Best Fast Food Tourney Final Four

As an aside: i don't get to H-town very often anymore, and when I do, it's for business, and I pretty much stay downtown.

Is Tookie's still in Kemah? Best burgers ever.

 

So a cafeteria like Luby's is fast food? If I go grab a sandwich at the local deli, that's fast food? All the barbecue places I go to serve me in line, so I guess that's fast food too.

 

I can't get a handle on it....and ultimately, I really don't care!! ... but I just don't think fast food, personally, when I eat Fuddrucker's. If we look at McDonald's as the model of fast food...and then the chains that duplicated that model, like Wendy's...where literally they're preparing food ahead of time and just making adjustments for your particular order, or serving you what's under the heat lamp....that was the very definition of fast food from its inception. I just can't see Fuddrucker's in that light. It's too good.

 

Whataburger

and

Whataburger

 

2) Taco Bell

7) Fuddruckers

 

The Steak and Shake in Murfreesboro (as does the one near the Orlando airport) has a drive-thru, but I don't think the one in Merritt Island, FL (ate there a couple of times on different business trips) has one. I never thought about that until you mentioned it, RM95. Guess I assumed they always had a drive-thru, but now that I think of it, that is not the case for all of their stores.

 

Oh! And what about Chinese buffets? You can eat literally seconds after entering the restaurant. Or Soup-or-Salad for that matter. Or does the guy/girl who brings your drink qualify as wait staff and render them ineligible.

 

Tried one for the first time a few months ago and didn't like it much either. It sounds good, having all those flavors of burgers, but none of them were really the ones I wanted. Nothing spicy.

 

Well, I think buffets are buffets.

Many Luby's have drive-thrus now, so I guess they're fast food restaurants now, huh? But generally, they're called cafeterias.

Places like Fuddruckers, Cafe Express, and many BBQ restaurants are fast food, but not your stereotypical fast food. The goal is to get in, get out, get on with your life. I think that the industry has changed quite a bit from the days when all you had to choose from were places like McDonalds, Burger King, etc. Now, at most of these places, the food's not made until you order it. I can't remember the last time I've been to McDonald's or any other stereotypical fast food restaurant and seen a bunch of hamburgers, nuggets, etc. sitting under a heat lamp. It just doesn't happen that often anymore. The only product that sits out is fries and that's because nearly every meal comes with them.

To me, if you get the food consistently (not just at lunch) in 5-10 minutes and pay less than $10, then it's a fast food restaurant.

 

2)
5) Whataburger



7)
8) Taco Cabana

 

What about eating at the grocery store? Our HEB has an eating area and a line where you can get food that's sitting under heat lamps. Like those very-deep-fried cheap chicken tenders that go so well with hot wing sauce.... The pricing is similar to fast food. But it doesn't look like a McDonalds...

 

If you're eating at the grocery story, then you SERIOUSLY need to get out more.

 

Otherside of the bridge in Seabrook, methinks. There were still there the last time I checked. Onion rings are their thing.

 

My son does it all the time. He sees something that he wants. He grabs it. And starts to eat it. I suspect he considers it "fast food".

 

Looking at that list and website, it seems like they encompass more than fast food, going to pretty much any sort of chain restaurant. I see La Madeline's, Starbucks, and lots of donut places in the list, along with Buffalo Wild Wings.

Again though, your list. I just think it's nearly impossible to define criteria as to what is or is not fast food. It's very subjective outside of the obvious places.

 

Whataburger

TC




....fudds is great, but takes too long to get your food. Taco Bell is dogfood.

 

WhataCabana