The Most Hated Item At Popular Fast Food Chains, According To Customers

Some menu items have gone down in fast food history for their deliciousness. Take the innovative Taco Bell classic the Crunchwrap Supreme, which has captivated taste buds since the 2000s. Then there's the Big Mac, which has practically risen to icon status since its '60s debut. Both menu items are simple yet inventive in their own ways, which are big reasons why they enjoy popularity to this day. But not every menu item is so lucky.

You know what we're talking about: Every restaurant has a menu item that makes you do a double take and ask, "What genius decided to put this on the menu?" Whichever dish you're thinking about right now could very well be on this list of the most hated items at popular fast food chains.

Now, taste is subjective, and we all judge food by different parameters. For this list, we looked at customer reviews from Reddit, TikTok, and professional reviewers to see which fast food items are consistently hated on. Some are polarizing, others are universally despised, and at least one menu item was subject to a high-profile lab test of tuna. Most of these items have one thing in common: despite their troubles, they're still available for you to try for yourself.

The Tortilla Chip-Breaded Crispy Chicken Nuggets — say that five times fast — is Taco Bell's take on an American classic, but the flavor combos and tortilla breading is not everyone's idea of delicious. When one Reddit user posted a photo of the nuggets, the comments were unsurprisingly brutal. "Why would you use a Taco Bell container to clean your cat's litter box?" one user joked. And another simply said what most of us are probably thinking: "Your first problem is going to Taco Bell for chicken nuggets." We can appreciate ingenuity, but this menu item seems to be a perfect example of when a culinary experiment goes slightly sideways.

Taco Bell's reputation for good Mexican food (or at least for good tacos) makes its foray into non-Mexican food confusing for some fans. The chain is adept at dreaming up unique Mexican-inspired creations, like the Crunchwrap Supreme and its version of a classic chalupa. But Taco Bell's chicken nuggets are neither unique nor very Mexican, save for the tortilla dust coating the outside.

Taco Bell's CMO described the chain's Tortilla Chip-Breaded Crispy Chicken Nuggets as "unexpected and undeniably bold," which seems to be an understatement. In truth, "unexpected" and "bold" don't always translate to "well loved." The consensus? If you want chicken nuggets, go to McDonald's. 

There's no denying the polarizing power of the Filet-O-Fish. Either you really love it or you really hate it, or maybe you just love to hate it, or maybe the "Give me that fish" commercial from the 2000s still wakes you up at night. It's safe to say that the Filet-O-Fish is definitely on some diners' "I'm never eating this again" list. It's not just the price, which some say is far too high for a product the size of a Filet-O-Fish sandwich. No, it's the texture of the Filet-O-Fish that is, quite literally, getting stuck in customers' craw.

Unlike other McDonald's burgers, the Filet-O-Fish is light, minced, and breaded — three qualities that appeal to some but come off as flaky and unsatisfying to others. You want to leave McDonald's with a full belly, not a half-full belly and an empty wallet. And one Redditor called out the meal's inconsistency: "Of all the items on the menu, the FoF has the highest 'variance' in quality, so it's a bit of [a] crap shoot."

We also can't ignore the times people bit into their Filet-O-Fish only to allegedly find what looked to be a parasite, something that fully puts us in the "hate it" category. Although experts say those "parasites" are really just harmless nematodes.

Coleslaw is as controversial as its main ingredient — mayonnaise — which many consider to be a goopy and unseemly addition to many fast food dishes. But it also happens to be a staple in some of America's classic '50s-era foods, from Waldorf salad to egg salad and, yes, to coleslaw. It's no wonder Colonel Sanders incorporated mayonnaise-rich coleslaw into his menu. When done right, it's a refreshing addition to a menu packed with fried food, especially that legendary bucket of fried chicken. The problem is, some say that KFC's coleslaw is no longer "done right" at all.

Modern diners (including those at Mashed) say the coleslaw is an underwhelming lump of mayo and shredded cabbage. This sentiment seems to go all the way back to the '70s, when Colonel Sanders publicly complained to the New York Times about how KFC altered his coleslaw recipe. The Colonel revealed that the cabbage should be chopped instead of shredded, and the mayo should actually be Miracle Whip. He also didn't like the addition of carrots. We can't help but wonder how Colonel Sanders would respond to KFC's version of his coleslaw recipe today.

Tuna sandwiches are a childhood staple for a reason: they're a low-effort, protein-rich alternative to whatever hot lunch your school was serving (mystery meat was not a joke). So when Subway put tuna sandwiches on the menu, the tuna lovers of the world cheered. Surely, a famous sandwich chain like Subway couldn't mess up something as classic and simple as tuna and mayo on a bun, right?

Enter a New York Times reporter, who commissioned a specialized fish-testing lab to analyze Subway's tuna sandwiches in 2021. The results were every tuna lover's nightmare: there was allegedly no presence of tuna in the tuna sandwiches. This doesn't mean it wasn't technically tuna, but that it could have been so heavily processed that the test couldn't identify tuna. Mystery meat, indeed. Subway fiercely defended its product, even going so far as to deny the claims on its website. It's possible that any issues with the tuna occurred before Subway even procured the fish, but for some customers, the damage was done.

The tuna controversy and Subway's response hasn't stopped people from questioning whether the chain's tuna sandwiches are up to snuff. Do you trust a New York Times-commissioned lab test, or Subway? The tuna sandwiches may have some fans, but others describe it as "mushy" and "weird," with one Reddit user jokingly encouraging tuna-lovers to "enjoy the tuna without telling people, like maybe hide when you eat them."

Mozzarella, pepperoni, olives, peppers, marinara — sounds like the makings of a pretty good pizza, no? But at Papa Johns, these ingredients are all it takes to make a Papa Bowl, the chain's take on a crustless pizza. If the idea of pizza without dough makes a chill go down your spine, just know you're not alone: the Papa Bowls have garnered bad reviews since they debuted in 2022.

At the time, a Washington Post review described Papa Bowls as a "bad execution of a bad idea," and customers seem to agree. "We sell maybe five a month," one employee said on Reddit. "Why is this item still on the menu? It's actually disgusting." Although the menu item appeals to people on a keto diet, this doesn't mean Papa Bowls are actually tasty, filling, or worth the price. "It's missing something," food reviewer Steph Pappas said on YouTube. And that "something" seems to be bread.

It isn't just the lack of pizza crust that people find distasteful (though this is certainly one of the most obvious reasons). As a dinner item, Papa Bowls simply aren't that filling without some kind of carb pulling those ingredients together. "It would be so much better with pasta," one Redditor said. Carb-conscious people of the world may want to give the Papa Bowl a try, but if you're looking for actual pizza with actual flavors from Papa Johns, order, you know — a pizza.

Legend has it that the beef in Wendy's chili is not as fresh as it seems. For years, a rumor has swirled through fast food circles that Wendy's puts unsold burger patties into its chili. This certainly conjures a disturbing image; we can't help but picture a Wendy's employee crumbling old, cold, and dried-out burgers into a huge chili pot. This rumor also sparks some uncomfortable questions. Just how old are these unsold patties, anyway? How have they been stored? Should we be worried about mold in our chili?! This is not exactly the most appealing image.

Surprisingly, Wendy's founder Dave Thomas confirmed the rumor in his 1992 book, "Dave's Way," though he asserted that the beef patties are not cold, old, dried out, and moldy, but merely recently unsold beef patties. "People have often asked me why we had chili on the menu from the start," he wrote. "It's real easy: what do you do with the leftover hamburger?"

What seems like a sustainable business decision to some reads as cheap to others, and makes some customers question the chili's freshness. It doesn't help that the chili was already a polarizing menu item, with some describing it as watery and flavorless on Reddit. "This is prison food," one Redditor wrote.

Customers are typically drawn in by the coffee chain's imaginative and elaborate drink menu, where caffeine is far from the dominating ingredient. Remember the Oleato, the now-discontinued olive oil-infused coffee that took the Internet by storm? Starbucks seems to love experimenting with untraditional flavorings, and in the case of the Lavender Latte, the lavender flavor proved itself to be particularly untraditional — and polarizing.

The floral and soapy taste of this Starbucks drink does not appeal to the average coffee drinker. This flavoring is due to a chemical called linalool, which is often found in shampoos and soaps. The jury's out on whether incorporating a nice-smelling chemical compound into food will always translate into delicious flavoring. We doubt many people smell their shampoo and say, "I wonder what this tastes like?"

Redditors are in agreement: the Lavender Latte tastes like someone squirted hand soap, and not lavender syrup or powder, into their morning brew. "I thought it was going to be a hint of lavender. Not the whole cup," one customer wrote. Another Reddit user agreed, saying "Everybody hates the Lavender Latte," adding that it needs to come with a "trigger warning." The Iced Lavender Latte is still on the menu, but with reviews like this, it could eventually go the way of the Oleato.

Is it even possible to ruin a grilled cheese? Yes it is, according to the internet. What many Panera grilled cheese reviews have in common — including one from this writer's friend, who was quite passionate about the matter — is the complaint that the grilled cheese isn't properly grilled to a crisp. When you bite into a freshly grilled sandwich, you want to hear that crunch, and feel the contrast of the crispy bread with soft melted cheese. Biting into a Panera Grilled Cheese sandwich seems to be a much different experience, resulting in nonexistent cheese pulls and the distinct yeasty flavor of uncooked bread.

One Redditor called it "the worst grilled cheese on the planet," with others saying it isn't worth its sky-high price of nearly $10. "Their grilled cheese is the biggest joke," another Reddit-user said. No one seems to find this joke very funny, especially the people who have shelled out between $7 and $10 for the not-so-grilled Panera Grilled Cheese.

Made from habanero peppers, the Atomic sauce is the hottest flavoring Wingstop has on the menu. You know how some hot sauces make your tongue feel like you licked the surface of the sun? That's because of the chemical capsaicin. When used in excess, capsaicin doesn't enhance flavoring so much as completely overpower it. But it also leaves something to be desired when a recipe skimps out on capsaicin, according to chemists. This means that Wingstop's Atomic Sauce has to maintain a delicate chemical balance — and the chain isn't exactly known for its delicate flavoring.

The biggest complaint customers seem to have about the Atomic Sauce is its inconsistency. Sure, everyone's definition of "hot" is different, but with a name like "atomic," you want it to at least bring tears to your eyes. "What a terrible flavor," one Redditor wrote. "Nothing but overwhelming black pepper." Another disappointed customer described Atomic Sauce as "mild and garbage."

Some say the fast food restaurant's spiciest offering is a let-down, while others say it's too hot to be fully enjoyed. Neither opinion makes us want to dive into a plate of Atomic wings ... at least not without a full glass of milk and a few backup lemon pepper wings.

Many people see Chick-fil-A as a go-to chicken restaurant, but others aren't convinced, especially in light of the restaurant's 2024 decision to start serving chicken that had been given antibiotics, despite serving antibiotic-free chicken in the past. Although this change could potentially keep some chickens safe from disease, it sheds a light on Chick-fil-A's chicken-heavy menu. This newfound skepticism has made customers even more difficult to please, and the Grilled Chicken Club seems to catch the most flack.

As one of Chick-fil-A's "healthier" menu items, the Grilled Chicken Club already faces an uphill battle. Unlike the chain's popular fried chicken, its grilled chicken isn't bathed in added fats. It relies on its own low fat content for a bulk of the flavor and moisture, two qualities we associate with high-quality chicken. But maintaining a delicate balance of flavor and moisture in low-fat chicken is easier said than done, especially in a fast-paced chain restaurant environment. Chick-fil-A's Grilled Chicken Club doesn't seem to strike this balance on a consistent basis.

Maybe pitting grilled chicken and fried chicken against each other is an unfair fight for grilled chicken. One Redditor described the grilled chicken club as "rubbery" and "disgusting," and another said it was "like steamed chicken... gross." We'd expect a less fatty grilled chicken to potentially be less succulent, but rubbery? That's a step too far.

Arby's may claim to "have the meats," but that doesn't mean it aces the meats. This seems to be particularly true with its gyros. One Reddit user said, "They're all garbage low grade sandwiches that don't even pass for gyros."

There are people who would consider Arby's decision to swap lamb for roast beef akin to sacrilege. Arby's version of the classic gyro is definitely a creative risk, considering how even the most thinly-sliced roast beef is not the texture of a traditional gyro, which typically uses finely ground beef or lamb. A 2023 lawsuit alleged that Arby's skimps out on roast beef compared to its advertising, but in the case of the Arby's Roast Beef Gyro some might consider that to be a blessing.

You know it's bad when someone takes you to court over a burger. A group of vegans and vegetarians sued Burger King in 2020, claiming the fast food chain was deceptive over how it prepared the Impossible Whopper. The case was thrown out of court, but that doesn't change the fact that the Impossible Whopper, which is supposedly meatless, is allegedly cooked on the same grills as beef patties, making them far from an ideal vegan-friendly menu item.

The Impossible Whopper didn't make this list simply because it's a vegan option; that wouldn't be fair to the Impossible brand, which has made a name for itself by providing impressively meat-like meatless burgers. But customers with more discerning taste buds are not so easily convinced. Swapping out authentic beef for soybeans and sunflowers means risking mealy textures and less powerful flavoring, as opposed to the succulent punch of a traditional beef burger.

And at Burger King, it's all too easy to compare the taste and texture of the Impossible Whopper to the chain's real beef options. Some say the Impossible Whopper is indistinguishable from regular beef, and others describe it as "oatmeal"-like. "I wasn't inclined to hate it. But I hate it. I tried it three times, and could never finish one," one Redditor said. "I do not get my burgers with mayo or ketchup, so the flavor of the patty shines through. And it's not a pleasant shine. Perhaps it's better with that crap on it."