While no fast food place is more popular than McDonald's, Wendy's is a solid option when you want a burger and fries. I have many fond memories of driving three hours to visit my grandparents and always stopping at Wendy's on the way home. For some reason, eating a burger and fries (or my favorite, the Spicy Chicken Sandwich) in the car just made it taste that much better. That's definitely a rule: when you're traveling, even to a town or city just a few hours away, junk food is even more delicious.
Wendy's has been around since 1969 and there are 6,500 locations globally. Anyone who has stepped through its doors and ordered a few things knows that this is one fast food place that stacks up to the competition. The food tastes fresh and is always a solid choice, and even if you're not going on a road trip, it's a good choice for lunch or dinner when you're near a location.
What are the most delicious and the least appealing things to order from Wendy's? Here's the official ranking of 25 Wendy's menu items. We'll start at the very worst and end at the very best. And we'll all have a craving for fries by the end of this list (although we probably already crave them all the time anyway... at least I do).
25 Apple Bites
Yes, these are literally apple slices. This is something that Wendy's has added to their menu, and while we totally get wanting to offer customers healthier choices, it's kind of confusing to serve apple slices. Why not a whole apple? Why cut it into pieces?
We don't know. We also don't know why anyone would order these. You can absolutely buy apples from literally any other place and cut them up yourself. It really doesn't seem necessary to order these from a fast food restaurant. That's why these are number 25.
24 Garden Side Salad
Is a Garden Salad ever worth ordering? That's basically a rhetorical question because the answer is no way.
Garden salads are truly boring. Lettuce, shredded carrots, tomatoes... Yawn. There are more interesting salad options if you're going to go that route. Wendy's has salads like Apple Pecan Chicken and a Southwest Avocado Chicken Salad. Those are much more interesting and are a better idea. People order salads to try to be healthy but fast food is all about burgers and breaded chicken sandwiches and fries. You can be healthy when you're eating at home.
23 Caesar Side Salad
The Caesar Salad at Wendy's has Romaine lettuce and Asiago cheese and seems like your pretty standard deal. The reason why you might not want to go for this menu item doesn't have anything to do with the sketchy nature of Romaine lettuce (although, sure, that has something to do with it).
What's the reason? A fast food place doesn't really seem like the best place to order a Caesar salad. Save it for an actual restaurant where it's probably going to be a lot more delicious.
22 Taco Salad
Taco Salad is a great dinner to make because it feels festive. It's so much more fun than any other kind of salad because it's got flavorful and spicy ground beef, maybe some shredded cheese, salsa, guac, and some veggies or lettuce or whatever you want to add. You'll enjoy eating this for dinner.
Do you want to order it from Wendy's? Maybe not. It has chili, which seems too intense for a salad, and there are so many other things that will be more satisfying. The Taco Salad is number 22 and it should probably be skipped.
21 Chili
Ordering chili from a fast food place never seems like the thing to do. It's not that the chili is going to be bad. Well, okay, sometimes it could be. It's just that it's so easy and so fun to make at home.
When you make a pot of chili, you're adding your favorite things to it. You could add spinach and mushrooms or some red peppers to your chili because you want some added veggies, and it'll be awesome. The chili from Wendy's looks very soupy and doesn't look very satisfying.
20 Cheese And Bacon Baked Potato
Most people aren't going to order baked potatoes from any restaurant or any fast food place. They are something that makes more sense to make at home, and they seem like they could be too heavy or greasy.
Everyone else loves potatoes so much that they will order these anywhere and in any way, shape, or form. These people will order the Bacon and Cheese Baked Potato from Wendy's and be in potato heaven. The rest of us want fries instead and see no contest there, so this menu item is sitting at number 20.
19 Chili And Cheese Baked Potato
If a baked potato with bacon and cheese on it (aka two of the best toppings for anything, ever) isn't going to be higher up on this list, then it makes sense that a baked potato with cheese and chili wouldn't be very high up, either.
This menu item at Wendy's couldn't be higher than number 19. Do you want to put chili on a baked potato? That would be a no. This honestly seems like a strange thing to do. It's not like people even eat chili with baked potatoes on the side. Or do they? Is this just not something that we know about? We're confused.
18 Baconater Fries
Do you want fries that have bacon on them? Your answer to that question will determine how you feel about the Baconater Fries at Wendy's.
You might not necessarily crave these the way that you do a burger and fries, but you wouldn't say no if they were sitting on a table in front of you. That's why this menu item is number 18. Definitely not bad, definitely not the best. It looks like sometimes these come with a bit of melted cheese and only a few slices of bacon, so you won't get a ton of these ingredients, but you still get to eat fries. See? It's not that bad.
17 Spicy Chicken Caesar Salad
The Spicy Chicken Caesar Salad is a step above the regular Caesar salad because of the addition of spicy chicken. And the spicy chicken from Wendy's is really, really good. You could almost order it on its on and be happy, it's that good.
But this is still a Caesar salad and it still seems like a weird thing to order from a fast food place whose bread and butter is burgers and fries. You can definitely skip this menu item, which is why it's number 17.
16 Dave's Triple Burger
Too many burgers. That is the problem with this menu item from Wendy's.
Yes, the burgers are awesome, but three? Do you really need to order three burgers? No. No, you don't. While you could absolutely put away three separate burgers if you were really hungry, it just seems strange to eat them all at once inside the same bun. Go for the single or double burger instead and call it a day. This menu item is number 16 because it's too much to deal with.
15 Grilled Asiago Ranch Club
As far as fast food sandwiches go, getting something that has Asiago cheese and ranch and grilled chicken seems like a good idea. This sandwich also has bacon, and we all know how we feel about that.
This isn't really what we would associate with Wendy's, though, because when we think of this particular fast food chain, this wouldn't come to mind. It's not a burger. It's not even their best chicken sandwich (that one is much higher up on this list). This sandwich is number 15 and doesn't seem like a must order.
14 Spicy Asiago Ranch Club
This sandwich takes things up a notch since it's spicy. Spicy food is always a good idea. It has the same stuff as the above sandwich but with spicy breaded chicken, which is why it's number 14 and a bit higher up on this list.
The only problem? The spicy breaded chicken from Wendy's is so delicious that you really don't need all of the other stuff here. Forget the cheese and bacon and just order it without all of the pomp and circumstance. It needs to shine on its own.
13 Chicken Tenders
Don't these Chicken Tenders look so good?! You might have heard the name of this menu item at Wendy's and thought, "I'd rather order something else. Chicken tenders sound so boring." But seeing how completely crispy they are, your mind has changed, right?
If you've had these, then you know that they're crave-worthy, and you really can't ask much more from a fast food menu item. You want to know that when you have a hankering, you can head to your local place and order what you want and be pleased. These are number 13 and they're awesome.
12 Son Of Baconater
Bacon is the greatest topping for a burger (along with cheese and whatever else your heart desires). It really sucks to see a burger on any menu and see that it doesn't come with bacon.
The Son of Baconater at Wendy's is not quite as good as some other things on the menu, but when you want a burger that comes with bacon (and you don't want to go for the massive Baconater), then this is the right thing to order. It fits right in at number 12.
11 Bacon Maple Chicken Sandwich
It's possible that some of us haven't even heard of this sandwich at Wendy's since it's not talked about as much as some of the other menu items... but that should change. It's so cool to learn that this fast food place has a sandwich that includes chicken, bacon, and maple flavor.
This menu item is number 11 and just missed the top ten because it might not always be what you want to order because of the sweetness of the maple, but this is a really great combo of flavors.
10 Chicken Nuggets
The Chicken Nuggets at Wendy's are number ten on this list because, while you might have grown up and thought that you were over with eating chicken nuggets, the reality is that you would still eat them at any time.
You get five of them in an order, which is pretty fair. You might want more (but then you could always order two, right?) but you definitely don't want fewer than five. It's a nice number. These nuggets are moist and crunchy, which is what you want, and you can pick a dipping sauce and be happy.
9 Grilled Chicken Sandwich
It might not sound all that exciting to order a Grilled Chicken Sandwich from a fast food place (or anywhere) and yet that is where Wendy's really surprises you.
This menu item is delicious. The chicken is really good, and there's a honey mustard sauce that pulls the whole thing together. If you've never tried it, then you definitely need to, and if you have, then you were probably amazed by how much you liked it. It's number 9 and deserves the spot for sure.
8 Baconater
Burgers like the Baconater seem to get kind of a bad rap since people figure that it's unhealthy to eat such a massive thing that has so much bacon on it. And, sure, this might not exactly be a smoothie or a kale salad.
But when you want a beefy burger with bacon and lots of flavor, this is what you want to order. This Wendy's menu item has six slices of bacon (which is the perfect amount... except for the fact that there is never enough bacon) and two burgers that are 1/4 pound each. Bring your appetite.
7 Homestyle Chicken Sandwich
Here we are at number 7, which is the Homestyle Chicken Sandwich at Wendy's. Of all the fast food places where you could order a chicken sandwich, Wendy's is the place to go. Their chicken is truly delicious and rivals their burgers (which says a lot).
There is breading on this chicken, which makes it that much better. Sure, the Grilled Chicken Sandwich is good, but you would always rather eat something breaded than not, which is why this menu item ranks a bit higher.
6 Dave's Single Burger
You would hope that if you go to a fast food place, then the burger is going to be worth ordering. It would be pretty sad if that wasn't the case.
Luckily, Wendy's never lets us down with their Dave's Single Burger. We all know Dave as the sweet and adorable founder of Wendy's who appeared in all the commercials (and who sadly passed away in 2002). His legacy absolutely lives on, and it's really cool that the burgers are named after him. It might sound strange to describe a burger as "beefy" because, well, that's what you want... but these burgers really are beefy.
5 Vanilla Frosty
When you think of desserts that you can get at Wendy's, there is no doubt about it: you think about the Frosty.
There is one flavor that is the best (and that's coming up next on this list) but the Vanilla Frosty is pretty good. Craving a sweet and creamy dessert? Want something that is like ice cream but a bit different? Then go for it and order a Vanilla Frosty. It's number five but just couldn't quite make it higher because, again, there's another flavor that is a bit more delicious.
4 Chocolate Frosty
There is no way that a vanilla-flavored Frosty is better than a chocolate-flavored one, right? Right. The chocolate one is obviously the best.
This is an insanely satisfying dessert. There are definitely people who go to Wendy's for the Chocolate Frosty and the Chocolate Frosty only. Maybe they even get an order of fries and dip them in the dessert. Yup, that's a thing that people really do (and it does sound good). This is one of the most popular things on the menu at this particular fast food chain and we can totally see why.
3 Dave's Double Burger
If we know that the burgers at Wendy's are good and we know that a single burger is good, then wouldn't it stand to reason that a double burger would be better?
Yup. Yup, it would. And that's why Dave's Double Burger is number three on this list. The website description notes that the beef is fresh and not frozen, which is good to hear and another reason to go to Wendy's when you want a good old burger and fries (and a Chocolate Frosty. Your order wouldn't be complete without one).
2 Fries
Since a burger and fries is such a classic combination, you really want the fries to be good at a fast food place. If they're not -- they're bland, or always served cold, or too mushy -- then it's game over and you're going to take your fry-eating business elsewhere.
Thankfully, the fries at Wendy's are a solid choice, and they're number two on this list. They may not be as famous and popular as the fries at McDonald's, but they satisfy that specific fry craving when nothing else will do. It's true that sometimes they are crispier than other times, but they are always good.
1 Spicy Chicken Sandwich
Finally, here we are at number one on this list of the best and worst Wendy's menu items. And the Spicy Chicken Sandwich is absolutely the most delicious thing that you could order.
There is something beautiful about this sandwich. The chicken is breaded, there's some heat, and you don't even mind the tomato and lettuce that come with it. When you want to go to Wendy's, there is really no reason not to order the Spicy Chicken Sandwich. It'll put other fast food menu items to shame.
