What You Should Absolutely Never Order From Wendy's

When it comes to fast food french fries, you might not consider Wendy's to be the cream of the crop. They are competing with McDonald's, after all, who happen to have the very best fries on the face of the earth. But regardless of whether or not Wendy's take top honors, french fries are still an essential part of any fast food meal, and you'd be remiss not to order them to go alongside your Baconator. Or would you?

You know that hack that's been floating around the internet for years — the one that suggests that for the freshest fries you ask for "no salt"? Well, according to one Redditor, "'unsalted fries' were just old fries thrown back in the fryer for 30 seconds to 'get the salt off.'" Another Redditor suggests that skipping the whole pretense of no salt and just flat out asking for fresh fries is also pointless, saying, "My fiancee used to work at Wendy's and would tell me about how it was super common practice when people asked for fresh fires to just take the fries already in the warmer and put them in the fryer again just long enough to heat them back up."

Apparently the saying amongst Wendy's employees about the fries is true: "They aren't old until they're sold."

We've long been cautioned against fast food salads that masquerade as the healthiest choice on the menu but actually pack in more calories, fat, and sugar than the biggest, cheesiest burger. But we're not here to talk about what's healthy — we're here to talk about what's gross, and according to these Redditors, Wendy's salads might be just that. 

This insider warned diners from ordering them too early in the day, saying, "Don't order salads from Wendy's until at least 12:30. The first salads are yesterday's salads that have been flipped upside down and a layer of lettuce taken off the bottom." Presumably, that layer would be the mushy, brown lettuce.

Another former employee explained that the chain's seasonal salads with berries can be a roll of the dice, saying, "... Strawberries for some reason are the easiest to get moldy even while sitting in the walk in fridge. The kicker is employees will ask managers to throw them out but the manager will just tell you to pick the ones without mold in them and wash it a bit. When I worked there I literally had to sneak those moldy batches into the trash can."

Say it isn't so... how in the world could bacon possibly be on any "what not to order list"? Let's be honest, Wendy's bacon isn't exactly the thickest, meatiest bacon we've ever seen, but even the thinnest, cheapest bacon deserves our love and affection, doesn't it? What if that thin, cheap, already-cooked bacon sat around for a week, though? Or what if, possibly even worse, it was burnt to a crisp? That could be the fate of the bacon on your sandwiches and fries at Wendy's, says these Redditors who dished on what never to order at the chain.

"Avoid getting anything with bacon at Wendy's," one Redditor said. "Usually the bacon is a couple days old, if not a week, and it's just stored in open trays in a fridge. It's pretty nasty sometimes... "

Another specified that it's the Baconator fries you should avoid, because "they use the bacon that got too burnt to use on burgers." And don't forget, Baconator fries also come topped with cheese sauce, which might be watered down, lumpy, or both. Yum.

Whether or not you're on board with the practice of using burger rejects in chili, one thing's for sure: If you're lactose intolerant, or have a milk allergy, Wendy's chili is not the dish for you.

According to a Wendy's employee, "... a new procedure was just implemented to put a slice of cheese on the patty immediately after it comes off the grill. We are told to scrape as much cheese off as possible and to still use it as chili meat. If you're lactose intolerant or have a dairy allergy please do not order the chili now."

It turns out this isn't just one location doing some sketchy cheese-scraping. Sure enough, if you check the allergens for Wendy's chili, you'll find milk listed. The company explained the change in their cooking procedure, saying, "Wendy's hamburgers have always served as the meat base for chili. For quite some time, Wendy's has included a 'may contain' milk statement on its allergen information related to chili because hamburgers are cooked on the same grill as, and may come in contact with, ingredients containing milk such as cheese. The recent changes to cooking procedures for hamburgers introduces meat with some cheese directly into the chili."

We get it — you're trying to be environmentally-conscious by not requesting those individual plastic packets that are no doubt clogging up landfills. But unless you've actually lifted the lid of the ketchup dispenser in the dining room to verify its cleanliness, you might want to think twice about pumping from it. 

That's according to this former employee, who said, "Worked at Wendy's when in high school... I was filling up the catsup pumps. The catsup comes in gallon or so plastic bags and you just take the lid off the pump, and squeeze this whole gallon of catsup in there. The store manager [...] walks by and goes. 'Here's a tip whenever you eat out, never get catsup from this pump. They don't get cleaned.' [...] So yeah, the inside of the catsup pump may look like a reverse catsup volcano. Old, petrified catsup on the outside borders of the bin (and probably inside the pump nozzle), with slightly less gross, hard layers a little further in, and eventually mushy and red enough to make it through the pump, into your little port-o-catsup container."

We'd all very much like to believe that the fast food workers handling our orders are following strict, company-enforced guidelines when it comes to hygiene. In fact, we need to believe that to continue patronizing these places. But one employee blew the lid off Wendy's corporate policy when it came to manning the grill, and not only might this information make you hesitant to order burgers and grilled chicken sandwiches, but, oddly, cookies, too. 

The worker explained in a Reddit AMA, "Well in company training the person [...] on grill (someone on grill makes burgers, all chicken, chili, bacon, cookies etc.) are not allowed to wear gloves when handling meat of any kind. Yes NOT allowed! While all employees are required to wash their hands (duh) I personally would prefer if they wore gloves. However it is company policy."

While it's obviously nice to hear that hand-washing is required, can we be certain that employees are scrubbing up at all, let alone doing so properly? Gloves really would go a long way in making us all feel better about the food we're eating. 

One of the perks of the Wendy's menu is the baked potato — no other fast food chain offers this particular menu item. Sure, it's easy enough to make one at home, it just takes an inordinate amount of time — unless you use the microwave, which leads to that weird, chewy skin nobody likes. That's precisely the appeal of the Wendy's baked potato — you don't have to do it yourself. Plus, the chain promises that they "cook them from a raw state, in an oven, wrapped in foil, baked for an hour, just like you would at home."

But one former employee warns that they might not always be freshly oven-baked, saying, "If you come during/at the end of a lunch or dinner rush and you order a baked potato, there's a decent chance you're getting a microwaved potato." 

If the turnover isn't high, the freshness could still be questionable, as this former Wendy's manager explained: "If you order a baked potato, and see that it is a translucent brown color, don't eat it. Hell, after a certain time frame, don't order them at all. They take over an hour to bake, and then they are supposed to sit in a heat drawer for only one more hour. I used to find potatoes that were absolutely squishy from sitting in the bin all day."

One more sketchy piece of intel: Another former employee says the potatoes in their store were "stored on the ground and mopped around every day."