As a Canadian I have only ever eaten A&W (and Five Guys once) so I curious what other people prefer.
I’d have to say Five Guys has the best fast food burgers. With Freddy’s coming in a close second.
I’ve had enough burgers at fast food chains to confirm none are even close to what I make at home.
MacDonald’s are too small, hardly any meat.
At Burger King getting a Whopper on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday is a mistake. Patties are cooked ahead of time and are very dry. I had one on a Friday that was amazing. Another time the Friday Whopper was meh.
A&W Mozza burger is pretty good but have gotten smaller and more expensive over the years.
Harvey’s are the closest to what I make at home.
In terms of large, North American fast food chains, I like A&W, Carl’s Jr/Hardy’s, and Jack in the Box. In terms of smaller, regional chains, I think In-N-Out is leaps and bounds the best (though What-A-Burger is also really good). Outside of North America, I’m a pretty big fan of Mos Burger from Japan. JollyBee from the Philippines is also pretty great, but mostly because they serve spaghetti and I find that amusing.
I think Shake Shack is overrated but worth trying. FiveGuys is meh.
I also firmly believe that smaller burger chains like In-N-Out, Shake Shack, and What-A-Burger are probably more or less equal in terms of quality and what determines which you think is best is where you grew up.
I like Dirty V (Norway) and Vincent (Germany). I can go with Max Burger (Scandinavia) too, if the other options are MacDonald’s or Burger King, as these two mainly make vegetarian food that is unseasoned and lazy.
How have you only eaten A&W?
But also, in terms of fast food burgers, A&W Canada is pretty top tier.
Yeah I currently live in a city where I can get a great burger from a food truck in walking distance of my house, but growing up I lived in a town where the only fast food burgers were A&W. When I go elsewhere a fast food burger from a multi-national chain isn’t exactly my first choice, so I haven’t had many others.
There are many rural parts of Canada where A & W is the only fast food choice. I’ve noticed this is especially true for service stations west of Ontario. I spent my twenties living on the road and got stuck eating A & W so much I can only stomach their chicken these days.
Yeah, honestly. Unless OP is a young child I really have a hard time believing they’ve never had anything else. A&W is one of the least common fast food joints in Canada.
My town used to have a Burger King. A Whopper I had there one time was quite literally the best burger I’ve ever had, before or since.
That said, this was ~30 years ago at one specific franchise, and I hear that BK food is terrible now, so maybe this doesn’t count.
It used to be Fat Burger, but the only one near me closed.
Now it is Five Guys.
Here’s a shoutout to Albino Black Sheep!
There is a local business called The Real McCoy - their mojo burger is the best burger I’ve ever had anywhere.
Honorable mentions - The Burger’s Priest bone marrow lettuce wrapped was great.
Harvey’s veggie burger was a solid choice.
BK Whopper of the major chains.
I’d probably also go with A&W. I’ve gone vegetarian and as much as I dislike the pricing on the Beyond burgers at the grocer, they do make a pretty good one. And while I’m not really into their masala burger, it is neat that they have more than one option I can actually eat - truly a sad statement, but here we are.
I used to be pretty into Harvey’s though. People are pretty divided on them because like, it’s an obviously frozen hamburger and it tastes like it. But A) all their competitors are freezing their patties, and B) it honestly tasted like the obviously frozen burgers I could have been making at home.
Nowadays they cost about as much as going to a nice place though, so there’s not nearly as much fast food in my diet.
Harvey’s was good way, way back when they still had items like the Ultraburger. But that was like 30 years ago. Then they simplified their menu and at around that time the quality of everything went down noticeably. Then we stopped going there because we always felt gross afterwards. Haven’t been back in decades.
Culver’s is the best, in my opinion. Five Guys is also very good but is spendy. Finally, Wendy’s makes excellent burgers as well.
Five Guys charges restaurant prices for barely-better-than-fast food
Whole heartedly agree with both of these.
I was disappointed by Culver’s but agree about Five Guys.
Fastfooood, culvers? probably culvers. buttery bread, little crisp on the buns, no gristle patties, yea they’re pretty impressive.
That’s the only fast food burger I’ve had in memory that i was like “oh shit!” in a good way. Pretty consistent quality too, in my experience.
Dick’s deluxe will always have my heart. You can keep the rest. Always made fresh, always pretty cheap. And they pay their workers pretty good, which I’m convinced makes the burgers taste better.
✨immigration✨
I’m assuming to the UK, and feeling somewhat jealous (and also your display name is incredible)
Thankew, yes. It has been very difficult and financially ruinous but no regrets.
The 'Shroom Burger at Shake Shack is still the best non-meat burger I’ve had by far.
Whataburger, but specifically the Sweet & Spicy Bacon Burger. Their regular burgers are pretty generic, but the one I mentioned is great. I don’t even buy it often anymore because you can buy their sauce at the grocery store, so I sometimes make my own version at home.
