Pro Chefs Rank Their Top 10 Fast Food Restaurants 

Thank you so much for the Culver's shoutout! As a Midwesterner, Culver's has my heart and I never hear anybody at Mythical talk about it. I've been waiting for this moment 😅

Josh with the "CULVER'S!" hit me in the gut. Butter burgers slap.

Leave it up to Josh, & Nicole to turn the food podcast, into a hair podcast in just the first 5 minutes. You've got to Love them!! 🤣🤣

Dominos pizza tracker is real. I live in a small town and we know that our favorite driver is Gagandeep, he always is quick and friendly. Plus they definitely wouldnt have used that as a random generated name in a rural area lol

21:09 Nicole immediately breaking into song and dance the moment Josh said "Entertain them!" absolutely sent me.

When Josh said, "when you're trying to hit, hit that thing," my mind went somewhere else, & it WASN'T Panda Express!! 🤣🤣

I just want to say thank you guys for the entertainment you give us. I lost my kids mom a couple days ago and watching your videos helps distract me from everything. Keep up the great work cause you never know who you’re unknowingly helping and how. On a different note I think 5 Guys should be on this list

I laughed so hard when I stopped by a Taco Bell after a busy Saturday night shift and ran into 3 other cooks/chefs. We all laughed.

We do have Nandos in the US! It's on the East Coast and in Chicago!

Love Josh so much, did not see that Salvadorean shoutout and I appreciate him having knowledge of the food. That was a fantastic traditional breakfast he rattled off.

Nicole has been glowing extra lately, love it for her!

"Josh, what's your number ten? Out of the gate, what's your fave?" - Nicole demonstrating she doesn't understand how a ranking system works.

Cafe Rio may not be well known, however they are amazing! Sweet pork burrito is my favorite. 🌯 🤤

Culvers over in and out any day! Butter burger with cheese curds and a Butterfinger mix..... Yum, heaven.

8:48 the pizza tracker predates AI.

I really enjoyed this episode! THAT SAID... While I enjoy Panda Express, I much prefer the little hole in the wall mom & pop Chinese restaurants in terms of flavor.

They need to travel east and experience Culver's

I live in aus and once we got a costco near me, I bought a 1Litre Nandos sauce and it was like my BABY

I've always preferred Qdoba to Chipotle.

IF YOU ARE EVER IN THE ST LOUIS AREA you need to try Lions Choice. Their roast beef sandwich is absolutely perfect, they cook it rare, and as much “au jus” as you want.

You have no idea how much your shared love of Panda and their chow mein means to me. I hold so much shame for loving it. I feel so validated!!!!!!

A little shocked Shake Shack didn’t get even a shout out.

Maybe it's because I have family that is Chinese and my Mom's family were actual restaurant owners, I don't really look at Panda as like a go to restaurant, but I can understand what you say in terms of accessibility and consistency in the food for quick service. You are right that a lot of other similar places don't taste the same or have the same consistency. I've tried different ones too, and for me I mostly like compare it to my grandma's cooking because she was amazing in the kitchen for all kinds of cuisine. Panda for some recipes is close for some, but others not quite enough. There isn't a #2 really probably because of the quality issue, but my Mom would go to Mr. Chau's Chinese fast food when I grew up in NorCal and it was okay for some basics when she was too busy to make something herself. But like, that style of like quick service usually for actual Chinese we go to them, but usually we go to the lines attached to a restaurant/a Chinese butcher shop. In Southern California, a safe bet would be like Sam Woo. The reason for these shops is because they sell the items that are harder/take longer to make for relatively cheap to Chinese. So you can buy like whole roast duck or chopped roast pigs with the pig fully hanging in the window and like the quick service fried rice or other things are just also there in case someone wants to eat it right away or to just make it a one stop shop for your entire meal. Panda Express is basically those shops without the butcher items that we go to those shops for as the process of roasting and preparing those items in your own home would be kind of tough. So then for me if I was to have a go to quick Chinese fast food place, I would look for the shops that have the butchery items because I want the whole duck and then get the rice or other items as additional, and I would not go to like Panda because I can't get the thing that I want there. But also like, if my grandma can make really good fried rice, there's also like no reason to like get the quick service items when I was staying with her because we'd just bring back the butchery items and then she'd make fried rice. For Yoshinoya, I agree with what you're saying, but also like....that's a quirk with how Yoshinoya was executed in the US. It's very sad because Yoshinoya in Japan is awesome. I currently live in Japan, so I'm so happy to be able to enjoy a good Yoshinoya that doesn't have a weird smell that for some reason the US ones have. But also being in Japan I'm so sad that they don't seem to have the Chinese butcher shops mentioned above and they serve all roast duck in the Peking duck build your own wrap style, or sell pre-made wraps from street stalls with no exceptions. I wish some place would just sell me a whole duck or give me shrimp chips or something like Chinese restaurants in the US. ;o; I have yet to find one.

Truly the reason that Whataburger is so popular in Texas and the south is because of their specialty burgers, because they serve burgers but also chicken that isn't ground, and because they have a southern breakfast menu that the national chains typically don't. While national chains have started offering things like biscuits and gravy and more unique burger options, it came too late to challenge the cemented loyalty of Texans.

I agree with them on the Popeye's Blackened Ranch. It's a game changer.

It's criminal that Panda killed off Black Pepper Chicken. Mixing that with their chow mein was so delicious.

Firehouse Subs has the best subs. I would also choose Jimmy John's over Jersey Mike's.

Without going too nerdy, the In and Out being the first to use the intercom in a drive thru, is a Hot Take in of itself. There is still a lot of controversy as there are still claims that a place in Anchorage, Alaska called "Chatterbox" that had used an intercom at their restaurants. In 1951, 3 years after In and Outs claim, Jack in the Box (at the time called Topsy's) claimed to have combined In and Out's use of a "drive thru" and Chatterbox's intercom, into the Drive Thru we know today. So, while others might have invented it, Jack in the Box actually innovated on it, Fun side fact: Jack in the Box was also created in California, in San Diego.

Y'all gotta try Runza sometime. Very much a regional experience, but if any of you are driving in or around the Nebraska area, I highly recommend!

Josh's Panda Express order "for when you gotta 🫲 hit that, that day" 💀💀💀

Waba grill is delicious. Half chicken half steak, double salad, and handfuls of the sauce… SO good.

Cook Unity is actually pretty damn legit. Been doing it for a few months now.

42:10 I cannot to this day watch the Mr. Creosote scene all the way through without throwing up. I love Monty Python but that still is the most vile five minutes of media I have ever scene

I love your hair, Nicole!

Braum's is a regional fast food place out of Oklahoma that does a solid breakfast; solid biscuits and gravy, which is an ideal breakfast

Culver's is the one, true GOAT. It's so good and slowly rolling out nationwide. [You can get it near Nando's in the Chicago area, too!]

I will say, when I was in high school, the $5 hot and ready was amazing 🥰

First time hearing about Pollo Campero on a top 10 outside of Guatemala, not sure if the taste is similar over there but many who come to my country enjoy it a lot...also you guys have many things we don't as people recognize easier the latino taste with other drinks and all

double beijing beef and orange chicken... josh is officially my spirit animal

It still baffles me how many people love the mcgriddle. The first time I had it was the last.

The dominos pizza tracker is real. It takes all the managers currently clocked in and will say whoever the first one clocked in that day is preparing your pizza.

For anyone from the west, Culver’s is the best fast food, and there is no question about it.

Come to Toronto Canada for Nando's. Food is still great, but service went down after the pandemic. Toronto also has more than a few Portuguese Churrascos that grill beef and chicken and use spices.

Smosh fan just visiting to show some love

Awesome job Josh with the podcast seee you on Tuesday and yesterday I had and it was a sandwich alright

Late to this one but Whataburger will forever have the greatest chicken sandwich in my opinion. I had to mention it. Completely off topic, maybe it's just me but Josh is embracing the millennial heartthrob hair real hard in this one and I'm here for it!

I worked at Panda Express in high school for a year. We could have free lunches and often the leftovers at the end of the day. No matter how much I ate it never got sick of it. I would just crave it more and more. That honey walnut shrimp hit every time. Fun fact: one scoop of orange chicken is over 500 calories.

As an Indian international student living in the Midwest, it’s incredibly difficult for me to find good fast food, because I’m a vegetarian. But, Culver’s Harvest Veggie Burger is the absolute BEST Vegetarian Fast Food Burger, hands down. Love the shout-out! Also, I’m not sure if Waffle House is considered Fast Food due to its Diner Style but I think it should be the best Breakfast place, 100%.

I feel I may be the only person on the planet that doesn’t like the orange chicken at Panda Express. I love the Beijing beef and really like the Szechwan or kungpao chicken. The chow mein hits the right spot.

Panda is not a west coast thing only. I lived in Florida for 28 years and probably had way more PandEx than I should have.

You have to try Culvers!!

The fries at In N Out are actually decent IF you ask for them well done.

Josh saying Trinidadian macaroni pie made me unreasonably happy 🇹🇹

Hardee's/Carl Jr. is so underrated. Best fast food breakfast by far. Great curly fries and sandwiches.

I love panda but never had it until I moved from MA to TN. Might be my favorite place besides Chick Fil A

We got Nados on the east coast now in the DC area

I enjoy that Nicole is frightened by all the chicken on her list 😂

I love Domino’s, especially the crunchy thin crust, but for the last 2 years, the one in my area can’t hire enough drivers. I either have to order and pick it up, or use a delivery service.

Every morning there’s a halo Hanging round the corner of my girlfriends four post bed 🎵

Growing up in an area with a lot of asian immigrants, Panda has always been one of the absolute worst fast foods to me. I guess i benefit from good points of comparison.

Pizza Hut does have amazing fries though, which isn't what you'd think to get there but they are great. And i think Albertsons has the same chicken nuggets as McDonald's behind the deli counter. I work for Safeway, they taste almost identical, and they're also made by Tyson.

Nando's is in the US. There's one 2 blocks from my gym. Though, it doesn't hit quite the same as when I lived in Namibia, when it was treat on the occasions when I could get out of the small town where I worked and go to the capital. They don't have the pap, which disappoints me. However, if Panera doesn't count as fast food, Nando's definitely doesn't. Don't think I've ever gone in, ordered, and left with my food in less than 15 minutes from the time I placed my order.

Josh I love your unhinged madness it makes me feel so at home ❤ But I can actually be useful on this subject, the pizza tracker app is completely legit, being able to install the app onto a smartphone is even a condition of hiring now. Or was at my store, I was a general manager and everything under for my local Domino's spot Also managed a Subway, the redesign was SOOOOOO fun to work there for. We got THOUSANDS of dollars in equipment in about a week, meat slicers, nice bread ovens, all kinds of fun stuffs. I was hired for the redesign and it was a blast because we basically went to a 90% fresh made menu overnight. And as someone who adores cooking and takes pride in it, throwing away the meat sacks and gross stuff for fresh turkey breast, pepperoni salami, capicola and PRIME RIB roast beef chunks for slicing in store. Yeah. It was fun

7:37 The pizza tracker is real, I worked at dominoes a few years ago and the name that pops up saying “___ is making your order” was just the manager during that shift

I have plenty of Nandos locations near me in the Maryland/DC area.

McDonald's breakfast? Y'all gotta try Tudor's Biscuit World, a regional chain

41:20 i agree but just a little bit lol

Julia would like darling with a picture cut. Total fairy vibes!

I double-checked, but it appears you were wrong in your ranking - it goes... 10. McDonald's 9. Culver's 8. Arby's 7. Panda Express 6. White Castle's 5. Freddy's Steakburgers 4. Pollo Campero 3. Jersey Mike's 2. Taco Bell 1, Five Guy's

Nicole looks like the best hugger in the world

35:51 ironically, I knew someone who only added cayenne dust to their coffee. I tried it. Undrinkable

You forgot that Taco Bell is the only restaurant to survive the franchise wars

The Beijing beef unreal. ❤

Is there no Qdoba un California? It's a subway style burrito place and I think it is waaaaay better than Chipotle

Before they even mentioned the golden arches I was thinking the McDonalds is my favorite fast food but only breakfast! My order is 2 hashbrowns, one side of eggs, one side of sausage and I make my own hashbrown breakfast sandwich and eat it up in the parking lot!

I heard a shout out to Culver's and breathed a sigh of relief.

The Dominos in my area are owned by a franchisee. I know which location he's at based on the day, because his name is extremely uncommon in the USA (He is from Pakistan). Whenever he pops up on the tracker the cook goes super -slow-, and I end up getting the BEST pizzas (that -Dominos- can make). He always seems to take care and make the best iteration of the product he can make. So, I believe in the tracker. And I know the names are indeed real. Because whoever Sven is..... stopping putting a single black olive on my hawaiians. I know you don't agree with pineapple on pizza but that single olive thing is starting to gaslight me into thinking it somehow belongs there.

Josh should definitely frost his tips.

There is a nandos by me in northern Virginia !!!

i think i’m with Nicole on Waba. flame broiler i think as better tasting food, but Waba has more choices and i think with that i just have to put it above flame, but it’s close imo.

Wait, the west coast doesn't have multiple neighborhood Chinese restos? I live in a podunk small town in the middle of Pennsylvania and we have so many good Chinese restaurants. Two Panda Expresses and they cannot come close to our local places.

nothing beats the chicken biscuit from hardees/carl jr's

So, sometimes I listen to your podcast while eating. It is NOT okay to have memories of Meaning of Life's Mr. Creosote. Makes me think that everything in front of me is that final wafer thin mint.

BTW, the Panera near me has a drive through, so yes, that is definitely fast food. They tend to be slow, but no slower than Popeye’s drive through.

The only experience with Popeyes chicken before I moved over seas was the one in Boise, I'd. The chicken was terrible. It was all breading and bones, little or no meat on the chicken.

Y’all need Bojangles out there.

I need the mythical kitchen to create the absurd burger that bubble bass orders from the krusty krab

The problem I have with Domino's is that the quality is not standardized across franchise locations. One spot will be consistently good while another across town will be perpetually hot trash. You honestly get better quality control and consistency from Papa John's which is saying something.

7:05 “Participatation” ☺️

The pizza tracker is fake. On my last order, we got updates for every stage only to show up, and the pizza had not come through as a ticket, and so it was not even started. The computer knew about it, but the pizza chef had not been notified.

Josh is an incredibly intelligent person.

Panda Express chow mein is so good, but so often it seems like you get all cabbage and little noodle

They probably don’t have Chick fil a listed due to political stuff, but they stand toe to toe with Popeyes as the best Chicken based ff joint. A spicy CFA Sando with CFA sauce is just as good as a Popeyes spicy chicken sandwich. CFA Mac and cheese clears Popeyes also and they have really good salads, plus the chicken tortilla soup slaps as well.

Chipotle used to great, but I went last year and it wasn't good. In-n-Out has never disappointed me.

China grill .. they make all their sweet and sour fresh with real tomatoes it is freaking amazing

Put some butter into some franks and you have the perfect wing sauce.

Josh just read my panda order on the podcast and now I'm scared I'm being watched

Interesting that you mention Popeye's and quality control. The best experience I've had at Popeyes has been "just OK". I've been there maybe eight times, and almost always the chicken has been dry and overcooked.

"Fast food sandwiches will never go past 9th seed" sounds like someone who has never had Penn Station

Weevle eggs and extra starch are why i was taught to rinse rice