Of the ones near me, I think Burger King is tops. The problem with most of these chains is inconsistency between locations and staff, but there’s nothing as good as a warm fresh-off-the-broiler BK Whopper or Whopper Jr. White Castle is also great, but only late at night and when you don’t expect to be sleeping with anyone.
The Canadians who brought up Harvey’s are spot-on. Tremendous quality, and I wish they would come down to the NYC area. Their onion rings are awesome too. The poutine, not so much. Another great item there is the apple pie, which is basically the old McDonald’s apple pie before they healthified it. Dumb decision by McD’s, but probably good for my health (mostly since I don’t order it).
I went with: In N Out, Five Guys, Culver’s. Of the ubiquitous national chains, for me it goes: McDonald’s, Wendy’s (though I’ll get a chicken sandwich if I’m there – I don’t much like their burger), then way way way way back there, Burger King. (As far as the burgers go. Their new crispy chicken sandwich, the Ch’king, though is fantastic, IMHO, and has now surpassed Wendy’s as my favorite chicken sandwich of the big three. McD’s is just terrible. All variations of it.)
I like In N Out but the best burger I’ve ever eaten was at a Wahlburgers. Came in with low expectations and was blown away. Can’t remember the name of the burger but it had lobster on it.
I’ve had it three times (the spicy one) and find it shockingly good. Crispy every time; whole chicken muscle; decent heat though I would prefer a dill pickle to the sweeter one they have.
I wonder if the opposite of this is what’s going on when people say they were unimpressed with In-N-Out. There’s so much hype about them people might be going in with really high expectations, and then are disappointed when it isn’t quite as good as they expected.
Of course the sauce In-N-Out puts on their burgers (they call it “spread”) probably isn’t to everyone’s taste either. But they will do custom orders, you know. If you prefer some combination of ketchup/mustard/mayo on your burger, they’ll make you one that way. They you’ll still get the high quality ingredients that make them so good, prepared the way you like.
When I eat at In-n-Out I get a 2x1 with just onions, either diced or fried (as on their animal style). I find for me it has just the right amount of cheese, unlike their double double.
We don’t have any Burgervilles this far north, but I usually make sure to eat at one whenever I’m in Portland. Their burgers are easily comparable to In-n-Out in terms of fresh quality ingredients. I usually get their Jumbo Jack/Whopper equivalent (I forget what it’s called) with no cheese and with spread instead of ketchup and mayo, and a side of fries with tartar sauce.
I’ve been using this copycat recipe for some time now when I want to have a homemade burger the Tommy’s way. The consistency and flavor feels about right, though it seems a little bland, but it’s been 17 years since I’ve been to a Tommy’s so I’m not sure my tastebuds remember the original well enough to discern the difference between the two.
We’ve just recently in the past couple years started getting San Diego-style “'Berto’s” taco shops up here in the PNW, so maybe a Tommy’s knockoff will soon follow.
Cook Out did not make the list, they are only in VA, WVA, and NC. They have been in my town a long time but had not had one until the other day. Just like 5 Guys, my favorite, but they are charbroiled. Very good.
Of the ones most Dopers would have access to, Fuddrucker’s and Red Robin are both good, although the nearest RR to me closed recently. Five Guys, BK, Smashburger, and Shake Shack are probably the next level down. I only discovered Mooyah for the first time a couple months ago; didn’t even know it was a national chain. I’ve tried In-N-Out while traveling, but wasn’t particularly blown away.
And a few that haven’t been mentioned, yet. My favorite local chain in Boston is Tasty Burger. Unfortunately, they’re all downtown, so a little inconvenient to drive to. Back in Seattle, I used to like Burgermaster; a drive-in like Sonic where they’d hang the tray on the car window. I don’t even know if they are still around. There’s also Dick’s; not great food, but a local institution. And a shoutout to Frisco Freeze in my old hometown.
Of those we have around here, it would be Hardee’s, though they did change their perfect seasoning to just be salt, which lowered their quality to me by a bit. It had a little classic peppery taste to it that was just perfect.
I’ve been to the Whatta-Burger in Russellville, Arkansas, but I understand that’s not affiliated with the chain, and I don’t really remember how its burgers taste. The places I do remember are Sonic, Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Burger King, and the aforementioned Hardee’s.
Other than Sonic, I believe those are the ones that are just available nearly everywhere.
I thought Burger King fried chicken sandwich was revolting. The pickle alone was disgusting and I hated the bun, and the chicken itself was meh. Threw it away after three bites…Red Robin = food poisoning. …We’ve tried to go to Sonic a couple of times, but they’re open or closed at random times (they can’t get workers) and the wait in the drive through is well over half an hour (they can’t get workers).
I discovered Five Guys when it was only in the DC area. I just happened to stumble upon the original in Arlington one day. Just a very small operation with open ceilings, bags of free peanuts, and the best burgers I’d had in a very long time. Plus fresh fries made from local potatoes. Now they’re nationwide, of course, and I think the quality has suffered a bit, but still good.
Here locally, it’s PDX Sliders and Killer Burger that I think rule the day.
Feltner’s Whatta-burger. It’s definitely not affiliated with the chain.
It was a good burger from what I recall but I haven’t been that way since I was last that way 15-20 years ago and can’t confirm if it’s still good. It’s a family-run standalone with fresh ingredients cooked to order, so of course it was good. They used to have a $0.50 burger night and the lines were ridiculous. Several of my high school classmates still drop by if they’re in the area.
I voted for Wendy’s, Red Robin, and Five Guys and I was sure that when I saw the poll data that at least two of these would be also-rans. I’m particularly surprised that Red Robin is near the top, but I suppose that my perception is colored by the fact that we had a local (Boston suburbs) Red Robin which closed. I loved it but I couldn’t convince anyone I knew that it was worth trying. Apparently Red Robin has some sort of negative reputation to overcome. Everyone seemed to assume that the food would be terrible.
I agree about RR. I never went there until we lived within a few blocks of one. I was very pleasantly surprised by the burgers, and the bottomless fries were a real plus.
…We’ve tried to go to Sonic a couple of times, but they’re open or closed at random times (they can’t get workers) and the wait in the drive through is well over half an hour (they can’t get workers).