Fancy Fast Food Fails
We like fast food for what it is: simple, convenient, and tasty. When Burger King takes its name too seriously, we end up with a royal mess. Fast food restaurants ruin their purpose when they try to upscale their menu items. From edible nail polish to lobster pasta, here are fast food dishes that are trying way too hard to be gourmet:
1. Wendy's Caviar & Lobster
Wendy's in Japan once promoted fast food's most luxurious burger by topping it with lobster and caviar. Do they think that would would attract Japan's wealthiest citizens? Wendy's should stick to dipping fries in Frosty's and grilling average bacon burgers.
2. Popeye's Gold-Dusted Chicken
Popeye's has gone way too far trying to deep-fry gold. Their gold-dusted chicken is exactly that; chicken meat coated in 24k gold flakes. The swanky chicken was added to the menu to celebrate opening their 3,000th store. We could've thought of 3,000 other things to dust chicken breasts with instead.
3. Pizza Hut's Fish Roe Salmon Cream Cheese Pizza
Yum, who wants raw seafood from Pizza Hut? Their fish roe salmon cream cheese pizza took fancy food to a disgusting level. The oceanic stuff-crust pizza was introduced in Hong Kong and sounds like it flopped like a fish.
4. McDonald's Pumpkin Spice French Fries
Every October, people try to pumpkin spice absolutely everything. McDonald's pumpkin spice fries was the perfect example of a terrible combination. Leave French fries alone! We've had enough of that autumn flavor.
5. KFC Edible Nail Polish
Did KFC really thinking they could break into the cosmetic industry? We highly doubt glamorous gals rushed to their closest store to get their hands on chicken-flavored nail polish. KFC took their "finger-lickin good" slogan way too far and should stick to buckets of wings.
6. Panera's Lobster Mac N Cheese
What's up with fast food restaurants and lobster? If we want to spend money on a high-end meal we'll head to a fine-dining restaurant. You don't need to add lobster to convince us to devour a cheesy mac n cheese, just do it right and simple.
7. Shake Shack's White Truffle Menu
You wouldn't expect a place called Shake Shack to serve premium mushrooms on their menu, so why did they bother? You're probably headed there to wash down a burger with a thick chocolate milkshake. White truffles are for white table-clothed restaurants, not a fast food joint known for ice cream.
8. KFC Chicken & Donuts Sandwich
Donuts and chicken can be beautiful things on their own, we don't need to put them together. A donut sounds like a nice treat after we eat our chicken sandwich. KFC once again tried to upscale their chicken, making it worse instead of better.
9. Starbuck's Olive Oil Coffee
Leave it up to Starbucks to follow every single trend. The health-conscious celebrities made olive oil coffee a popular health fad and Starbucks swooped right in. Cheers to another over-priced gourmet coffee we don't need on their menu.
10. Tim Horton's Hot Smoothies
We understand it's refreshing sometimes to steer away from tradition, but let's not try to change smoothies. A hot smoothie makes no sense, they should be made with frozen fruit, not cooked bananas. How can Timmie's get away with calling a sugary fruit-flavored hot drink a smoothie in the first place?
11. McDonald's McPops
McDonald's likes to throw the fancy "Mc" in front of everything. McPops look like they're trying to be gourmet mini donuts challenging a French Dunkin' Donuts. People don't go to McDonald's for pastries pretending to be premium.
12. Pizza Hut's Crown Crust Burger Pizza
Pizza Hut put the word "crown" in front of this pizza's name so of course it's fit for royalty. With a crust stuffed with mini burgers, it's more catered towards the world's hungriest king. If you can't decide wether to have pizza or a hamburger for dinner, they've solved your problem.
13. Arby's Meat Mountain
Arby's meat mountain sandwich made the "try-hard list" because it's trying way too hard and charging way too much. With at least 4 animals between two buns, it's an outrageous menu item that nobody should eat, even if they can afford it.
14. Chick-Fil-A's Spicy Honey Pepper Pimento Chicken Sandwich
Chick-Fil-A thought they could trick us into thinking this sandwich was as gourmet as its name is long. It's visually not appealing and it's honey pimento spread isn't offering any high-end flavors. The name is enough of a mouthful already.
15. Tim Horton's Buffalo Latte
Tim's just can't stay in one lane as an average coffee shop chain that Canadians are addicted to. Unfortunately, when they try to gourmet-up their menu, they choose the most bizarre creations. A buffalo latte was one of their worst, whipping up coffees with steamed milk, buffalo sauce, and a dollop of spicy-seasoned whipped cream.
16. Burger King's Bacon Sundae
Burger King should stick to making bacon double cheeseburgers and stay away from ice cream. They're not a quaint gelato shop, their a monstrous fast food chain with greasy menu items. Sundaes, especially topped with cheap strips of bacon, are not fancy or appetizing.
Wright Brand Bacon on Unsplash
17. Tim Horton's Flatbread
Here we go again! We have about 47.9 billion pizza places to order from, we're not heading to Tim Horton's for a slice anytime soon. They're trying to gourmet their lunch menu Italian-style and we're not ordering it.
18. McDonald's Hula Burger
The McDonald's Hula Burger sounds like a tropical treat, but it's far from the taste of the tropics. With a sad filling of 2 ingredients, pineapple and cheese, it's not very exciting or nutritious. The name is better than it looks and tastes.
19. Taco Bell Waffle Taco
Dear Taco Bell, please don't make us breakfast. Swapping tortillas with waffles doesn't let you compete with the hip brunch cafes. Folded waffles aren't very fancy either.
20. Wendy's Apple Pecan Chicken Salad
If you want a healthy salad, a fast-food restaurant is last place to go. If Wendy's upscaled their menu with gourmet ingredients like apples and pecans, we can't expect there to be much of them included. They'd have to charge a premium price for a quality salad like this is hyped up to be.
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20 Fast Food Items Trying Too Hard To Be Gourmet
