Fast-food rankings!

[Dunefar]

Gonna update this tonight. In the meanwhile, I have a question. I've milled through most of the big fast food places by now, do any of you have any writeins you'd like to see ranked? I think this topic is about concluded otherwise.

[Bobbin Cranbud]

Write-in suggestions:

Steak and Shake
Smash! Burger
Good Times Burgers and Frozen Custard
Hamburger Stand
Winchell's Donuts
Noodles & Co.

[Ultradude]

Gimme a day.

[VySaika]

Panda Express, Wienerschnitzel and Schlotzsky's are my suggestions.

[Dunefar]

Updating this tomorrow; giving Ultradude the rest of the day to post like he asked.

[Taishyr]

I can't really think of any major ones, myself, unless we branch into franchise restaurants (Applebee's).

[VySaika]

I wouldn't mind moving on from fast food into franchise restaraunts, actually.

[Dunefar]

Chipotle Mexican Grill: 10/10. Again, the price is reasonable, the food is always prepared fresh, and they taste awesome. I love that you can customize their offerings to your liking. Burrito? Taco? (Crispy or soft? Corn or flour?) Bowl? Quesadilla? Would you like fajita vegetables? Rice? Beans? Pinto or black? Which salsa? They taste the best when you get the meat fresh off the line, but I love them any time. The fact that Andrew and I make a point to eat here once a week says enough, I think. Besides which, they practice progressive food handling policies, something I very much appreciate.

By the way, what the hell are progressive food handling policies?

[Dunefar]

Time to make the magical results!

In-and-Out Burger: 8.62, 8 rankers.
Chick-Fil-A: 7.10, 10 rankers.
Chipotle Mexican Grill: 7.33, 6 rankers.
Church's Fried Chicken: 2.57, 7 rankers.
Little Caesar's Pizza: 6.35, 14 rankers.

Saving the best for the end, eh? The high score just got schooled 4 times in one ranking session.

1. In-and-Out Burger: 8.62, 8 rankers.
2. Chipotle Mexican Grill: 7.33, 6 rankers.
3. Chick-Fil-A: 7.10, 10 rankers.
4. Little Caesar's Pizza: 6.35, 14 rankers.
5. KFC: 6.30, 13 rankers.
6. Pizza Hut: 6.02, 17 votes.
7. Popeye's: 5.80, 10 votes.
8. Taco Bell: 5.52, 17 votes.
9t. Checkers/Rally's: 5.50, 4 votes.
9t. Panera Bread: 5.50, 10 rankers.
11. Wendys: 5.41, 17 votes.
12. Dairy Queen: 5.31, 16 votes.
13. Sonic's: 5.20, 12 rankers.
14. A&W: 5.09, 11 votes.
15. Dominoes: 5.05, 17 votes.
16. Hardee's/Carl Jr: 5.00, 8 votes.
17. Subway: 4.97, 20 rankers.
18. McDonalds: 4.88, 18 votes.
19. Quiznos: 4.73, 13 votes.
20. Dunkin Donuts: 4.72, 9 rankers.
21t. Long John Silver's: 4.61, 13 votes.
21t. Papa John's: 4.61, 13 votes.
23. Arby's: 4.35, 14 votes.
24. Burger King: 4.25, 16 votes.
25t. Jack-in-the-box: 4.20, 5 rankers.
25t. Tim Horton's(For you Krazy Kanadians): 4.20, 5 rankers.
27. Krispy Kreme: 3.66, 15 rankers.
28. Boston Market: 3.50, 4 rankers.
29. White Castle: 3.33, 3 rankers.
30. Church's Fried Chicken: 2.57, 7 rankers.

As we approach the final week of this topic, I'm going to throw in any and all reader suggestions. While I could extend this with restaurant entries, I'm not really interested in going that far. If someone else wants to, by all means go for it.

Steak and Shake
Smash! Burger
Good Times Burgers and Frozen Custard
Hamburger Stand
Winchell's Donuts
Noodles & Co.
Panda Express
Wiener schnitzel
Scholotzsky's

[Dunefar]

Scholotzsky's: 0/10. I had them and I regretted it. Cheap food, overpriced and crappy sauces on everything.

[Lady Door]

Chipotle Mexican Grill: 10/10. Again, the price is reasonable, the food is always prepared fresh, and they taste awesome. I love that you can customize their offerings to your liking. Burrito? Taco? (Crispy or soft? Corn or flour?) Bowl? Quesadilla? Would you like fajita vegetables? Rice? Beans? Pinto or black? Which salsa? They taste the best when you get the meat fresh off the line, but I love them any time. The fact that Andrew and I make a point to eat here once a week says enough, I think. Besides which, they practice progressive food handling policies, something I very much appreciate.

By the way, what the hell are progressive food handling policies?

Perhaps it was a poor choice of words, but I was referring to their Food With Integrity platform. Observe:

"The hallmarks of Food With Integrity include things like unprocessed, seasonal, family-farmed, sustainable, nutritious, naturally raised, added hormone free, organic, and artisanal. And, since embracing this philosophy, it's had tremendous impact on how we run our restaurants and our business. It's led us to serve more naturally raised meat than any other restaurant in the country, to push for more sustainable practices in produce farming, and to work with dairy suppliers to eliminate the use of added hormones from their operations. "

[Nitori]

Panda Express - Well I ate at one in Arizona and it made me sick for a bit so 10/10 since this topic is about judging fast food places based on a few small locations

[superaielman]

Chipotle Mexican Grill: 10/10. Again, the price is reasonable, the food is always prepared fresh, and they taste awesome. I love that you can customize their offerings to your liking. Burrito? Taco? (Crispy or soft? Corn or flour?) Bowl? Quesadilla? Would you like fajita vegetables? Rice? Beans? Pinto or black? Which salsa? They taste the best when you get the meat fresh off the line, but I love them any time. The fact that Andrew and I make a point to eat here once a week says enough, I think. Besides which, they practice progressive food handling policies, something I very much appreciate.

By the way, what the hell are progressive food handling policies?

Perhaps it was a poor choice of words, but I was referring to their Food With Integrity platform. Observe:

"The hallmarks of Food With Integrity include things like unprocessed, seasonal, family-farmed, sustainable, nutritious, naturally raised, added hormone free, organic, and artisanal. And, since embracing this philosophy, it's had tremendous impact on how we run our restaurants and our business. It's led us to serve more naturally raised meat than any other restaurant in the country, to push for more sustainable practices in produce farming, and to work with dairy suppliers to eliminate the use of added hormones from their operations. "

(This isn't aimed at you, but at the company)

That reads like a verbal blowjob given by the new internationalist editorial staff. I like Chipotle's food, but I'm not sure they could pile on more pretentious bullshit without having a new age 'I'm completely cool with everyone and everything' God come down and personally shit out the ingredients.

[VySaika]

Was actually thinking much the same there...only with less, uh, descriptive word choices. It looks like Ye Olde List Of Buzzwords, which tends to make me a bit cautious of something rather then put me at ease. Especially since that so often turns into a flimsy excuse to charge higher prices.

[Dunefar]

It sounds like something to get the consumer dollars of the stereotypical lefty. I was going to say Californian since I thought they were based in California, but turns out they started in Denver. Oh well! Point is that it reads like an intellectual clap-trap of shit that looks good when you make six figures and spend all day in an office.

[Cotigo]

That reads like a verbal blowjob given by the new internationalist editorial staff. I like Chipotle's food, but I'm not sure they could pile on more pretentious bullshit without having a new age 'I'm completely cool with everyone and everything' God come down and personally shit out the ingredients.

Well no shit.  It's a fucking corporation, their job is to advertise and make themselves sound as "good" as possible.  The flip side is that they get mired in corporate speak, but this is far from an egregious example of it.  E.G., go buy some Domino's and read the fucking box.  "Years of listening to feedback from our customers has lead us to create pizza perfectitude blah blah blah garlic bread blah blah blah blah blah." Same damn bullshit.

It's not even that bad since all that nonsense about them using organic vegetables and humanely raised meat is fucking true.

I'm all for calling companies out on this sort of obfuscatory advertising, but really?  Pick your fucking battles here.

EDIT:  Speaking of Dominos, I'm upgrayedding them from a 4/10 to a 7/10.  I hadn't had them since they changed their recipe.  They're pretty damn greasy but it actually tastes good now.  That focus group that trashed their product up and down was really good for them.

[Luther Lansfeld]

It's kind of interesting. On one hand, I agree with Super/Dune that it's a mumbo jumbo of hippie/yuppie words (organic is such a stupid word to describe a subset of living things that you eat...). When I see 'organic' vegetables at the store it's like buying the same vegetable at 1.5x the price so you can feel a warm, squishy feeling inside.

On the other hand, I do approve of ethical practices with regards to livestock and animals, since animals are traditionally abused in the corporate-type settings. Reading a bit about it is a little disgusting; a lot of the animals are designed to not even be able to walk and stuff which is terrible. But at the end of the day, I'm not sure if it's any more ethical to kill animals to eat period. So I guess it's a matter of your priorities.

[Cotigo]

My whole thing is that the corporate nonsense spouted off by Chipotle is something the corporation is actually attempting to do, instead of a sales tactic, as such language is normally associated with.  Taking issue with that but not other advertising lingo spewed out by any other corporation?  It's sheer retardation.  That sort of language gets tossed around so often that it's actually quite nice to see it associated with some ethical stance the company is attempting to make instead of some trite sales tactic.

[Hunter Sopko]

On the other hand, I do approve of ethical practices with regards to livestock and animals, since animals are traditionally abused in the corporate-type settings.

Yeah. It's pretty terrible when they get their Casual Fridays cancelled. I heard the cows at Goldman-Sachs had to take a 19% pay cut just because, while the CEO gets a pay raise. Awful.

[Grefter]

Thus we have further proof of the fact that comedy songs from the mid 90s are inspired by Reaganomics

[Bobbin Cranbud]

Re: Chipotle
Starting in Denver is the pretty much the same as starting in California.  Most of the people here are either displaced Californians or wanna-be Californians. ;)
The oddest thing about that corporate bullshitspeak is that the kind of people most likely to respond positively to the sentiment are the kind of people most likely to be put off by the language.
But whatever, hate Mexican food, etc.

Steak and Shake
What it says on the tin: extremely high quality beef, extremely high quality milkshakes.  Their hamburgers are done in a very unusual and tasty style and they always, always get them done properly (which is more than most places that use this much meat can say).  All their food is excellent.
10/10

Smash! Burger
Speaking of high quality beef!  Smash! Burger goes the opposite route from Steak & Shake, delivering huge, thick patties, which means for safety's sake you have to specifically ask for them well done.  They offer tons of options on their burgers/chicken sandwiches, as well as three different types of high quality sides.  With their not!healthy but look it kind of menu choices, they're definitely in the wanna-be Californian mold of Colorado businesses, but the stuff people actually buy is superb.
10/10

Good Times Burgers and Frozen Custard
Once upon a time, they had delicious fries, mildly battered and cooked to a gleaming golden sheen.  Then the started serving shit-tastic heavily battered, heavily spiced fries.  Then they got rid of their original fries entirely and started rebranding as a healthy (not) Dairy Queen alternative.  At least they have the DQ-like thoroughly average hamburgers down.
3/10

Hamburger Stand
Recently added decent but unspectacular fish to a very tasty and cheap burger and fries menu.  They're connected to... TasteeFreeze, I think?  But I haven't been eating much ice cream since I started going here.
7.5/10

Winchell's Donuts
I guess they do something other than donuts?  But why?  Anyway, they're a tasty treat, the best of the major donut chains by a huge margin when it comes to the flavors I like.
7.5/10

Noodles & Co.
One of those "fast food joints trying to be healthy," and they may actually come in spitting distance of succeeding.  Surprisingly, their food is decent, too.
7/10

[Scar]

Steak and Shake - 8 - One of the best late night beer munchies spots around. though I prefer Village Inn to this any drunk day of the week! (Ate at Village inn last night, DELICIOUS!)

[jsh357]

Looks like this thread is dead, but I had a great time reading the posts and thought I'd share my ratings as well.


Chick-Fil-A - 10/10
I love this place, even though I worked there for 1.5 years.  The chicken is always delicious, Polynesian sauce is amazing, and their sweet tea is the nectar of the gods.  You really can't go wrong with much here, and I know from my work experience that most CFAs are scarily dedicated to providing ultimate service and quality in their junk food.  If you don't mind the calories, those milkshakes are amazing.

Little Caesar's - 3/10
Their pizza tastes like a cracker with cheese on it.

KFC - 2/10
Even though they have veggies, everything is cooked with this horrifying grease that scares me to death.  I have never seen a clean KFC.  Also, the double down is disgusting.  That said, it's chicken, so it can't be all bad.

Pizza Hut - 7/10
Generally satisfying pizza, and their other food isn't so bad either.  Not my favorite place, but I'll eat there with friends.

Taco Bell - 10/10
Almost as good as CFA.  Soft Tacos are cheap, filling, and delicious.  I also like the quesadillas.  Don't know what sauce is in them, but it has me hooked.

Checkers/Rally's - 5/10
I have never eaten a meal here, but their fries are great.

Panera - 2/10
Awful wannabe hipster lounge.  Their bagels are pretty good, though.

Wendy's - 7/10
Generally solid, but it really depends on the store.  Sometimes their burgers are never cooked right, sometimes they're amazing.  I've always liked their fries, and frosties seem lighter than most fast food desserts.

Dairy Queen - 5/10
Only the ice cream is good, and it's not as good as Friendly's, Ben and Jerry's, or even Chick-Fil-A's.

Sonic - 6/10
Drinks are awesome, food is all right but ultra-greasy.

Domino's - 8/10
I thought they were just BSing about changing their pizza formula, but they weren't!  Wow, it's actually really good now.  Used to hate Domino's, but now I can dig 'em.  They still deliver too, unlike several other pizza places.

Hardee's - 4/10
Eh, they aren't bad, but decidedly middle tier.

Subway - 3/10
What people see in this place I will never know.  Their food is NOT any healthier than the average fast food.  Bread always outweighs everything they put on the sandwich, and said stuff tends to be flavorless.

McDonalds - 2/10
They get a point for serving southern-style chicken in the north (one of the things I miss most when I'm up there) but otherwise their food is toxic.

Quizno's - 6/10
Pretty good sub shop, nothing extremely special though.

Dunkin Donuts - 1/10
I swear they just rub transfat in to everything.  Their drinks aren't even good.  I have heard the coffee is good, but I am not a coffee person.

Papa John's - 5/10
Middle tier pizza.

Arby's - 4/10
Way overrated.  I will never understand what people see in this place.  Their menu has no focus, and I can never figure out what their specialty is.  Other places have better chicken, beef, and side items.

Burger King - 8/10
Wow, surprised this has such a low rating.  I'd say I have a good experience at BK most of the time, but I guess I could just be getting lucky.  Icees are a big plus.  When I want a giant, fattening sloppy burger, I'll pick BK 9 times out of 10.

Krispy Kreme - 1/10
Sugar overload

White Castle - 2/10
All right, but not as good as Krystal.

[Grefter]

I am disappointed that this was not a Fast-Food rankings Lets Play.

[Taishyr]

I'm pretty sure there's a show about that. "Man Engulfs Food" or something along those lines.

Side note on topic: Yeah, Dominoes isn't kidding. New version's pretty good.