Vegetarians across the United States struggle daily to find meatless options at local fast food restaurants.
Not every place has an impossible Whopper like Burger King or Veggie Shack burger like Shake Shack, so the majority fall back on the reliable choice that most restaurants offer on their menu: french fries.
A few months ago, we chose seven fast food restaurants to review.
We sampled a small order of fries at each, ranking them based on seven factors: crunchiness, temperature, freshness, saltiness, quantity, price and service quality.
The seven restaurants we chose were McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, Wendy’s, Arby’s, Cane’s, Shake Shack and Burger King, and we ranked them accordingly.
#7 Wendy’s
Wendy’s is a beloved restaurant that has been around for over 56 years, and we were excited to try their fries, but it was a disappointment for both of us.
However, after we did the slightest bit of research, we found out that the oil used to fry the fries is cross-contaminated with fish, according to the company’s website, making it inedible for vegetarians.
As a result, we could not even try it. This completely ruined both our experience and first impressions.
As a major chain, we would have hoped for more consideration of dietary restrictions, especially for vegetarians, as this did not seem to be an issue for any other restaurants we reviewed.
This problem highlights the broader challenges vegetarians face in fast food dining. The fact that a simple dish like fries can be contaminated with oil feels like a slap in the face to people who are trying to avoid meat for ethical, environmental or health reasons.
And even then, this issue goes beyond dietary preferences. This is about trust and transparency. Potential cross-contaminations should be clearly labeled on the menu to accommodate dietary restrictions.
This undermines our confidence as consumers in this fast food company and breached our sense of certainty when trying fries from other restaurants.
This oversight has certainly left a bitter taste, and we feel let down by a restaurant that could easily do better to accommodate a wider range of dietary needs.
Since we couldn’t even sample their fries, Wendy’s received a score of zero for crunchiness, zero for the heat, zero for the freshness, zero for the quantity of salt and zero for service. We received zero fries. The price, which we didn’t pay, was $2.69.
#6 Arby’s
After our experience with Wendy’s, our expectations were low regarding whether the idea of including vegetarian-friendly items on menus was truly valued in the fast food industry.
Thankfully, Arby’s fries are 100% vegan, according to the company’s website.
However, having the ability to try their crinkle-cut french fries was not really that big of an advantage.
Even though the service was quite good, these unsalted, lukewarm-at-best fries seemed to not understand whether they wanted to be crunchy or mushy, inevitably creating a crunchy mushy mess.
Although it is a drastic improvement from Wendy’s, having one out of the limited options for vegetarians be this grotesque is still incredibly unacceptable. We understand that meat is the basis and marketing tool for the Arby’s franchise, but that does not excuse the indirect exclusion Arby’s showcased that day.
Arby’s received a score of four for crunchiness, a five for the heat, a two for the freshness, a zero in quantity of salt, an eight for service, received 22 fries, and the price was $2.69.
#5 Burger King
One of America’s most well-known fast food restaurants does in fact have 100% vegan fries, and we were both extremely excited to try a beloved franchise that has been successfully running for over 71 years.
Burger King was one of the first places on our list, and our expectations were raised pretty high, yet we would not even come close to saying that we were completely satisfied with the fries we received that day.
Putting aside the fact the Burger King had the second most expensive fries while only having served 33 fries, it was overall an okay fry.
It was hot, fresh and had a good amount of salt, yet lacked any kind of crunch or good service.
Consequently, the fries overall were not bad, but we surely will not be indulging in them in the near future. Our general experience left us not mad…just disappointed.
Burger King received: a score of three for crunchiness, a 9.8 for the heat, a 7.5 for the freshness, a seven in quantity of salt, a four for service, received 33 fries, and the price was $2.99.
#4 McDonald’s
McDonald’s is a world-renowned fast food restaurant, taking the number one stop for the most famous and biggest food chain in the entire world.
This restaurant has been around for 85 years and has a net worth of $214.22 billion as well as being both of our favorite fast food restaurants.
When going into this adventure, McDonald’s was the fast food restaurant we were more looking forward to trying.
Yet, even with the initial advantage, McDonald’s sadly did not impress us one bit. The soggy cold fries that tasted like they had been out for days left us sad and empty.
It was an okay experience, and the fries were not inedible, but our expectations felt like they pushed six feet under.
Honestly, we both agreed that we overall enjoyed Burger King fries more, yet a defining factor that made McDonald’s rank higher on the list was the number of fries that we received.
McDonald’s, with a whopping 56 fries in total, had given us the most amount of fries out of any restaurant, truly setting them apart from the rest.
Our initial disappointment with the quality quickly turned into satisfaction, which was the main reason McDonald’s ranked fourth.
McDonald’s received: a score of four for crunchiness, a three for the heat, a three for the freshness, a four in the quantity of salt, and six for service, received 56 fries, and the price was $2.39.
#3 Raising Cane’s
Cane’s has been around for almost 29 years and has been exponentially growing since they have opened.
Both of us were looking forward to trying and rating this adored franchise that appeals to customers with a simple and straightforward menu that was quite helpful during our researching process.
The first factor that we noticed was the service. The fries were served within the five minutes we ordered with a solid system that made our trip quick and easy with no overall issues.
When we finally tried the fries, we were immediately impressed. The fries were crispy and salty yet weren’t perfect. They lacked freshness and were more lukewarm than hot.
Even though Cane’s was a huge improvement compared to the last four, there were clear flaws that the next two places were able to incorporate, such as freshness and temperature.
Cane’s received: a score of 7.35 for crunchiness, a 4.5 for the heat, a three for the freshness, a 8.3 in quantity of salt, an 10 for service, received 31 fries, and the price was $2.49.
#2 Chick-fil-A
With 79 years of exponential growth in popularity, Chick-fil-A has paved its way to becoming one of the most admired fast food chains in the entire country.
On the way to Chick-fil-A, our excitement was uncontainable–we felt like we couldn’t wait another second for our waffle fries. However, the moment we laid our eyes on the building, we knew our fries were nowhere in our near future.
Waiting at the drive thru line took more or less than an hour until we got our order, making it the longest we have had to wait out of all the other restaurants. This was not a great start to our Chick-fil-A experience, making us very frustrated right off the bat.
Yet, luckily for Chick-fil-A, their food made up for what they lacked in service.
The crunchiness, freshness and amount of salt were superb and after being pretty frustrated and annoyed due to the wait, we had a happy ending as their fries were extremely tasty.
The fries were so good, it was one of the top contenders for best fries.
Yet, due to the bad service, there was one other restaurant that was able to produce an exceptional order of fries while still incorporating good service.
Chick-fil-A received: a score of 10 for crunchiness, a five for the heat, a seven for the freshness, a 10 in quantity of salt, a two for service, received 11 fries, and the price was $2.39.
#1 Shake Shack:
Shake Shack is an up-and-coming fast food restaurant that has accumulated great success while only being in business for 21 years. This means that Shake Shack was the newest fast food chain we reviewed and we were both thrilled to try their favored dish of crinkle cut french fries.
It is safe to say that the moment we stepped into that store we were immediately satisfied. Salty, hot, fresh, crunchy, with a whopping 42 fries, and the best service a customer could ask for. Saying that we were thoroughly impressed would be an understatement.
Admittedly, due to Shake Shack being the last place we tried, our expectations were at an ultimate low.
Every other restaurant lacked a certain factor and we were convinced that no other fast food chain valued the importance of having a well-made dish of fries to serve their customers, yet we were proven wrong the moment we opened the doors.
Shake Shack deserves more recognition and has truly brightened our entire experience. We left Shake Shack that day with grins from ear to ear, full of contentment, knowing that we would surely set foot in the fast food spot with the most exquisite fries again.
Shake Shack received: a score of 8.5 for crunchiness, a 10 for the heat, a 10 for the freshness, a seven in quantity of salt, an nine for service, received 42 fries, and the price was $4.79.
In conclusion, we went into this experiment understanding that our views and standards would not align with others and that our experience wouldn’t necessarily imply that these fast food restaurants will perform at the same standard with every individual customer.et, we truly believe that this serves as a great reminder to fast food restaurants that, no matter what time of day or the circumstances, their food and service will always make some form of significant impact on their customers.
Even though there were ups and downs throughout this journey, we were able to open a new perspective on the fast food industry and we both had an admirable time participating in this review.
We also feel extremely fulfilled being able to recognize the 6% of the American population who can empathize with the everyday struggle of finding non-meat alternatives when eating at any general restaurant.
We hope that this can raise awareness and create a more diverse world for the future of the food industry.
