12 Fast Food Items Customers Can't Stop Complaining About In 2026

When someone drops by their favorite fast food restaurant, they are usually looking for three things out of the experience: decent food that's cheap and made quickly. That's the base level that most fast food chains operate at, but unfortunately, sometimes it's difficult for restaurants to clear even those low bars.

Luckily, there's a remedy: complaining a lot. Sure, it might not be quite as satisfying as getting food you actually enjoy. But these days, the only thing faster than getting an order of fries at a Burger King drive-thru is how quickly someone jumps online to post about how disappointed they were with those fries.

Burger King is far from the only popular fast food chain to come under fire in 2026. In fact, there are a number of fast food menu items from across the spectrum of restaurant chains that seem to be the subject of constant complaints from both regular customers and the media alike. So grab your paper crown and hold on, because it's time to bellyache about some bellyaches.

In March 2026, McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski went viral for all the wrong reasons when he posted a video online of himself taking a wee little bite out of the chain's new Big Arch Burger. Rival fast food chains had a field day, with numerous chains piling on Kempczinski for seeming to want no part of his own burger. But it wasn't just McDonald's archenemies taking potshots at the Big Arch Burger. In the wake of the viral video, many regular customers went out to see what all the fuss was about. Big win for McDonald's, right? Not so much, as many of those who tried it came away making the same ick face as Kempczinski.

"Right off the bat, as soon as you first bite into it you realize how salty it is," one customer wrote on Reddit. "Way too salty and this is a very big burger, so you get a lot of salt taste when eating it." And that wasn't a rogue opinion, as several other McDonald's fans weighed in to say that they too felt the Big Arch Burger had way too much sodium.

Customers weren't just salty about salt, though. For some people, the high price tag was a bridge too far. "I don't care if it's delicious, I'm not paying $12 for a McDonald's burger," one wrote on Reddit. "This is an insane choice by McDonald's. They're not a high end burger joint and never have been."

Fast food fans are likely familiar with the phrase "Better ingredients. Better pizza." After all, it's been Papa John's slogan since way back in 1984. But eagle-eyed customers may note an important omission: Nowhere in that slogan do they say anything about "better wings."

There's a reason for that, and your first two guesses don't count. Numerous customers have taken to the internet to complain about both the taste and the size of wings from Papa John's, which one customer described as being more like pigeon wings than chicken wings. "I ordered wings the other day from Papa John's. Never again," wrote one Redditor, while another Reddit user chimed in to say, "Worst wing to dollar ratio in fast food."

Papa John's offers up both traditional wings as well as boneless wings. According to some customers, while the traditional wings are pretty bad, the boneless wings are actually also pretty bad. "The boneless wings are basically chicken nuggets. They aren't great," wrote one Redditor. "I wouldn't get the traditional wings, either. Quality has gone down the last few years. I've seen some with feathers still attached." No word on whether those were chicken feathers or pigeon feathers.

According to Taco Bell, the Crunchwrap Supreme is one of the fast food chain's signature dishes. Consisting of a giant tortilla that's folded into a hexagon and filled with stuff before being grilled until crunchy, the Crunchwrap also comes in various breakfast configurations as well. According to the company's website, the secret to the Crunchwrap's success is all the piles of filling inside the crunchy exterior.

Sounds good! Assuming, of course, you actually get all of those various fillings. Otherwise what you're left with is a tortilla sandwich. And that's exactly what numerous customers have been complaining about online. One reviewer on Trustpilot said the brand needs to "quit being so skimpy on the meat," while another complained that there was barely a teaspoon of meat. Clearly Taco Bell's Crunchwrap Supreme doesn't look like the promotional pictures in store.

Another disappointed Reddit user summed it up by saying, "crunchwrap so unbelievably mid. just a whole lotta tortilla in ur mouth." Probably not the new advertising slogan Taco Bell was looking for.

One fast food chain that should know the ins and outs of making delicious chicken better than anyone is KFC, which has been in the fried chicken business for almost 100 years. Yet there's one item on their menu that customers have been consistently complaining about in 2026: the chicken tenders.

KFC's chicken tenders can be ordered in quantities of up to 16 at a time. And to hear customers tell it, you might need that many, because one of the most common complaints is that the individual tenders are too small. One customer wrote on Trustpilot, "The tenders were the size of little chicken nuggets. Also dried up. A totally gross and disheartening experience."

You may think twice about ordering the 16 piece chicken tenders, though, once you hear how much it costs, which varies depending on location. One shocked Redditor posted a photo of their KFC app showing a price tag of $47 — and that's just for the tenders themselves; another complained that in their area, getting the 16 piece tenders as part of a meal was actually $56. Given that other customers also complained about the quality of the tenders, budget conscious diners may want to consider trying their luck elsewhere — or taking out a loan.

If you spend your time hunched over a keyboard writing enraged screeds on social media about the disappointing burger you just had, we have wonderful news for you: Keep it up, it's working. You're not just shouting endlessly into the void. Someone is listening — and that someone is the Burger King. Yes, at the end of February 2026, Burger King announced that it has heard customer complaints about the Whopper, and in response is crafting a new premium Whopper experience that includes the signature burger being served in a cardboard box. Looks like the rumors of democracy's demise have been greatly exaggerated!

Still, that hasn't stopped customers from continuing to complain about the Whopper, even while acknowledging the improvement. One Redditor wrote, "Looks like it's made with a bit more TLC than the sloppy ass mess they've been serving for the past couple decades." On the other hand, some customers reported being unable to see any difference at all, with one Reddit user writing, "My wife brought me a Whopper yesterday, and it was the same as always."

Others were even less impressed with the performance of the new Whopper. "I felt some nostalgia and I was kind of excited," one unlucky Redditor wrote. "It was not what I expected and I ended up s****** my brains out over the next 3 days. Such a disappointment!" That definitely does sound disappointing.

Pizza and wings go together perfectly. Or, if you listen to criticism from unhappy customers, imperfectly in the case of Domino's. No, it's actually not the pizza at fault here — though the chain's pizza has come in for its fair share of criticism over the years, even from Dominio's employees themselves – but the wings.

So what's the problem? Well, just about everything, as customers have complained that they are too small, lack sauce, are tasteless, soggy, and cost too much. Sometimes all at once. "I also got wings and they were simply disgusting," wrote one customer on Trustpilot. "Quick frozen and cooked. Then sauce (hot sauce) was sprinkled on. Horrible and not worth 11-dollars for 8 wings. They also had that taste that frozen foods get."

Even though these complaints are from 2026, they're nothing new, as the chain apparently has earned a reputation among customers for sub-par wings. "You're delusional if you think dominos is a good place to get wings," wrote one Redditor.

White Castle holds a special place in American culture, a place cemented by the 2004 cult stoner hit movie "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle." The popular burger chain also holds a unique place in the fast food market, thanks in no small part to their signature sliders, which are steamed rather than grilled.

Not everyone loves steamed burgers, though. In fact, some people can't stand White Castle. Why? Because that steaming process often leads to soggy buns and soggy meat. It's a complaint that people have been voicing for years, along with the fact that the process can turn the meat an unappetizing shade of gray to boot. Over 100 years after White Castle first opened, those complaints continue in 2026, for more than a full century of soggy sadness.

At this point, though, at least people know what they're going to get. As one customer posted on Instagram, "The sliders were what I expected. Not sure the meat was real meat, it was very thin and the bread was soggy." Not beating the allegations!

Chicken McNuggets have been a stalwart staple of the McDonald's menu since they first debuted more than 40 years ago in 1983. What many customers may not know, though, is that the recipe has changed several times, most notably in 2003 (when the McNuggets became all white meat) and again 2016 (when they stopped using artificial preservatives). So today's diners are not getting the original style, which has led some customers to wonder what you're really getting when you order McNuggets.

People have definitely noticed the changes, with complaints about the breading, texture, size, and price continuing in 2026. Then there's the taste. "They are flat and imo had no taste at all," wrote one Redditor. "They literally tasted cheap if that makes sense. Just some cheap crap food you'd find at the dollar store, that's how those nuggets tasted like."

Still, others suggested that if you take off the rose-colored nostalgia glasses, low quality has been the expectation for a long time. One customer wrote on Reddit, "This is literally the first time in my life I have heard anyone express an expectation that McNuggets are supposed to have any flavor other than self-loathing."

You might be surprised to learn that the top selling item on the Jack-in-the-Box menu isn't the chain's signature Jumbo Jack burger, but rather tacos. Then again, it might not surprise you at all given that at the beginning of 2026, Jack-in-the-Box was named the lowest rated burger chain nationwide based on customer reviews.

Many of those complaints revolve around the Jumbo Jack burger itself. Many customers feel the burger simply costs too much for what you receive, labeling it either too expensive, too small, or both. "2 Jumbo Jack combo meals regular sized and with a coupon came out to 17 dollars," one disgruntled customer posted on Reddit, "and they were just these tiny ass sad looking burgers."

Sadness seems to be a recurring theme among patrons who have tried the Jumbo Jack in 2026, with another Redditor writing, "I got a Jumbo Jack a few months back and it was the saddest burger I ever got ... just depressing. Meat was dry, burger was tiny." That is sad.

McDonald's has been an industry leader in the mass production of hamburgers since the 1940s. If there's one thing the company knows how to do, it's make a hamburger that customers want. It's these craveable burgers that have propelled McDonald's to become one of the best known franchises in the world, with over 41,000 locations around the globe. Chicken strips, on the other hand? Not so much.

In 2025, McDonald's brought back its McCrispy Strips, but it's hard to claim the decision was due to popular demand. To read customer complaints online, the main demand they seem to have is that McDonald's figure out how to make better chicken strips. Customers have called out the strips for being oily, stringy, rubbery, tough, soggy, and too expensive. One customer even compared the texture to eating Play-Doh, though they left open the question of how they knew that.

"The breading is disgusting and moist, furthest thing from crispy, the seasoning tastes like smell armpit, and they use cheap chicken from older chickens that's tough and hard to bite thru," wrote another customer on Reddit. "Never again will I be fooled into buying these abominations."

Introduced chain-wide back in 2008, Subway's $5 Footlong is one of the most memorable and successful fast food promos in recent memory. A foot of bread and meat for just one crisp Abe Lincoln? Sounds like a deal too good to be true. Unfortunately for people living in 2026, however, the days of the $5 Footlong being a regular part of the Subway menu are long gone. Though there were a lot of reasons why Subway got rid of the $5 Footlong, it all basically boils down to the economy. And according to customers, buying a footlong sub at Subway — or even a 6-inch sub — is no longer an economical decision.

Though prices vary depending on location, customers on social media are in agreement that a Footlong just costs too much money these days. Disgruntled customers have reported paying $15, $16, $18, and even $20 or more (up in Canada) for a Subway Footlong. And to say customers are unhappy with the costs is understating things.

"Some of the best memories in my childhood were stopping at a Subway on a road trip, and now they've become an absolute joke," one former patron wrote on Reddit. Another ex-Subway disciple blamed the home office rather than the individual franchisees for the price hike, writing on Reddit, "Coupons and app deals are the only way I'd go back, and if that's not profitable for corporate, let the chain die off already."

There are a lot of pizza chains across America, from Domino's and Papa John's to Little Caesars and Pizza Hut. So you might be wondering: which of the big pizza chains gets the worst reviews? It's actually none of the above. No, according to customer reviews you should probably avoid Pizza Ranch, which operates over 200 locations across 15 states in the midwest. In addition to the usual selection of pies you can get from most any pizza joint, Pizza Ranch offers diners the option of loading up at its signature Pizza Buffet — and it's the buffet that has customers second guessing their life choices.

"The pizza I had was very bland and the crust is weird. Nothing had much flavor to it," wrote one customer on Google. In addition to flavor and weirdness, customers in 2026 are also lodging complaints about the buffet's cleanliness, with one poor soul revealing that their party got diarrhea after sampling the buffet.

Other customers also noted what seemed like old food at the buffet. "The pizza and desserts were cold and seemed like they had been sitting out for a while," one wrote on Google. "The salad bar also didn't feel fresh."