The best burgers are the ones friends make for you on the grill.

But... IMHO In and Out top them all. I won't NOT make a special trip to have one but if I am out in California or Vegas I will make it a tradition to have double meat, fries (I ask for them well done) and a COKE (OK, In and Out does not have PEPSI and I'm not going to sneak one in. :) )

I'd love to try the parking lot shuttle to the In and Out at LAX thing with someone sometime.

With apologizes to some Flyertalkers... I had White Castle ONCE and sober... and got very bad food poisoining. The smell of them and the look of them make me sick.

The only other fast food I'll make an effort to get is Chick Fil A.

They are excellent fast food burgers. But they're still fast food burgers, so go with those culinary expectations in mind.

Good value, too. And I like the simplicity of the menu -- kind of a nostalgia thing. And some of their locations have extraordinarily conscientious staff for a fast food restaurant.

I wouldn't pass up a gourmet meal for In-N-Out, but if I'm eating "on the run" in SoCal (they even have some stores in AZ), I'll look for an In-N-Out over the competition.

I think In-N-Out is a good place for a fast food burger. They have a good flavor and their shakes are really good. I like the fries, but they are not the strongest part of the menu. I do like the fact you can see the potatoes being cut up and then deep fried.

Well, a bad experience like that would turn anyone off. FWIW, I find them tasty, rather "different" from other fast food burgers, but not something I'd eat regularly were they nearer by. But I'll have them as a once-or-twice a year thing when I'm in NYC (especially since they're open later than any place else with hot food in my neighborhood.)

What's the must-try item there? I tried some kind of nuggets/fingers/somethinglikethat when I was in Indy a few years ago, and found them bland and sorta boring, but perhaps I was getting the wrong item (or sauce... don't recall what I got from them.)

Is it that good....yes.
Fries well-done....can't wait to get back to InN Out.

That is just so NOT true! I noticed another poster above said this as well. Maybe it has to do with the lack of greasiness/sogginess/frostbite-itis found in typical fast-food fries that you've grown to love.

I guess it just proves that taste is a matter of taste, but I also know people who don't like Wendy's hamburgers and actually prefer a Mickey D's burger because the Wendy's ones taste "too homemade"!

Agreed

If you don't know any other burger places in the area you are traveling, then In-n-Out is a good FAST FOOD chain burger default.

But as Scott in LA and many others have said, there are FAR better burgers out there to be had.

--

I'm already feeling the migraine and the indigestion from eating that crap.


Get the fries well done.. that's the ticket.

You should've been in our car the day a group office mates and I decided to go to the Chick-Fil-A in San Diego! It turned out to be truly an effort as we encountered a missing person (he wasn't where he was supposed to be for us to pick up) and THREE wrong freeway exits en route. :D

And once we got there, we realized it was sooo easy to find, we couldn't figure out why we got so turned around and about to get there.

Yes. They're great.

Something about keeping it simple... they don't sell pizza, salads, chicken, etc., - just burgers and they do it right.

Sincerely, - jdburns11

If forced to eat at a fast food burger joint, it would be among my first choices.

It still *is* a fast food quality burger, but there is something about it (and the BUN!) that makes it addictive. Ditto on the fries. Worth a try if you are in an INO area and keep your expectations in-line with a fast-food experience.

order the burger animal style and the fries well done...oh...how i miss them!

Nothing like a double double for a hangover cure!!!!

Portions of the post that previously appeared in this space has been deleted. I would provide you with a reason why, but doing so would likely be against the TOS.

I really do think it's that good. Of course, I see In-N-Out as a special treat since I only get to one when I travel out west. Perhaps it's the scarcity of In-N-Out locally that makes those burgers taste so good when I happen to get near one.