4 Most Disliked Items at Major Fast-Food Chains Right Now
Fast-food restaurants are easy punching bags. As comforting, quick, convenient, and affordable as they can be, these speedy chains are constantly making bad marketing decisions, serving questionable meats, amassing food quality complaints, and adding menu items that are so horribly bad for you that they're the stuff of dietician nightmares. And customers aren't shy about voicing their discontent, either.
Like poorly reviewed menu items from years past, new additions aren't always a smash hit. After all, not every item will be as adored as Mexican Pizza. As major fast-food chains like Chipotle, Wendy's, and Taco Bell tinker with new items, loyal customers are quick to point out the hits and misses—especially the latter.
From an iffy new steak option to shrinking portion sizes, these are five of the most disliked items at major fast-food chains right now.
Garlic Guajillo Steak at Chipotle
Any time Chipotle tinkers with recipes and rolls out a new menu item, it's met with fanfare and excitement. The latest novelty is Garlic Guajillo Steak, a limited-time combo of garlic, guajillo peppers, lime, and cilantro that punches up the flavor for the chain's steak option. That all sounds well and good, but some customers are less than enthused, taking the chain to task for mediocrity and skimping on portions that don't merit the upcharge.
While some customers were modest in their dismay ("Verdict is in: Chipotle's garlic guajillo steak is just ok," says Twitter user @BockerNFT), others haven't been quite as kind.
As @robashpole ponders, "Chipotle's new Garlic Guajillo Steak is tasty…but is it $2+ more than their normal steak tasty? Not sure about that one." To which @MonMcP65 responds: "I've tried it twice, first time was so gross and full of fat and grizzly. 2nd time, same thing. Not sure I'm going for a 3rd. The couple of pieces I did eat, were pretty tasty. Not 2+ tasty."
User @DeafJam22 echoes those sentiments: "I don't know who needs to hear this but that Chipotle garlic guajillo steak is TRASH unless I had a bad batch," while @NotYFT_ adds "this garlic guajillo steak ain't nothin but blackened chuck roast." Shots fired.
Overpriced Food at Burger King
Times can get tough. Prices rise and fall. But when it comes to inevitable inflation, there isn't a lot of wiggle room with fast food. Despite the fact that fast-food prices have increased dramatically over the years, to the point where Dollar Menus are ironic jokes, there's only so much that folks are willing to tolerate, which is why some Californians are up in arms over a particularly egregious price increase at a Burger King in Los Angeles.
In a whopper of a Reddit thread, titled "Why Are Los Angeles' Burger Kings So Expensive?!," one user painted a jarring image of Burger King with prices as high as $13.49 for a Bacon King meal. "Way more than our area. The bacon king is 2$ more for example," says another user, while someone points out how much cheaper Burger King is in Milwaukee.
It's not just Los Angeles where prices are creeping upward, though. "Those prices are only a $1 more than the prices here in Connecticut," says user fkafl. "Not sure why but BK is about twice the price of McDonalds."
Shrinking Frostys at Wendy's
Similar to the Burger King dustup, another unfortunate sign of the times is the shrinking portion sizes on some fast-food menus. Just as certain chicken sandwiches appear to be getting smaller, the same might be happening with the Frostys at Wendy's—which is a problem considering how beloved they are.
According to a Reddit discussion, the large Frosty appears to be down a third in size from a year ago—and the user lodging the complaint posted a photo to prove it. "I ordered a medium like a week ago and was like huh?? It was so small," another user chimed in.
Maybe customers would be less irked if the prices shrank too. "If they're going to shrink the size, they need to shrink the price too," says wookinpanub1.
It's not your eyes playing tricks on you either. According to a Wendy's manager, sizes have indeed changed: "Been a certified corporate wendys manager at a franchisee location… can confirm US locations sometime between March and May made a switch on their small medium and large fountain drinks… from 20, 32, 40 ounces to 19, 27, 35."
Whatever Pete Davidson Is Selling at Taco Bell
While Taco Bell is constantly innovating and testing new menu items (some with much more success than others), one thing that customers can agree to hate is the chain's latest ad campaign, where comedian Pete Davidson "apologizes" on behalf of Taco Bell for their past breakfast items. And sure, this sounds potentially funny—and, umm, unique—on paper, but Taco Bell fans were not digging it.
Maybe it's the fact that Davidson weirdly refers to Crunchwraps as "crunch-things," but Taco Bell loyalists are so fired up about it that they've resorted to blocking the company on Reddit just so they don't have to be subjected to the commercial.
"I'm a super hardcore TB fan (which is why I'm here lol) but even then the Pete Davidson ad with him talking with his mouth full is absolutely repulsive and makes me want to not eat there," says Reddit user rain6304. And they're not alone.
"I'm so freaking sick of it. Like idc about him but just seeing the ad so many times makes me hate him when I have no thoughts or care about him in the first place," adds nope-nope-nopes, while iowabeans says "if anything good has come from this advertisement, it's finding out i'm not the only one who thinks pete davidson sucks."
