Best Non-Pizza Fast Food Chain

[Kleine Scheiße]

Taco Bell
Wendy's
Panda Express
Wawa
Sheetz

[Lechasseur]

In no particular order:
Subway
Wendy's
Burger King
Chuck Fil A
Popeye's

[Thunder98 🇮🇱 🤝 🇵🇸]

Panda Express
Jersey Mikes
In-N-Out Burger
Culvers
Chick-Fil-A

[Kleine Scheiße]

so far the most popular are wendy's and popeye's; with whataburger, in n out, culver's, panda express, bk, chick fil a, and mcdonald's tied for second

not a bad list actually

[satsuma]

It'd be nice if we had Jersey Mike's locally, but the "good subs" niche is more taken by Firehouse

[Meclazine for Israel]

We've only got McDonalds and KFC.

And McDonalds has an outrageous menu now compared to the normal slop from other fast food chains.

[Orwell]

McDonalds, Culver’s, Chick-fil-A, Panda Express, Wendy’s

[Illiniwek]

In-n-Out met the hype, although as a Midwesterner I'd argue Culvers is right up there with it due to versatility.

For subs, I think Jersey Mike's is the best national sub chain out there. If you say Subway, I hope its an international thing, because Subway has plummeted to pretty low depths of quality everywhere I have seen in the past 10 years.

McDonalds quality isn't in the top tier, but the reliability and consistency is pretty solid. Wendy's has a few issues, but other than their fries they have a very good argument against McDonalds.

Raisin Canes and Chick-fil-a each have a good argument for chicken restaurants. I kind of like Canes better, but a Chick-fil-a biscuit sandwich for breakfast is probably my favorite fast food breakfast. I go back and forth on Popeyes.

Arby's isn't in the top tier, but it gets too much hate. I love their roast beef sandwiches.

[bagelman]

Of these:

Jersey Mike's: My choice for subs. Subway has been guttertrash for a long time now, and Jimmy Johns always has been.

Taco Bell: Quality often poor, service often poor, pay often poor, but sometimes you just have that craving.

Wendy's: Best choice for basic burgers and such, although the location near me has been going downhill.

Arby's isn't terrible but isn't great either. BK sucks. McDonald's is OK.

[Crumpets]

McDonald's is a mainstay of American fast food and has always filled that niche well. Wendy's is a good company overall, but I don't go there often enough to judge their food. Dairy Queen I like their ice cream, Burger King and Jack-in-the-Box I go to very rarely, and pretty much never go to any of the others. One that's not on this list but deserves a shout-out is Taco Time, which I think only operates in the Northwest and maybe parts of California. When I'm in Seattle, it's easily the fast food I eat at most often.

[JGibson]

Taco Bell
Burger King
Jack In The Box
White Castle
Wendy's

[dead0man]

BK-average restaurant quality is _low, but they make a delicious burger and fast
Culver's-probably the best fast food burger, or at least should be in the discussion
White Castle-one of those things that is both disgusting and awesome (don't have these in Omaha, but I'm in STL a few times a year and always grab a few when I'm there, it might be the closest fast food joint to my parents place)
Rallys/Checkers-like BK, but cleaner and way better fries (don't have these in Omaha either, I rarely stop even though they are also in the STL area)
Popeyes-best chicken, and they have crawfish po boys sometimes that are very good (if a little light)

[Continential]

Burger King
Chick fil A
Panda Express
Sheetz
McDonalds

[sting in the rafters]

Wawa (tbh is more of a convenience store, if ur including Wawa as fast food you might as well include 7-11)
Chick-Fil-A
Wendy’s
Popeye’s
In-N-Out

I’m too cheap to eat fast food regularly tho

[Zedonathin2020]

In no particular order:

Chick-Fil-A

Arby’s

Chipotle

Subway

Wendy’s

[RFK 2024]

No Waffle House? That's a crime 

[MarkD]

In no particular order:
Subway
Burger King
Panda Express
Arby's
Sonic

[Хahar 🤔]

BK-average restaurant quality is _low, but they make a delicious burger and fast
Culver's-probably the best fast food burger, or at least should be in the discussion
White Castle-one of those things that is both disgusting and awesome (don't have these in Omaha, but I'm in STL a few times a year and always grab a few when I'm there, it might be the closest fast food joint to my parents place)
Rallys/Checkers-like BK, but cleaner and way better fries (don't have these in Omaha either, I rarely stop even though they are also in the STL area)
Popeyes-best chicken, and they have crawfish po boys sometimes that are very good (if a little light)

I worked for a few years at an office job in the fast food industry (mostly Arby's, but after the company I worked for acquired Sonic I did some work there too). One of the things that was received wisdom in the industry was that Burger King and Popeyes had the worst quality control in the business. If you get McDonald's you can be sure you'll get McDonald's no matter what, but with Burger King you can get something a lot better than McDonald's or something a lot worse. Likewise, of you live ten minutes from a Popeyes with bad online ratings and twenty minutes from a Popeyes with good online ratings, it's worth your while to go to the more distant store. It's funny that Burger King and Popeyes then got together to form Restaurant Brands International. I guess the minds behind RBI felt like quality control was a market inefficiency.

The unanimous belief at the office was that Checkers/Rally's has the best fries in fast food. I've never lived particularly near one (well, in college there was one a few miles away, but I didn't have a car so it was far for me), but those are the only fast food fries I'll go out of my way for. Living on the West Coast means I haven't had them in a while.

To answer the question posed in the thread, I love fast food very much so there are a lot of places I like, but I'll note Del Taco specifically. It's cheaper and better than Taco Bell, and I say that as a Taco Bell fan. I go there whenever I'm in southern California.

[RINO Tom]

As a native of Downstate Illinois, I must go with Steak 'n Shake.  While a less well-known association at the national level, it's our Culver's.

[Property Representative of the Harold Holt Swimming Centre]

I don't often get fast food from chains. Of those listed (I haven't had food from many of them) I'd say McDonalds, although I think I did enjoy Zaxby's and Arby's when I went to those.

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

Exempting local chains;


In-n-Out
Jersey Mike's
Popeyes
Wendys
Whataburger

Honorable mention: Firehouse Subs

[West_Midlander]

Zaxby's

[Cokeland Saxton]

Culver's
Taco Bell
McDonald's
Wendy's
Dairy Queen

BK sucks. KFC is going downhill. I tried In-n-Out for the first time on a trip to AZ a few years ago and it was mediocre. Haven't had a Whataburger in 15 years (I was 8 ) so can't rank.

[Peeperkorn]

Culver's
Chick-Fil-A
Jersey Mike's
Panda Express
Dairy Queen

Usually quality depends on location: rural > suburbs >>> city

[Mr. Smith]

Whataburger
Cook-Out
Taco Bell
Sonic
Weinerschnitzel