Big Mac is awful. Two tiny burger patties that don’t even reach the edge of the bun, combined, then they compound the bad meat/bread ratio by adding another slice of bread. I’d complain that you can’t taste the meat, but then again, it’s pretty clear they’re intentionally burying the taste of the meat.
Big Mac. I’ll never eat another one willingly.
Yeah, the funny thing about them: if you’re in the mood for a slider, they don’t taste like a slider. If you’re in the mood for a hamburger, they taste more like a hamburger than the meat-made sliders.
I guess you can order the big mac with the larger quarter pounder patties, but that still doesn’t solve the extra piece of bread or wilty lettuce or crappy sauce.
I find it funny what people complain about when it comes to fast food hamburgers.
Folks, fast food is basically the bottom of the barrel when it comes to food taste and quality. By “fast food”, I mean McDonald’s, BK, Wendy’s, Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s, Jack-in-the-Box (which is, btw, national in footprint), etc. In other words, places that intend to produce for you your choice of food very quickly, whether you dine-in, carry-out, or drive-thru. Not included in “fast food” is Five Guys (which prepares every burger only after ordered), Culver’s, etc. You simply cannot expect “fast food” to be good quality stuff.
Having said that, what you SHOULD expect is that it is consistently prepared the same way regardless of where you obtain it. A Big Mac should taste essentially the same all across the country (and around much of the world*). It should also not be such a complete mess that you cannot easily eat it in an informal way (say, for example, in the car). And, of course, the food shouldn’t be cold, or otherwise inedible (though I note that a number of posters above seem to consider things inedible that are simply normal fast food fare, apparently expecting that McDonald’s should be able to produce what Red Robin does :rolleyes:).
Burgers should be divided into two groupings: griddle grilled, and flame-broiled.
Griddle: McDonald’s, Wendy’s, In-N-Out
Flamed: BK, CJ/Hardee’s
It’s been so long since I’ve eaten at the others like Rally’s/Checkers and Jack-in-the-Box that I cannot recall how the burgers are cooked.
To be good, griddle burgers need proper seasoning, to make up for the lack of char (especially those cooked from frozen, like McD’s). By comparison, flamed burgers often have no seasoning added, since the patties are run through a machine that sears them. I’ve eaten enough Carl’s Jr. burgers over the years to choke several horses, and I’ve never tasted a “sterno” taste, nor can I imagine how that would happen, since they aren’t cooked over sterno. I think of flamed burgers as generally juicier than griddled burgers; griddled burgers are often a bit greasy, which can be a good thing.
Wendy’s and In-N-Out do not use frozen patty meat. In my opinion, that alone immediately puts them above McDonald’s in the pecking order.
I would rank the signature burgers as: Double-Double, Famous Star (but NOT the somewhat different burger that Hardee’s makes), Wendy’s Double, Whopper, Big Mac**. YMMV.
- My most shameful food admission is that I actually went into McDonald’s in Windsor, England, and had a Big Mac Extra Value Meal. I have felt the shame ever since.
** The Big Mac in my opinion is not the “signature burger” of McDonald’s; that honor goes to the Quarter-Pounder. The Big Mac is such a complete variation on the normal burger idea that I think of it as its own entity. And, yeah, burying 3.2 oz. of meat amid a huge bun isn’t exactly promoting the taste of the hamburger.
Some of the OP’s examples seem inconsistent – what’s a “signature” burger? If it’s the biggest or fanciest one on offer, then don’t cite the Big Mac for McD’s. Though I do agree that the Big Mac is their venerable old standard, and by that logic, Wendy’s signature burger should be Dave’s Classic Single with Cheese, which is the #1 item listed on their menu just as the Big Mac is #1 at McD’s.
I’m not sure what the equivalent is at Burger King because I haven’t been there in such a long time, but probably the Whopper. And that’s my vote for the worst. I, too, have detected an off taste in some of their burgers, which I wouldn’t have called a “sterno” taste but more of a gamey taste, as if the meat was on the verge of going bad – but it may well have been the same thing others mentioned. I attributed it to lack of quality control, plus the BK near me at the time tended to be messy and never looked very clean, so eventually I just never went there again.
I don’t know if I’m surprised to see all the hate for Big Macs. Funny, I just had a craving for one earlier today (Wendy’s is my standard junk food burger) and it was quite yummy. The way I look at it, a Big Mac isn’t even a burger, it’s more of a concoction of some kind that vaguely resembles one and is reputedly edible. 
Why do I sometimes like it, and even crave it? Possibly because it’s just such unabashedly shameless junk food – no pretensions to anything, just salt and grease, there you go. Sometimes, though, it’s what your body seems to need. Just not very often, hopefully!
I totally agree. The only better ones are the specialty places that make real grilled homestyle burgers over a smokey flaming grill and anoint them exactly as you want. Those are in a different class – I wouldn’t even consider them “junk food”. But the Wendy’s Classic Single is my favorite go-to junk food burger.