My grilled cheese and tomato soup is less than $10, more like 7. I haven’t had that for over a year.
We’ve eaten at Zaxby’s a few times when traveling (because they aren’t around us) each time wondering why they are so popular. They aren’t bad, but there’s nothing about them that is great (to us) either. Now we skip them in favor of other places. No they aren’t like KFC. They don’t do fried chicken pieces - just chicken fingers and sandwiches of various sorts. Popeye’s has much better flavor for their sandwiches and Chick Fil A wins for tenders (and fries).
We’ve tried Cook Out a couple of times and really can’t understand the popularity of that place. Absolutely nothing we tried had flavor and their “milk shakes” aren’t drinkable. You have to eat them with a spoon - even if you’ve finished your other food first. The last time we went there with folks who love the place and they assured us we were getting “typical” food. I’ll pass!
Steak & Shake wins as our favorite milkshake place, but I’m not sure it falls under fast food. Chick Fil A wins for fast food milkshakes. I also like Arby’s Jamocha shake.
When we were taking my daughter back and forth to school, we tried to pick our hotel based on proximity to Steak and Shake. The milkshakes are great and I love their burgers.
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I saw 12 sandwiches on the Panera menu----TWO out of the 12 were over $9.99. Sorry, but 2 out of 12 is not “several”. Nothing wrong with you disliking Panera, but at least be fair!
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I just googled Panera menu, so assume it was a national menu. Pay what you want for fast food - I’m careful at Panera because whenever I order, and I usually get a 1/2 sand, 1/2 salad, the cost is always about $11+, or even $13 with tax. I think that’s a lot.
Also, EVERYTHING has gone up in prices. I just read that chicken prices have doubled and that chicken sandwiches at fast food are really going up. I went to a McDonald’s drive through and was going to be charged $12 for 2 fish sandwiches! I said no and left.
I think Panera is expensive so don’t go often, just when this group I’m part of has a meeting there.
I may be an outlier, but I don’t mind paying for taste and putting real food into the food vs cheap bulky stuff. I’m always a little wary when I see “meat” items on a dollar menu. Meat isn’t cheap to raise.
But along with this I pay for grass fed milk and certified humane eggs (when we have to buy eggs) too. I’m not fond of cutting corners to get as cheap as possible when animals and/or food are concerned.
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DQ $6? meal deal anyone? Great value IMO. Growing up my family had a tradition of going on a picnic and getting a bucket of KFC. It was a real treat since we lived a min a rural area without fast food restaurants. It was probably the only time we had fast food all year. I like a local fast food —LeeAnn Chin…like a Panda Express. H and S like Culver’s…a Midwest chain? and also Hardee’s, but we don’t have one near us. We don’t have one near us but occasionally get White Castle to change things up…their little steamed burgers are so cute.
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Zaxby’s isn’t much like KFC. Chicken is what they sell, but it’s more like tenders vs bone in/buckets. They lots of levels of sauces from mild to super hot. But we usually get their grilled chicken salads. They are ginormous.
However, we don’t go near as much as we used to. Our local one’s service is soooooooo slow. It easily takes half an hour to serve 3 groups. And once they did something so bad to the chicken, it was not edible. Tasted like burnt and rotten chemicals. We didn’t go back at all for at least 6 months after that one. But it’s usually really good (once you get it), so who knows.
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Same for my mom… she buys pretty much only free-range organic chicken and eggs. When it comes to meat, I think we may be the only family in our area to spend 7 dollars per pound of meat 
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But this thread is about fast food, not free-range eggs. Those are great, but I doubt appear on many fast food menus.
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Yeah, sorry about that. I can see it is definitely off-topic.
I am new to CC so if you could please tell me how to delete a post I would be very grateful. But for right now, I will just flag it as Off-topic. Thanks!
All good names… don’t sweat it. People veer off topic quite often
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I agree. I only mentioned it as it matches my not minding paying more for fast food when we eat there. I like to think that I get “real” food (instead of bulk filler) when costs match what they should be vs just cheap. When anything is too cheap I get wary - where are they cutting costs to still make a profit?
I’m mostly vegetarian, so if I go to my local Panera I usually get a Mediterranean veggie sandwich ($6.49) or something like a Greek Salad ($7.29) but I don’t really do fast food chains that often. It’s been many months since I’ve been to Panera.
Went to Taco Bell not too long ago (a week or two) for my 17 yr old. If I don’t go back for another year it won’t be too long for me. Not a fan, but the 17 yr old likes it. I would pick Chipotle or Moe’s over Taco Bell any day and I am not a huge Chipotle or Moe’s fan.
Went to Subway for the 20 yr old about a month ago. It’s just okay. I will go there when on a road trip, but I would never choose to otherwise.
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We went to Chick Fil A today. I’m still in awe of how well they do their drive thru getting oodles of people through as quickly as they do. This one is right next to a McDonalds. Chick Fil A had two lines filled all the way from food pick up to the entrance and it stayed that way (rotating cars) the whole time we were there (eating in their parking lot after we got our food). McDonalds had 4 cars max in theirs, sometimes none.
Love their waffle fries and tenders with Chick Fil A sauce. Apparently I’m not alone.
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For fast food, Panera is alright. We’ll usually try to stop at one on a road trip, like we did on our way down the coast a couple weeks ago. I find the food satisfying enough in terms of taste, but I’ll usually spend $20 +/- on a large salad and soup just to fill up my stomach.
I used to joke that at Taco Bell you can get the most calories per dollar (it was popular with the hungry teens)… but I imagine there is a lot of competition for that title among the many fast food chains these days.
There was a news article a couple months ago about how a vaccination site finally called in the local Chick Fil A manager to get their line moving smoothly. Quite the local hero!
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I guess we do Panda Express or Yummy Korean or Kozo sushi takeout for our fast food. I don’t really do burgers very often, except when we travel or if H is in the mood.
He likes McD from time to time, Taco Bell soft tacos and once annually, KFC chicken (generally when I have other meal plans).
In CA, we like 5 Guys burgers and In&Out. I kind of like Potbelly sandwiches, but prefer a bakery in the mall near my BIL’s place where you can get 1/2 sandwich & soup for around $10, IIRC. Lots of these National chains aren’t in HI or not convenient to our home.