The 9 Worst Fast Food Items of 2023

When Taco Bell announced in late September that it would be releasing a new vegan nacho sauce nationwide, we were elated. Plant-based cheese has come a long way in the past few decades, and vegans deserve to nosh at Taco Bell just like the rest of us. Unfortunately, the cheese tasted every bit like a compromise. It had great texture, but after a few bites the cheese develops an unpleasant tang, an aftertaste almost like plastic, that lingers to remind you of what you’re missing. Read our full review here.

Starbucks took some fascinating swings this year, not least among them the Oleato line of olive-oil-infused coffee beverages. And in a year full of hits, the Cinnamon Caramel Cream Nitro Cold Brew, released in March, was a big ol’ miss. The cinnamon only accented the bitterness of the cold brew underneath it, leading to an overall acrid taste that the paltry cream couldn’t compete with. No one is looking for these flavors in their morning cup. Read our full review here.

Burger King kicked off the year with an utterly unimpressive offering: the Mexican Original Chicken Sandwich. It certainly sounded good on paper—toppings included ghost pepper queso and fried jalapeño crisps—and it didn’t taste bad, but it stood out as a subdued effort among the many, many other ways fast food has experimented with chicken this year. The flavors weren’t really “Mexican” so much as “Taco Bell wannabe,” and the toppings were too sparse to cover up the blah-ness of the long chicken patty. Read our full review here.

Panera Bread notes that its Cinnamon Crunch Bagel is a fan favorite, so it debuted a new breakfast sandwich in August that piled ham, egg, and cheese onto this signature offering. Big mistake. Sweet and savory breakfasts are one thing, but while each ingredient tasted fine on its own, the hefty portion of cinnamon sugar turned the whole sandwich into a gloopy, sticky mess, and there was way too much bagel for the fillings to compete with. Read our full review here.

This year, Arby’s played around with the scale of its offerings as much as the flavors. The Big Game Burger was a hulking mass of a sandwich that included three different animals on one bun, while the Bourbon BBQ Sliders, released in May, shrank the Arby’s experience down to bite size. There were three varieties of Bourbon BBQ sliders (roast beef, chicken, and rib meat), but each one highlighted the fact that Arby’s sandwiches only work when they get the ratios right. Meat, bun, melty cheese—all three need to be in proper balance for a great experience, and these fell short. Read our full review here.

When Wendy’s announced in August that it would be releasing a new type of breakfast sandwich, it sounded an awful lot like an attempt to dethrone McDonald’s Egg McMuffin, a stalwart of fast food breakfast. But McDonald’s doesn’t have to worry, because Wendy’s version doesn’t compare. We found it to be limp, undercooked, and generally lacking the qualities we look for in an English muffin sandwich—namely those prized nooks and crannies where butter and grease can settle. Bottom line: McDonald’s has been in the English muffin game for nearly 50 years, so it might take Wendy’s some more time to catch up. Read our full review here.

Not that McDonald’s is going to make it through the list unscathed. Its April debut of the Strawberry Shortcake McFlurry was a misfire on every level: too flat, too bland, too one-note, too monochromatic, too... vanilla. This spring release might have checked a box for seasonal promotions, but that’s about all it did. Read our full review here.

What is it about failed breakfast menu promotions this year? Maybe these fast food chains’ greatest successes have built up our expectations to an unreasonable degree, but we found a lot of breakfast items lacking in 2023. Case in point: the Dunkin’ Breakfast Tacos, whose flavor balance was all the way off. The sour citrus flavor of the lime crema, intended to be tangy, completely dominated the experience, and the other fillings were paltry at best. Read our full review here.

It is objectively exciting that Wawa is expanding its menu, and pizza is a new development as of this summer. The convenience store chain serves a range of items that we’ll go ahead and designate as “fast food,” most notably its legendary hoagies—and it’s probably best if the chain stuck to those hoagies, because the new pizza just isn’t it. It’s simple enough, made with whole milk mozzarella, pizza sauce, and a sturdy dough, but it’s lacking in any distinct flavor at all; the dry, bland crust permeates every bite with the taste of wasted potential. We love what Wawa brings to the table, but it should play to its strengths rather than chasing trends. Read our full review here.