Culver’s is consistently clean, the service is great and the food is good for a fast food chain. Like a burger version of Chick Fil A.
Chain with the best burger?
- Thread starter Tenacious E
- Start date
Other than getting it totally backwards, you're absolutely correct. Even in CR, where we love our chains, Freddy's is a ghost town. Culver's burger may not be the best, but it's good, and their fish sandwich is a clear number 1 for me.
No doubt Culver’s gets a little better employees and it shows in all areas. O
I referenced an existing poll and stated I didn't have enough poll choices to replicate it. As far arbitrariness, if you think Red Robin is in the same category as the others you are not very discerning.
For me, eliminating real sitdown expensive burgers and eliminating my own homemade burgers, the best cheaper to midpriced chain burgers are:
1) BurgerFi
2) Blake’s Lotaburger
3) Shake Shack
4) Steak ‘n Shake
5) Whataburger
6) Braum’s
7) The Habit
8) Cook Out
9) Harvey’s
10) Fatburger
And I’d give a quick aside to Krystal, White Castle, and the best of the slider bunch, the Cozy Inn. Although the little sliders with steamed buns are not usually in the discussion of best burgers when compared to enormous grease filled fire grilled burgers, they are great as their own thing. David Chang of Momofuku’s and Netflix fame loves them as basically an American take on a Chinese steamed bun and loves them more than high end burgers. I won’t say that I love them MORE, but I would definitely get them in place of my list on occasion and well ahead of the bigger chains like Burger King and McDonalds.
I have not heard of your 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. Or Krystal. Or Cozy Inn. Must be southern chains. We don't eat a lot a fast food but if I'm traveling down there I'll have to give BurgerFi a shot.
I've never heard of most of those places other then Steak 'n Shake and Whataburger. Are you sure they are chains?
I feel like Red Robin's meat isn't very good. The toppings often make them decent. I don't think they are bad but just not great.
B-Bops. Their grease is God’s ball sweat.
Interesante. We don't have those around here.
Given they only appear to be located in CA, NV, UT, AZ, and TX, they have quite a showing on an Iowa board that is comprised of mostly Iowans and Floridians.
1) BurgerFi is a Florida chain that’s now in 20 states as well as Mexico, Panama and Kuwait. It’s one of two chains (per this Wikipedia article) that doesn’t allow antibiotics, growth hormone, steroids or other non-natural injections into its cattle. And it does that without being in your face about it, as a matter of fact I’ve eaten there tons of times without knowing that. Now I’m even more likely to go back.
2) Blake’s Lotaburger is originally from New Mexico and is mainly there with some other locations in Arizona, California, Nevada and western Texas. It’s rightfully famous for its Hatch Green Chiliburgers which I get everytime I’m in the area. That may be my favorite burger period, but I put Blake’s behind BurgerFi because if you don’t like Chiliburgers, then BurgerFi is better for regular burgers.
6) Braum’s is primarily an Arkansas and Oklahoma chain but they have spots in Texas, Kansas and Missouri as well. They famously have their own herds of cattle that they use for both their ice cream and for their burgers. They also semibizarrely sell fresh uncooked meat both steaks and ground beef out of their restaurants for Oklahoman and Arkansans to take home. It’s my in-laws favorite place on the planet but they both went to OU.
7) The Habit is mainly a California chain, but they’re in Florida, NJ, NY, PA, MD, D.C. and VA as well as China and UAE.
8) Cook Out is originally from North Carolina but is now in Florida, AL, GA, SC, VA, D.C., MD, KY, WV and MS.
9) Harvey’s is only in Canada where it is from, but it’s all over the country and is the second biggest chain in Canada after Tim Horton’s. Allegedly there’s a secret lawsuit settlement that they will not spread into the US because of the name’s similarities to Hardee’s. I don’t know if that’s true or not but so far they’re exclusively Canadian I believe despite being excellent.
10) Fatburger is another California chain that used to have locations in Florida but for some reason or another the Florida locations closed (probably because we get almost every chain the instant they start spreading like Shake Shack) but it’s still doing strong in California, Nevada, Washington state and a few other places.
Krystal is originally from Tennessee and most of its 400+ locations are still there, Florida and Georgia. But it’s located almost everywhere that White Castle is not.
Cozy Inn is only in one location in Kansas but it started allegedly before or at least around the same time as White Castle and they still do everything by hand with top grade beef. It’s like a White Castle or Krystal if they didn’t use the lowest quality beef they could find (And btw I’m fine with that just like Taco Bell).
Nice run down. I could actually see BurgerFi doing quite well where I live...
Yep, see my followup. Not only are they all chains, they’re all in multiple states (or provinces in the case of Harvey’s).
That sucks, you’re missing out.
EDIT - Your waistline and arteries say you’re not missing out.
I never once mentioned Red Robin, so I'm not sure what your point is there. My comment about arbitrariness was that it made no sense to exclude Fuddruckers on the basis that they serve beer, especially since you did include Smashburger.
My original point is that any "best burger chain" poll that includes McDonald's but not Fudd's is not a valid "best burger chain" poll. And it wasn't until your third attempt at rationalizing the exclusion of Fudd's that you finally got around to saying it was because it wasn't in the survey, which at that time you hadn't even linked yet.
Surprised I havn't heard of them because my In-laws live in Florida and I've spent a decent amount of time in the state.
Mixed up you with someone else on Red Robin. Never been in Smashburger and the last time I was in a Fuddruckers was probably 30 years ago, so if they are similar in concept I didn't glean that from a brief google search. I was simply attempting to pick similar type restaurants from the original poll. Seemed like a wait staff and the serving or alcohol would separate out non-fast food type chains. Apparently there is an outlier or two. As to the original poll, you should take up putting in McDonald's and leaving out Fuddrucker's with Market Force Information.
I like hamburgers and all but this new hamburger renaissance is overblown to me. For the most part, hamburgers are are notable mainly when they're terrible, otherwise they're fine. And it's rare that I fine a hamburger so good that it's worth the $12+ these places are getting. Value is a big part of it.
That said, I'll weigh in.
I've recently rediscovered Fuddruckers, and that is a really good hamburger for a fair price at a place with a strong menu.
There's a place near me called Gub Burger Bar, and of all the upscale burger joints, this is one that actually has been worth a couple more bucks for me. I've always felt like I got an excellent burger there.
Burger Fi...not a fan. Unremarkable at best. A 6oz bacon cheeseburger, fries and a drink is going to run you like $17, for an average tasting hamburger. At Fuddruckers, you can get a bigger half pound bacon cheeseburger, fries and a drink for $14, you can choose how you want it cooked, and I think it tastes better.
Went into a Freddy's once, against the advice of my daughter who had been to one before. In the running for the worst burger I ever had, including crappy fast food options. You know if you put a burger in a pan, and then you try to flip it after a minute before it's ready to flip, a layer of burnt crust sticks to the bottom of the pan? Well, if you then threw out the burger, got a paint scraper and carefully scraped that crust off the bottom of the pan in one piece, and put it on a roll, that would be the Freddy's burgers we got.
Cook Out...I love it as a concept. But the burgers are are below average at best (but not terrible or anything). But here's where value comes into play...I'll take a below average burger for $5 over a average burger for $17 any day. I just don't get it when I hear people talking about the actual burgers being actual good.
I think a Whataburger is probably the best true traditional "fast food" burger, although I haven't had In and Out. I eat hamburgers at a true fast food (as opposed to "quick serve" counter service) maybe once every three years, so I'm not too fit to judge.
Steak and Shake doesn't count for this, but it's an ok burger elevated again by the price. But it's the opposite of fast food...service is horribly slow in every one I've been to, which is quite a few. You've got to make me wait a LONG time to take the shine of a $5 burger and fry combo, but they manage.
That said, I'll weigh in.
I've recently rediscovered Fuddruckers, and that is a really good hamburger for a fair price at a place with a strong menu.
There's a place near me called Gub Burger Bar, and of all the upscale burger joints, this is one that actually has been worth a couple more bucks for me. I've always felt like I got an excellent burger there.
Burger Fi...not a fan. Unremarkable at best. A 6oz bacon cheeseburger, fries and a drink is going to run you like $17, for an average tasting hamburger. At Fuddruckers, you can get a bigger half pound bacon cheeseburger, fries and a drink for $14, you can choose how you want it cooked, and I think it tastes better.
Went into a Freddy's once, against the advice of my daughter who had been to one before. In the running for the worst burger I ever had, including crappy fast food options. You know if you put a burger in a pan, and then you try to flip it after a minute before it's ready to flip, a layer of burnt crust sticks to the bottom of the pan? Well, if you then threw out the burger, got a paint scraper and carefully scraped that crust off the bottom of the pan in one piece, and put it on a roll, that would be the Freddy's burgers we got.
Cook Out...I love it as a concept. But the burgers are are below average at best (but not terrible or anything). But here's where value comes into play...I'll take a below average burger for $5 over a average burger for $17 any day. I just don't get it when I hear people talking about the actual burgers being actual good.
I think a Whataburger is probably the best true traditional "fast food" burger, although I haven't had In and Out. I eat hamburgers at a true fast food (as opposed to "quick serve" counter service) maybe once every three years, so I'm not too fit to judge.
Steak and Shake doesn't count for this, but it's an ok burger elevated again by the price. But it's the opposite of fast food...service is horribly slow in every one I've been to, which is quite a few. You've got to make me wait a LONG time to take the shine of a $5 burger and fry combo, but they manage.
Just an Iowa thing, and after the CR and Coral Ridge Mall locations closed, I think it's just a Des Moines, WDM, Ankeny and Ames thing. The Eastern Iowa locations were not nearly as good.
Amazing burger, awful fries.
Culver's has overtaken Five Guys with a one vote lead. Maybe the Culvers by you is just run by a bad franchisee.
Maybe. I'm not a big fan of beef being squished into a flat patty then seared. I can get a fairly equivalent burger at Steak n Shake for cheaper. Both aren't terrible, just not my favorite.
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