Rating the hamburger chains

[PigsDad]

@PigsDad Did you ever eat at the Whataburger on Pecos and about 74th? Ate there once, couldn't see anything great about it. Closed years ago, a Unique Burger moved in, not all that different from Jim's Burger Haven, but it also went out of business. Both north locations of Jim's Burger Haven are still thriving. I like those burgers, but Culver's is better. I don't eat the bun and those burgers are really great without a bun.

We ate at a Whataburger on the road last year (was meh) and should have tried the Cooking Out fast food next door. Sounds like that would be the place to get a good burger.

I've tried Whataburger a few times when traveling, mostly in Texas. I was never impressed. I thought the burger was greasy, but I will say the bun was better than most.

Kurt

 

[jrb916]

Cook out is very popular in my area….and there are around 10 locations between Wilmington, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC along the Rt 17 highway.

Had Cook-out in Nashville & Atlanta area. Only place I can get a burger w/ a corn dog & chix quesadilla for my sides!!!

 

[DebBrown]

Speaking of Portillo's, DW told me about their Chocolate Cake Shakes OMG! My blood glucose spiked just imagining it:

LOL! I have NOT tried this.

 

[DebBrown]

When I had Culvers on my trip to Branson it was a big meh.

See... that's too far from the Wisconsin border. They definitely go downhill.

 

[SmithOp]

California needs some Culver's Burgers. The frozen custard is terrific as well. Rick likes the fries but I get broccoli and no bun for the burger. The prices have really increased at Culver's. Five Guys is too expensive for a family.

Smash Burger used to have the Colorado Burger with green chiles on it. That was good but they stopped doing it. I could always buy my own chile and lay it on the top.

If you don't want the bun, try this secret menu item at Culver's, it's my wife's favorite. She also orders protein style at in n out.

Key Details About the Culver's Chop Steak Dinner:
What it is: The dish consists of two of Culver’s standard beef patties (used in ButterBurgers) smothered in rich gravy, onions, and mushrooms, often placed over a slice of bread to soak up the gravy.

Sides: It typically comes with two sides, with popular choices being mashed potatoes with gravy, broccoli, or onion rings.

How to Order: It is rarely on the menu board. Customers must ask for it directly at the counter or drive-thru, as it is considered a secret or discontinued item in many regions.

Taste: It is often described as similar to a rustic meatloaf or a smothered hamburger steak, offering a comforting, savory flavor.

Availability: While many locations can still make it, some stores have removed it entirely from their system.
The meal is often compared to the Beef Pot Roast dinner (another, more widely available, "hidden" favorite) but features ground beef patties instead of shredded beef.

 

[DrQ]

The meal is often compared to the Beef Pot Roast

I love Culver's beef pot roast! It sells out fast.

 

[Pennytx]

I love Steak ‘n Shake

 

[Pennytx]

The problem with these rankings is that most of these chain's are only out West and those of us in the East cannot sample them. I am in the DC area and many of these chains do not have a presence here.

In DC I go to Murphys Irish Bar in Old Town on Tuesdays, half price, fresh ground and great beer specials

 

[kanerf]

In DC I go to Murphys Irish Bar in Old Town on Tuesdays, half price, fresh ground and great beer specials

I am in Old Town most of the time (Wyndham Old Town Alexandria). I will have to check it out.

 

[dagger1]

Love Whataburger, especially w cheese and jalapeños. In and Out meh. Would like to try Culvers.

 

[Elan]

Before we got Culver's locally, I tried one in SD based on the hype. Very meh. Haven't been back. Also tried 5 Guys once. My only recollection is greasy and expensive. Also haven't been back. In the past couple of years we've had a few In-N-Out's come in. Went about a month ago. Pretty much as I remember from trips to California and Vegas -- nothing outstanding, but decent for the price.

Haven't had a burger from McDonald's since they ditched the McDLT 30 years ago. Used to enjoy Whoppers back in the day, and will occasionally still get one, but they don't hit the same.

Mostly, I just don't eat fast food burgers much anymore. When I do, it's typically from a local Ma and Pa type place. None are as good as homemade.





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[joestein]

I am also a Culver's fan. I like In-n-Out just fine. We have one about 3 miles from home.

Chili's has a great burger, but it's not really "fast food." $10.99 for a starter (Rick gets chicken enchilada soup and I get a salad), a burger, and a soft drink.

It is a great deal. My family loves that soup. I made it last weekend - fairly simple to make, but pretty fattening. For 5 dinner portions - it takes 1/2 lb of cheddar cheese and 1/4 lb of cream cheese. It was good, but a one and done.

I find most of the burger chains suck. We did just get Freddy's by us, it is pretty good, but I only had it once when I was traveling for the entire day and only had breakfast. I am not sure if my hunger affected the taste. My kids do love it, they go every couple of weeks.

 

[joestein]

Cookout is the best ever. Culver’s has great custard, but they’ve not eaten into the Cookout market share in the Carolinas.


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When we visited Williamsburg, it was the only place open late at night, so we ate there 2 or 3 times. The burger has a good charcoal taste, but the rest of the food is pretty crappy. It is VERY cheaply priced though.

 

[andre10056]

I only eat fast food when I'm traveling. I happened to eat a Wendy's "Dave's single" hamburger in Hauppauge, NY yesterday and it was great. Truly excellent. I also loved their chili. But I've eaten at Wendy's elsewhere and it was not so great. Same thing with Wendy's breakfast combos. Some restaurants, almost beyond belief good. Other times, well below Meh.

I usually love the SuperSlam at Denny's when I/we are traveling. But there was one time on Christmas Day at a Denny's in the Florida Panhandle (was it Fort Walton Beach?) when I had the greasiest breakfast I've ever gotten. I pointed it out to the manager and he told me there would be no charge and that we should come back and they'll do better. Maybe their cook didn't come in and the replacement didn't know how to cook.

My conclusion is to not judge an entire chain on the basis of one meal. It could be just that location's employees that day.

Although, of course, all these fast food places are better during times they have a lot of traffic. It's not a good thing to be that person ordering fries that have been sitting there for half an hour. But I've learned that most fast food places will cook up a new batch of fries for you upon request.

 

[dioxide45]

I only eat fast food when I'm traveling. I happened to eat a Wendy's "Dave's single" hamburger in Hauppauge, NY yesterday and it was great. Truly excellent. I also loved their chili. But I've eaten at Wendy's elsewhere and it was not so great. Same thing with Wendy's breakfast combos. Some restaurants, almost beyond belief good. Other times, well below Meh.

Wendy's reported over 11% decline in same store sales. Overall, they must not be doing so good.

 

[pedro47]

I feel Dave, the Wendy’s founder would be very disappointed with today’s Wendy’s hamburgers . Where is the meat in a Wendy’s hamburger.

 

[DrQ]

My conclusion is to not judge an entire chain on the basis of one meal. It could be just that location's employees that day.

So true. An establishment can live or die by its manager or owner/operator.

At our Culver's, I see the same guy there every time we come in and he has made mention of his wife getting supplies (fresh strawberries for the salads) so I suspect that they are the owners.

We went last night and I got my first Walleye of the season!

 

[andre10056]

I feel Dave, the Wendy’s founder would be very disappointed with today’s Wendy’s hamburgers . Where is the meat in a Wendy’s hamburger.

I think that's what's being done economy-wide as a means of "hiding" the fact that prices have gone up. They can claim that their hamburgers have not gone up in price, but if you only get a percentage of the size of past years' hamburgers, of course it has.

I just spent a week at the Marriott Custom House which has no cooktops but does have a microwave. So I ate for the first time in a long time a Swanson's Grilled Beef HungryMan dinner and a Stouffer's Stuffed Pepper. The pieces of grilled beef were tiny compared to the last time I ate them, and the stuffed pepper was indeed filled, but they cut down the stuffed pepper! You might have gotten a half pepper in the past and I guess they still cut them in half. But then they trimmed off about a half inch to three quarters of an inch on the edge of the pepper. Result: far less filling for the allegedly stuffed pepper.

Of course, we've heard about Walmart charging 25% less for their Thanksgiving "feast". Hurray! Turned out that the package contained 15 items instead of 21 items (a 28.5714% decline in number of items) and many of those 15 were generic.

I can envision bicycles being manufactured with incrementally lesser quality brakes, less padded seats, incrementally less efficient derailleurs (i.e. gear shifters), etc.

Businesses, no matter what type of product, are very adept at charging the same price for a secretly lesser quality or quantity product.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I had fish on a Friday at Culver's last year and I decided the McD's Filet o' Fish is way better than Culver's, but we live in Denver, so that's not a good judge of fish at Culver's. The McD's version is the same everywhere, whether it's Maui or Denver.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

The McDonald brothers inadvertently recreated the pomme frite frying process by batch-frying the day's spuds in the morning; cooling them in the dry San Bernardino air, and then frying them again to order. That and beef tallow is why there's a McDonald's in half the towns in North America.

I worked in a McDonalds when I was in high school ~1967. At that time, that was how they did the fries. The blanching occurred in the afternoon, not the morning. That was part of the job during the slow period between the lunch and dinner rush. The fries at our store were excellent - better than anything anywhere else that I ever had.

Three or four months after I left, McDonalds switched to frozen fries. The drop in quality was big.

Their whole schtick is pulling a raw potato and running it through the cutter. People who don't cook prefer that to seeing a bag of frozen fries being poured into a deep fryer. But in this case, the frozen fries are the superior product -- because they've already been boiled, dried, blanched, dried again, chilled and then frozen. The hard work is done. They just need the final turn in the deep fryer. They're not as good as actual pomme frite. But they're better than what In-N-Out is doing.

This looks very impressive. But this is "How not to make French Fries 101."

One of the key steps in preparing a decent frozen french fry is the drying step that occurs between blanching and frying. A raw potato is 80%-85% water. Coming out of that dryer, the blanched potato should be about 45% water, and that is what goes into the fryer.

If the fries have too much water remaining when they hit the fryer, after frying the interior of the fry will have excessive water content. Water expands when it freezes. If the fry has too much water, the expansion breaks the potato cells, and the fry then has no interior texture. Can have a beautiful exterior, but the inside is like the paste that students had at their desks when I was in grade school.

That extra drying step costs money, so buying cheap fries for food service often means fries that haven't been properly dried.

 

[CRAIGS]

Do Disabled Veterans get a discount at any of these fast food joints?

 

[Luanne]

Do Disabled Veterans get a discount at any of these fast food joints?

Yes, here is a link to some of the places:

20 exclusive discounts for veterans

Discover a curated list of discounts for veterans, from restaurant deals to discounted memberships, shopping, travel and more.

www.care.com

 

[rickandcindy23]

I worked in a McDonalds when I was in high school ~1967. At that time, that was how they did the fries. The blanching occurred in the afternoon, not the morning. That was part of the job during the slow period between the lunch and dinner rush. The fries at our store were excellent - better than anything anywhere else that I ever had.

Three or four months after I left, McDonalds switched to frozen fries. The drop in quality was big.



One of the key steps in preparing a decent frozen french fry is the drying step that occurs between blanching and frying. A raw potato is 80%-85% water. Coming out of that dryer, the blanched potato should be about 45% water, and that is what goes into the fryer.

If the fries have too much water remaining when they hit the fryer, after frying the interior of the fry will have excessive water content. Water expands when it freezes. If the fry has too much water, the expansion breaks the potato cells, and the fry then has no interior texture. Can have a beautiful exterior, but the inside is like the paste that students had at their desks when I was in grade school.

That extra drying step costs money, so buying cheap fries for food service often means fries that haven't been properly dried.

I still love McD's fries. Best ones I have had. The second best would be Five Guys but Rick will not pay that much for a burger and fries.

 

[pedro47]

Are today's Wendys hamburgers smaller in size or is it just my conceptions?

 

[mentalbreak]

Businesses, no matter what type of product, are very adept at charging the same price for a secretly lesser quality or quantity product.

This happened at least 14 years ago, but my first known exposure to shrink-flation was toilet paper. The manufacturers of Charmin changed the width of the roll. My parents had TP holders at the time that had about an inch or so tab on each side to hold the roll, and the new size did not reach both sides. Eventually all brands joined the shift, and they had to replace their built-in TP holders with the ones with a spring loaded bar from end to end.