As a Canadian I have only ever eaten A&W (and Five Guys once) so I curious what other people prefer.
it kinda depends on the size of the chain. like there is a burger place near my house that has the best burgers but its not a chain. For the been around a long time and large chains I felt wendys held up the longest. Burger king was great in the 80’s but went down hill. It seems that its still decent if you are away from a major metro area. Basically they are not cooking on demand in high density places. You can still request it be cooked and made fresh which makes a big difference. their patty is skinny as heck still now.
In-&-Out
It is still a crappy cheeseburger, but its the way a crappy cheeseburger is supposed to be. Cheap, fast and produced by a kitchen that is a shining example of fast food.
In a day when the big three (golden arches, BK, and Wendys) have mostly priced themselves out of their own market. I make it a point to stop by every time im in a place that has one. The farthest one from California is just east of Nashville TN.
I don’t get the appeal, any burger you make at home is going to be a million times better than a fast food burger. You don’t even have to complicate things, just buy the buns, butter and toast them, spread a spoonful of aioli, throw some fresh salad from the market, press garlic, a big slice of ancient tomato, there, it’s already better than any store-bought and we haven’t even gotten to the patty.
The best i ever had was the one from the “American Cafe” next to the embassy. Sadly, the embassy moved, and the Cafe closed long ago.
Second is the “Lieblingsburger” food truck, a small local chain.
With big Chain Burgers, I prefer Burgerking. Eons ahead of McD.
Where in Canada? Toronto has small shops that are better than any of the big chains.
- Rudy
- Cleo’s
- Rosie’s
- Burgernator
But if you’re asking me to pick from the well known chains I’d have to go with Shake Shack over the others.
Dairy Queen
I’m a Hardee’s person. That mushroom and Swiss is my fav
I’m realizing I like smash burgers from fast food places. For me Shake Shack tops that list, with Freddy’s a close second. I was surprised at how good I thought Sonic’s smash burger was since I usually haven’t been overly-impressed with their food. Not a smash burger, but I do like Five Guys, although they’re really expensive. None of those I would describe as particularly fast, though.
For something that’s actually fast, as in my food can be ready as soon as I get to the window from when I ordered at the drive-thru intercom I’d say Wendy’s is currently my favorite. They changed their burgers after founder Dave Thomas died and I haven’t liked their changes to the traditional lineup, but the Double Stack or Baconator/Baconator Jr. are good. The others like McDonald’s, Burger King, Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr. are consistent, rarely bad but also rarely great. You’re in Canada and I’ve noticed when we go visit my wife’s parents up there that McDonald’s is often running some limited-time variant on their burgers, often the quarter pounder, and sometimes they’ve been good, or at least interesting. We don’t seem to get those in the US, so if you want a fast food burger you might want to at least try them since you have easy access.
My recommendations might not mean much, though, because I haven’t been particularly impressed with the A&W burgers I’ve had in Canada. I’ve already forgotten what I really don’t like with them even though I had one a few weeks ago, but I think it’s something like the buns are weirdly grainy and the meat is loose and has an odd flavor. I like the root beer, though, in spite of your paper straws that start breaking down way too fast.
Super Duper, San Francisco CA
As a fellow Canadian, I’m partial to the Harvey’s veggie burger. It’s often on sale in the app and generally hits the spot, though sometimes it’s a bit dry if they overcook it.
I’m not a strict vegetarian, but don’t go out of my way to get meat either and sort of default on veggie burgers. I’ve tried them at other places. A&W has the Beyond Burger, which has a bit of an aftertaste I don’t care for. I should go back though and try the masala burger. I’m curious about that one.
Burger King has the Impossible Burger. That’s quite good, but there are no BKs near me. McDonalds also has a veggie burger now. I tried it. It’s very soft and a tad boring. I don’t think the Big Mac-style mayo-based sauces work great with it? I wish they would let you opt for one of the nugget sauces instead. Like it might be good with BBQ?
I forgot to mention if you’re looking for vegan options, there’s Odd Burger. They sadly don’t have one where I live, but I went to the one in Ottawa and it was amazing! Word of warning about the fries though. They’re almost a meal in themselves. If you go with a friend, you might just want to get one order and share? Also, they were supposed to expand to the US but when Trump got re-elected, they nixed that plan pretty quick.
I’d have to say Five Guys has the best fast food burgers. With Freddy’s coming in a close second.
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.
How have you only eaten A&W?
But also, in terms of fast food burgers, A&W Canada is pretty top tier.
Yeah it’s weird. I was actually a little disappointed by the A&W in the US compared to Canada, but then later someone told me A&W Canada is a completely different company/operation? Even though they seem to share certain branding.
In-N-Out Burger became my go-to when visiting family in California. It’s a little weird though in that they seem to have choices not on the menu? Like my sister-and-law said I should ask for “animal style” and I looked at her dubiously but they knew what right away what that was.
I’ve heard that about in and out as well, a little trick to make customers feel a bit more special, same deal with five guys dumping all the extra fries in the bag… They’re fully charging you for them, but it still feels special.
And yeah, originally A&W Canada got sold off to some big conglomerate in the 70s (like Unilever of something), then eventually in the 90s when the conglomerate decided they didn’t want them, a group of franchisees banded together and bought A&W Canada from them… So it’s been separate from the American version for over 50 years at this point.
Wow, so A&W Canada is almost an indie operation at this point. I like that!
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.
Makes perfect sense… Be thankful your town had an A&W and not BK.
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.
This is actually quite incorrect, A&W is the second largest fast food chain in Canada after McDonalds… Though not sure how even the spread is regionally.
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.
