…The Dairy Queen in Plymouth, Wisconsin.
They char-broil their burgers and serve them on Fuzzy the Baker hard rolls!
And they come made to order with whatever condiments you want.
Every now and then we’ll take the hour drive up there just to get some!
Whataburger.
I don’t like Sonic food - but their drinks at happy hour are wonderful. Need to try the In and Outs that recently opened in the Dallas area.
On my one Five Guys visit, the burger was totally unremarkable. Maybe I ought to give them a second chance.
But I don’t recall having had, anywhere, anytime, a chain burger that stacks up reasonably well against what I can cook for myself on my backyard grill. And considering how small the investment in time and energy is that’s involved in grilling burgers on the deck, I’d much rather grill burgers at home than eat them out.
For nostalgia’s sake, Wendy’s had some wonderful burgers when they started their national expansion (late 70s-mid 80s) and became a household name - for all I know, the burgers today may be exactly the same, but Wendy’s isn’t a new, refreshingly-different taste any more.
At this moment, the “new taste” in my life is Culver’s.
I voted for Dairy Queen, although Carl’s Jr/Hardee’s is a close second. I’ve never eaten an In-N-Out burger.
I was just going to post that Fat Mo’s beats anything else in the fast food arena, but is (alas) only available in the Nashville area. Their burgers rock!
They are often undercooked. I like rare and medium-rare burgers fine. And I’ve claimed my immunity to salmonella many times, but one must be stupid to chance it.
And the new fries are boring. I hate to say it, but Arby’s curly fries are better. With a jamocha shake to hold you until you find someplace with better sandwiches.
Dear God, I know those roads, and have the time and econo-car to make the trip.
“Shelley, don’t tell your mom but we are going to a DQ in Wisconsin.”
“OK.”
We worked out what Mom needed to know and what she didn’t need to know some years ago.
Whataburger.
Wow. I can’t even imagine how you could say this with a straight face. Burger King…wow.
Burnt under a real fire? Check.
Mayo, onions, and ketchup? Check.
Sounds like a burger to me.
In the same way some people are befuddled by In N Out or Five Guys love, I’m equally puzzled by Burger King love. They taste like hamburgers that have been doused in Kingsford charcoal lighter fluid and thrown on a grill. Blech. I simply cannot stand their “flame broiled” flavor, whatever the hell it is.
Then again, for that style of burger, I prefer griddled to grilled, anyway. I love the grill, but for me those thin-style patties taste best when cooked on a flat surface, where the entire surface of the patty browns and the edges get a little crisp, and you have a whole lot of Maillard action going on. For me, thin patties=well or medium well on a pan or griddle. Smashing is acceptable in this style, as the oozing juices brown and form a flavorful crust. Thick burgers (usually 1/2 pound and up, but 1/3 could qualify) are best medium-rare, grilled, and no pressing down on the patty.
Midwestern (Chicago suburbs) weighing in here:
I voted BK.
I spent about a minute agonizing between Wendy’s and BK.
I finally decided - Wendy’s has too many “cold” ingredients to its burgers. They make a respectable burger, but then they add cold lettuce, cold tomato, cold onion. This throws off the whole temperature of the burger. I’ve never had a Wendy’s burger that arrived at a proper temperature - the cold ingredients overwhelm and I end up being served a luke-warm burger.
McDonald’s beef tastes to me like it’s either full of filler or cooked to death. Not bad, but tasteless.
Sonic - shit.
Jack in the Box - this is the one I can’t comment on, I’ve never been to one.
Dairy Queen? Please. In my 'hood, they’re only open about nine months / year. You go there to get ice cream, not a burger. I strongly doubt they move enough burgers to keep any sort of “fresh” hamburger.
Carl’s Jr (Hardee’s) - they make some nasty (but delicious) artery killing “indulgence” burgers. I probably would have voted them but they’ve all but disappeared in my area.
White Castle - shit. My brother really likes WC; I can’t fathom why. It’s cheap and open all night; that’s pretty much the selling point. I’ll eat there when I’m drunk or desperate, and it’s not terrible, but let’s have no delusions about it being good.
In&Out - this franchise is a great fraud, IMO. I don’t have any local establishments. It was with great anticipation that I finally ate at one a couple of years ago on the west coast. I waited in line nearly 20 minutes. Finally got my burger, prepared for an indulgent treat, then…WTH? It’s a lame-ass, plain-vanilla, dry burger. Hugely overrated.
BK - who got my vote - far from perfect. Tends to be too messy (overly huge cuts of lettuce, mayo applied Pollack-fashion)
But at least it tastes like meat. The “flame-grilled” Whopper, while probably the same meat+filler as McDonald’s - it’s got a bit of a “burger” taste that McD’s has never done.
So BK gets the nod, for a fast-food burger.
This. For the center of the country we don’t get nearly the locations we should get.
And WTF? I live in Dupage County and, as McDonalds is headquartered three miles from my home, I have grown to expect a Mickey-D’s within a mile of where-ever I am. I ventured into Cook County, a mere seven miles away, and I couldn’t get a half regular iced tea and a half sweet-tea to save my life.
I realize that its reputation suggests it’s taken over the world, but McDonalds has not even taken over the NW burbs of Chicago, where it took its first beachhead.
Well, a thread that truly espouses “de gustibus” and all that. That BK tastes more like meat than any other chain is simply incomprehensible to me.
Anyhow, so far as I know, McD’s and BK use nothing but beef in their patties. No fillers. I wonder if there is any chain that uses fillers in their burgers. I’d guess not.
I’ll also give a nod to Kopp’s in Wisconsin and Kewpee (which used to have hundreds of locations, and is now down to five.)
I chose “Other” and now I 'splain. Mos Burger is hands-down the best fast food hamburger on the planet. Big juicy beef patty, freshest lettuce and tomatoes, and that sauce! I don’t know what it is but it’s tasty. It doesn’t overpower the flavor of the beef. After all, that’s why I order a hamburger, for the beef. When you eat in, they bring the meal to you. The burger looks exactly like the picture on the menu board. No big fluffy bun that’s been smushed (looking at you Burger King), no lettuce and tomato sliding off the burger (Wendy’s) or anything. The pictures on the website are a little different than the ones on the menu board in the restaurant. They’re wrapped in white paper with the end sticking out. The burger you get will look exactly like that, right down to the little bit of sauce dripping down the side.
Long before I met a Mos Burger I’d had an In-and-Out burger. This was pre-Internet. I didn’t know I was supposed to be impressed and I wasn’t . The fries were soggy and flavorless and the burger wasn’t much better. This after waiting 10 minutes. In the past 2 years I’ve tried 3 times, each In-and-Out in a different California city. They were all consistently good burgers but nothing I’d write home about or wear a t-shirt from. Another poster noted that the cheese made the burger. Maybe that’s the difference. I don’t eat cheeseburgers. Cheese takes away from the flavor of the patty.
If I had to choose from the list, it’d be Carl’s Jr/Hardees Angus burgers. I haven’t had one in quite a while but I remember the first. The restaurant was noisy with the workers yelling nonsense at each other, it took forever to fix but damn, was it worth it. Meat that tastes like beef and barely any condiments to take away from that flavor. Ah, thanks for the memory.
I think it’s really weird you list national chains along with smaller regional chains.
When a chain goes truly national, they typically have very tight control over their franchisees. This is because for a chain to have national success they essentially need a very standardized, nationally accepted product. The reason McDonald’s is so successful is because a Big Mac in Alaska is the exact same product as a Big Mac in Florida. McDonald’s has always been my least favorite of the national chains, but I can say as someone who has traveled a lot, anytime I have ended up stopping at one on a lonely interstate no matter where I am I found their offering to those same standards. Even in foreign countries where they may have menu items unknown in the States, the menu items that are similar to those offered here tend to taste the same.
Now, the flip side of that consistency is I think the truth of it is that something that has mass appeal will not be thought of as “great” by most people. It also won’t be thought of as “terrible” by most people. Assuming someone had unlimited money and created a chain of restaurants that served Michelin 3-star quality food at fast food prices just as a social experiment, I can tell you those restaurants would not be as popular as McDonald’s or Wendy’s. It takes a refined palate to appreciate certain things, and there are genuinely people in this world who would eat a Big Mac over a rack of lamb, or who would rather have a fish filet sandwich from Burger King than try sushi prepared by an expert chef. So essentially if you want to appeal to everyone you are going to remove your product from contention of being truly great.
So to have a poll with several national chains along with selected regional ones just isn’t going to be very instructive. I basically decided I was only going to vote on national chains, and I picked Carl’s Jr., we only have Hardee’s here but they merged in 1997 and essentially all the major menu innovations (Six Dollar Burger etc) that exist in Carl’s Jr. exist in Hardee’s. While not 100% the same most Hardee’s restaurants are indistinguishable from Carl’s Jrs these days, and they are working to finalize that process.
I think Dairy Queen is also underrated on its burgers, but in most places 7 out of every 10 Dairy Queens are ice cream only shops and closed down in the winter.
I’m not saying these are the best fast food burgers, but of the national burger chains, which essentially would be McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Carl’s Jr/Hardee’s, and sort-of Dairy Queen Carl’s Jr/Hardee’s have the best hand’s down.
I will also note that Five Guys is a perfect example of the franchise effect. They are still small and have some very dedicated fans who think Five Guys burgers are the best thing since man ground up beef. However, you also have posters who said they have gone into Five Guys restaurants and had really negative experiences. That to me is pretty typically of a young, growing franchise operation. They will have loose controls on quality than a super-controlling franchise like McDonald’s, and their product will not be nearly as standardized. I’d call someone crazy who said a specific McDonald’s in LA was vastly better than a McDonald’s in San Francisco, but a difference like that is definitely possible in a smaller chain like Five Guys where the “process” probably isn’t as hammered down. In a way trying to cook burgers in a manner dissimilar from a “factory” process means you’re going to have high highs and low lows on quality.
I can think of several chains that are in many states, don’t appear on the list, and knock the socks off any of the ones already in the poll:
Smashburger (my vote)
Culver’s
Steak 'n Shake
Five Guys (I don’t really love 5G, but lots of people do…these are people who have never had Smashburger)
And if you could call Red Robin “fast food”, this thread would have been over a long time ago.
wendy’s by far…
Any place that by default puts mayo on a hamburger is disqualified from the beginning.
However, as much as I agree, um, what about In N Out’s hamburger sauce? That’s mayo-based, isn’t it? It’s the only case in which I allow mayo to touch my burger. Normally, I’m a pickles, onions, cheese, mustard & ketchup kinda guy. Keep your mayo, your lettuce, and your sorry, plastic-tasting tomatoes off my burgers.
I just discovered there are multiple Smashburger locations now here in Chicagoland, and one not too far from where I’ll be today. I’m going to have to pop in and see what it’s all about.