shout out (like KRYSTAL/WHITE CASTLE).

And, DSYoung? !

[Just_Asking_Questions]

@Little_Nemo

Here’s the complete review for the In-N-Out Cheeseburger:I nominate this as the most hipster food review ever.

I submit that it is reviews like this that cause the backlash against In N Out. They make good burgers, but they’re not orgasmically awesome world-definfing experience burgers that reviews like this claim. They’re just good burgers.

And hipsters. The review makes them look like doofusses, too, but if there is a backlash against them, I’m all for it.

[Typo_Negative]

@JohnT

Chipotle is not fast food.

Yeah, it really is.

[pulykamell]

@Just_Asking_Questions

I submit that it is reviews like this that cause the backlash against In N Out. They make good burgers, but they’re not orgasmically awesome world-definfing experience burgers that reviews like this claim.

Well, no burger is, by that definition. I know plenty of people are meh about them. But it’s one of the things I look forward to the most every time I visit my in-laws in Phoenix. First stop from the airport: In N Out. They are as close to orgasmically awesome as they can be to me, but, for me, fast food burgers are the pinnacle of burgerdom, not those overmeated, 1/2 pound and up monstrosities. (Though there is a place for them, too.) If I had one burger to eat for the rest of my life, it’s the double double. But you’re right. They are just good burgers. That’s all they need to be. When I introduce people to them, I always warn them of that fact: it’s just a burger.

I’m guessing that drive must have been 2002 or 2003? I had both of those albums, but I did not write that review.