Friday, October 10, 2008

Fast Food Smackdown: Burger King vs. Chic-Fil-A

Living in Atlanta, we are huge supporters of the hometown company and frequent Chic-Fil-A a least once per week.   Today I decided to take the boys to Burger King instead because I had a coupon and it was right next door to the place where I got their hair cut.  Big mistake (Burger King, not haircuts).  

Here's what happened the last time I went to Burger King:
Idiot at Counter:  What can I get you?
Me:  A whopper junior value meal and two kids meals with chicken nuggets.
Idiot:  Do you want fries with the kids meals?
Me:  No - apple slices, please (apple slices are advertised on sign above idiot's head as an alternative to fries)
Idiot:  No apple slices.  
Me:  Well, what other sides are there besides fries?
Idiot:  Only fries.
Me:  I guess I will have the fries then.  Thanks for asking me what I wanted.

We were not off to a much better start today.  Here's what happened:
Idiot at Counter (not the same idiot, a different one):  What can I get you?
Me: A whopper junior value meal and two kids meals with chicken nuggets and chocolate milks.  And I have this coupon for a free kids meal (hand coupon to idiot).
Idiot:  Free kids meal must have soda, not chocolate milk.
Me:  Why?
Idiot:  Because it shows soda on the picture in the coupon.
Me:  Does it normally cost extra to have milk instead of soda in the kids meal?
Idiot:  No.  But the coupon says soda.
Me:  My kids aren't allowed to have soda.
Idiot.  Ok.  (puts two milks on tray)

Boy.  Glad we cleared that up.

Anyway, this was my second meal at Burger King in probably five years and I remembered why I am so loyal to Chic-Fil-A.  A quick comparison:

Burger King:  Rude idiots at counter who ask me stupid questions and screw up my order every time.
Chic-Fil-A:  Polite, intelligent people at counter who never ask me stupid questions and always get my order right.

Burger King:  Idiot at Counter forgets to give me my drink cup.
Chic-Fil-A:  Store manager carries my food to my table since I clearly have my hands full with three small children.  Bus boy picks up my trash when I am done and stops by several times to see if we need drink refills.

Burger King:  Nasty food that tastes like plastic with chargrilled drops on it.
Chic-Fil-A:  Yummy food that tastes fresh.

Burger King:  Filthy playground that hasn't been cleaned since the place opened and smells like someone vomited in one of the slides.
Chic-Fil-A:  Clean playground with hand sanitizer conveniently located at the exit.

Burger King:  Stupid kids meal toys that don't have a point.  Today it was a little i-dog (or i-penguin or i-whatever) that you can dress up in a Halloween costume made of stickers.  Uh.  Ok.
Chic-Fil-A:  Educational books and games in the kids meals that my kids actually play with.

Burger King:  Restaurant so dirty I would sooner have my kids pee in the parking lot than go into the bathroom at the restaurant.
Chic-Fil-A:  Restroom so clean it is one of the few public restrooms I will actually take my children into.

Verdict:  Chic-Fil-A wins hands down.  I threw away the rest of my Burger King coupons before we even left the restaurant.  It is not worth saving $2.99 to suffer through the Burger King experience.

5 comments:

Baby Bunching said...

ha ha! I hate Burger King. We have one right near our house. Of course, we have neglected to frequent McDonald's as well after I read Omnivore's Dilemma. And Chic-Fil-A....the last time....all of us had tummy problems for 48 hours. I miss fast food.

Elizabeth Gallo said...

I guess fast food is the ultimate catch-22 for moms, huh? You want the kids to eat something decent, but you want to do it quickly and at a reasonable price. I haven't introduced my babies to this yet. What other fast food do you find the kids like?

Justice Fergie said...

lol! so funny. we got the "halloween i-dog" this weekend. what a pathetic toy.

you forgot one more chik-fil-a bonus: POLYNESIAN SAUCE!! yum.

Kitty said...

ChicFilA has IceDream - yum! and delicious brownies!

Cara Fox said...

Waaaay behind on posting and replying to comments - sorry, Elizabeth. I recommend Chick-Fil-A as our fave. The food is just higher quality and not as gross as other places. Plus the restaurants are generally cleaner and the workers are more polite. They also have "younger baby" friendly food like chicken noodle soup and fruit cups too.