I Tried the Most Hated Fast Food in America to See If It Deserves the Bad Reviews

I'm gonna come clean. I've been giving the most brutal one-star reviews against fast food for years. The only reason was because I felt we deserved better food. Except everyone's a critic now. If you look at the reviews of any fast food restaurant across the USA, you'll see insane claims worse than anything I've ever said. That's why today I'm putting the absolute worst one-star fast food reviews to the test to see if they actually deserve that one star. Starting with El Zarape in Denver, Colorado. Now, why are we here?

Supposedly, these are the best burritos in Denver. But anybody who said that did not read Jenny L.'s review because she said, "Beware what you put in your mouth here. They screwed up my food." It's a pun. That's a good one. That's a good pun, I'll give you that. Because look at this image. That is scary. That's a little scary, but it also kind of is peculiar to me. If you read a little further because it says, "We heard that they had the best barbacoa in town, we went and ordered two pounds for the whole family." She says a lot of other things in this review, which I find really funny. But ultimately it's about this image, which is wild looking to me,

but I feel like it's planted. Because let's think about this. She went in and she ordered, in bulk, barbacoa. So that means you get a big plate of barbacoa and a big plate of tortillas. And she said that in her review. And yet somehow there's a fully assembled taco. with a screw in it. How did that get there? Detective Josh is on the case today and we're going to find that out. The next review seems equally hard to comprehend. Guillermo H. says, "Ordered Bistec a la Mexicana and the food looked like they blended the bistec.

Told the waiter about it, but didn't do anything. Not going to this place ever again." And then finally, Nicole T. said, "Poor quality food and false advertisement on their website". No clue what the false advertisement is. "Server was pretty rude about letting us know that they would charge extra for avocados. Building is falling apart and very. dirty overall. And the pancakes tasted refrigerated." Sad face. Well, the building is definitely not falling apart.

Honestly, I actually kind of like it. I think it's cute. It's actually surprisingly clean. Even the rock looks clean. Let's just order some food and see how this goes. I asked for avocado on the side, they weren't even mean about it. And by the way, she did not charge me for it, actually. Okay, pancakes. They look good. The texture of the pancakes are great. They're not overcooked. They're not dry. They're moist. They're even a little crispy around the edges.

Now, do I detect a refrigerated flavor? No, dude, these are clearly fresh made. I watched him make them. No refrigerated taste at all. Okay, the bistec. Is the bistec blended? No, it's just chopped. Haha, chopped. It's just chopped up. The one thing I do think is funny is she asked me if I wanted it medium rare. I mean, this is definitely not going to be medium rare when you cut it up like this. But it's not blended. It tastes great. The fried eggs are cooked perfectly.

They're runny, lacy, seasoned really well. Spicy. It's a delicious plate. Honestly, it is fully cooked. I will say that. But it's a fattier piece of meat. So it's not dry. Now the real thing, I'm actually scared of this one. We got to be really careful here. This person found a screw and scrap metal in it, supposedly, but I'm questioning whether or not that's true. But I mean, look at this photo. It's kind of scary. opening it up. Check the first taco. Okay. That looks safe. Second taco. Oh, looks fine. But the real test is taking a bite because what you won't be able to see is scrap metal.

If there's scrap metal in this, I'm probably going to go to the hospital, so. Cheers. I did just bite into something hard. It was a bone. We're good. Small bone. This barbacoa is. delicious. This is great. What the. Nothing else to say. I'm ready to leave my review. First of all, the lady at the counter, extremely nice. The bistec, definitely not blended in a blender.

Chopped up nicely, fatty and delicious. And when it comes to barbacoa, these guys will not screw it up. Honestly, four out of five stars. Banger. I'm shocked. I wouldn't have expected that random spot in the middle of Denver. You know, that old school burger spot that's hanging by a thread, but it might actually suck. Could be Dan's Hamburgers in Austin. Since 1973. I've heard good, I've heard bad. In Gary T.'s review, he said, "My wife and I have eaten at Dan's for over 30 years, but no more. The hamburger buns were cold.

The meat was tasteless and greasy. Tomatoes green, lettuce soggy, and cheese was tasteless." Sounds like an Eminem line. Yeah. Buns were cold, the meat was tasteless and greasy, tomatoes green, lettuce soggy. Anyway, "The onion rings were cold, tasteless, and limp. The two chocolate shakes were melted and tasted like medicine." Medicine? I don't know how that's physically possible in a shake.

It feels like a new low. But if I was looking for some sort of word to describe that, Morris P. found it. "This was truly sub-McDonald's in every way. Stale bun, gray tasteless patty, microscopic bits of onion and pickle. Just awful. If Dan's was ever good, it is absolutely terrible." Now, that one kind of cut me a little bit. Don't know why. Our last review, Jeremy said, "Food was sh*tty, and the place smelled like an old wet dog.

My burger buns was soggy." "My burger buns was soggy." "And my fries were cold and oily as hell. I think I should have went to Whataburger across the street. P.S. The root beer was good." At least the root beer was good. I'm excited for the root beer. Now let's get to work. Alright, we're in here. It does kind of smell like wet dog, but it's a fast food place, so we're waiting for our order. I've got the root beer. The root beer is good.

Jeremy, I gotta hand it to you. You got good taste in root beer. This is a good root beer. So they said, sub-McDonald's burger. We have it right here. First of all, is the bun cold? It is cold, except the top bun is slightly warmer, but the bottom bun is. It's not as cold as ice, but it's definitely below room temperature. The tomatoes do not look green. I literally just touched the bun and a piece of it just gooped off. But ultimately, is it a sub-McDonald's burger?

I'm a little confused. Some of it is great. Some of it is horrible. The flavor's not bad. It's beefy. I appreciate that. Pickles are definitely present. The beef is not gray. It's not tasteless. It tastes beefy, and it's seasoned nicely with salt. Not sub-McDonald's. It's definitely not much better, though. It is a little greasy, but I don't mind a greasy hamburger.

It's not greasy in a bad way. We have our onion rings. First of all, they said they were greasy, but are they soggy? Not at all. Great texture, though. Nice crunch. My biggest gripe. Zero salt on this onion. I mean, none at all. It's kind of killing it because then you just have, like, slightly cooked, unseasoned onion. Like, who wants that? Now a french fry. Nice crispness. They're not soggy, they're not limp. Tastes like a fresh potato. But again, no salt.

I don't know why places do this, guys. It's the one thing, the one thing that makes or breaks a french fry or an onion ring. You put no salt on this. This is a raw potato covered in vegetable oil. Who the. wants that? Last but not least, the crescendo to it all. The shake. Honestly, it's not bad. It's not bad at all. I've had great shakes, and this is far from great. But does it taste like medicine? No, course not. That's ridiculous. That's absurd.

Let's rate. Let me start off by saying, excellent root beer. The beef on the burger, surprisingly beefy, surprisingly tasty. Although the buns were quite soggy. Fries and onion rings could really use some salt, but cooked nicely. Overall, if I wanted to gain weight at a fast food joint, this would probably not be the place. But it's decent. 2 out of 5 stars. If you thought Dan's 1-star reviews were bad, they're nothing compared to the 1-star reviews of our next fast food spot.

There's not a whole lot of fast food grilled chicken places. That might just be because places like El Pollo Rico have a hard time getting it right, apparently. According to Matt F., He said, "Apart from the projectile vomiting and diarrhea experienced not long after eating here." Why am I doing this? What?! Who put this on the list?! Oh. The chicken was pretty good. Rice was pretty plain. Beans were disgusting and soupy with chunks of something in there.

Hot dog, maybe. I'd say the worst thing was the green sauce. This is where things get scary. Jose O. Whoa. This photo's. interesting. I thought a lot of these are a lie until I saw this. photo. Jose O. said, "I ordered nachos and bit into a staple. I can't believe. how irresponsible the workers are. This is pathetic." Honestly, that. That's a lot less intense of a review for someone who just bit into a staple than I would have expected. That said, let's taste.

He actually said the chicken was good. And I will say, opening this up, you got a half a grilled chicken with an onion. I'm not complaining. Honestly. Really good. I'm not gonna lie. Seasoning's nice. Flavor is nice. Little overcooked, but. overall, great chicken. All right. Rice doesn't look too bland. That's great. Bland? This is seasoned literally perfectly with salt. Super flavorful. The beans I'm a little scared of.

They do look soupy, and there are, in fact, chunks in there that I cannot identify personally. They're not bad, actually. The broth that's in here is pretty tasty. Overall, the beans are, like, not my most favorite, but they're decent. They're very decent. Scary statements made about this sauce. I'm gonna put it on my taco. But I'd say the worst thing was the green sauce. It tasted like cardboard and had something rot. That's great. It's like a creamy jalapeño salsa. But hold on a minute.

What about the nachos? Am I going to open this and see staples in them? Because I really don't want to go to the hospital after this. Please. No staples. In fact, there were crispy, delicious nachos. Wow. From the delicious chicken to the vibrant green salsas, I'm a fan of El Pollo Rico. This is the kind of fast food place that makes me want to try everything on the menu. Love you. Four out of five stars. This place is a banger.

We're in LA, arguably the birthplace of fast food, because of places like this. Astro Burger. Celebrities literally eat here in their tuxedos after award shows. But unfortunately, according to Young H, food here tastes like butt. Whoa, pause. How do you know what that tastes like? No, no, really, how do you know? Don't recommend this place. And it's overpriced for what you're getting. McDonald's is better than this place. Yowch. Emil M. says parking sucks. All employees are frown faces, and even don't call your number even if your food is ready.

Super slow. Cash only. What the heck? Food tastes tasteless. Maybe Roxanne O. has something a little bit more, you know, critical thinking, and she said. I'm honest, I don't know what, what I'm looking at here. The food was horrible. Only one cashier. She was very rude. I bought a fish sandwich, and the fish was bad. It was old and had a smell to it that is pretty gross. I went to ask if I can exchange it for something else. The cashier, she would not let me change my food or get my money back.

Bad work ethics, bad business. I don't. Is there a single period or comma in this whole review? There actually isn't. This is entirely one giant run-on sentence. That's amazing. But, you know, despite the bad grammar, the photo is compelling. And I'm nervous to see if that's what it looks like. So let's order. Oh, wait hang on. There's one more review. Rono S. says, "I've been going to Astro since the '70s." We got a period here, guys. We got a period. Their burgers were the best. In the last month, I've been twice, and they went from my favorite to the worst. They changed the meat.

It was overcooked both times. Tasted nothing like the Astro Burger I know and remember. So quality went down, but the price is up. I will not be going back to Astro Burger again after 45 years of great burgers. And the owner responded to this. Wait. They said, "Rono, I'm sorry for your bad experiences. At Astro's, we cook all of the meats medium well unless specified different from the customer." Okay, medium well. So not well done. I'm going to be looking for that. Our quality meats is choice quality, the best we can buy.

Choice is actually the worst you can buy, Andrew. I'm sorry to tell you that, but it's literally like, as close to the bottom of the barrel as you can get. As for pricing, it's beyond our control, as everything has gone up due to many factors. That's fair. That's one of the hard things about running a restaurant business. I can't argue with Andrew there. But, hey, look, there's only one way to find out. Before we go in, here's the parking situation. Honestly, this is really not bad for LA. They've got a solid lot and it's open for the most part. Hi, how are you? I'm good. How are you doing?

Good. Let's see. Can I do a fish sandwich? Okay. I'll also do just a cheeseburger. And that's it. Alright. Are you Joshua Weissman? Yeah. How are you, man? Nice to meet you. Yeah. Pleasure. What's your name? Zach. Nice to meet you, Zach. Pleasure. All right, now we wait. So the workers. 50/50, right. The lady at the cashier, I will say she did look actually a little sad.

You know, I don't blame her for that. Life is hard. But she was definitely not giving me a vibe. Now, on the other hand, the fry cook who just started working there, super nice guy, really sweet. He said hello, it was nice. It's split. I'll give it to them. Cause it is the middle of the day. I'll give it to them. Okay, here we go. The burger, it actually looks nice. Like it's got a good grill mark on it. The beef has no salt on it at all. That said, it does taste beefy and charred.

There's no salt on the patty. I will say though, our boy who happens to be the owner said these are cooked medium-well. No, this is well-done and it's definitely choice beef. That said, though, it's actually not bad. This reminds me of those, like, burgers that you have at a mid hotel by the pool. I'm not hating it. Out of all the fast-food burgers I've had, this is definitely not at the bottom of the list. But I'll save my rating to the end. Let's experience this fish sandwich. Okay. Oh. Oh yeah, it looks fine. Actually, I'm a lot less scared now that I've seen it.

This could be its moment. Honestly, not bad. The fish is really crispy and nice. It's not overcooked. It's nice and moist. It certainly doesn't look like the photo. Any of the complaints that lady had was maybe a little unwarranted. But I mean, you can see here. I mean, looks good. Let's get our rating going. Cashier and the cook were nice. The burger was definitely well-done, but had a good char flavor. Maybe use more salt. Also, fish was not gross.

3 out of 5 stars. On to the next. This is a legendary place to people who live in Austin and even people visiting Austin: Torchy's Tacos. And Hans has something to say. "I waited 14 minutes for a single chicken fajita taco. The taco I had was adequate and nothing special. I honestly would have rather gotten a chicken soft taco at Taco Bell. Oh, lastly, their sound system was playing U2's 'In the Name of Love' song, which has been terrible for its 30-plus years of existence." I could not leave quickly enough. There's a lot to test here. Now, Amanda P. seems to think that this location is the problem.

"Here's the thing. Don't go to the Spicewood location." "The Crossroads tasted burnt, like vomit. The Green Chili Pork was nowhere near a good taco. Is this what Austinites have become?" Even the breakfast tacos, something you cannot mess up in Austin, Texas, gave Dan F. a true identity crisis. "My taco was a brick of yellowish egg-like mass with a half-centimeter thin by one-centimeter wide wedge of avocado. If there was pico mixed in there, I sure couldn't tell.

Nor was anything crisp about this taco either." "Not the corn tortilla bits. They were mush." It's pretty funny, honestly. Not going to lie. Mark says, "Terrible house fly problem. Avoid Trailer Park as well as Brushfire, Republican. Tipsy Chick was okay. Flour tortillas were weak, never coming back. But if I did, I'd bring my own fly swatters." "That's fly swatters, plural, because they were thicker than honey." I don't know what that last sentence means, to be honest with you. I guess, like, there's a lot of them. If there was going to be a wait, this would be where it would happen.

Might as well start the timer now. I'll do the timer for before. Before we order and after we order. The test begins now. Well, it looks like everybody placed their order. I'm not even joking. That was 42 seconds. And it's our turn to order. Hi. She's laughing. Okay. She was very nice. We've ordered. Now we begin. How long will it take for us to get our order? All right, it's our turn. Four minutes in. So we're at 4 minutes and 45 seconds total.

Their tip jar has two screwdrivers in it. Hi. How are you? Good. How are you? Done? Okay, not bad. Six minutes. We have a huge order, too. Like, big. And that took six minutes. I'm not. I'm not mad. Okay, let's eat. There's no U2 playing. I'm bummed, actually. That might lower my rating. Let's start with what to avoid. So this is the Trailer Park. That's pretty good. This is the Republican. Okay. And then the Brushfire. Good. I wouldn't avoid any of those. In fact, I would order all of them.

These flies are going to piss me off. The Crossroads. Jesus. Burnt and, like, vomit? I mean, it smells. delicious. I mean, listen, it's far from Mexican food, but it's delicious. It's like smoky brisket, avocado, cheese, pickled jalapeño. I don't know what they mean by burnt, though. I mean, like, it's smoky. Green Chili Pork. Nowhere near a good. I mean, it looks like a good taco. This is the most traditional-looking taco on the list. I mean, look at it. You got onion, cilantro, and lime.

It doesn't get more traditional than that. And on a corn tortilla. Question is, does it taste any good? It's not dry. It's juicy. It's seasoned perfectly with salt. It's porky. It's delicious. Zero complaints. That was the most traditional tasting taco I've had so far. That is definitely an egg mass. I will be honest. Also, the stem of the avocado is on there. I don't know if you can see that. I'm gonna take that off. Okay, let's just do this.

Not cold, first of all. And also, the chips are surprisingly crispy, but it tastes of nothing. It just tastes like pure egg with no salt. Like, who wants that? But it wasn't, like, gross, though. It just was just kind of mid. Okay. The Tipsy Chick. Now this supposedly was okay. Honestly, that was the most boring one I had in the entire list. I'm not even joking. Least flavorful. The chicken's under-seasoned.

It's fine. This person has terrible taste. That's the worst one, easily. Time for Josh's review. "I really wish these guys played U2 more on the radio. Still haven't heard it yet, but better yet, I'll be honest. These tacos are far from anything traditional, but they are delicious. I mean, come on. Fried chicken in a tortilla? Who's not gonna like that? Despite its lack of traditionality, you have some tasty food and a quick and easy line to boot.

4 out of 5 stars. Torchy's was surprisingly good, but I can't say that it'll be the same thing for the next spot: Crown Burgers. Now, despite the excessive signage, they're surprisingly more known for their gyros. I. What? And the vibes? Apparently. Scrolling through, Dylan D. is saying something nice. Actually, "It brings you back to your childhood." I don't know what that means for our first review because River G. said, "Called this restaurant and the person who answered the phone told

me to go have sex with myself." There's no way that's real. I'm nervous for this. Hi, quick question. What time do you guys close today? We're closed at seven today. Seven. Okay, great. Awesome. Thank you for that. Yeah, you're welcome. Bye. Appreciate you. Bye. Bye. Didn't tell me to do anything to myself. It was very straight to the point. That said, Steve M. came out guns blazing: "It took 20 minutes of waiting in a hot, stuffy restaurant for one of the most pathetic excuses for a gyro I have ever had."

"And overloaded with tons of feta to make up for the tiny bit of meat they put on it. You could literally count the pieces of meat on it. Four. in total. Just pathetic." Well, we're here. Let's test it. Is this gyro pathetic? There is only four pieces of meat in here. I'll be honest, looking back at that review, this is four. But it's four pieces of meat the long way. It seems like enough meat. It's fine.

The meat is definitely not fresh, but it's seasoned nicely. It's got good fattiness, even the pita is nice and warm. The veg is fresh. Pathetic is a strong word. Not bad. Dear Crown Burgers, despite your confusing menu, the gyro is pretty decent. Nicely seasoned, full of fresh veg. But it's nowhere near king status. But hey, love ya. Three stars. On to the next. This one's a hate it or love it burger spot. This place doesn't have a lot of locations, but it's called Hat Creek. And, well, this first review might explain why they are not ready for a big operation.

Supposedly, according to Garry C.: "Worst food ever. paper has more flavor. Parking?" "Better walk there. Avoid this restaurant like the plague. Unless you like the plague, then welcome home." Apparently Apple J. did not have much more luck in the drive-through. "$6 for a burger and $1 for an unmelted American cheese. Mediocrity at its worst. Let's not forget the sensitive staff who was offended because of yelling when I'm going through drive thru and on a call.

By the way, in English, cheeseburger implies cheese." Wait, but I'm confused. You paid $1 for unmelted American cheese, but they didn't give you cheese? Or they did. Now, Walter F. said: "Hat Creek brought tears to my eyes when I tasted their bitter burger." "I hated how they put red dust on their fries. They have good milkshakes. If you're three years old with a sweet tooth. I give this a 0 out of 10." "I do not recommend." Well, Walter, you gave it a one out of five, so I don't know what the. if you're saying. I guess I'll pretend to talk loudly on the phone and we'll see what happens.

I'm nervous. Yeah, John, I'm just not gonna be there, John. I'm just not. I don't have time to. Oh, hi. Let me get a Big Hat with cheese. Okay would you like the combo sir? Yes, please. What's your favorite milkshake?. No, John, you're not getting a milkshake. Sorry. Which one? All right, sure, I'll try it. Yeah, I got. I gotta go. All right. Bye. Hi sir. Hi. Sorry. How are you?

My phone was on. You could see my phone screen on that. She probably knew I was faking that call. But she didn't mind, though. She thought it was funny. Hat Creek, the milkshake. It's actually delicious. This was much better than the milkshake that we had at Dan's. It's sweet, but I mean, it's literally blended ice cream. What do you expect out of a milkshake? The fries, he didn't like, the red dust.

I Love these crispy shoestring fries the way they should be, seasoned beautifully with salt. Love the spice on it. Now I will say this burger doesn't look perfect, but really my main concern is that this at least tastes better than paper. I gotta be honest with you guys, it's actually pretty good. The seasoning is nice. This is like the first time I've encountered a burger I'm getting a little flecks of fresh pepper. It's juicy, it's not dry at all, it's cheesy. The pickles are like refreshing and snappy. You saw those. I mean, those are some nice looking pickles. And it's a traditional potato bun. So you have that nice sort of soft, fluffy, almost creamy potato bun.

I don't know if you could tell when you saw this, but there is in fact cheese in there and it is in fact melted. This is one of the better burger spots we've been to, so I guess I'll give my rating. Hat Creek. I'm genuinely confused why you have such a low rating. But the one thing I'm not concerned about is the food. Great fries, tasty milkshakes, and a burger that comes with plenty of melted American cheese. 4 out of 5 stars. Hat Creek's rep is redeemed. But can it happen again at our final spot? This place is legendary amongst the locals, but unfortunately their new ownership is getting some brutal reviews.

We're at none other than El Huero. Max says. "consistently terrible or mediocre food combined with absurd waits. I got a burrito with the worst carne asada I've ever had, which hemorrhaged its flavorless insides all over my hand." "And each time I go, I read the reviews and maybe think that I'm just crazy. I've been here five times." First of all, Max, just based off the descriptor, why did you go back five times? Like you ever heard: once, shame on you, two times, shame on me. five times? Who's the shame on, your mom? But here's what's more troubling.

This next one has a photo. Areiona H. says: "ordered three tacos in the drive thru. drive across the street. So I eat the first taco and as I take a bite of the second taco there an entire toothpick inside the tacos. covered in cheese and sour cream. I immediately spit the food out my mouth and scream to my fiance." "We go back to the window, I show the workers and he immediately says, 'let me show you the cool.' And I kid you not, he has a toothpick in his mouth." Whoa. So let's see if they have toothpicks in their tacos. I'm actually kind of scared. If he has a toothpick in his mouth, I'm going to be mortified.

Let's eat. Hi, can I do a carne asada burrito? Okay. Can I also do the carnitas tacos? Okay. Anything else for you? That's it. There was no toothpick, guys. They did not have a toothpick in the mouth. We're good so far, but is there a toothpick in the tacos? It took seven minutes and 30 seconds to get our food, which isn't McDonald's fast. But I'm not mad. I'm still thinking about Max's image of how he was holding his burrito and. well, we're good. We're good, guys. I was scared. Honestly, it's pretty good.

It's not like the greatest burrito I've ever had, but, like, is Max crazy? Yeah, I think you might be. Actually, I'm pretty delighted. I was worried coming in. So far, so good. One more thing to test. I'm a little nervous. What could be in this?. She did say an entire toothpick covered in cheese and sour cream. This is probably the most boring bite. Turns out, no toothpick. We survived. Time for the rating. I'm very thankful they don't put toothpicks in their tacos.

Service was great with a smile. Honestly, food was better than expected. The burrito was truly not horrible. 3 out of 5 stars. Don't get me wrong. As you know, I'm very opinionated about my eating, but a lot of these reviews seem like they were downright trying to hurt the restaurants, which is not the right thing to do. Sure, some reviews were true, but most. were not. So the next time you go to a restaurant, don't always trust the reviews. And more importantly, if you plan on leaving one, make sure it's at least, I don't know, accurate. Because remember,

just being annoyed at something might last five minutes, but reviews can last forever. Love ya. Subscribe. See ya!