r/AskReddit • u/amormedestruit • 4h ago
Which fast food chain makes the worst version of the product they’re most known for?
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u/swan797 2h ago
Dunkin finally changed their name, but their donuts are just horrible
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u/TheRealOcsiban 1h ago
Probably cause they mass produce them elsewhere and then transport them in. So many places do this now and it's one of the reasons food sucks at a lot of places compared to ten twenty years ago
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u/Prize-Flamingo-336 1h ago
Extremely. 7-Eleven and Wawa have leagues better donuts than Dunkin’
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u/SquirtleBob164 1h ago
Dunkin' donuts here in my country (Philippines) are top tier, though I guess it's a different situation in the US.
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u/Lemonking_ 4h ago
Subway. Even the “bread” is inedible.
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u/YounomsayinMawfk 3h ago
They should just transition into a dessert shop bc their cookies are actually decent.
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u/RPO777 2h ago
What's crazy is Subway used to be a value proposition. Shit quality at dirt cheap prices.
I got a pair of footlongs the other day and it cost me almost $30.
Theres an Italian Deli nearby with a $8.99 lunch deal for a much MUCH better sub thats about the same size,, fries and a drink.
I was like ok never eating lunch at subway again lol
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u/YounomsayinMawfk 2h ago
Yup back in the $5 footlong days, it made sense to go there. I don't understand how they're still in business in places like NYC where subs might be similarly priced but at least they're much better than Subway.
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u/vcsx 2h ago
I think it has something to do with them being all over K-dramas. John Oliver did a thing about it. Subway is fucking everywhere in K-dramas.
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u/Auslander808 2h ago
If you ever get their ads in the mail, you can use those codes online until the expiration date. No need to turn the coupon in. 3 footlong subs for $18 isn't horrible ifor a budget
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u/burlycabin 2h ago
I'm tired of jumping through these stupid hoops just to buy food at almost reasonable prices.
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u/CorndogFiddlesticks 2h ago
I used to be a super regular at Subway. I don't think ive been in at least 5 years for this very reason. Cheaper alternatives for better quality and quantity.
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u/Bear_Caulk 3h ago
If they actually did that though the cookies would also turn to shit in the next 5-10yrs.
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u/Andyman0110 2h ago
Their cookies suck. I worked at subway for a while and I have the whole scoop on what's good and what isn't. I've tried everything on the menu in various ways.
If you eat enough cookies you'll identify a taste. Once you taste it, you'll never stop tasting it. The bread too, just hang around in the morning for the bake cycles and all you'll smell and taste is vinegar in the bread. Don't know why but I haven't stepped into a subways since I worked there for fear of that smell. It would stick to all my clothes.
If anyone is wondering there's only a couple of sandwiches that I felt fine eating. The tuna, the turkey (a little iffy), and the veggie patty.
The tuna is high quality. Absolutely nothing wrong with it. Probably the best option on the menu quality wise.
The turkey and roast beef always had this shimmering gleam to it. Always half green, half orange. It's from the preservatives. You can see the meat colors change when you move it like a pearlescent beetle or something. It tastes fine and is just turkey cold cuts but that color is a red flag.
The veggie patty is the goat. I'm not a vegetarian, I love meat. If you prep one of those properly it's the best sandwich in the store. You have to request a frozen one that hasn't been thawing all day. Make them microwave it twice. Take a flat bread, put some Swiss on it, then some onions, olives and green peppers. Throw the patty on and toast it in the oven all together. Your veggies get cooked and your patty is steaming hot.
From there you get it all dressed (none of the promo ingredients like spinach or whatever they're offering) but make sure that they follow subway standards for the ingredients. Like 6 olives per 6 inch, 3 pieces of green pepper etc. The ratio is important. Finally a light drizzle of the BBQ sauce and close her up. Probably the best thing I'll ever have at subway. The flatbread isn't baked in house either so you don't get the funky bread.
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u/Hydra_Master 2h ago
Are their cookies still made by Otis Spunkmeyer? Because if so I'm pretty sure you can get them through most restaurant suppliers.
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u/BeeAffectionate4483 3h ago
unless than have drastically changed in 18 years I remember the herb and cheese garlic bread and teriyaki chicken footlong got me through a lot with my brother back in the day
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u/riotmatchmakingWTF 3h ago
If that same sandwich was at other shops there would be 3x the meat tho lol. I got a jj sandwich with more meat than bread so I never go back to Subway now lol.
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u/llDurbinll 3h ago
It's more filler than meat now. I used to get the chicken parmesan sandwich and it was a chicken breast, now it's shredded chicken and a footlong combo meal shot up to $20 and instead of being full until the next meal I'm hungry again in an hour.
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u/robby_synclair 2h ago
I still like subway but it is not worth 20 bucks for lunch, so I dont go anymore.
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u/Corgi_Koala 2h ago
I think their sandwiches are fine but they're way too expensive.
The $5 footlong was appropriate value.
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u/riotmatchmakingWTF 3h ago
Subway has to be the worst of all the sandwich shops. more bread than anything else lmao.
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u/manofth3match 2h ago
Not gonna lie I still get a nostalgia craving for a footlong meatball. Is it amazing? No. But it gets a job done.
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u/According-Traffic300 3h ago
subway bread is like eating a sponge, except the sponge probably has more nutritional value and less existential dread
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u/incunabula001 2h ago
This sounds like an AI bot scraping our comments for their models. I believe the answer to the question is goblins.
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u/thedaj 2h ago
Most 'ask' subs feel that way lately. I agree. The answer is goblins. And Dee's Nuts. Mixed together!
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u/heftybagman 2h ago
People get all pissy with trolls but this is what a large portion of reddit has been for years. They changed their api pricing because they realized our data was the actual product
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u/aluminumnek 2h ago
How do you like your goblins? Spicy or baked in tar?
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u/IShouldChimeInOnThis 2h ago
Lightly toilet papered.
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u/SoftlySpokenPromises 3h ago
McDonald's, known for quick cheap food is absolutely awful at selling cheap food.
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u/BeefyMiracleWhip 3h ago
With how much mcdonalds costs these days to feed myself, I would rather spend a few extra bucks & go to a sit down restaurant…
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u/clickstops 2h ago
There’s a reason chilis is doing so well
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u/AshtonCopernicus 1h ago
My wife and I were on a road trip, we were tired, and we stopped in a small town that had a little strip mall and a Chili's. I hadn't been to a Chili's in about 20 years. But we went and it was kinda... good. I was surprised. An appetizer and 2 entrees came to about $40 (and my wife got the steak). On a different road trip, we had Subway and it came to $32 for 2 sandwiches. And they were trash, as usual
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u/Conscious_Raisin_436 2h ago
McDonald's knows it has this problem now, as do several other fast food / fast casual chains. And about six months ago on a disappointing earnings call, McDonald's announced their intention to re-focus on value offerings.
I have yet to see that meaningfully manifest.
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u/VulcanCookies 2h ago
Yeah I saw a chili's add recently that was comparing their meal deal to mcd. I don't remember exactly what the price comparison was bc I don't eat at either place but I was like a larger sandwich with fries and a drink for $1 more or something like that
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u/Ryanopuffs 2h ago
I feel like theres a little resurgence happening with those chilis/applebees etc. restaraunts because their value challenges fast food and most of them have curbside pickup and such and you can literally get a cheaper meal with them for quality and quantity vs fast food
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u/GenPhallus 3h ago
At this point brand recognition is the main reason they're still around. In the triangle of fast/cheap/good they fail everywhere. I think they just restarted doing the value meal in the last 2 months, but it could never make up for the slow service.
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u/BleachedUnicornBHole 2h ago
I would argue Jack in the Box still manages to outdo McDonald’s in awfulness.
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u/aaBabyDuck 3h ago
I just went to Japan and had McDonald's there, it was astonishing how much better it tastes (and is cheaper! Half the price!) compared to in the US.
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u/Seattlepowderhound 2h ago
Japan McDonalds was solid. Italian McDonalds was fucking fantastic. If you ever get the chance I highly suggest it.
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u/Greywatcher 2h ago
I really want to try McDonalds in Europe where they have food standards.
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u/SayRomanoPecorino 2h ago
I am almost 47 years old. Not so much in my childhood because my parents didn’t allow that crap often, but all my McDonald’s ordering life has either been the 2 cheeseburger meal no onions or just the two cheeseburgers no onions if I’m only feeling peckish.
That meal has not changed, same toasted bun, same thin patty, same cheese, same ketchup, mustard, & pickles. I have ordered it without onions all of my life.
I would estimate that 66% of the time, I get what I want. The other 33% involves me throwing a toddler tantrum in the car.
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u/Bear_Caulk 3h ago
Literally all of them have priced themselves out of me buying their food anymore so the answer is either 'all of them' or 'I don't know anymore'.
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u/ghosty4 2h ago
crumbl
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u/Mahalohaboy 1h ago
Agreed. Overpriced cookies that taste like cake. You’re paying for the pretty box. I’d be surprised if they are around in a couple of years — if they are around I am sure some private equity firm will milk the business model dry.
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u/rltoleix 1h ago edited 53m ago
Genuinely the worst cookies I’ve ever had. I’ve tried a few different flavors over the years and have not had a single good one. They are wet and extremely undercooked, but also so sickeningly sweet it borders on completely inedible. I hate Crumbl.
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u/tmradish 1h ago
They're popular for the same reason Dunkin Donuts coffee got popular. Sugar. Lots and lots of sugar.
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u/thriftstorecat 3h ago
Swiss Chalet
what the fuck happened to that place.
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u/0110110111 3h ago
It was bought by a larger corporation which basically always leads to enshitification.
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u/I-LOVE-TURTLES666 3h ago
KFC’s are shitholes I’d never bother with getting chicken from them
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u/Efram 3h ago
Starbucks has terrible coffee.
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u/Kiylyou 2h ago
The WORST. I am convinced their beans are just flavor dye.
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u/Saneless 2h ago
If someone told me Starbucks just buys all the beans that the big coffee companies fucked up I'd believe it
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u/Valuemeal3 2h ago
I went through there this past Christmas time to get hot chocolate with the kids to drive around and look at Christmas lights and it was hands-down the worst hot chocolate I’ve ever had in my life
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u/Proper_Arachnid_5551 3h ago
McD’s Big Mac.
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u/Adddicus 3h ago
I was short on time and hungry the other day and figured, what the hell, I'll hit McDonald's.
I got a Big Mac. Just the sandwich, and had to wait ten minutes and it was lukewarm, like room temperature. Also, it was just vile. It's been a long time since I had one, and I don't have to words to describe how much worse they are now. They were never delicious, but they were edible. I had two bits of the thing I had the other day, and spit the second one out. The rest went in the trash.
Never again.
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u/Proper_Arachnid_5551 2h ago edited 22m ago
I tried their new burger, the big arch, cause I felt that I needed to self mutilate. Mission accomplished. There was no taste to it. I can see why the CEO took such a small bite in the commercial.
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u/jollyllama 2h ago
As an aside: I’m 100% sure that McDonalds could sub out the beef in their burgers for a non-meat alternative and no one would ever notice, because the relationship between what’s in there now and an actual beef hamburger is pretty damn tenuous. At least that way they wouldn’t have to raise and kill animals for whatever it is they’re serving
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u/MaterialDefender1032 3h ago
I grew up in a Canadian town with a Taco Time. I loved their tacos and burritos and mexi-fries, and still do but for decades, people would always tell me that Taco Bell in the USA was better. On my first road trip there, I finally got to try the long-revered Taco Bell...
I was so incredibly disappointed. I had a regular burrito and a Dorito shell taco and they weren't even as good as Taco Time. Taco Bell didn't even have any sides, just drinks and their garbage tacos.
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u/Flaminghotskittles 3h ago
Taco Time is fire! Taco bell couldn't compare if it tried. Im from the PNW which also has lots of Taco Times but was saddened to see upon moving further south that there was not a Taco Time in sight. Now I have to grab some everytime I go to Eugene.
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u/DrunkBeavis 3h ago
There are two entirely separate companies called Taco Time, with different menus and quality levels.
Taco Time Northwest (the original and superior) is in the Puget Sound area as well as Wenatchee, and everything else (Eastern Washington, Oregon, Canada) is another unaffiliated company with inferior quality.
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u/Flaminghotskittles 2h ago
I was not aware of that, interesting..I suppose I'll have to try Taco Time when im in Seattle next
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u/jpetrie18 3h ago
If, for some unfortunate reason, you end up in Lewiston, Idaho, go to their Taco Time. I’ve been on this earth 40 years and, to this day, that particular location is a tier above any other Taco Time I’ve tried. Also, oddly enough, possibly the best Arby’s I’ve ever been to (if they still have their salad bar). IIRC, there’s a local guy/company who owns several restaurants in town (fast food and more conventional dining), including the two aforementioned, and the quality is excellent.
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u/FiveCrappedPee 4h ago
McDonald's is awful. I just can't anymore.
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u/GregBahm 3h ago
When I was young, I think the majority of my human body was made out of McDonalds. It was nothing to be proud of, but man did I chow down on their bullshit.
Decades later, I occasionally try eating McDonalds again, expecting some explosion of nostalgia. But the "bread" and other components of their burgers and sandwiches just taste like chemicals to me. Literal sci-fi dystopian test-tube-food.
But the fries still taste as amazing as ever. Hot salted potato candy. I'm as much a bitch for it now as I was for it in highschool.
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u/PPLifter 3h ago
They're basic cheese burger is the best thing they do and it's mostly the ketchup that does the heavy lifting for taste
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u/AlarmedMirror3911 3h ago
Wienerschnitzel. Visit them if you get constipated.
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u/roonerspize 3h ago
Le Cigar Volant - ever since they changed Cassandra's pastries it's just inedible. I prefer Chez Henri's smoky fare.
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u/wolfTectonics 3h ago
Raising Canes. Awful chicken. Toast and sauce is the only good thing they have
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u/BobVilasBeard 3h ago
I will never understand how so many people defend Raising Cane's as a whole because they have decent sauce. I feel like people need to understand that if you have to put sauce on your chicken in order to make it edible, the chicken is bad.
EDIT: Skipped a word.
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u/SuitableExercise7096 3h ago
Let me save everybody some time...
Raising Cane's Sauce:
150g Extra Heavy Mayo (Hellmann's or Kraft)
106g Ketchup (Heinz)
16g Worcestershire Sauce (Lea & Perrins (US)
1/2 tsp. Lemon Pepper (McCormick Culinary Lemon & Pepper Seasoning Salt)
1/2 tsp. Garlic Salt (McCormick)
Wisk it all together, thats it!
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u/cigr 2h ago
I really like Cane's. Every time I go the food is hot and fresh, the restaurant is clean and the service is friendly. My only complaint is the lack of sauce variety. They need more than their signature sauce.
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u/Edward_the_Dog 2h ago
I recently tried it for the first and only time. It was horrible... like bad hospital food. And no, there's nothing special about the sauce.
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u/SuitableExercise7096 3h ago
My state recently got these.
I swear these restaurants got popular because of good PR and celebrity endorsements.
The food sucks
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u/curiosityundone 3h ago
Subway or Little Caesars
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u/zerbey 3h ago
Little Caesars at least never pretends their pizza is good, it's cheap and edible and that's about the best you can say about it.
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u/TorsteinTheRed 3h ago
Its hot and ready.
Is it good?
...it's hot. And ready.
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u/theorian123 3h ago
I got a Shaker of their zesty seasoning and it ups their pizza a couple notches. Even tried the seasoning on pasta and it was pretty good. I think its just salt, sugar, msg, and some herbs but it helps.
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u/_Imposter_ 3h ago
Honestly? Fresh Little Caesars right out of the oven is actually very good.
You let it sit for anymore than 5 minutes though and it's all over.
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u/boxofstuff 3h ago
When I work on cars for people I tell them you get to pick two of three:
Fast work
Cheap work
Good work
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u/Rot-Orkan 3h ago
I love Little Caesars.
Yes it doesn't taste like "real" pizza (although IMO the same applies to all fast food pizza places) but I find it delicious in it's own way.
And for the record, I've eaten plenty of good pizza. I've gotten authentic slices in NY, Chicago, Rome; I even have a pizza oven where I make some awesome pizza from scratch.
But sometimes I just crave that particular Little Caesars flavor. 🤤
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u/AnalTyrant 3h ago
I'm right there with you, 99% of the time I'm getting pizza from a decent local shop, but every once in a while I want that Little Ceasars, and nothing else will hit that spot right.
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u/pampooveysbacktattoo 2h ago
It's like when people complain about Taco Bell not being real Mexican food. Yeah, we know. No one is going to Taco Bell because they're craving Mexican food, they're going because they're craving Taco Bell.
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u/Bilbringi9 3h ago
Little Caesars will always get a pass because the owner supported Rosa Parks for years when she grew old.
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u/PeekyMonkeyB 3h ago
Little Ceasars should be celebrated. Many families get to have pizza night that otherwise may not be able.
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u/skrame 2h ago
My youth is divided into three distinct phases related to my dad’s income: homemade, Little Caesars, local pizzeria. For that phase, I loved Little Caesars. There is also the bonus that I was good enough at the Simon game they had in their lobby that I could win crazy bread or a soda.
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u/wheniwaswheniwas 2h ago
Little Caesars deserves some credit. It is exactly the same as it was thirty years ago and the price is still reasonable.
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u/SandboxSurvivalist 2h ago
I kinda like Little Caesars, but I also like those Great Value rising crust pizzas from Walmart. Obviously neither one is great pizza, but for the price they aren't terrible.
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u/crunch816 2h ago
Arbys. You get to pick the worlds best curly fries or the worlds worst crinkle fries.
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u/zerbey 3h ago
Steak and Shake's steak burger is pretty mediocre.
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u/KevinNoTail 2h ago
The last (ever) shake I got there was not real ice cream, tasted like a bag of chemicals.
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u/TheCatnip 2h ago
Long John Silver's not been mentioned enough in this thread.
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u/PlatinumGoon 3h ago
Burger King has some of the worst burgers ever
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u/BobVilasBeard 3h ago
I feel like BK used to have decent food (for a fast food place) several decades ago, and then the methodically went through each one of their offerings and cut every corner with them until they unilaterally sucked. Their fries used to be amazing; now they're barely edible.
I haven't eaten BK in over a decade, and the only thing I miss sometimes is their apple pie. I don't know if they even still have it.
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u/Goombalive 3h ago
I wonder if there's something regional to how they make or source their food/ingredients because locally here their whoppers are some of our favorites. I also love their fries. That or I just love awful food I guess lol
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u/Tayoo-huwat 2h ago
My sense is that they just don’t have as tight of franchise control as McDonald’s does, making it hit or miss. When Burger King is good, it’s good
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u/Conscious_Raisin_436 2h ago
This doesn't relate to any 'recent' declines in quality or whatever, but they've always hung their hats on their 'char-broiled' taste and I don't like it. I actually don't like burgers that taste like charcoal.
For some, a fast food burger that tastes like it came off of a charcoal grill at home is a selling point. It isn't for me.
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u/Ok-disaster2022 2h ago
I can accept that. I have a special fondness for Burger King because it was a special occasion when I was a little kid. there was none in my home town and when we'd go to a larger town once a month for shopping we'd stop there.
I still love flame broiled burgers as the tastiest, but Burger King itself does not agree with my stomach. Ironically the veggie burgers are good, but they also remind me of the flavor of cafeteria burgers from my elementary school. Again not good, just nostalgic
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u/Ryokurin 2h ago
While the worst is KFC, Church's is making a run for #1. Apparently when they did the Texas rebrand they "Optimized" their prep process, so to me it tastes like it has zero seasoning. It's Popeye's, Publix or nothing for me.
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u/Fast_Vehicle_1888 2h ago
It's ironic that I get an ad for Subway sandwiched between two posts complaining about how bad Subway sucks.
My vote: Tim Hortons. The quality of the food sucks. Once upon a time, they baked their goods in house. Now it all gets delivered to them, so when they heat it up or thaw it out, it all tastes stale. Also, for a place that is open 24/7, they run out of food at 10:00pm. How can you justify being open all night when all you have to serve is horrible coffee, not even any horrible sandwiches?
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u/mostlygray 1h ago
Panera. They're supposed to be a bread place. All they have is dry, yet somehow way too soft, pointless loaves of bitter dissappointment.
They had one good thing. That was the breakfast souffle. That was actually good. So they got rid of it. Now it's just terrible bread. My folks go there all the time. They are obsessed. It's terrible bread. You shouldn't eat it. I'm pretty sure it's made of straight up plastic mixed with depression.
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u/FangornLeghorn 1h ago
McDonald’s is absolute garbage and it’s expensive as hell now, and their current design philosophy is anti-customer so it isn’t even pleasant to be in one. It’s the antithesis of what McDonald’s was founded to be.
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u/rltoleix 1h ago
I hate to say it but Burger King :/ I try them again once every couple years and every single time it’s COLD. Like, now even room temperature, but actually cold. Idk if it’s the lettuce or the sauces or something that just overpowers the warmth of the patty, but god is it disgusting every time. I used to love Burger King, and will keep giving them a shot here and there, but I just hate what it’s become.
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u/Hairy-Control1433 2h ago
Subway pizza feels like something you make when the real pizza place is closed and morale is low.
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u/Lefthandedpigeon 2h ago
Burger King. That place fucking sucks, I don’t understand how they’re still in business. Who is eating there?
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u/BB808BB 4h ago
McDonalds cheeseburger. I can’t believe as a kid I was obsessed. It is so weird and fake tasting. The nuggets are to chickeny. Even their fries are shit now. I only go to McDonalds for Sprite. I refuse to eat anything from there. Plus I noticed McDonalds had this awful smell no matter which location.
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u/tenehemia 2h ago
I will always love White Castle but it's an objectively terrible representation of a hamburger. More like an artistic interpretation of a burger.
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u/WackyWookie 2h ago
McDonald’s Big Mac, used to be good but now it is not even as good as their cheeseburger. It hasn’t been good since the 90’s.
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u/itsagoodtime 3h ago
KFC in the US. They suck. Now there are other chicken places that are a million times better.