In-N-Out Wins Best Burger In Zagat's Fast Food Survey
The results of this year's Zagat's Fast Food Survey are in and Wendy's is the top "Mega-Chain" (over 5,000 outlets) and In-N-Out burger the best large chain (up to 5,000). When asked which outlet had the best burger regardless of number of locations — In-N-Out came in first with Wendy's at #2.
Here are a few more results:
Best Burger:
1. In-N-Out Burger
2. Wendy's
3. Burger King
4. McDonald's
5. Whataburger
Best Food (up to 5,000 locations):
1. In-N-Out Burger
2. Panera Bread
3. Papa Murphy's
4. Chipotle
5. Chick-fil-A
Best Food (over 5,000 locations):
1. Wendy's
2. Subway
3. KFC
4. Taco Bell
5. Pizza Hut
And finally, because this is Consumerist:
Best Value Meal:
1. McDonald's
2. Wendy's
3. Taco Bell
4. Burger King
5. Arby's
Check out all the results at Zagat.com/fastfood.
(Photo:hellochris)
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Comments:
How on earth is Subway on ANY list?
@pecan 3.14159265:Read the article. OVER 5000 locations. Do those chains have over 5000 locations? No.
Chipotle FTW! The fact that they have tasty burritos and Mr. Pibb (which we can't get up here in New England) makes it my No. 1.
@pecan 3.14159265: 5 guys isn't widespread enough I don't think. The same argument can kind of be used for In and Out except they have much greater brand recognition helping them. Take McDonalds for example. Their food is awful yet they tend to do well in these sorts of things because of the sheer number of people that eat at them.
Luckily they just opened a 5 guys next to my house. Still no In and Out :(
@linkura: Ugh, nevermind. Perhaps they could have made the up to 5000 list, depending on the minimum for that list. And Chipotle and Chick-fil-A are miles better than the three before it on the list. Panera is a joke. A tiny sandwich that would probably cost 3 bucks at Subway for $7? No thanks. Never been to In-N-Out Burger but they get a pass for being in The Big Lebowski.
I grew up about 45 minutes from Lake Havasu, where the first In 'n Out in Arizona was opened. I was a senior in HS. We used to drive there JUST to eat at In 'n Out (we usually drove to the London Bridge and ate 'em there).
Now that I'm in Phoenix, however, they are everywhere, yaaaaaay. SO GOOD!
Wendy's, BK and MCD as the BEST burgers? You gotta be kidding! I've never seen an In-And-Out chain.
@pecan 3.14159265: have you had z burger? I think it's just as good as 5 guys but they have the wrolds best onion rings and they serve shakes, which gets my husband all atwitter
@pecan 3.14159265: The reason the fries don't look cooked is because they aren't stripped of anything. They are freshly peeled every day.
I must be picky, because the two In-n-out locations I've gone to in north county San Diego produced a burger of lower taste than Carl's Jr (bad!). Wendy's and their paper thin burgers are also lame, and before the local Whataburger closed up shop I tried them too and was disappointed. The burger king here is EXCELLENT though, best fries evar and the Steakhouse XT has to be the best heart-attack-on-a-bun ever invented.
@bananaboat: That is because In 'n Out is only in SoCal (not sure about NorCal?), Nevada, Arizona, and Utah.
On a cross country trip (starting in NY) some of our planned (and enjoyed) food stops included Sonics, White Castle, and In-N-Out. Let me say, having tried In-N-Out, burgers back in NY aren't very good at all.
We have In-N-Out here in the Bay Area, but I don't know how they could win best burger. I've tried them twice and I don't see what all the hype is about. They're not very good. Thin little chunk of psuedo-meat topped with the usual. Most unremarkable at best. Although they are fairly cheap.
@pecan 3.14159265:
HEY HEY HEY, let's watch the blasphemy here blasphemer...
In N Out is mana from heaven, and it's actual beef cooked to order (open kitchen next to drive thru) as the fries are cut and fried to order they don't have the artifical golden color everyone else's processed and additive laden "fries" do.
Plus they have great fresh veggies for the burgers and tons of ways to get it made.
Wow. Whataburger did pretty good considering it's a fairly small regional (mostly Texas) chain.
What I don't get is why McD's got #1 fro best value meal. At In N' Out you can get 2 burgers, fries and a drink for under $6. It seems that any mean at McD's always ends up being at least 6 or 7 dollars for less food.
@linkura: Maybe YOU should try reading the article. It has lists for both over 5000 and UP TO 5000.
On topic: In-N-Out is fucking terrible and I'll take Wendy's over them any day.
We don't have Chipolte or In-and-Out or Whataburger. But we DO have Hardee's and their Angus Thick Burger is easily the best fast-food burger out there with Wendy's coming in 2nd. All of the Burger Kings around here are horrible.
Two thumbs up for Papa Murphy's. Love them.
@Do not taunt Happy Fun King Psyz: I've never had In-N-Out, unfortunately. I do love burgers though.
@edwardso: I've never had z burger but I'll have to make the trek to go have it. I feel like Marshall in How I Met Your Mother, on the quest to find the perfect burger (though he had already found it, just forgot where the place was).
@nakedscience: Doesn't Five Guys do that? I only ask because I don't remember freshly peeled potatoes looking quite that ....pale...but maybe the Five Guys near me has been overcooking their fries.
@MustyBuckets: I'm not a fan of Sonic for their burgers, but they had some amazing shakes and their foot long chili dog will probably leave you in the fetal position, grabbing your stomach...but it's good while it's piping hot in its paper box.
Never been real crazy about any of the mega-chain burger places. They're all generally crappy.
But there's a little hole-in-the-wall here called Nations that makes burgers like you'd get from your buddies bbq grill on Superbowl Sunday. It's divinity in burger form.
@pecan 3.14159265: I've never even heard of a 5 guys lol I love burgers so ill try every place
and yup In N Out is my favorite
there are 4 locations within 10 minutes of me lol
@tsume:yep. the ones down in SD are great from what I've seen. The Balboa, Pacific Beach, and Nat. City ones are all good.
@nakedscience: More like every 10 minutes. It's fun to sit in the drive-through and watch a potato go into the slicer and know that will be your french fries in about 4 minutes.
Here's a guy working on soon-to-be fries.
@BZMedia: Psuedo-meat? Uh? No. Maybe that's the problem. They use 100% real meat, and you're not used to the taste of real meat.
In fact, the reason they don't have more locations than they do is because they want to be able to truck in FRESH meat, and not frozen.
Zagat's survey is inherently biased towards large chains. The fact that Starbucks won "Best Coffee" pretty much kills all credibility the Zagat survey has in my book. There aren't that many chains that sell speciality coffee. Should we be surprised that three of the largest (Starbucks, McDonald's, and Dunkin Donuts) rank in the top 5?
FiveThirtyEight does a good job of elaborating on the flaw.
@BZMedia:
Famous London chef/restaurateur Gordon Ramsay ate In-N-Out for the first time when taping Hell's Kitchen in Los Angeles. He admits that while he hates fast food and avoids it, he loves In-N-Out Burger and would have a double-double with cheese as his last meal on earth.[34]
See, if Gordon Ramsay loves it, that means it's awesome, and all you haters clearly have no taste buds!
@Raekwon: Five Guys has branched out significantly from the northern VA area, but its website says "more than 300 locations" so I definitely don't think it's widespread enough.
@pecan 3.14159265: Sonic burgers are okay, but man, do I love their chocolate malts. AND TATER TOTS WITH CHEESE AND CHILI HOLY CRAP. Ugh, now I want Sonic.
Out of all the burger chains in my area, Runza is probably my favorite. I typically will choose them over the big 3.
@nakedscience: "They use 100% real meat"
Maybe it was 100% gopher meat then, because what they served me is not acceptable for my dogs.
@hicks: I love watching them slice those fries!
Some people seem to not like the taste of REAL french fries. "Ewww, I want my fries to be stripped of everything and not to taste like potatoes!"
@pecan 3.14159265: You want a heart attack, look no further than your closest Tommy's:
On my infrequent trips to Southern California, I make it a point to visit a Tommy's and an In-n-Out at least once each. Very disappointed not to see Tommy's on the lists; perhaps Zagat needs "Regional" categories. Over/under 5000 locations seems a little arbitrary.
@pecan 3.14159265: I assume all the people surveyed were on the West Coast. I still like Roy Rogers' best myself because I'm lucky enough to live near several.
What, no White Castle????!!!! Ahahahahah. But seriously, I love White Castle.
I don't think it kills their credibility. More people are exposed to larger chains vs. the more obscure regional outlets.
@nakedscience: All fast food is pseudo-meat (which may indeed be "100%" beef). Why can't I make a burger at home that resembles a McDonald's or In-and-Out burger? I use fresh beef too.
The answer is not an accident. The notion that In-and-Out is "better" simply because they use fresh beef is a fantasy that they sell to you. Did you know that McDonald's adds beef flavoring to their french fries, for example?
@corpus_goatse_tx: Loves me some Whataburger. It's one of the few things that will assure my continued return to Texas for the holidays.
@pecan 3.14159265: Five Guys is pretty awesome, even more so that they cook all of their burgers 'well' (no choice) and they still taste like burgers. Nice and juicy with generous toppings. However, most people could order a junior (single piece of meat) and be perfectly happy. The fries are among the best evah...fresh, hot and with just the right amount of salt.
I've lived in California for 17 years now, and I've never heard anyone say or write what you just did about In-N-Out. I'm not blasting your opinion... I'm just really surprised by the way you said it.
Example: My brother loves In-N-Out. On one trip back in 1998, he ended up getting a HORRIBLE bout of food poisoning from a burger there. Vomiting, diarrhea, the works. I thought he would have given up In-N-Out for good.
He still ended up eating there a week later, and hasn't stopped since (about once a month).
Again, I'm not criticizing you, just amazed that I've never really heard that level of hatred ("fucking terrible") leveled towards them. Here in SoCal, they've got a pretty much sainthood status.
@He: I haven't seen a Roy Rogers since I was a kid! I don't think I've ever eaten in one, either. But I remember the logo and passing by it once in a while.
@BZMedia: What is wrong with you? They use 100% fresh beef, and 100% fresh ingretiands when it comes to ther veggies and things. Their potatoes are freshly sliced ALL DAY LONG. even Fast Food Nation gave them good marks, and they hate fast food.
Clearly, you are used to crappy, fake meat, and crappy, fake ingrediants Many people have this problem when they taste In 'n Outs real fresh fries, that actually taste like potatoes.
@Pibbs: Aren't you required to put a disclaimer under your post stating that this was a paid advertisement?
There are a bunch I have never had before.. Kind of sucks they are not in my area. Sonic is just getting somewhere close to me (about 30 mins away). Never had IN-out or chick-fil-a, Whataburger, or papa murphy's.
Where are these places? Cali? Midwest?
Those burgers like they'll give you a heart attack...but those fries don't look cooked...I love Chick-fil-A and Chipotle. I wonder why Five Guys didn't make the top five at all though.