The Most Overrated Fast-Food Burgers
Overhyped and Overliked
We all love a good fast-food burger now and again. Everyone has their favorite chains, but some of those chains seem to be coasting on reputation alone instead of a quality product. Maybe you've been eating the burger for decades, or maybe it's just the closest drive-thru to your house. Whatever the reason, it's probably time to move on from these overrated and often terrible fast-food burgers.
1. McDonald's Big Mac
The Big Mac is arguably McDonald's signature menu item, but we don't know why that's still the case. There's more bun here than anything, which completely drowns out the paper-thin beef patties. (Though maybe given the quality of the beef, that might be a good thing?) The cheese is never melted, the lettuce is wilted and brown around the edges, and the whole thing only tastes like the bland Big Mac sauce — that is, if you actually get enough on your burger taste it.
2. Burger King's Whopper
Look, BK is just all-around terrible. We don't know a single person who actually chooses to eat there, and we bet you don't either. How do they stay in business? It's certainly not because of the Whopper, which like the Big Mac, should be at least tasty. But it's always dry and flavorless, with sad looking vegetables and slapdash construction so you always have to reassemble it yourself. Burger King just needs to give up, honestly.
3. Five Guys' Cheeseburger
When the price of a fast-food burger eclipses that of a sit-down restaurant, it's almost always way overpriced and overrated. Nothing about Five Guys burgers justify the enormous price tag — we're talking $12 for the standard cheeseburger. Sure, you can add as many toppings as you want, but that will just make them an even bigger mess. And no matter how many toppings you order, they'll still be smashed flat, with beat-up buns because of how they wrap them in foil. These burgers haven't been worth the price since the early 2000s.
Related: Juicy Lucys, Sloppers, and Other Regional Burgers Worth Traveling For
4. White Castle's Sliders
We know White Castle has a cult following, but we'll never understand it. Steamed burgers are just not right, especially when the bun is steamed right along with the patties so everything is a soggy, wet mess. For the love of all things holy, brown up that meat, toast those buns, and then maybe you'd have an acceptable burger from White Castle.
5. Arby's Burger
When Arby's added a burger to its menu a couple years ago, it was the first time the chain offered a burger. But therein lies the big problem: the kitchens aren't set up for making burgers. There's no griddle, so the beef is precooked, then reheated with a quick dip in the deep fryer. That makes for a very unusual, compact, and rubbery texture, plus a pretty steep price tag. When a chain does one thing really well (roast beef), always avoid the outlier (weird burger).
Related: Every Arby's Roast Beef Sandwich, Ranked
6. Wendy's Baconator
Remember when the Wendy's Baconator came out and it was so buzz-worthy because people used to lose their minds for bacon? Somehow, the Baconator is still available, despite people getting over the bacon trend. Sure, it's got six slices of bacon, but they're pretty thin and tasteless. Plus those square beef patties are always gray, dry, and falling apart. The novelty of this burger has long worn off.
For more smart fast-food stories, please sign up for our free newsletters.
7. In-N-Out Burger's Double Double
The thing about In-N-Out is that people are devoted to it — like religiously so. There is no food on Earth that can live up to the kind of pedestal that people put this burger on. The fact that it's available in a small portion of the U.S. only intensifies that exclusivity, tricking people into thinking it's better than it actually is because people love identifying with local foods. It's kind of like how slapping "limited edition" on something will make people buy more of it. But really, the beef in this burger is thin and dry, and no amount of vegetables (why are there more veggies than meat?!) or "animal style" is going to make up for that.
This article was originally published on Cheapism
