Every chain restaurant has a menu full of hits and misses. I rank the best orders, sauces, drinks, and menu items so you know exactly what to get before you even walk in.
The Chipotle costume deal, called Boorito, gets Chipotle Rewards members a $6 entree if they show up in costume after 3 p.m. on Halloween and scan their rewards account at checkout, in restaurant only. I look forward to Halloween restaurant deals almost as much as the candy. Free food for putting on a costume you
The best Panda Express menu items are Orange Chicken, Kung Pao Chicken, Honey Sesame Chicken Breast, Broccoli Beef, and Chow Mein, while the worst are Teriyaki Chicken, Honey Walnut Shrimp, and Fried Rice. Panda Express is not authentic Chinese food and it is not trying to be. It is American-Chinese fast food that has been
The worst fast food chains in 2026 include McDonald’s, which holds the lowest ACSI customer satisfaction score in the industry, KFC, which saw the largest satisfaction drop of any major chain, Sonic, Burger King, and Little Caesars, all of which are consistently rated poorly across quality, value, and service. Fast food was already not a
The best Olive Garden order in 2026 are Zuppa Toscana, Chicken Marsala, Shrimp Scampi, Lasagna Fritta, and Tiramisu, with the unlimited soup and breadsticks representing the best deal in casual dining. Olive Garden is not trying to be an Italian restaurant, and I think that is the key to enjoying it. It is an American
The best fast food fries in 2026 are Checkers/Rally’s seasoned fries, followed closely by Five Guys and Arby’s Curly Fries, while In-N-Out sits dead last and McDonald’s, despite its reputation, falls outside the top three once freshness wears off. Fast food fries are the most debated side in American food and also the most misranked.
The best things to order at McDonald’s in 2026 are the Quarter Pounder with Cheese, McDouble, Sausage Egg and Cheese McGriddle, medium fries, and 10-piece McNuggets, with the Quarter Pounder standing alone as the item that genuinely earns its reputation. McDonald’s burgers are better than they were five years ago. The chain’s Best Burger Initiative
The best Wingstop secret menu items include Lemon Pepper Wet wings, the ranch and parmesan dip combination, flavored ranch using any wing sauce, Lemon Pepper Cheese Fries, Volcano Fries, the Atomic Bomb combo, and Cajun Corn done elote-style with mango habanero ranch. Most Wingstop secret menu lists are junk. They include chocolate brownies, mango habanero
In-N-Out wins on burger taste and value, while Five Guys wins on fries and customization, but at $18–24 for a standard meal versus In-N-Out’s $7–9, Five Guys is no longer competing with fast food. I want to be clear about something before we get into this: this is not a close debate. People make it
The best Cinco de Mayo deals in 2026 include free chips and queso at Chipotle with a promo code, free tacos at El Pollo Loco through the app, $1 margaritas at Applebee’s, $5 margaritas at Chili’s, and free burritos at Del Taco for Rewards members. Cinco de Mayo 2026 falls on a Tuesday, which makes
The best Taco Bell secret menu items in 2026 include the Cheesarito, the Enchirito, the Superman Burrito, the Double-Grilled Quesadilla, and the Nacho Fries Crunchwrap, all of which are buildable through standard ingredients or app customization even though none appear on the official menu. Taco Bell does not have an official secret menu. What it
The best Mother’s Day restaurant deals in 2026 include Denny’s $10 off $30 delivery or pickup, Olive Garden’s Ready-to-Bake Lasagna Bundle at roughly $6.75 per person, Capital Grille’s two-course brunch at around $60 per adult, and Outback Steakhouse’s limited filet and lobster menu. Mother’s Day is May 10, 2026. It is the single highest-grossing Sunday
The Chipotle secret menu includes the Quesarito, Nachos, the Burritodilla, Dragon Sauce, and the Bowl-to-Burrito Split hack, all of which are buildable from existing Chipotle ingredients even though none appear on the official menu. Chipotle has never officially admitted to having a secret menu. Their own spokespeople have denied it. But the company also trains
The 2026 fast food tier list puts Chick-fil-A, Raising Cane’s, In-N-Out, and Culver’s in S-tier, while McDonald’s drops to C-tier due to the lowest customer satisfaction score in fast food and prices that have doubled in the past ten years. This fast food tier list covers every major chain in America across five tiers, ranked
Panda Express is not exactly a chain you associate with serious heat. So when they announced a collab with Buldak, the Korean brand behind the fire noodle challenge that has been sending people to their knees on TikTok for years, I had questions. The main one: did they water it down? The short answer is
Mother’s Day is May 10 this year, and the best Mother’s Day brunch restaurants book up faster than any other day on the calendar. Almost half of all Mother’s Day dining happens at brunch, which means the good spots fill up fast. If you are still figuring out where to take Mom, this list covers