Fries are a classic staple of many of the restaurants in Lexington. We have numerous spots to get fries, but which spot has the best fries?
We went to McDonald’s, Arby’s, Chick-fil-A, Cook Out, Pure Eats and Wendy’s to try their fries and rank them from best to worst. We ranked them based on price, flavor, crispiness, temperature, and presentation. We scored each category on a scale of 1-5 where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. The final score of each restaurant will be a combined score out of 20. For scientific purposes, all fries were tested without condiments.
In the last place, we had Wendy’s. Overall they scored 11 points. The fries were the “normal” fry shape and came out piping hot, getting a temperature score of 4. The basic presentation was a small paper bag with the Wendy’s logo on it, which ended up not being particularly aesthetically pleasing and scored a 1.5. Additionally, the fries themselves were pretty droopy and not crispy enough to get a high score, earning a 3. Unfortunately, the flavor was tragically below average and not nearly salty enough, earning a 2.5. In all, we would not recommend these fries.
Racking up 11.5 points, McDonald’s came in fifth. With their classic skinny shape in the classic McDonald’s container, the presentation was not too inspiring and only managed a 2.5. Sadly, like the Wendy’s fries, these fries were droopy and not nearly crispy enough. In this category, McDonald’s only scored a 2. When it comes to flavor, these fries were surprisingly not salty but overall not too terrible and earned a 3. Their one redeeming factor was the temperature, which was decent enough to score a 4.
Next up we have Chick-fil-A in fourth place, scoring a score of 17 points. The delectable waffle shape in the exquisite container started these fries off with an impressive 4.5. The crisp and temperature also ended up flawless, scoring a perfect 5. Unfortunately, it turns out that without sauce, Chick-fil-A fries do not really hit. This may be due to Chick-fil-A’s recipe change, which added pea starch to the coating and caused many customers to notice a flavor decline. In this case, these fries only managed a 2.5.
In third place, we have Cook Out with a score of 14.5. We got their normal fries to try because we got the normal fries from the other restaurants too. They were hot when they came out, but not scorching so they scored a 4. Their fries were very disappointing with the fact that they were not crispy in the slightest so they scored a 2. When we tried the fries, they were exceptionally flavorful and salty so they scored a 4.5 for their flavor. Lastly, their presentation was not exceptional as they were thrown in the box, so they scored a 4.5. So overall, these fries were very good, but were not crispy enough to make it higher in our listing.
In second place, we had Pure Eats with an overall score of 17.5. We got their regular fries and even though they were more expensive, the price, $6.50, was worth the taste of the fries. These were by far the best tasting fries that we tried and we could not stop eating them so they got a flavor score of 5. The fries were overall very hot and crispy when we ordered them so they got a score of 4 for crispiness and a 5 for temperature. We got an entire bag of fries which was not too visually appealing, but each fry was very large so they got a presentation score of a 3.5. Overall, these fries were very tasteful and exceeded our expectations.
In first place, we had the Arby’s curly fries. Overall they scored a whopping 18.5. They took awhile to come out but once they came out, they were scorching hot so we scored it a 5. The curly fries were by far our favorite as they were a fun shape to eat. The flavor of the fries were exceptional with the seasoning making these fries above all the others therefore they scored a 5 for flavor. Most, but not all, of the fries were exceptionally crispy so we gave them a score of a 5. Lastly their presentation of the curly fries in the Arby’s cup was very appealing so we gave it a presentation score of 4.5.
Overall, we could definitely say that some of these fries were very hot, crispy, and flavorful, but Arby’s definitely came out on top. Pure Eats was close behind, and the rest of the fries were certainly something. We have countless options of fries in Lexington, and there are definitely fry-types for everyone.
