One of the main menu items at almost every fast food restaurant in the country is the good old hamburger. We all love a well-put-together burger, and we all have our go-to favorites. Whether it's the Big Mac at McDonald's, the Whopper at Burger King, the Baconator at Wendy's, or the Mama Burger at A&W, fast food joints have gotten very inventive with their burgers over the years. These days, they're getting thicker and higher, and a few even feature some unexpected ingredients. Which fast-food burger is the G.O.A.T? Burger lovers can debate it all night long, but here is our list of fast food hamburgers, ranked worst to best.
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00:00Countless fast food restaurants across the country sell burgers.
00:04The choice is almost limitless.
00:06It is very important, then, that you make your choice wisely.
00:09Luckily, we're here to help.
00:11Here are the most well-known fast food burgers, ranked worst to best.
00:15Sure, McDonald's is the biggest and the baddest, but are they the best?
00:20The short answer is no.
00:22For the sake of fairness, let's ignore the disappointing Basic Hamburger and focus on
00:26the Quarter Pounder.
00:28It's a pretty simple burger, just meat seasoned with salt and pepper, your most basic of toppings,
00:33and cheese on their famous sesame seed bun.
00:35The concept is solid, but flawed.
00:38There are far fewer toppings, for example, than you might find in the burgers sold by
00:41Better Chains, and the speed-focused nature of the restaurants themselves mean that there's
00:46a good chance your burger will be less than expertly presented.
00:50The reality is more dry patties and messy toppings.
00:54Oh yes, the Other Them.
00:56They're not quite as big, they're not quite as bad, but they are better, barely.
01:01Let's go with the Whopper here rather than their actual Plain Hamburger, which, frankly,
01:05is a sad state of affairs.
01:07The Whopper, however, includes all the toppings you'd hope for from any chain worth their
01:11salt.
01:12The main issues here are a disappointing reliance on white onion and the ratio of patty size
01:17to other toppings.
01:19But here's why Burger King wins out over McDonald's.
01:22The flame-grilled taste of the burgers is far more flavorful than what you'll find at
01:25McDonald's, and BK burgers just tend to be put together better.
01:30The good things about Shake Shack's Shack Burger is the option to double up on toppings
01:34and the optional applewood-smoked bacon.
01:37The patty is thick, juicy, and it's got a decent flavor, but here's the bad news.
01:42There's not much seasoning, and the burger as a whole is pretty small.
01:45The quality is often inconsistent, and, well, that kinda sucks, right?
01:50If your burger's too small and you can't be consistent, you can't be higher on our Best
01:55Burgers list.
01:56Shake Shack?
01:57More like Shame Shack.
02:00Steak & Shake's twist on what most call a hamburger is their steak burger.
02:04Their burgers are different from the norm, made from ground meat that comes from beef
02:08brisket and chuck.
02:09This is something of a point of pride for the chain.
02:11But is it worth all that fuss?
02:13Kind of.
02:14Their original steak burger's toppings are decent enough, and no one should ever say
02:18no to a properly toasted bun.
02:20The patty itself tends to be juicy and well-sized, and does benefit a little from being made
02:25of a superior cut, but nowhere near enough to justify calling it a steak burger.
02:31At Wendy's, the closest thing you've got to a classically made hamburger is the Dave's
02:35Single.
02:36As well as their patty, you've got cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, mayo, and onion.
02:41Good stuff and bad stuff.
02:43On the plus side, there's the toasted bun, which is a mainstay feature of any decent
02:47burger.
02:48But where's the mustard?
02:50It just seems wrong not to include it.
02:52Otherwise, the beef is decent, and the fact that it's never frozen is a legitimate selling
02:56point.
02:57It makes for a patty that's actually far juicier and more enjoyable than most of Wendy's rivals.
03:03Fuddruckers claims to have the world's greatest hamburgers, and while they may not quite be
03:08there, they're pretty close.
03:09To start, every burger is grilled to order, which is more than you can say for some of
03:13America's bigger chains.
03:15The toppings are fully customizable, which is always a plus, even if the choice is a
03:19little limited.
03:20The patties themselves are great, too.
03:22They're never frozen, come from premium cut beef, and best of all, are nice, thick, and
03:28juicy.
03:29The Five Guys hamburger is brilliant in simplicity.
03:32It's two patties on a toasted bun with the customer's choice of totally free toppings.
03:38And since there's a ton of toppings, the possibilities are limitless.
03:41The patties are well-grilled and succulent, the sesame buns are nice and soft, and the
03:46servings of toppings aren't so heavy they get in the way, unless you want them to.
03:51Few things in our fleeting, mortal lives can match up to the taste of a nice, fresh Five
03:56Guys hamburger.
03:57True friendship, maybe, or…
03:59"...one, two, three, go."
04:02"...Happy birthday."
04:03"...What?"
04:04They're good, is what we're saying.
04:07But there's one major restaurant in America capable of doing better.
04:10"...Why are people so devoted to this?"
04:13"...You sound like someone who's never had an In-N-Out burger."
04:16Yes, the In-N-Out burger.
04:18The menu is simple, but everything is entirely fresh, vegetables are hand-selected, and pretty
04:24much everything is regionally sourced and free of additives and preservatives.
04:28That's how all food should be done, and they've been doing it a long time.
04:32The patties themselves are cooked to perfection on the grill, of course, and the toppings
04:36on each burger are generous in quantity without ever becoming clumsy or overbearing.
04:41You can tell they're fresh, too.
04:43With every piece of lettuce, onion, or tomato tasting genuinely great.
04:48And that's not something you can say for the rest, is it?