Ashley Lutz | businessinsider
People usually don’t have high expectations from fast food restaurants. Hot and delicious will do. But some chain restaurant foods are bad enough for employees to warn you to stay away. A recent Reddit thread explored the worst ordering decisions at restaurants including McDonald’s, Subway and KFC.
Some of the foods are very high-calorie, while others are made under allegedly unsanitary conditions.
Employees also gave tips on which foods are fresh and which aren’t.
Their opinions might sway your next fast food order.
“Seafood salad” at Subway.
“By seafood they meant imitation crab and the rest was just mayo, a lot of mayo. The killer was when people got extra mayo on their mayo and fake crab sandwich.”
Source: Reddit
Wendy’s chili.
“The meat comes from hamburger patties that sat on the grill too long to serve to customers. They take them and put them in a bin and then throw them in the fridge. When the chili is made they take it out, boil it, chop it up, and dump them in the chili. It’s all safe, but a lot of people seemed upset when I told them about it.”
Source: Reddit
Arby’s Roast Beef
“I can’t eat the roast beef after working at Arby’s. If you touch it while it’s raw you’ll never get it off your fingers.”
Fish sandwiches at Burger King.
“You had four vats of oil that you cooked fries in. After about two days, the oil got too dark for fries. So we switched it over to the ones for chicken. Since it was darker, it was ok. Then that goes on for a week. After a week of massive frying. The oil is black as motor oil. At that point, it’s switched to the Fish Filet vat. That’s the only thing you cook in that vat.”
Source: Reddit
McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets.
“I accidentally left a whole bag of about 100 chicken nuggets out on a counter for way too long.
They melted. Into a pool of liquid. I never understood why. But they were completely indiscernible as being the nuggets i once knew.”
Source: Reddit
Chipotle tortillas.
Pizza Hut pan pizzas.
“Any pan pizza is a bad choice. I remember preparing the frozen discs of dough and filling the pan with vegetable oil. Those things are saturated with the stuff.”
Source: Reddit
The chicken breast at Subway.
“At the beginning of the day we are told to get them out of the freezer and put them into hot water where they remain ALL DAY. then at the end of the day you have to take them out and SQUEEZE the gross ass chicken water out of them which by now has made the meat soggy. Then we put them in a plastic container where they await the same treatment the next day.”
Source: Reddit
The Pizza Hut stuffed crust pizza.
Pizza Hut Middle East
“The stuffed-crust pizza has an entire stick of mozzarella cheese crammed into the crust of EVERY SINGLE SLICE. The pizzas are cut eight ways, so that’s eight full mozzarella sticks you’ll be getting per stuffed-crust pizza.”
Source: Reddit
Chicken Salad Sandwich at Chick-fil-A.
“The Chicken Salad itself is several day-old frozen chicken patties manually stripped of breading, then chopped up and mixed with celery and mayo and whatnot. How anyone can pass this menu item off as healthful is beyond me. It’s nasty.”
Source: Reddit
The Bloomin’ Onion at Outback.
“The trademark appetizer at Outback is cooked in four-day-old, four times filtered shortening. the same oil used to make french fries, then coconut shrimp, then chicken tenders, all finally getting infused into the thick batter that encases that husk of a vegetable.”
Source: Reddit
The McRib at McDonald’s.
“The way it looks before we put the sauce on it is absolutely revolting. It doesn’t look like meat at all, it looks like a scab.”
Source: Reddit
Large Blizzards at Dairy Queen.
“The spindles for the blender aren’t long enough to go to the bottom of the cup so it’s impossible to blend it properly. You end up getting two or three inches of plain ice cream at the bottom. You don’t need a large anyway.”
Source: Reddit
McDonald’s Sweet Tea.
KFC Buffalo Chicken Snackers and Coleslaw.
“KFC shredded buffalo chicken snackers are made with the “expired” chicken that sat in the heating bay for too long and can’t be sold to customers. Also, the coleslaw. The sauce was often mixed by hand into the lettuce with someone who had gloves that came to their wrists. When finished they would have sauce up their forearms.”
Source: Reddit
Taco Bell beans.
“They’re not beans, it’s literally oatmeal oats that inflate when you add hot water. Some beans are thrown in, but the entire thing is like clay. I can sculpt things with it.”
Source: Reddit
Large fries at Five Guys.
“Ordering a large fry is always a bad idea. The difference between a large fry and a regular fry is surprisingly small (especially when it’s busy). Just order two regular fries and you’ll get a huge number of fries.”
Source: Reddit
Muffins at Tim Horton’s.
“At Tim Horton’s the muffins contain more fat (on average) than the doughnuts. Do yourself a favor and have a donut instead.”
Source: Reddit
Fast food veggie burgers.
“Do not order veggie burgers, ESPECIALLY if you do it for religious reasons. It’s cooked in a microwave, and handled by people and utensils that have made contact with meat products. Seriously, if you want a veggie burger of such a low quality, just buy some frozen patties at a store, grill them yourself, and you will be way better off.”
Source: Reddit
Quirky pizza toppings like artichokes.
“In general, the food handling was about the same as any other restaurant, but the issue with these toppings is there just isn’t enough turnover. The ingredients are purchased in bulk, just like pepperoni or black olives, but they aren’t ordered frequently enough to be replaced once they’re no longer ‘fresh.'”
Source: Reddit
But the McRib is sooooo good.
I KNOW what I cook, and 98% is cooked at home.