I hear you cgtrav and it's sad. Burger King need new burgers. I hate that "unnatural burnt" taste on all of their meat. I remember when I was 16 and working in the BK in Carteret, NJ. We had to run the patties through the grill. It sputtered flame and grease all over, but the end product was great. Now I get the microwave special. I wish they would either switch to a flat top or go back just to flame broiled. I might be wrong, since I have not worked at a BK for decades and decades, but do they still have the in store broilers? If so, they are doing something wrong and it shows.

They need better quality products, better quality control, and better value. Of the three, the biggest problem would be value.

As tight as we are because of the economy we are, and consistently we chose Wendy's and McDonald's because the value menu's offer the best deals AND the best quality.

Notice that the sector is up 3%, but Wendy's is up only 1.1%. Wendy's didn't step up and take the positions, but got it by not slipping significantly.

Burger King has moved to improve the fries a bit, but the cost is still higher than the other two.

I'm not surprised that Burger King has fallen - after the creepy Burger King TV ads...

Burger King is horrible now. I used to remember seeing smoke from the grills coming out of the tops of the buildings. Now...nothing just the ding of the microwave. They have upgraded their fries which I haven't tried. The service at the Burger Kings I've been to has been rather rank! I can see why Wendy's is taking over as second place.

I think my local Burger Kings are [barely] staffed by gangsta's. The food is microwave soggy and the seating areas are dated and filthy. Good riddance to B.K.

like the changes to the BK fries, but still not comfortable with Wendy's buns... just taste and smells funny (love Wendy's shakes though). However, all is Blah in comparison to IN-N-OUT... (except McRibs).

I'm a Carl's Jr fan myself, but Will take Wendy's over MacDonald's any day!

Time for the very dated Burger King to quietly fade from the fast food scene, and be replaced with a more innovative and quality centered company.

And what was that creepy King all about? He was the kind of pervert children's mothers warned them about.

I have the opposite experience, so I'm pretty sure this just depends on who works at each site. I had a burger king get my order wrong 4 times (the same order had to be returned 4 times for corrections). The manager was involved in the last 3! In the end I had to request a refund because I was sure they were pissed enough to mess with the food.

Doug: You do have a point. It's mostly that the employees can't be bothered to read the order screens correctly when making food or if something isn't perfect on the order screen, they constantly blame the order taker.

The "King" in it's current form was part of the problem. Notice that McDonald's is doing away with the clown - the effectiveness of these "Mascots" has deteriorated significantly.

Out of about 10 trips to Burger King for my bacon, egg and cheese biscuit breakfast.

- one time received a croissant instead

- twice no biscuits available

- one time warned me the biscuits were hard as a rocks and they suggested a croissant instead (at least they warned me)

So I'd have to say not a good batting average. Unfortunately the Wendy's near me do not have breakfast.

They did or are doing away with the CREEPY king. They also have cut the size of their stores, and did away with play places, which surely did not help their cause.

Not to mention the Burger King mascot was or is one scary looking dude.

some people just forget that they are having takeouts. u get what u pay for, pink slime included, if u want better service go to an better place. what do u expect for couple of bucks??? get a life

Insurance and upkeep of play places can be .a problem. McDonalds has formulas that they use to determine what a location gets in amenities and products. I know a McDonalds that took out an awesome massive salt water fish tank and replaced it with a playplace. I asked, the playplace would draw more people than the fish.

Feel free to eat your rabbit food somewhere else then. I like the choices at Wendy's I can eat a salad or load up on the grease, my choice.

Fast food is usually better than most sit-down places anymore JAL.

This is true, Went to Red Robin a week or so ago, the SALAD was 1200 calories. And nothing crazy, just a grilled chicken salad.

@Mohee: Did that salad have dressing on it?

nope, add dressing and its another 200-300 calories.

JustAnotherLiberall:

Don't eat it, don't bitch about it.

Let me see, would I rather eat bland, disgusting food that will kill me at venue A write preachy, sanctimonious posts (which is rather ironic now that I look at one of my previous posts) to make myself feel superior to others, or shut my trap, since venue B, such a hard choice adults can make decisions for themselves, I no more wish to be preached to than anybody else, and since, in the end, no matter how well I eat or how much I exercise, I will die anyway.

Such a hard choice...

FTFY

You're kidding!!!!

I love the new presentation of the sandwiches!!! Classy and ready to eat I don't have to unwrap it.

Perhaps you just don't like change. If you don't like it ask them to wrap it to go.

Dana: It's completely wrapped for drive-thru and arranged to be ready to eat if dining in. What's wrong with a little presentation? Now Wendy's fry style change? That's a disappointment

I swear if they kill the other half of my favorite thing (french fries in my frosty) I would never got to another wendys again.

Change is fine if it's an improvement. I actually like BK's new fries better than their old ones. I'm indifferent to Wendy's recent fry change; I don't think it's better or worse, just different. But they way Wendy's wraps the burgers now is just plain nasty.

So Dana when you go to Chili's, TGIF or some place similar to you ask them to wrap your food before they bring it to the table or do you let them serve the food open with out it sealed in a wrapper?? Just curious because it sounds like you want it completely covered when served.

Not at all. Wendy's isn't Chili's, TGIF or any of the others. It's a greasy fast food place who has now made their food even more disgusting looking than it was before. Actually, I'm in the camp with the folks here who are saying Five Guys (and several local places around me) are much better anyway.

Dana,

Honestly I was just trying to understand. I just like Wendy's food, burgers included (but hey I love dirty water hot dogs too!!). That said I agree Five Guys are definately in a class by themselves.

I find it hard to believe Dana considers Wendy's greasy and Five Guys not.

I like Wendy's new fries better too...but the sea salt is a tease - they never put enough on, then you're stuck with the little condiment salt snappies.

They have Dick's around here (Seattle)

Man that is some greasy stuff lol..

But that place is legendary.

Give me In-N-Out or give me death.

Here here....Five Guys is practically in every state now and it just isn't like the original location which used to be near my office in VA. In-N-Out though...I get the same great burger at every single location. But their fries are awful. No matter though, a double double is all i need.

That's apples to pears (but not quite oranges). 5 Guys is in a different league, along with Fatburger, Jake's Wayback, Johnny Rockets & Red Robin.

They don't have drive throughs, and you're paying about double what RoyIn&OutWhiteMcWendJackKings charges.

Not that there is anything wrong with RoyIn&OutWhiteMcWendJackKings, just that they're targeting a different market.

I wonder how the government okayed this pink slime. Nah, never mind, I know. It's the same way everything gets done in Washington--pay offs, corruption, etc. We need to get rid of pink slime, but we need to get rid of the political slime in Washington (and our state capitals) first.

I have noticed. Their patties went like 33% smaller while prices seem to go up. Even their breakfast is like that. I got a couple breakfast sandwiches and I was like, is there even anything in this bread wtf..?

In Sacramento, most of the BK's have disappeared in the last 10-15 years. Most of them burned down, I suppose "accidentally" for the insurance money.

BK's are very hard to find in Sacramento. There might only be a couple left.

Sucks.

I agree. I used to love burger king. Now, 6-7 bucks or more for a whopper and it doesnt fill you up or taste that good. MCd is about 5 bucks but there is definitely a price point where I decide to eat at a buffet. I think they could also do a better job at presentation...Additionally, they used to have the play pens for kids with balls buts its been removed or listed out of order at our burger king for two years. I don't really care why.. its a problem. They lost my dollars ...If they want my kid, than they need to provide these simple extra service items in these other areas. They are incompetant at that piece of marketing.

"...they used to have the play pens for kids with balls"

Refusing to follow my instincts and my to-many disgusting sense of humor and will not make any of the possible replies that are possible.

They now offer "Frosty Shakes". I've never had one so I don't know if they're any good. The calorie count on a shake keeps me at bay.