Something about fast food places (better title to come)

[climberkid]

This is such a small thing, but just irritates me to no end.

Bugs in my iced coffee from an unnamed fast food restaurant.

It just makes me sick how dirty the conditions are at fast food restaurants. Not to say that it doesnt happen at a regular restaurant but i SEE it at fast food joints.

I just want to know what people's opinions are about fast food places like:
Convenience to you
Price
Service
Food quality
and whatever else you can think of.

There will be no arguing tolerated, just feel it could be interesting to discuss.

 

[greenlight]

My in-n-out burger joint has the men's room on the left. I assumed all the outlets were the same, since they look identical, but I mistakenly used the women's room in another town because I didn't look at the sign and their locations were switched. Who designed these places?

 

[THE_dAY]

Never had flies or nasty in my fastfood.

I try to be healthy but every now and then (more often now) I'll go do the drive-thru for convenience and the prices are pretty good.

Some fastfood is really tasty stuff, I love tacobell and in-n-out burgers.

What I have noticed over the years is that more and more orders are missings items or wrong items given.

Basically the customer service seems to have taken a dive.

Mmm, today I think I'll have me a mexican pizza and nacho bell grande,
that is (cough) after I go to the gym (cough)...

 

[climberkid]

lol the only times i eat fast food is on my 15 minute break in the middle of my 4 hour lectures. we are surrounded on 3 sides by mcdonalds, taco bell, and wendys. taco bell seems to do the best with friendly and accurate service.

 

[LukeA]

I quit going to McDonald's after they gave me the wrong food twice in one visit.

 

[Valpo Hawkeye]

I don't really care for fast food but I do have a serious addiction to Taco Bell. I am irritated by the continued order inaccuracies at EVERY joint around, especially Fazoli's and Taco Bell. On the rare occasion that I get McDonald's or Wendy's they are usually very accurate in their order taking/delivery.

The places in my upper middle class town are all pretty clean, but I notice when I venture out to surrounding areas that they can be pretty dirty. Subway's, oddly enough to me, always seem to be pretty nasty.

 

[climberkid]

completely agree with the subway things. not necessarily the people but the environment is very gross. i am subway-ed out

 

[Tempest UK]

Haven't been to a fast food place for years, but I remember them being pretty filthy :green:

Regards,
Tempest

 

[climberkid]

BRAVO TEMPEST. you should be very proud of yourself for that. fast food is horrible.

 

[Crenshaw]

i once found a fly in my canned drink...canned (wth?!)

Thank God fast food joints in Singapore are clean....

Crenshaw

 

[Trashman]

I like some fast food. I'll go into McDonald's, every now and then, and pick up a hamburger or, in the morning, an Egg McMuffin. I also like their sugar free vanilla iced coffee. That's about it, though. Most often, I go through the drive through and order one regular hamburger (despite it being only 1 cent less than a double cheeseburger (go figure...)) I don't know why, but I really like them. I've tried their Angus burgers and hated them. The first time, I felt regretful that I'd ordered it and vowed to never buy another one. The second time, I forgot what I had vowed and tried it again. The first bite wasn't too bad, because of some special seasoning they put on the meat, but by the time I got half way through the burger, it was gross enough that I had to throw it way. At most places, I can usually find something that I'll eat, but I normally won't enjoy the majority of what they're selling. Cleanliness does affect how much I enjoy the food, though, that's for sure. Most Taco Bells are reasonably clean and whatever I order (usually, 1 or 2 crunchy tacos, or a bean burrito) is pretty enjoyable, but I went to a location in Pacoima on Van Nuys Blvd, near Glenoaks, and it was so dirty inside that I totally regretted not walking out. In fact, I think the only reason I ordered something was because I used their bathroom. Unclean experiences can be had anywhere, though, not just fast food joints. Once, at a Red Robin, after nearly finishing my dish (some type of pasta), I noticed there was a blond hair on the side of my dish! I don't have blond hair, and neither does my wife, so it wasn't ours, and worst of all, it had split ends! Yech! I didn't make any kind of stink about it, but I casually mentioned it to our server ("you know, I'm already done eating, and I even liked it as I was eating it, but as I got near the end, I noticed this (*pointing to the hair)...") and he relayed the message to the manager and they compt our meal.

Funny thing, though, there are some places that don't seem very clean , like the original Tommy's on Beverly & Rampart (their bathrooms are about as bad as bathrooms get), but I thoroughly enjoy eating their food.

 

[NA8]

Seems like most fast food places have at least one thing on the menu that's half way decent. May still kill you with salt, fat, and chlorestoral, but half way decent. I think Mexican fast food rules though. Machaca burritos, carne asada, etc, etc.

 

[scott.cr]

Thank God fast food joints in Singapore are clean....

Dude, you have nothing to complain about. I've eaten at the rattiest-looking food stalls (I think you call them hawker centres there) that are ten times cleaner than fast food joints in the States.

I went to Arby's once and ordered the usual "combo 2" or whatever. Filled the cup with Sierra Mist, looked in the cup, and it was full of ants!! Wasn't sure if the ants were already in the cup or if they were in the drink machine or what... it was a pretty putrid experience.

Was in a Subway once and a big chunk of black mold fell out of the ice dispenser. That was very charming too...

 

[m16a]

Wow I think you guys have just had some particularly bad experiences. Here in my section of PA, near Philly, all the fast food places are clean, The McDonalds right down the street even has a job specifically for cleaning, the person/people who hold that position spend the entire time mopping and other such cleaning things. The two Wawa's close to me are also in good condition. I guess I'm a lucky one, I've never once had a case of bugs or dirt or crap in my food at a restauraunt or fast food place at all.

 

[Bimmerboy]

I just want to know what people's opinions are about fast food places like:
Convenience to you
Price
Service
Food quality
and whatever else you can think of.

Though you weren't neccessarily asking for orders of priority, mine would be:

Food quality. It should taste good (naturally), and not make you feel a little queasy later. Burger King does that to me the last couple years. I swear it must be a change in ingredients, perhaps different (cheaper?) oils or something. No other fast food has had that effect on me.

I'm including overall cleanliness of the establishment as a quality factor here. And, protein laden as they may be, bugs do not add positively to the experience.

Service. Almost tied for second with price as in the context of fast food, I've found that essentially any fast food joint is plenty accomodating, especially if there's some kind of problem. This could be, in part, due to my area, where there's so much competition between the major franchises, even between different locations within the same franchise, halfway decent service is the norm. For example, if one Mickey D's screws up once too often, or isn't clean enough, there's another one close by who may do better. The managers definitely know this.

However, if I had to choose one over the other, service wins out.

Price.

Convenience. Again, my area is not lacking in fast food in the least, so it's not a worry. Even if it was, I'd find a way to work it out.

While on the subject, I gotta' give mad props to Taco Bell for a number of reasons. Most of them are designed to give the customer a clear, wide open view of the food prep areas. They score way better here than any of the other chains around here. I also think that for fast food, the Bell can be slightly healthier than the others, depending on which items you order. Things with a fair amount of rice, and beans, with a minimum of fatty ground beef, and/or cheese are not too bad, and there's practically nothing deep fried (only the Gordita shells, I think). Best of all (of course this is a subjective statement), their stuff just tastes rockin' for fast food! If it came down to only having one chain in the area, I would absolutely go south of the border, and will NOT drop the Chalupa! Although, I still occasionally get a hankerin' for BK fries, or some White Castle. Heard some good stuff about In and Out Burger... wish we had one here.

 

[climberkid]

i totally agree with you about the taco bell. nicest fast food staff around, and mostly delicious food, and great prices.

 

[BIGIRON]

The only fast food I do is our regional burger chain, Whataburger. The company owned stores are generally clean, well managed and provide a good burger. The franchises are spotty.

Don't think I'm a tofu hugger just cause I don't do fast food -- I dearly love my breakfast migas and taco ensalada at lunch!

 

[DieselTech]

After working at McDonalds for just a few months in my teenage years, I still can't eat lunch there. Actually, about the only fast food place I can handle is Chick Fil A. I got ahold of a cow hat today, so I got a free chicken biscuit for breakfast, and a free chicken sandwich for lunch.

 

[climberkid]

you wanna share your findings about mcdonalds?

 

[Sinjz]

I don't go to a lot of fast food places, but the ones I do go to are generally clean. I'm sorta surprised to hear all these horror stories. If these places were so bad, I wouldn't go to them! Sound like you guys keep goping back!