Thinking strictly food here what one particular drive-thru have you used the most times in your life and how many times do you estimate that is?
It has to be one specific location also so McDonalds in general doesn’t count unless it is McDonalds on 1st and Main in Mayberry for example.
I have been going to one particular Starbucks location 2-3 times per week for the last 3 years since it opened which come to almost 500 visits.
Other than that I’ve used too many various restaurants, and live in too many various locations to become a serious frequenter of a single location.
It used to be my credit union as it was 3 blocks from work and I lived 15 miles away. So I’d cash my check there on my way home. Plus withdrawals and deposits for me and the kids. I haven’t used it in 5 years now since debit cards, ATMs, paychecks are auto deposited, and I work 20 miles in the other direction. Last 5 years would be the Arby’s halfway between home and the big box home improvement stores and our favorite grocers.
ETA: Sorry I missed the food restriction for the first part.
Well, I rarely ate food from drive-thrus pre-covid (I usually ate in), but the Arby’s near my house is probably skewing the most right now, since I go there a couple times a week.
Of all the fast food restaurants Pre-Covid, the one I probably went to the most was McDonalds. Because while I do get it sometimes when I’m looking for cheap food (yay value menu) I don’t like going in a McDonalds.
Not a big drive through fan - I usually prefer to park and go inside. But when my kids were smaller, it was easier to drive through and eat at home. For about 8 years or so, we hit the In-n-Out about 2 miles from our house 2-3 times a month.
I’m sure it’s my local McDonald’s. Not that many choices for fast food close by so I ended up there a lot because they were consistent. A couple of years ago the consistency disappeared and the local pizza place gets more of our business since they have a full menu aside from pizza.
I try to avoid drive-thrus as much as possible. Years ago, the audio quality during ordering was so bad that they almost always messed up the order. It seems like audio quality has improved over the years, but I still avoid them when possible. The one time I consistently use the drive-thru is when getting coffee at Dunkin Donuts. Indoor ordering at Dunkin is horrible. If there is anyone in the drive-thru lane they will ignore the hell out of anyone waiting inside at the counter. There is one Dunkin location in New Hampton, New Hampshire, whose drive-thru I have frequented maybe a half dozen times over the years. It happens to be conveniently located on my way home from various hiking and backpacking trips. I can’t think of any food/beverage drive-thru I’ve visited more often than that.
When I was a kid we would go on family vacations and we picked up McDonalds at the drive through a few time. I think that wins - I’m not sure I’ve been through a drive through in my adult life, but even if I have it probably can’t beat the handful of times I was sitting in that back of the van on vacation.
(I’ve picked up plenty of pizzas, but never through a drive-through line.)
Oh, lordy. Might have been the taco bell near where I worked. It was there for 15 years, quick, convenient. Even then it wasn’t super often. I’d go months without hitting it, then do it twice in a week.
The restaurant near my home that I’ve been going to since the late 1950’s never had a drive thru, tho they have a walk up window.
The pickup lane at my local Walgreens. When my kids still lived at home we went through there at least once a week. Now it’s a couple of times a month. Since we’ve used that particular Walgreens for more than 35 years, I’d conservatively estimate more than 1,500 trips through it.
If I had to guess, it would be the Taco Bell down the road from where I lived when I was growing up.
Rarely used drive thru’s before covid. Would be Arby’s in Buckhannon,WV. 30-40 times maybe.
Does this topic self select for people who don’t use drive thru’s. People who like arby’s seem over represented as well.
Nearby Del Taco. Yum!
I think I drove through one once, when my 10-yo was having a burger-fit. Been through a few others as a passenger. I’m of the Steve Buscemi school, I’d rather walk to the counter.
Probably my bank drive-up. I’m not a big drive-up user for fast food; it usually takes longer than going inside.
The In-n-Out in Milpitas, CA. I haven’t been there 500 times, but >200 wouldn’t surprise me. It’s also ridiculously busy. Like, a dozen cars in the queue even at midnight on a Sunday. Fortunately, they’re also pretty quick.
I’m not real big on fast food and now that none of the Muchas Gracias stores have a drive through it’s probably the Carl’s Jr at SE 148th and Division. They tend to have really good deals on Western Bacon cheeseburgers, either 2 for 1 or buy one get the second for a buck and those are my favorite quickie burgers since they don’t put a bunch of crap on them that’s guaranteed they’ll screw up when I tell them not to put it all on there. Even so, they did fuck it up last time I was there so they’ve promised me a replacement order. Now that I have good ketchup again I should go make good on that.
It’d have to be either the McDonald’s or the Burger King, a couple of miles west of my house (and adjacent to each other). I’ve been living in this house for 25 years, and those are the nearest fast food drive-thrus.
For about 14 months when my wife and I were first married we lived in this total shithole mobile home with a kitchen that was basically useless. We went to Taco Bell probably 3 or 4 times a week, so maybe 200 times over that period. Then we moved to BFE and didn’t eat fast food at all, then we moved to the neighborhood where we are now. We’ve been here 7 years and there’s an Arby’s less than a mile from us. We go there maybe once a month when we really, really don’t feel like cooking dinner. But there was a time for ~6 months or so that I was working almost full time, my wife was working full time, we were both full time students, and our kids were in school. We utilized Arby’s for dinner much more often then so I think that Arby’s is giving the original Taco Bell a run for its money.
Gotta be the McDonald’s near my previous work location. Probably twice a month over 10 year = ~250 times?
Probably a donut shop in Alhambra where I would get a maple bar for my hour long commute from Pasadena to Long Beach 20 years ago. Now I walk to work in a town that isn’t zoned for drive-thrus.