Can we get some freakin' Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, or atheists...

[Butter]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I can't think of anything even begins to come close tbh.

As others have said, it's the "matchstick" aspect. They just aren't good. I think that must be a "creamy vs. chunky" peanut butter taste type thing.

[sterlingice]

If you're a skinny fries person, I could see them at the top of some lists. It's not my preference but I could certainly see it.

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

You people are nucking futs.

Skinny fries actually get, you know, DONE. Without being burned to a crisp to accomplish the task. Which avoids that feeling that you just took a bit out of a raw potato.

Now don't get me wrong, a perfectly fried crinkle cut is a-ok too but those are tough to come by.

What's next, some lunatic tries to claim that the nastyass "skin attached" crap that destroyed my interest in eating at Wendy's doesn't taste like you're eating dirt? Madness, utter f'n madness.

[cartman]

McDonalds are the top fast food fries in my book. One of the only things I like eating from there.

[Julio Riddols]

Gotta go with Bojangles again on the fries. They have the tastiest taters.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by cartman

McDonalds are the top fast food fries in my book. One of the only things I like eating from there.

Agreed. I also like their Classic Grilled Chicken Sandwich (gotta scrape most of the mayo off though) and Egg McMuffins. Their chocolate chip cookies are good too.

[sterlingice]

I think a lot of stuff at Mickey D's is "meh" but the fries are top notch for that sort of fry when hot.

SI

[gstelmack]

McDonald's USED to have good fries. They've really killed their menu over the last decade.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I have never eaten at a "Steak and Shake."

I really don't eat much fast food. I only ever eat it on road trips and even then pretty infrequently. That said, I haven't had "Five Guys" in ages and there are a few around me. Next time I am left solo for dinner by Lady H_B, I know where I am going.

Speaking of chains, there is a small (two stores) local chain called "Burgrz" that has a location in my town. I like it a lot. Good selection of burgers and toppings, waffle fries and they even serve beer.

[Dutch]

McD's at lunch....Southern Chicken and Fries is perfect for a quick meal.
For breakfast, I'll snag a McGriddle like once every other month....those things are pretty yum.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

Gotta go with Bojangles again on the fries. They have the tastiest taters.

Those do work okay with chicken, just not something I'd want with a burger. That's like two entirely different animals (no pun intended)

[britrock88]

Thinking I'll hit up Five Guys tomorrow to try to quell the Cookout craving I'm responsible for starting here.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Those do work okay with chicken, just not something I'd want with a burger. That's like two entirely different animals (no pun intended)

BoJangles is just too peppery for me-not from the South, so they were a new thing to me when I moved down here.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I have never eaten at a "Steak and Shake."

Note, their burgers are really thin so I would go for at least a double. They're very OK.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Matthean

Note, their burgers are really thin so I would go for at least a double. They're very OK.

My thoughts, too. Love their shakes, tho

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Matthean

Note, their burgers are really thin so I would go for at least a double. They're very OK.

+1 on that ... both in the content sense and in the "a triple ain't really all that much food either" sense.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

...
the nastyass "skin attached" crap that destroyed my interest in eating at Wendy's doesn't taste like you're eating dirt? Madness, utter f'n madness.

Wendy's went from possibly the best fast food French fries to fries so bad that I can't work up the urge to return. And I think their burgers are GREAT.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

+1 on that ... both in the content sense and in the "a triple ain't really all that much food either" sense.

But... but they're made of steak.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

But... but they're made of steak.

You ever actually watch 'em cook those "steakburgers"?

Neat little patty goes onto the grill, heats up for a few seconds and then ..
BLAM ! Cook slaps the bejeezus out of the patty, flattens it thinner than a Congressman's resolve. You can almost see through them suckers by the time they slap hell out of 'em with the spatula.

More than once I've thought to myself "damn, I'd hate to be dating HER !"

[Buzzbee]

Hey Ben - Over a decade and I remembered this thread. Came out of retirement just to post, too. Shows how memorable CFA can be....

What's Cooking with Kevin Gillespie | Chick-fil-A

Now you can make your own Chick-fil-a "esque" chicken sandwich on Sunday.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

Gotta go with Bojangles again on the fries. They have the tastiest taters.

As someone who just moved down South, oh my god where have Bojangles breakfast biscuits been all my life? Perfect hangover food, and the fries go great with them. Coming back up North & trying to choke down a Dunkin' Donuts sandwich with "egg" in it afterwards? Shudder. I don't understand why no places up in Mass can make a good breakfast sandwich with eggs that seem like eggs. Or hushpuppies.

I will disagree a little on the Cookout love. The prices and variety are awesome, and if I was back in college and getting high I would have LOVED that place, but the actual food is only so-so (fwiw I'm also not a Char-Grilled person). The floats are good though.

[tarcone]

Steak and Shake sucks. Worst food ever.

Im a big Rallys fan though. Good cheap food.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Interesting to go back thru the thread & see what has changed locally in 3.5 years.

Our Cookout has gone seriously downhill. Once they lost the start-up crew (which had numerous NC-transplants, temp training crew I guess) & ended up with all locals behind the counter & in the kitchen, the quality & service have both declined steadily. It's still a semi-regular stop due to convenience/price/ variety but the quality is in the tank severely.

We've added a SECOND Cookout location, maybe halfway between me & downtown/UGA campus. It's honeymoon period was shorter than the first location here, though the quality has stayed above the first one's bottom-end, the service got spotty pretty quickly.

Our SnS? What a mess. The original franchisee sold it off (apparently that's a thing with him, goes through opening phase & then around 18months he ditches it, rinse/repeat). Tanked immediately, service was atrocious, nickle & dimed everything (like making you beg for napkins & such, tiny to-go cups UNLESS you knew to specifically ask for normal ones, etc). Crowds thinned quickly, though apparently it's since been sold AGAIN and has recovered somewhat, the heyday is gone & seems unlikely to come back.

[Warhammer]

Steak and Shake depends very much upon the franchisee. A well run one is a pretty solid experience, the shakes are pretty darn good.

On a related but separate note, there is a Taco Bell near the Dayton Mall off of 741 that is atrocious. My family have gone there on multiple weekends for lunch and have walked out due to 15-20 minute waits to order, with only one or two people in line ahead of us.

[korme]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

Steak and Shake depends very much upon the franchisee. A well run one is a pretty solid experience, the shakes are pretty darn good.

On a related but separate note, there is a Taco Bell near the Dayton Mall off of 741 that is atrocious. My family have gone there on multiple weekends for lunch and have walked out due to 15-20 minute waits to order, with only one or two people in line ahead of us.

The Taco Bell on Brown St. would like to challenge your Dayton Mall TB for worst run store in the region

[Butter]

I went to the 741 Taco Bell once, and they have one of those drive thru lines where it is a single lane, so getting out of it was not possible. I was there 35 minutes.

All of the fast food restaurants right outside the gates of the Dayton Mall are pretty terrible. Smash Burger has an all stoner cast. Steak n Shake, the drive thru line is glacial (though perhaps a chain-wide problem). McDonald's, it is 50/50 on getting your order right. Wendy's is usually slow as molasses. Burger King, they often act like they are surprised people ordered food, though the drive thru was never crowded... which is probably why they shut down.

The Skyline Chili near the mall often closes early "just because". It is a running joke that it's a nice day, so the Skyline is probably closed "so we can spend time with our families".

[Easy Mac]

Never go to a Zaxby's drive thru. The one by us has 1 way out if the line is long enough, but once you're past that spot, you're there forever. I think I've waited almost an hour with maybe 4 cars ahead of me because I couldn't get out.

Also, I only go to Steak and Shake for the chili, and our Cookouts have always been atrocious.

[MrBug708]

Other than a couple of McDonald's, I have never seen a drivethru with more than one lane.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Other than a couple of McDonald's, I have never seen a drivethru with more than one lane.

That made me start thinking about this .. Checkers here is a double, our first Cookout is a double (with about two feet to clear the dumpster), at least one of our McDs.

[Easy Mac]

Every Chickfila here has 2 ordering lanes that merge into one after the board. Of course, they also have people outside taking orders before you get to the board, then pay when you round a corner, then pick up your food at the window. I assume they think its faster, but it still takes the same amount of time as everywhere else.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

Every Chickfila here has 2 ordering lanes that merge into one after the board. Of course, they also have people outside taking orders before you get to the board, then pay when you round a corner, then pick up your food at the window. I assume they think its faster, but it still takes the same amount of time as everywhere else.

I've always figured that was really about prep time for them (starting the orders faster). I think it's more about "keeps us from being slower than everybody else" than about being "faster than everybody else".

[molson]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

Every Chickfila here has 2 ordering lanes that merge into one after the board. Of course, they also have people outside taking orders before you get to the board, then pay when you round a corner, then pick up your food at the window. I assume they think its faster, but it still takes the same amount of time as everywhere else.

The McDonald's near me does that too. An added feature of this format, at least for them, is they have to verbally confirm with me at the first window, where you pay, which order I made - since the cars don't necessarily take turns merging. And they're incorrect about 25% of the time.

[rjolley]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

Every Chickfila here has 2 ordering lanes that merge into one after the board. Of course, they also have people outside taking orders before you get to the board, then pay when you round a corner, then pick up your food at the window. I assume they think its faster, but it still takes the same amount of time as everywhere else.

The Chick-Fil-A here started having someone take the order and possibly pay before the board about 6 months ago. I thought it was just this location. Didn't realize that was not only a company-wide thing, but maybe an industry-wide change. Interesting.

They also made a pseudo-2 lane ordering setup that kinda works. They usually get the orders right at the window because the people taking orders communicate and they send the cars into the single lane in order.

[CrescentMoonie]

The drive to Sonic is 90% of the quality.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

That made me start thinking about this .. Checkers here is a double, our first Cookout is a double (with about two feet to clear the dumpster), at least one of our McDs.

Rally's is Checkers, right? I love that place and wish there was one closer. I can get their fries in the frozen foods section but it's not the same.

Also I would go to the Chick Fil-a if the line wasn't so unreasonable. Good food, but it always looks like the line for space mountain.

[thesloppy]

Maybe it's intentionally redundant & maze-like...I once read an article about an airport architect who said they reduced complaints by lengthening the distance between gates and adding checkpoints, because someone who got to their gate quickly & spent 20 minutes waiting was more likely to complain than someone who spent 20 minutes getting to the gate but seemingly boarded their plane with less time waiting and staring at the wall.

[Julio Riddols]

I have one question.. What in the hell are Burger King's "nuggets" made of? 10 for 1.49 is an impossible price to meet for actual chicken. I feel like they will be the first place to start serving faux food without even trying to hide it.

[dawgfan]

A Chick-Fil-A opened near my office recently (they're a very recent import to the Seattle area) and after waiting a month or so for the lines to ease up from "insane" to merely "long" finally tried them out today.

Definitely a very good chicken sandwich, better than any other chain. Not so earth-shattering I'm going to make this a regular thing, but I can certainly see the appeal.

[Logan]

I found their waffle fries to be very overrated.

[ISiddiqui]

That's amusing to me as I find their waffle fries to be amazing and their chicken sandwiches to be very overrated...

[Radii]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

That's amusing to me as I find their waffle fries to be amazing and their chicken sandwiches to be very overrated...

I always liked their Grilled Chicken Club Sandwich, but the fried chicken sandwich never appealed to me at all. I agree about the fries too, no matter what I ordered, the fries were the best part of the meal.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

That's amusing to me as I find their waffle fries to be amazing and their chicken sandwiches to be very overrated...

I've heard enough people swear by them that I'm willing to chalk it up to bad luck in what I've received...think I've only actually eaten them from 3 or 4 locations across 3 states that I can think of.

And I love waffle fries, broadly speaking.

[rjolley]

The waffle fries can be underwhelming at times, but generally, they are fresh, hot, and salted well. Might've been a case of a bad/old batch.

The spicy chicken sandwich is better than the plan for me. And since I've been reducing carbs, the chicken strips are great for a fast food place.

[CrescentMoonie]

Everything at CFA is overrated. Just horrible food even by fast food standards.

[ISiddiqui]

Uhh... what? That's a ridiculous statement.

[dawgfan]

Yeah, gonna have to disagree there. Better chicken sandwich than any other national fast food chain.

[ISiddiqui]

I'd say it's ridiculous even though I vastly prefer the Wendy's Spicy Chicken sandwich to Chick-Fil-A's any day.

[Simbo Klice]

The Chik-Fil-A by me is top flight, they've actually got cones they put out during fast times to basically add a loop of traffic to the drive thru line. They have the order takers get you by the front of the building, a guy takes a little stand with a register out by the drive thru order screen, and you end up getting your food in like 6 minutes, even if there were 20 cars in front of you.

[cuervo72]

We got CFA last night and they did the cone thing because their dining room was closed for renovation. It took longer than six minutes, and the fries were a little inconsistent (some crispy, some floppy). I didn't truly believe it was the girl who took our order's pleasure to serve us, either. Was uncharacteristic for them.

[Chief Rum]

I have had the waffle fries a couple times and have come away disappointed both times.

I don't know if maybe I am just comparing them to Carl's crisscut fries, which are excellent.