When the Filipino Jollybee chain opened their first outlet in Winnipeg, all the Filipinos there stood out at 5-am in minus-40 temperatures to get their traditional fix of chicken and rice at the grand opening… CBC did a feature on it, I think its on Youtube.
Not waiting over 5 minutes in line unless I absolutely must.
They’re my favorite fast food burger, and I’d be stoked to get one in Chicago, but even as my favorite fast food burger joint, there ain’t no way in hell I’m waiting two hours, even for the glorious double double animal style. (Luckily, at this moment, I’m visiting the in-laws and all the wonders of In N Out are available to me for the next few days.)
I’ve waited twice in lines two hours or longer: once here in Phoenix for my first visit to Pizzeria Bianco (two and a half hours until we got seated. It was worth every minute to me. Only about half hour of that wait was without libations, though, as their place next door started serving beers an hour before the pizzeria opened up.) And once because a friend of mine wanted to visit Kuma’s Corner back in Chicago and I stood in line for him (and the jackass arrived late, and missed the first seating. I was out in that fucking line outside for almost an hour and a half before open, and he showed up just after it opened up, so we missed first seating.) That wasn’t worth it so much.
No way would I wait that long for a Rally’s/Checker’s burger. Five minutes is too long to wait for one of those burgers. (I would wait up to a half hour for an In-n-Out, though. But that’s it!)
In n Out have simple but perfect cheeseburgers served freshly cooked. Apart from the wait, what could possibly keep you away save vegetarianism?
Kinda renders useless the term “Fast Food”, ain’t it?
“Would you wait that long for fast food?”
I didn’t know waiting for junk food was a thing. In 2 hours I could buy ground beef, make the healthier burgers and enjoy eating them in the comfort of my living room. Junk food outlets are the last resort, not something I’d wait for!
Be careful what you sow; you’ll reap more of the same.
In-n-out was the most underwhelming thing I’ve experienced. A fast food burger with horrible fries was not the second coming it was made out to be.
Oh, yeah, I remember the Krispy Kreme Kraze. That would have been, what, mid-late 90s maybe? Lines all around the block for at least the first few days or weeks. Then settled into normalcy for a few years. Now almost every one of them is gone. I think there may be one left in the Chicago area, up near Schaumburg (looks like Elk Grove Village.) There was one a half-block from my house (and my brother worked there through college), but I almost never went there, as I’m not much of a donut person. I must say, though, hot-out-of-the-fryer they were f’ing good, but only worth it for the hot-out-of-the-fryer donuts.
Sonic I never noticed the craze for, but I still haven’t been to one because – I know this is going to sound stupid – but I’m not exactly sure how to order at one. There’s one about two miles from my house that’s been there for, gosh, almost a decade now, but every time I’ve passed it, I’ve never felt like figuring it out. I’m sure it’s stupidly self-explanatory, but it’s a different set-up than a normal drive-through, and I’ve never bothered to try it. What’s supposed to be particularly good there?
Oh, wait, looks like Krispy Kreme has returned to the Chicago area this year. Long lines again, it seems. Huh.
it’s a drive-in/drive up kind of like a lot of A&Ws. you drive up to the parking spot, there’s an intercom with a menu, you tell 'em what you want, and they bring it out to you.
oh, they usually also have a walk-up window.
If you can park and push a red button, you’ve got it handled. 
OK, maybe one day I’ll work the courage up to try it. 
(The only A&W’s I’ve seen around here are in malls, so I’ve never experienced the drive-in thing. I only know them from movies set in the 50s, and a place called Superdawg here, but I’ve always walked inside to order. I know I sound like a complete idiot here, and I’ve dealt with far more complex ordering systems in foreign countries, but somehow, I’ve never felt the urge to tackle the drive-in. )
So, what is supposed to be good there that has people lining up when they open? I think I heard someone say their hot dogs are good, but I live in Chicago, so that hasn’t been enough to get me over there.
I used to enjoy Sonic’s banana milkshakes. Otherwise it’s typical craptacular fast food. It’s not like anyplace in the USA is short of other sources for that.
I can certainly see the nostalgia trip for people who grew up with fast food Brand X then moved to a part of the country that doesn’t have Brand X. Then Brand X finally opens a store nearby. other than that, the whole lines-around-the-block for anyplace are just the lemmings doing mass hysteria driven by clever mass marketing.
The sadness about the nostalgia meal is that both your tastes and their recipes have changed in 20 or 30 years. So it’s usually pretty disappointing when you do get one. And worse of course if you go early in the new place’s life when the crew can’t find its collective ass with all its collective hands.
Yech, I don’t think you’ll like there dogs (that are warmed up, bun and all in the microwave).
Their onion rings are quite good, as well as their cherry lime-ades.
The rest, in my opinion, is average.
If you mean fries created from real potatoes and cut and washed in front of your eyes and thrown straight into the fryer as horrible…? Or are you used to the mass market fries made from reconstructed potatoes and shipped frozen?
Are you sure you’re not thinking of Five Guys?
In and Out fries are pretty much identical to McDonald’s.
if SDMB allowed inline images, I’d be posting this one here.
a single step fry is an incredibly hard way to get them to cook properly. either they’re under-cooked in the center, or if you ask for them “well done” and they’re over-crunchy and oily.
two stage cooking (where you par-cook them first, then finish off at a higher fry temperature) is not “reconstructed potatoes.” Penn Station does their fries the same way as In-n-out and they’re bad too.
do you have taste buds?
Not so. In-n-Out uses REAL potatoes for theirs.
They’re not even close to McDonalds fries. McDonalds are actually good. Like I said, I love In n Out, but I hate the fries.