Fast Food Workers Share Which Menu Items To Avoid (15 Posts)

Oh man, this list had me.

Reddit user u/Skylion72 recently asked fast-food employees:

“What’s an item people should absolutely stop ordering from your restaurant?”

And Reddit came out to DELIVER. The responses are horrifying and revealing and you guessed it: I’m never ordering these. Yuck. YUCK!!

1. Einstein Bros. Bagels

“I worked at Einstein Bros. Bagels, which is basically fast food. Don’t order anything with eggs — they aren’t real eggs and if business is slow they could have been sitting in a container for hours after they were microwaved.” —iburninglog

2. Burger King

“Don’t get decaf coffee at Burger King. Maybe this was just the one I worked at, but we didn’t actually brew any decaf. Whenever someone ordered it, my manager would just have me water down the regular coffee.” — halnation

3. Waffle House

“Waffle House cook here. The grits can sit for hours and managers will try to keep them looking fresh even though they cost next to nothing to buy.” — TCSongun

4. Panera

“The cupcakes/coffee cakes at Panera all come frozen. The best items are the real sandwiches and salads. They have real ingredients and are usually fresh.” —President_Pancake

5. Jack in the Box

“I used to work at Jack in the Box. I don’t know why anyone orders the bacon cheddar potato wedges. It’s fake cheese with fake bacon on fried potatoes. I’m trying to remember the ingredient list on the cheese, but I distinctly recall that the packaging did not say it contained dairy. It also smelled like feet.” 

6. Krispy Kreme

“Don’t order any of the Coffee Bean drinks at Krispy Kreme. They never ever change the ice chest.” — borednangsty

7. Panda Express

“I used to work at Panda Express. Don’t buy any shrimp entrees if you actually want a full meal. They purposely use a smaller serving spoon to make it appear like you’re getting a lot of food. I believe six shrimps per serving max was the policy.” — noodlez5120

8. Tropical Smoothie Cafe

“Tropical Smoothie Cafe. All of the smoothies, except the detox ones, have SO much sugar in them. You’re not being healthy by going there.” — serpentmurphin

9. Long John Silver

“I worked at Long John Silver’s in 2006. We microwaved the ‘baked cod on a bed of rice’ on a paper plate.” 

10. Sheetz

“Burgers from Sheetz are microwaved. The grill marks are fake. Bacon is microwaved too. Also, don’t drink the fucking peanut butter shakes. One particular peanut butter shake has nearly 2,000 calories in it.” — Charbarzz

11. AMC

“I worked at an AMC theater for two years. Do not buy the coffee unless it’s early morning when we first open. Otherwise you’re gonna drink coffee that’s been sitting out for a solid five hours, at least.” — cleversystem

12. Applebees

“Former Applebee’s employee here. It’s not quite fast food, but fast and casual dining. So much of the food is in frozen vacuum sealed packages that are thawed in vats of boiling water or microwaved. The things that need to look nice spend 1–2 minutes on each side on a grill for appearance, but they are NOT fresh (think steaks, burgers, and chicken breasts).” — Releigh17

13. Outback

“I used to work as a server at Outback. The bloomin’ onion costs around 70 cents to make and they sell it for like $8.” 

14. Starbucks

“I worked at Starbucks. Nobody who values their health should order a white mocha anything. That white mocha shit is absurdly unhealthy and disgusting to work with.” — majortom12

15. Chick-Fil-A

“I work at Chick-Fil-A. The only thing I would be iffy on is the chicken salad sandwich. We cool some of the chicken once its hold time is up, de-bread it, and use it in the chicken salad.” —toxlab




Kate Hackett

Kate is a freelance writer, actor, author and columnist living in Los Angeles.