Burger King — Restaurant in South Burlington

By far the worst BK I've ever been to. I was going to give 2 stars just in case I thought of one worse but I don't think I can.

I arrived at night and the parking lot is EXTREMELY dark - not a single streetlight throughout the entire parking lot. As I approached the building I assumed they were closed because it was so dark but the lights inside were on and....there was a dude standing in the drive through lane? I cannot over-exaggerate how dark it was - I had headlights on and still couldn't tell where to go so I drove to the east side of the building (having seen the drive through window on the building was on the west side) expected to order and wrap around the building. Nope, parking lot ends there so no drive through on this side.

I turn around and head back to the opposite side of the parking lot and once again am amazed at how dark it is! I mean we are in a city here, we're not driving through some farmlands where this kind of darkness is expected. I finally find where the drive through order window is and drive up to put in my order. I then drive to the window and while I'm waiting there I see another car driving through the parking lot. They too cannot find where to go for the drive through so they just park and I watch as this guy walks right up behind my car and THEN WALKS RIGHT UP TO THE WINDOW BETWEEN MY CAR AND THE BUILDING?! The BK employee has to tell him they'll help him next so he waits behind my car. Obviously this BK isn't responsible for this guy being so strange, but if there were lights in this parking lot the guy would have known where the hell to go to order!

I'm a dude and I'm not small so I rarely find myself worried for my safety but this BK without lighting in the parking lot ensures I would never visit it again. If I was a woman or a skinny man there is no way I'd find myself alone in this parking lot from a horror film.

I get my order and head back to my hotel to enjoy it. And that's when I taste what would be the worst possible chicken sandwich meal (I'm no stranger to BK so I know what to expect, this isn't a criticism of the quality of BK food in general, I'm talking specifically about this location's quality). The chicken patty tasted like it quite possibly might have been from yesterday (or at least from this morning) - dry and crunchy in ways that no fried chicken should ever be.

The fries were cold. Not lukewarm like you might expect from a trip home from a fast food place. I mean cold. Like they had to be lukewarm in the restaurant. I have no doubt these fries couldn't have been from this morning (because BK sells way too many fries to have them be that old) but they tasted like they were. Regardless of the age of the chicken patty/fries, if the freshness isn't there, they need to be tossed and fresh replacements made. This is quality control 101 and it's obvious this location is lacking it.

And finally there was the milkshake. The paper straw given could not have ruined the flavor more - it tasted like drinking a chocolate milkshake through a toilet paper roll. Why would you do this to anyone BK?! I'm from the PNW, I know all about the illogical/stupid shift people are making from plastic to alternatives and I will tell you right now, the person in charge of purchasing for this location has NEVER tried drinking through one of these TP straws that turn to mush. Please stop buying them! For the sake of all that is good and holy in this world, please stop! If you don't like plastic (or, I'm guessing, the liberal yahoos of Burlington/Vermont have banned it) then buy another alternative! Buy the corn based ones - they're still biodegradable and guess what?! They feel/act the exact same as plastic straws but don't ruin the flavor of your drinks. Are these slightly more expensive? I don't care, it's about quality and flavor. If you have neither of those, you no longer have a business. Hell, offer to SELL these alternative straws even. I would have easily paid $1 to buy a plastic/corn straw then to have to drink through this soul sucking...

We ordered 4 meals through the drive through. One meal was Whopper Jr with onion rings & choline milkshake, 2nd meal Sourdough King with fries & bottle water, 3rd meal Whopper with onion rings with extra sauce & chocolate milkshake, 4th meal chicken fries with honey mustard sauce & fries without a drink. We received meal #1 Whopper Jr w/ fries, onion ring sauce & chocolate milkshake, meal #2 sourdough king w/ fries & bottled water, 3rd meal Whopper ( which had grease & burger patty brown slimy stuff all over the top of the bun), onion rings & chocolate milkshake, meal #4 chicken fries w/ honey mustard and fries. We ended up with onion ring sauce but no onion rings, a Whopper so disgusting looking you didn't want to touch it let alone eat it. We went through the drive through because we had a child sleeping in the car and wanted to try and catch the next ferry so we didn't notice the problems until we were on the ferry to New York again. It was a real dissapointment and we can't bring back the bags because we are not going to take a ferry back across the lake to show them the mistakes they made, that shouldn't of happened. We only stopped because we had a long morning at the hospital and we're hungry and just wanted something quick, what a big mistake. Next time we will try McDonald's just down the...

I'm not rating this locaction based upon how their food tastes. After all, BK, like their other fast food competition, just fills the void. Yeah, their food is a step up from your local gas station gourmet, but it's also far cry from any number of locally owned burger joints. Instead, as a national chain with a "drive thru", I am giving them 5 stars for their great efficiency, accuracy, and speed. Now I'm willing to bet that it's mostly because a couple of their daytime employees have been there, forever. They're an intangible resource and are the best of the best of fast food workers, because they have been slinging burgers forever and take pride in their work, a rare quality in any fast food employee. They're always friendly and always ask you if you need sauce for your chicken nuggets or your onion rings. If you're looking for a quick meal on the go, their drive thru is only, at least, five or six times faster than their closest rival, McDonald's and McDonald's has two separate windows to BK's one! Maybe you like McDonald's menu better, but what good is it when half the time they get your order wrong anyway?!!! I've never had that issue with this Burger King and that's largely because their regular employees really care about customer...