Normally, I don’t do top 10 lists but I figured it might be something I would begin writing about just for new content on the site. Also, I rarely (if not ever) write about food and figured that since beginning to write up reviews over on Google Maps for (mostly) restaurants, it might be time I did something similar for this blog. With that in mind, I want to note that this list is merely my opinion and factors into the equation things like taste, variety, reliability, availability, price and convenience. Also, I’m trying to narrow down the list to places that aren’t exactly local but found commonly at least in California (or SoCal to be specific).
10 – Panda Express
Panda Express makes my top 10 just because there’s not a lot of cheap, wannabe Chinese/Asian style places that you can get from a drive thru (almost none in fact). Generally, I consider Panda Express more “mall food” or even “mall work food” when nothing else is around because of how some offices would use them to cater. When it comes to the “mall food” label, I’ve found them plentiful at various food courts or in some markets like the Vons over at the Crossroads on Crenshaw and Lomita in Torrance.
Quality-wise, Panda Express is truly hit and miss depending on when the latest batch of food is shoved under a heat lamp. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a recent batch. If it’s something that isn’t as popular, you might have dried out, sticky morsels that the server scrapes up to make room for the next batch. They do have a few dishes that I like ordering such as mushroom chicken, orange chicken, Beijing Beef and broccoli beef. Depending on my mood, I might go for the chow mein/fried rice side mix and maybe a drink if I have nothing at home. Also, I might get the cream cheese rangoons because I really enjoy the sweet and sour sauce.
Of course, the real issue with Panda Express is how you feel afterwards. I’m not sure if they use MSG but quite often I’d hit a nasty food coma right after. The only reason I’d come here is that I might have one of those monthly cravings for something different and can’t come up with a better idea. Fortunately, there’s one with a drive thru up the street from me. But usually after getting my craving out of the way, I almost instantly regret it. But I give this place a spot in my list because it is different and it satisfies a very specific niche in my brain.
9 – Jack-in-the-Box
JitB has not been great for decades. If you ask me what the worst quality fast food around is, Jack-in-the-Box probably is near the bottom (along with Taco Bell and Wienerschnitzel). But the key factor that allows for Jack-in-the-Box in my top 10 is that sadly this place has kept me alive for a LONG time. When there’s almost no place open at 2-3am in the morning, Jack-in-the-Box can be found. Now, not all Jack-in-the-Boxes are 24/7 but at least in the South Bay, there are two easily accessible ones for me that have been signature spots when I feel too lazy to make something at the odd hour and have a late night craving. Generally, those nights are my weekend (Fri/Sat) gaming nights where this is a kind of a distorted treat for myself.
Because of my witching hour type of dietary habits, my go-to these days to save on cost is the Midnight Munchie Meal. These are probably the most cost effective things to buy late at night. I believe after tax, they come out to $13 which sounds like a deal given the price of fast food these days. You get some sort of burger, a mix of fries or curly fries and normal fries, a side (like 2 tacos and onion rings) as well as a drink. I’m not a fan of the actual box that it gets served in because all the condiments and napkins are handed to you without a paper bag which makes carrying them up in ones apartment a royal pain. But what can you expect for such a low margin meal?
Food-wise, they mostly are down to burgers and a few oddities these days. Their burgers are nothing to write home about except for excessively sauced up slop with some form of melted cheese over a gray paddy that maybe beef. The chicken sandwiches, most notably the Spicy Chicken, are probably better but tend to be more expensive.
Maybe the most decadent and well known item on the menu for long time Jack fans are the $0.99 tacos. These things are grease infested with something that is debate-ably meat doused in a beloved red sauce (where you can add even MORE taco sauce as a condiment on the side and something I highly recommend) with American cheese and pieces of lettuce sandwiched tightly after the taco had been deep fried. The problem is that however these are made (probably frozen and in bulk from a supplier), they are inconsistent and a crap shoot each time you go. Sometimes you get too much sauce, other times not enough meat. Over time, these things shrunk and the meat quality had plummeted over the years to the point where it’s hardly an ice cream scoop any longer.
The oddities though are what I think made Jack-in-the-Box special over the years. Commercials from the 80s showed various incarnations of experimental items. But as far as I’m concerned, the current odd placement items are the chicken teriyaki bowls and egg rolls. The teriyaki bowls aren’t bad, nowhere near what they were 10-15 years ago (but what isn’t these days) while the egg rolls are served with a sweet and sour sauce. I think having these non-traditional items on the menu during the late night hours make Jack-in-the-Box an attraction for the grave shift types.
Finally, they have a breakfast menu along with sweets and shakes. Again nothing big to write home about but if you’re near a 24/7 one, you can get these items. I have to admit liking the French toast myself.
Despite whatever praise I can give to the food (be it limited as it is), the problem I’ve run into with Jack-in-the-Box over the years are the employees. Some care, a lot don’t. It’s clearly a spot that is near at the bottom rung of fast food spots when it comes to how things are run and it shows. I’ve been reasonably lucky as the one I frequent tends to have decent people working. Once in a while, I’ll get the unmotivated person that took the job because they probably have no real skills nor motivation in life, but that does affect the food quality you get. But what else can you say at 2-3am in the morning?
8 – Wendy’s
In all honesty, Wendy’s just got bumped up on my list recently. They opened one up down the street from me. When I was in Tokyo, I used to go to them more frequently (the one at the Roppongi subway station namely). However, upon returning, I almost never went. The only one I knew of was on Artesia Blvd and Western Ave and my only reason for going (back in elementary school) was for a Gobot type of promotion. Also, they had these Frosty’s which were great.
Now, that one opened up the street near me, I started frequenting it. I found that the quality of burger to be decent especially the Dave’s Double. Their burgers are inside a foil wrapped paper that helps keep the meat/burger fresh and it’s something I only noticed later on. Their fries aren’t bad but I do admit that the beef (Where’s the Beef? if anyone remembers that commercial) is quite decent. Something else I’ve discovered is that the staff have been quite friendly and professional towards me. I don’t know if that’s due to how much they make because goddamn this place charges. But I do appreciate the service when I go.
I have to say that my area does have a few fast food burger spots in a small radius with one being In-n-Out. The problem with In-n-Out is that you’ll generally almost always have a line. So it can take roughly 1 minute per order, which means you could wait 10-20+ minutes depending on the time of day. Not to mention, you have very limited options at In-n-Out. That makes Wendy’s a better option just for having the extra items on their menu like their nuggets and chili.
Speaking of chili, I stopped ordering it just because of the infamous “chili finger” incident. If you haven’t heard, ages ago there was a crazy woman who claimed to have found a dismembered finger in her chili and tried to sue the restaurant. It turned out she had a history of fraudulent behavior and that the incident occurred over in Reno Nevada (I believe) where a lot of nuts seem to hang out (cf. the Judas Priest backwards message kids and folks). While that situation ended up being chalked up to a one off case of fraud, the idea stuck with me and made it impossible for me to return to Wendy’s for a very long time. Since my options for food are limited these days, I no longer have that fear of the finger in my food but I still can’t order the chili.
Now, let’s address the real elephant in the room: price. Last night, I decided to treat myself for my birthday and picked up a double Baconator combo with 10 piece Chicken Nuggets. It came out to $26. Hol-lee fuk. Admittedly, I bit off more than I could chew and saved half of it for today’s lunch (which means I spent effectively $13 per meal). But even then that’s ridiculous. If it weren’t for the rain and roads being torn up, I would’ve preferred going to a nice sit down restaurant where $26 would be the basic cost and possibly tip!
So yes the quality is better compared to other burger chains but that price point hurts badly.
7 – Chile Verde
I debated whether to include this place because the ones I’ve seen are mostly sit in type of spots and without a drive thru. But I have to admit really liking the food. It’s not “authentic” Mexican as some of my Hispanic friends would educate me on, but I like this spot. I think the flavor is decent like the enchiladas or crunchy tacos. Also, they do a good wet burrito. The food can keep you filled for a few days easily. And I’m a big fan of their chips n cheese nachos. But I’m guessing that this spot isn’t a wide spread, typical fast food restaurant. Yet it deserves mentioning in my list.
6 – McDonald’s
Ah, the ultimate middle-of-the-road spot. McDonald’s is perhaps the #1 spot that you can find anywhere in the world and that you can get the bulk of the same items. So for consistency, McDonald’s probably tops the list. Also, price-wise McDonald’s in all fairness is one of the better spots especially if you use their mobile ordering app. I’ve probably saved quite a bit by using their mobile ordering app by accumulating points and getting deals that might otherwise tack on another dollar or two at the drive thru.
Quality-wise, they’ve not really changed much since I’ve started eating here. As far as I can remember, most of their items have stayed the same throughout the years. If anything that’s changed it’s their packaging. Mostly, I just get my usual which is 6-10 piece Chicken McNuggets + BBQ Sauce (or sometimes Honey Mustard and/or Sweet n Sour), fries and either 2x cheeseburgers or a Big Mac with a drink ordered as a combo. Once in a blue moon, I might order dessert like their shakes, cookies, apple pie (which HAS changed) and sundaes. And if I can get up early enough (or managed to stay up all night), I might treat myself to a breakfast.
And when I say that you can find their stuff everywhere, I mean it. In living in Japan, I could get virtually the same items as I would out here. The first time visiting Japan/Tokyo, I went to McDonald’s just because it was easy to order compared to menus that I could not read at that time. One of my coworkers when I worked at HLIKK for a period mentioned how the Japanese in particular would take service and quality seriously because the food at the McD’s out there was always fresh/hot.
That does bring up the point of where the quality of McDonald’s does vary. You can go to one where you get soggy fries, over cooked nuggets or bland burgers. And this depends on the location. When you find a high quality spot, you simply keep going. And I’m willing to bet that the quality depends on their foot traffic.
5 – Arby’s
Arby’s hurts for me because I grew up across the street from the only one I knew in my area. These places are extremely rare but they are different from other traditional burger spots in focusing on slices of meat (namely roast beef). They do serve other things like a corned beef Reuben and Greek gyro (which I have yet to try). But perhaps their biggest seller is their beef n cheddar sandwich. I’m guessing that the style of sandwich is from Maryland where they have those pit beef style spots because of how they use onion rolls with thinly sliced roast beef. They do have their Arby’s sauce too which is like a BBQ sweet sauce that goes well to compliment the salty roast beef sandwiches.
Another major favorite from Arby’s is their curly fries. I believe it was Arby’s that introduced me to curly fries and I’ve been hooked since. There are other spots that have done curly fries but I think Arby’s was by far the best at it. However, the real winner from back in the day that I don’t think is done any longer is the cheddar curly fries where they use the melted beef n cheddar sauce as a condiment. I’m sure you could get that if you asked for it but it’s not on their menu.
They do have other unique items for sides like mozzarella sticks and jalapena bites. I’ve tried both and they aren’t bad for fast food sides. The Jalapena bite gets served with a sweet sauce that helps temper the burst of cream cheese filling along with the explosion of spice that hits your mouth from the pepper itself. And the mozzarella sticks are good in that you don’t see them on many menus for drive thrus. Jack-in-the-Box had them at one point but it’s long gone sadly.
The other notable thing they have on their menu is a little dessert section. I will say that their cherry turnovers are amazing. Totally worth getting if you’re in the mood for sweets. I do think that ages ago they had a much wider selection of shakes, including a pineapple or other fruity ones. I’m really sad that you can’t get those anymore because those were excellent.
There are burgers on the menu, but if you’re coming here, why order those? You can get better elsewhere.
On top of that, their menu has changed over the years. I did mention removing certain shake flavors and no longer having the cheese option for curly fries. But the one thing I do miss is their Arby-Q sandwich. These were like those BBQ Hot Pocket sandwiches where you’d get chopped up bits of meat slathered in their own BBQ sauce. It was really decadent. I’d order one of these along with the beef n cheddar and both would fill me up.
The downside to Arby’s is that these days the prices are insane. I suppose the reason to go is that you really crave something different/special and don’t want to hit a sit down restaurant so you go here instead. Like their French dip sandwiches aren’t bad but you probably can find better at a sit down. However, you won’t find any other drive thrus selling these. Second, there aren’t a lot of Arby’s around. So when you do find one, you tend to covet their location. Lastly, they aren’t 24/7 so you have to pick your spot when you want to go. The one that I frequent has a tiny drive thru and is cumbersome to go through which makes the price unbearable.
4 – Carl’s Jr
This was my favorite spot to go for ages until after the 2000s where the quality shifted downhill fast and the prices started spiking. I would say from the mid 80s to 90s, Carl’s Jr was by far the best fast food style burger joint for quality for me. Their burgers were charbroiled and fresh. Then they started the whole “if it doesn’t get all over the place, it doesn’t belong in your face” campaign that started to get ridiculous. I know now that they’ve become a subsidiary of some other spot where the executives talked about whom they catered towards (meaning the morbidly obese types) and they would put out ridiculously sized burgers like that $6 restaurant burger.
However, they still have my favorite burger of all time, the Western Bacon Cheeseburger, which isn’t as good as it once was but has a special place in my heart in terms of sheer decadence and all the elements that I want in a burger. I’ve had this thing since the mid 80s and it really saddens me just how far this thing has fallen. The paddies no longer have that crisp charbroiled taste, the sauce is not tangy nor fresh, the onion ring inserted probably came out of some frozen batch, the buns are soggy and the bacon isn’t crisp. Other places tried to emulate this burger with varying degrees of successful (or failure) but the original still is the best. But even the Carl’s Jr spots of today can’t replicate the quality you’d get during the mid 80s when this place was hot.
Besides, the Western Bacon Cheeseburger, the other item of note you can get is the Sante Fe Chicken burger, which I think is the 2nd best thing on the menu. The two components that made this sandwich a standout are the mild green chile and the Santa Fe sauce, which is a spicy thing that glues the sandwich together. I get these whenever I want something different from Carl’s Jr.
They do have breakfast as well and on rare occasion I would grab something from this place. I have to admit that the one time I tried their breakfast burger, I really enjoyed it. Then again I probably was ultra hungry so there’s that. I’ve also had their breakfast burrito which isn’t bad. I used to get it with salsa but I found that their salsa is terrible these days. So I’ll just have it straight thank you.
Of course, if you hit up a Carl’s Jr., you might find a Green Burrito. The only item I ever liked from Green Burrito though was the mini chimichungas but I think those are gone. That said, the Green Burrito is awful and there was never a single item on the menu that I could call decent besides the one. You can certainly do better for Mexican fast food elsewhere.
Once again though, the killer of Carl’s Jr.’s legacy is their price. It’s not unusual these days to finding a minimum bill of $15+ just for a normal combo. Maybe up until 2014 or so, you could get the same combo at $6-7. Sign of the times or just corporate greed? You decide….
3 – In-n-Out
In-n-Out isn’t the most perfect burger but it’s the most consistent high quality burger that is reasonably priced you’d find in California or anywhere it’s served. Quality-wise, Five Guys probably is higher over all but the time and price of Five Guys (even before the pandemic) had become so ridiculous that you could hardly label Five Guys a true fast food spot anymore. Yet In-n-Out represents everything that you really could hope for from a “fast food” type of place. In-n-Out isn’t necessarily the ultimate in “fast” but it’s easily the most consistent in the spectrum of players.
The thing I appreciate about In-n-Out is the philosophy of keeping it basic. There’s only a very few items on the menu, but they nail it every single time. I’ve never really had a bad experience from In-n-Out (except for a roommate who had animal style and blasted me the rest of the night). The burgers are always fresh and the fries, though not exactly being my favorite, are too. Even the fountain drinks taste fresh, if there’s a way to describe it. And people from around the world sometimes find In-n-Out as one of their chief tourism spots just because of how well known the burgers are.
I once read an article about how In-n-Out began opening a spot out in either Arizona or Texas. They brought in their normal staff to train the new people for two weeks to ensure that they would get the operations down. Despite the typical lines that may intimidate the unfamiliar, one high profile politician noted how the lines kept moving and was impressed. But that goes to show the focus on quality that this chain does compared to other spots that have wildly varying results.
So why does In-n-Out have a higher rating for me? Honestly, the limited menu, the long lines, the accessibility (and I do live just a few minutes up the road from one) and hours tend to drop this place down a little. Also, even though I can eat at an In-n-Out every day, it’s probably not a great idea for health reasons, despite how it’s certainly one of the better options out there. Otherwise, this would be my absolute top.
2 – El Pollo Loco
This spot might be a surprised to many in ranking El Pollo over In-n-Out. Before I get into that battle, I wanted to point out why I like them in putting them in a top 10. First, they do a really great chicken. I love the charbroiled style and have tried my own version without success. So they’ve got something very special going on here. Next, they are a health option and if you wanted to get in shape but had limited time, you could theoretically eat here and not feel guilty. Just dish the carbs and go with chicken breast, broccoli and other veggie options. There’s no shame in what you can order from this place. Also, I love ordering El Pollo Loco as a family meal because I can eat this for a few days without getting tired. If I wanted to go super health conscious, I would just go for more veggie sides and ditch the tortillas or just go with corn tortillas.
Also, I find quite a few El Pollo Locos around my zone. There’s one up the street from me but I prefer one that’s along PCH that I might get later at night. Either way, I’ve got quite a few options. Mostly, I do Uber Eats though just because I order in bulk and get stuff on rainy days (like today but fortunately I already have leftover food).
So why then El Pollo over In-n-Out? Again, it’s mostly a health conscious reason and the fact that the lines aren’t as bad. Also, the thing about El Pollo Loco vs In-n-Out is that you have to eat In-n-Out immediately to get that freshness value. El Pollo Loco can be consumed over a few days which makes it easier to buy in bulk. For the price, you probably can get more for your money from El Pollo Loco and have a slightly healthier meal with the right choices. Lastly, El Pollo Loco has some tasty churros whereas In-n-Out has no dessert option except maybe milk shakes. For a lactose intolerant person like myself, milk shakes (especially due to their high cost these days) aren’t a consideration anymore.
1 – Del Taco
Of all the choices in the world for the top of the charts fast food spot, Del Taco???? Yes, it is my ultimate guilty pleasure, a spot I’ve been going since my days in high school and probably ate an unhealthy amount over a life time because of location, convenience and price (though the latter issue no longer being a factor just because of the general cost). Del Taco is the one spot I was able to eat at almost every day without feeling the monotony because there’s enough variety to keep me interested. If not every day, then maybe 2-3 times a week especially when I used to work next to one.
For ages up until the pandemic (or even around 2014), Del Taco had one of the most consistent, cheapest menus around. I came up with the idea of the “Del Taco Index of Pricing” because of how for years they had a two taco + quesadilla combo at $1.99. Eventually, that combo went away but it was a good measure to see how inflation worked since that price point was stable for a very long time without compromising size nor quality. Unfortunately, all combos these days are served with fries but I have to admit that their fries aren’t nearly as good as they were 20 years ago.
Yet of all the spots I’d miss when I lived in Tokyo, it was Del Taco that I wanted the most. Sure, Carl’s Jr was my top burger spot for the Western Bacon Cheeseburger, but you could find places in Tokyo that served a burger with BBQ sauce (or just take a McD’s cheese burger and order chicken McNuggets with BBQ sauce on the side and dip your burger in the sauce for a similar effect). But getting my chicken soft taco, nachos, etc. type of fix was impossible in Tokyo.
On top of that, Del Taco actually does pretty decent chili fries. Sometimes chili fries can go sideways and not be what you expect. Some chili might be the red sauce soup type or others might be too meaty. The Del Taco chili is right there the way I enjoy my chili fries. It’s not the best but who’s asking after 9:30pm? And they have a horribly underrated burger. I don’t like it when they add the chopped white onions, but the general burger is comparable in quality to a lot of other fast food spots. In fact, I’d argue their burger is top 5 in competition with Wendy’s, In-n-Out, Five Guys and Carl’s Jr.
Also, they have the best quesadillas. If you do the spicy jack quesadilla with chicken (especially back in the day when they had nice chunks of chicken), it was delicious. Add some of their mild sauce and you got a nice little meal filler.
Burrito-wise, their Del Beef Burrito is the best fast food ground beef style burrito around. Taco Bell no longer has their original beef burrito and the ones now are all goopy slop. But the Del Beef has been around for a while, the meat isn’t bad, they use really good cheese and you might find these very tasty red sauce tucked away. Of course, you’ll get the raging shits thereafter but we’re pretty aware of the after effects anytime you hit up this joint.
I will say that their beer battered fish tacos are actually decent, if not overpriced. But it’s one of those things that I might order on rare occasion just to eat something different. And I’ve tried their fried chicken tacos which also were pretty tasty.
Maybe the only thing about this place that I have to say I don’t like is the fact that Jack-in-the-Box bought them out a year or so ago. I’m not a fan of mergers and acquisitions. With how I’ve seen many Jack-in-the-Boxes run, I’m hoping that the quality doesn’t sink. I’m not saying Del Taco was the best in quality (that’s probably In-n-Out) but they aren’t the worst of the lot.
Missing Fast Food Spots
Obviously, some major brands aren’t listed here. I do have them written on a list so let me address others here:
- Burger King – Truthfully, I haven’t been to one since the pandemic. All I know is that the quality has sunk to the point where I don’t bother anymore. All I read about these days is bad management and poorly run spots. But the only thing worth getting here to me is the onion rings except that those leave me with the worst flatulence that can cause global extinction if I’m not carefully quarantined after consuming these.
- Taco Bell – Taco Bell is more about the sadness of a once great empire that sold its soul to corporatism. All the best stuff are distant memories and what’s remaining is optimizations done by consultants trying to improve this spot’s thin margins. The actual food has given me indigestion probably 1/3rd of the time that I order and their workers are probably the worst in parallel to Jack-in-the-Box that I’ve seen. The difference is scale whereas Jack-in-the-Box gets a buy from me due to being 24/7. The only positive I can say is that the Taco Bell app is decent but even then the workers can fuck that up. That said, they do have better nachos than Del Taco but only in sauce.
- Wienerschnitzel – This is one of those places where anyone can do better with just boiling some dogs and heating up buns in a microwave. But you only go here for the combos of burgers + chili dog + corn dog. Along with Taco Bell and Jack-in-the-Box, this place scares me when it comes to the workers. I think I might’ve even gotten COVID from one spot which made me swear off this place except when I’m super desperate and out of my mind.
- Subway – This spot used to be that cheap, potentially “healthy” option when all other options were used up. These days, this place sucks, you just overpay for something you can mostly make at home or can get better at a real Italian deli. I do still enjoy their “The Boss” because I wasn’t expecting how good it could be. And sometimes I might get a pastrami. But I know there’s much better out there. It’s just inconvenient to go to those other spots for me, which leaves me in a desperate predicament and forced to go here when there’s no other option. Still, it doesn’t mean I enjoy it all the time.
- KFC – I would call this place a guilty pleasure in that there’s so few places that does decent fried chicken. And in all honesty, you can do better if you search around (like Mrs Knott’s Kitchen). But you can find KFC all over, including Tokyo/Japan where people actually order during X-mas. But the price for this place just isn’t worth it except when you get that horrible craving. In my case, I don’t do grease fried food which means I don’t have a lot of options when it comes to getting a fried chicken craving. So there’s this place….
- Yoshinoya – I debated whether to put this in my list. They aren’t bad and you can get healthy options. But these are a royal pain to find and they aren’t anything like what you’d find in Japan. The ones in Japan are incredible and I miss getting my gyudon with raw egg that gets “cooked” from the heat of the rice and onion/meat. But when I do get Yoshinoya, I don’t feel guilty since I can order a bowl with veggies and chicken. It’s just not convenient for me to get to these days.
- Popeyes – There was a time when Popeyes got a lot of eyes from their killer chicken sandwich. And I’ve had that a few times and really think that it was quite good. Again, location is a problem for me and I just don’t get the cravings for this kind of food all the time.
- Chick-fil-A – I have a variety of friends that now hate this place because of politics. I can’t say I blame them with the way the US has turned out this past year. That said, politics/religion doesn’t really affect my desire to eat at a place (cf. In-n-Out). What does is the quality of food, service, etc. Chick-fil-A would be higher on my list and probably should be on that list, maybe replacing Jack-in-the-Box. I think what killed it for me was going here frequently when I worked in Playa Vista and dealing with the crowds. It wasn’t horrible but the price and the location may have made me take it for granted. I still enjoy their sandwich maybe slightly more than Popeye’s. But without the convenience of drive thrus that other fast food spots have (you can find them but they’re always crowded and in bad locations), I’m just on the fence. Maybe they deserve #11 spot at best.
Conclusion
There you have it. My top 10 fast food restaurants. I might do a top 5-10 burger write up in the future. Admittedly, as of late, I’ve had a huge burger craving and it’s something I’ve been wanting to write up for a while. Same with pizza joints. So we’ll see.