In the culinary world of the typical college student, convenience foods rank number one. Among these foods are pizza, ramen noodles, chinese food and the esteemed, all-American cheeseburger. The problem isn’t finding a cheeseburger to eat, it’s finding a decent cheeseburger to eat — not to mention, finding one that isn’t too costly. Worry no more! Several of the Technician’s most dedicated staff members have done most of the work for you.
A panel of four tasters did a blind tasting of nine cheeseburgers from nine restaurants near campus. Each burger was rated in terms of its smell, bun, beefiness, juiciness, grilled taste and cost. Ratings were from one to five — five being best.
While taste ratings are straightforward, we also had to find out which burger is the best bang for the buck. Thus, the cost to taste rating — the higher the number, the better the value.
We found some surprising things. For one, McDonald’s, the original fast-food chain, had the highest priced fast-food burger, but ranked the lowest in terms of taste.
All of the tasters went into the tasting thinking Cook Out’s cheeseburger would win best fast-food burger, hands down. It did well, but came in second to Hardee’s, which the tasters agreed was the beefiest and juiciest fast-food burger.
Village Draft house, which had come highly recommended, was the worst “real restaurant” cheeseburger. The burger itself had a good beefiness rating (4.125 out of 5) but the restaurant forgot to put cheese on it, defeating the purpose of this review entirely.
Porter’s cheeseburger was the best tasting burger overall. Three of the four tasters said it was their favorite, but was also the most expensive at $11.37.
Red, Hot and Blue’s burger came in second, losing in terms of overall taste, but was significantly less expensive at $8.07.
While this list is not at all exhaustive, we think it gives a decent idea of which burgers should be eaten, and which shouldn’t. Bon appetit!
Burger King Whopper Jr.
Rank – 7th
Cost – $1.35
Claim – “Flame Broiled”
Overall Rating – 2.27/5
Cost to Taste Rating – 1.68
Taster Comments – “Flat taste” “Too many condiments”
Best: Cost Rating 5/5
Wendy’s Quarter Pound Single with Cheese
Rank – 6th
Cost – $3.11
Claim – “Never Frozen Patties”
Overall Rating – 2.82/5
Cost to Taste Rating – 0.906
Taster Comments – All four tasters said they could not tell whether the burger was juicy or the condiments made it seem juicy.
Best: Aroma rating for fast-food burger 3.5/5
Hardee’s Little Thickburger with Cheese
Rank – 3rd
Cost – $2.68
Claim – “Angus Beef”
Overall Rating – 3.38/5
Cost to Taste Rating – 1.26
Taster Comments – “Looks extremely tasty” “Satisfying”
Best: Fast food burger by .41 points
Cook Out’s Regular Burger with Cheese
Rank – 5th
Cost – $3.06
Claim – “Chargrilled Burgers”
Overall Rating – 2.97/5
Cost to Taste Rating – 0.97
Taster Comments – “Tasted home-made” “The bun is ‘blah'”
Best: Combo deal
McDonald’s Big and Tasty with Cheese
Rank- 9th
Cost- $3.23
Claim- “100 percent beef patties”
Overall Rating – 2.17/5
Cost to Taste Rating – 0.65
Taster Comments – “Bland” “Could only smell the bread”
Worst: Overall Taste 2.125/5
Wolves Den Cheeseburger
Rank- 8th
Cost- $3.14
Claim- no burger claims
Overall Rating- 2.2/5
Cost to Taste Rating – 0.7
Taster Comments – “Underwhelming” “Not juicy at all” “Fake taste”
Worst: Beefiness rating of 2.25/5
Porter’s Hamburger with Cheddar
Rank- 1st
Cost – $11.37
Claim – “Inventive Sandwiches …”
Overall Rating – 3.925/5
Cost to Taste Rating – 0.345
Taster Comments – “Satisfying” “Natural flavors”
Best: Beefiness rating of 4.625/5 and Juiciness rating of 4.125/5
Village Draft House Hamburger
Rank- 4th
Cost – $6.99
Claim – “Half-pound hand-pattied burgers”
Overall Rating – 3.05/5
Cost to Taste Rating – 0.426
Taster Comments – “Too charred tasting” “Asked for cheese — didn’t have it”
Worst: Cheeseburger overall — it came with no cheese.
Red, Hot and Blue Classic Blues Burger with Cheese
Rank- 2nd
Cost – $8.07
Claim – “Classic”
Overall Rating – 3.837/5
Cost to Taste Rating – .475
Taster Comments – “Tastes like I’m at
