We Tried 9 Chain Restaurant Burgers And Ranked Them Worst To Best

Growing up, when I thought of fast food burgers, pretty much the only item I was picturing was a McDonald's cheeseburger. Then, my small town gained a few more chains and that scope widened. Now, burger chains have a whole range of offerings from those that are nearly luxuries to burgers that are still most ideal for a hangover cure. In any case, I set out to determine the best chain restaurant burgers around, and although my favorite may not be a surprise to some, it broke new ground for me, continuing to open my eyes far beyond a basic McDonald's burger.

My family and I tried these burgers over the course of a few evenings. After sampling each, we noted flavor, texture, quality of ingredients, how fresh it tasted, and any unique qualities. Then, we took these aspects into consideration, ranking the burger overall. I should note that I am limited by the burger chains in my area, so some regional favorites weren't as readily available, like those most popular on the West Coast, for example.

The very first time I went to Sonic, I was there because friends of mine were astounded that I had never been. I was a high schooler with no car, and permanently at the mercy of friends and family to get out and about in our small town. Well, one sip of a Sonic slush, and I was sold. I got the crunchy ice. I understood. The food, though, was another story. I was never really impressed, and that held true with my burger tasting here, too.

For this stop, my husband and I were both interested in a couple of milkshakes with our burger, but according to the staff member, they had seemingly pulled a McDonald's, and we got the classic, "The machine is broken" response. So, we had to settle for just the burger. Turns out, the kitchen was way behind, so we also waited a good 15 minutes before the burger made it to the car. Since the kitchen was behind, I assumed that meant we were in for a hot, juicy, fresh burger. Did we get that? Based on where you see Sonic on the rating, you probably already know: We didn't.

The cheeseburger was room temperature, dry, and though it looked well assembled, it wasn't particularly tasty. In fact, the meat didn't taste like any burger I'd had on this taste test. Instead, it tasted like the kind of beef that's been frozen too long, taken up residency in a freezer and succumb to the many other flavors surrounding it. It just tasted old. This cheeseburger, though decently sized, got two bites before being dismissed back into the bag.

McDonald's has been part of my life for a long time. Most '90's kids remember the glory of the old school McDonald's PlayPlaces, and so many of us had birthdays or even school celebrations brought to you by Ronald McDonald. Even now, my son loves the occasional Happy Meal, so my family frequently stops in for a quick bite. With all of this history between us, I was curious how McDonald's burger would stack up to some pretty meaty competition. I must say, I was disappointed.

For this tasting, I chose the iconic Big Mac (one of the McDonald's burgers that has gone through significant changes), where the chain should really shine. Unfortunately, the Big Mac I was given was sorely lacking. In fact, part of me still wonders if it was actually made wrong. A Big Mac should come with a three part bun, shredded lettuce, Big Mac sauce, pickles, cheese, and beef patties. Every item on that list was included, but the beef patties were tiny, seemingly more suitable for a Happy Meal burger than a Big Mac.

The flavor of the burger wasn't necessarily bad, but it's not what I wanted from a burger. It just tasted like sauce on lettuce; like salad on buns. I'm all for a heavily sauced burger, but there should be something to break up the saucy flavor and texture, and it wasn't there at all with this Big Mac, and that's really the reason for the low ranking.

With the chain's often repeated promise to use fresh, never frozen, beef, I was expecting a whole lot more from the Wendy's Baconator than what I experienced. Perhaps my expectations were too high because I recently learned that the Wendy's Breakfast Baconator is one of the very best breakfast sandwiches out there. Unfortunately, the regular, rest of the day, Baconator doesn't hold a candle to its morning offering.

Like other Wendy's burgers I've had, the burger on the whole was juicy, but when I isolated the beef patties and looked at those alone, they lacked the texture and flavor I expected from a great burger, which is why it was low on my overall list. I found that the Baconator is a unique take on the typical burger. In a space where bacon can be questionable at best, this bacon was pretty impressive in flavor and texture, and I found that to be true for the Breakfast Baconator, as well. Wendy's clearly takes care of its bacon. As for the beef, I've always appreciated the square shape of the burger patties because they are distinctive and offer just a little extra beef for your money, but here, with the bacon in tow, the extra beef felt a little excessive. I enjoyed how soft Wendy's bun was, and it felt like it was more of a steamed bun than some of the other more basic seeded buns that you get at super fast food restaurants.

BurgerFi is a chain that is popular around central Florida, even though the chain has been slamming the door on several locations. In fact, when my family and I were first looking at houses in the sunshine state, we stopped at BurgerFi for a quick bite during our house hunting expedition. I was blown away by the quality of the burger, as well as the french fries. I didn't anticipate so many unique offerings, and the chain itself was exciting. We've been back several times since, so I was eager to see how the cheeseburger would match up to some of the other burgers I was sampling.

Though I may have been impressed on my first visit, on this trip, I found that the burger was fine. It was very middle of the road, and about as basic as I was willing to go and still call it fine, but the burger was by no means great. It certainly performed better than some of the more drive-thru heavy fast food restaurants, but, for a little more luxury quick service, I was disappointed. Not to mention, at $10.99, this was one of the most expensive burgers that I sampled. Although the quality of the ingredients were there, the flavor just didn't hit where I wanted it to be.

While many of the other chains offered super unique burgers like BurgerFi, but those restaurants also went out of their way to make even a simple burger or cheeseburger unique. Not so with BurgerFi. While I was eating the burger, I could tell I was being overcharged, and that really made me a little resentful. In the end, I simply couldn't put this burger any higher than where it ended up because even many of the far less expensive burgers were so much better.

I have something egregious to admit to you. Before this burger sampling mission, I had never been to a White Castle. I know, I know. I'm not sure why it never happened. I have plenty of people around me who love White Castle, but I had never made it there. In any case, I now see what I was missing, and I get it. Was it greasy? Yes. Was it better than I expected? Also, yes.

To get a more full experience, I chose three sliders: the original, cheese, and 1921. As soon as I opened my bag and began taking out the little boxes, I noticed just how greasy everything was. It added a moist, soft feel to each of the sliders, as well as the boxes and bag. These burgers definitely need to be eaten quickly so they don't become wet and sodden, so I wasted little time. While it does have benefits, all this grease was one of my few complaints. Some is okay, but when it becomes too heavy, the burgers lose texture and cohesiveness.

Watching the preparations and cooking process of the sliders is very pleasing; White Castle seems to have a nice rhythm and process for preparing the little burger sliders. Of the three I tried, the cheeseburger was my favorite. I liked the fresh toppings on the 1921, but it fell apart so quickly, there was barely time to enjoy it. Since the sliders are so small, it brings to mind little snacking bites I enjoyed as a kid, like pizza bagels and pizza rolls. Different flavors, of course, but the same poppable, snackable feel.

It's hard to replicate the experience of digging into a backyard burger. It's the perfect mixture of a juicy burger that's been well tended to buy a skilled grill master and ingredients that are so fresh, they were likely purchased and prepped within days of eating. There's no imagining that any burger came from a freezer where a huge pile of burgers await their fiery fate. Instead, each burger looks lovingly hand formed, fresh cooked, completely free of frozen beef patties. The original Fatburger is the closest I've ever come to having a burger from a fast food or fast casual restaurant that feels like it could have been created in a backyard.

Just looking at Fatburger's offering, it's clear that the ingredients were assembled with such care and attention to place the items exactly where they need to go. Of course, in high production fast food restaurants, there simply isn't time for such attention to detail, but at a Fatburger, everything is made to order, so the time is there. While it definitely captures that freshly made burger feel, I found that it was missing something in the way of sauce. With a better balance, it would have no doubt ranked higher. I could imagine the burger tasting better with a little more mayo or other condiments. That said, as far as the basic burger goes, this one is good, and I was impressed by the seasoning of the burger and how beautifully the team assembled it.

I'll be the first to admit that when I'm getting ready to dig into a meal, my eyes eat first. Meaning, if it doesn't look appetizing enough, my feelings on the entire experience will be affected. I caught myself doing that at Freddy's after ordering the Freddy's original double. When I pulled the burger out of its packaging, it seemed to be so disheveled and messily assembled that I wondered if there was any real redemption to it. Before I even tried it, I was ready to rank the burger really low, even wondering if the staff behind the counter had taken the time to assemble it correctly. Then, I took a bite, and that all changed.

Though it looked like quite a messy feat, and admittedly, it was rather difficult to eat, the flavor on the Freddy's original double was one of the best of the burgers I tried. The beef was fully seasoned and had a good smash quality (though Shake Shack did it even better). Freddy's also did an absolutely perfect job of melting the cheese into the beef, and I appreciated the extra attention to pickles. Most pickles you get at a burger chain are piddly pickle chips, and even then, you'll only get a couple, but not at Freddy's. I was so excited to see two large pickles on my burger. My complaint was simple: This burger is hard to eat. If it were a little easier to control, it would rank higher.

Before this tasting, if I wanted a more luxury burger, I went to Five Guys. Not only are some of my favorite french fries from this chain, but I love the way you can customize burgers and shakes here. Most restaurants want you to ask for ingredients that you don't like to be removed, but I find few places will assemble a burger to your exact specifications, from top to bottom. That said, for toppings, I didn't get "the works" on my cheeseburger like I normally do so it wouldn't be too overloaded by condiments and toppings. That's definitely one of the major benefits of a Five Guys burger. Granted, this was also the most expensive burger I tried. It rang up at $11.69 at my location, and I figured this was a reasonable price for the best burger around. I was astounded when I found even better.

One thing I've noticed about a Five Guys burger is that it gets a little bit smashed with the wrapping and soft very quickly. You generally want to eat these shortly after getting them, so they taste best in the restaurant, though my family more often does take out from Five Guys rather than a dine-in situation. I've noticed a difference, and it's the only thing that would improve this burger.

Those readers who go to Shake Shack on a regular basis will not be surprised to see this burger at the top of my list. I was simply blown away by the ShackBurger. Throughout the entire sampling process at each of the restaurants, I wanted something that tasted unique. I couldn't put my finger on it, but as soon as I tasted the ShackBurger, I knew this was the one. After ordering, I waited a rather long time for my burger to be ready because I had ordered it in person, so I would definitely want to order ahead of time in the future. But, that was my only complaint, and it's easy to work around. Like Fatburger, the ShackBurger was beautifully assembled, but unlike Fatburger, this one had an extra special flavor.

While Freddy's does a smashburger, Shake Shack did an even better one. The browning and caramelization was absolutely top notch. In fact, my husband and I were both so impressed with the burger, we immediately pulled around and got right in the drive-thru lane so that we could order another one. Plus, there was a cherry pomegranate lemonade that I was eyeing, so we got one of those, too. The drive-through line also took a while, just like inside, but, again, it was worth it, and the lemonade was pretty outstanding, too. Simply put, I can't wait to go back. And next time, I'll definitely be getting a milkshake.

To pit these chain burgers against one another, my family and I dedicated a few dinners to sampling the burgers. As we traveled from chain to chain and took a bite of each burger, we discussed and rated them based on flavor, freshness, texture, overall appearance, and uniqueness. We took each of these factors into consideration when rating the burgers from worst to best. The top spot went to a burger that had an excellent balance of all of these aspects.

It was well assembled, the ingredients were fresh, the flavor was exceptional, and it was simply crave-worthy. Burgers that didn't do as well were often overly greasy or not flavorful enough. Oftentimes, an improper balance of ingredients would drive down a burger's overall ranking, and having a perfect storm of all positive expectations definitely helped a burger score better.