America’s best and worst chain restaurants are revealed — and the results are surprising

Chick-fil-A is A+.

McDonald’s may be the largest fast food chain in the US, but is it de facto the best? Not according to a recent survey, which placed Chick-fil-A atop the Mount Rushmore of American fat marketers.

The study, conducted by CouponBirds, deemed Merchant Chicken the “best super-chain” — a fast-food firm with 1,000+ outlets — with a rating of 3.95 out of 5.

Chick-fil-A’s rating is perhaps especially impressive given that its 3,059 locations are closed on Sundays and serve fish instead of chicken during Lent.

The company’s devout Southern Baptist owners have also been vocal about their opposition to gay marriage, which has landed them in hot water with the LGBTQ community.

In second place was Five Guys Burgers and Fries (3.85) — which coincidentally also holds the title for “unhealthiest fast food burger” — followed by sandwich chain Jersey Mike’s Subs in third (3.76). .

While the idea of ​​the “best” fast food restaurant may seem subjective — some people prefer burgers to chicken and vice versa — CouponBirds had a fairly objective system for ranking fast food restaurants.

They selected chains with four or more stores and then analyzed Google Maps reviews of 161,054 individual establishments, before ranking each of the businesses out of five “using a fair and weighted average,” according to the release.

Taking cues from boxing weight classes, CouponBirds made the competition fair by categorizing 2,589 chains by size: super chains (1,000+ locations), mid-sized chains (100 -1,000 locations), and small chains (4-100 locations).

Rounding out the five “best” superchains overall, according to this ranking scale, were Waffle House (3.72) and Starbucks (3.71).

The latter’s popular rating comes despite the fact that the ubiquitous bean warehouse has been weak of late with its shares falling 16% in May.

CouponBirds’ “Top 10” Superchains:

1. Chick-fil-A (3.95)
2. Five Guys (3.85)
3. Jersey Mike’s Football (3.76)
4. Waffle House (3.72)
5. Starbucks (3.71)
6. Dairy Queen (3.68)
7. Arby’s (3.57)
8. Panera Bread (3.55)
9. Dairy Queen Grill & Chill (3.55)
10. IHOP (3.49)
11. Carl’s Jr. (3.46)

As for smaller fast food outlets, In-N-Out Burger was ranked as the best medium chain (4.21) while health food store Acai Republic was the best small chain (4.44).

The worst-rated chain of all time was Taco John’s — billed by CouponBirds as “the Midwest’s answer to Taco Bell” — with a rating of just 2.61.

The second weakest tie among chains was McDonald’s (2.75), proving that bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better when it comes to fast food.

McDonald’s recently introduced the Chicken Big Mac in the US as part of a white-meat offensive aimed at reversing flagging sales caused by customers spending less on eating out.

In third and fourth place respectively were Bobby’s Burgers by Bobby Flay (2.84) and Wahlburgers @ Hy-Vee (2.85).

Popeye rounded out the top five with a 2.9.

CouponBirds Worst Rated Chains:

1. Taco John’s (2.61)
2. McDonald’s (2.75)
3. Bobby’s Burgers by Bobby Flay (2.84)
4. Wahlburgers @ Hy-Vee (2.85)
5. Popeye’s (2.9)
6. Sonic (2.93)
7. Buffalo Wild Wings ‘GO’ (2.93)
8. South Philly Cheesesteaks & Fries (2.97)
9. Buciferro Family McDonald’s (3.00)
10. Wetzel’s Pretzel’s (3.02)

Meanwhile, the top 3 fast food joints in New York were Taqueria El Dorado, Cozy Corner Cafe and The Bucket.