America’s best and worst chain restaurants revealed — and the results are surprising

Chick-fil-A is A+.

McDonald’s may be the biggest fast food chain in the US, but is it the de facto best? Not according to a recent survey, which placed Chick-fil-A atop the Mount Rushmore of US grease merchants.

The study, conducted by CouponBirds , deemed the chicken monger “the best super-chain” — a fast food firm with 1,000+ outlets — with a rating of 3.95 out of 5.

Chick-fil-A’s rating is perhaps particularly impressive given that its 3,059 outlets are closed on Sundays and serve fish instead of chicken on Lent.

The company’s devout Southern Baptist owners have also been vocal about their opposition to gay marriage, which has gotten them in hot water with the LGBTQ community.

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Coming in second was Five Guys Burgers and Fries (3.85) — which coincidentally also holds the title for “unhealthiest fast food cheeseburger” — followed by sandwich chain Jersey Mike’s Subs in third (3.76).

While the idea of “best” fast food restaurant might seem subjective — some people prefer burgers to chicken and vice versa — CouponBirds had a fairly objective system for ranking the fast food restaurants.

They chose chains with four or more outlets and then analyzed the Google Maps reviews of 161,054 individual establishments, before grading each of the businesses out of five “using a fair, weighted average,” per the release.

Taking a cue from weight classes in boxing, CouponBirds made the competition fair by categorizing the 2,589 chains according to size: super-chains (1,000+ locations), medium-sized chains (100 -1,000 locations), and small chains ( 4-100 locations).

Rounding out the top five “best” superchains overall, per this grading scale, were the Waffle House (3.72) and Starbucks (3.71).

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The latter’s popular rating comes despite the fact that the ubiquitous bean depot has been underperforming recently with its shares plunging a precipitous 16% in May.

1. Chick-fil-A (3.95)
2. Five Guys (3.85)
3. Jersey Mike’s Subs (3.76)
4. Waffle House (3.72)
5. Starbucks (3.71)
6. Dairy Queen (3.68)
7. Arby’s (3.57)
8. Panera Bread (3.55)
9. Dairy Queen Grill & Chill (3.55)
10. IHOP (3.49)
11. Carl’s Jr. (3.46)

As for the smaller fast food spots, In-N-Out burger clocked in as the best medium-sized chain (4.21) while healthy food store Acai Republic was the best small chain (4.44).

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The worst-rated chain of all time was Taco John’s — billed by CouponBirds as the “Midwest’s answer to Taco Bell — with a rating of just 2.61.

The second weakest link among the chains was McDonald’s (2.75), proving that bigger does not necessarily mean better when it comes to fast food.

Recently, McDonald’s introduced the Chicken Big Mac to the US as part of a white meat offensive aimed at reversing flagging sales caused by customers spending less on eating out.

Coming in third and fourth respectively were Bobby’s Burgers by Bobby Flay (2.84) and Wahlburgers @ Hy-Vee (2.85).

Popeye’s rounded out the top five with a score of 2.9.

1. Taco John’s (2.61)
2. McDonald’s (2.75)
3. Bobby’s Burgers by Bobby Flay (2.84)
4. Wahlburgers @ Hy-Vee (2.85)
5. Popeye’s (2.9)
6. Sonic (2.93)
7. Buffalo Wild Wings ‘GO’ (2.93)
8. South Philly Cheesesteaks & Fries (2.97)
9. Buciferro Family McDonald’s (3.00)
10. Wetzel’s Pretzel’s (3.02)

Meanwhile, the top 3 fast food depots in New York were Taqueria El Dorado, Cozy Corner Cafe and The Bucket.

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