There’s something special about ordering a secret item at a restaurant. It makes you feel like the regular who owns the place. You can order whatever you want, whenever you want with no judgment involved. Most fast-food restaurants have great items that aren’t on the menu that they can make special for you. Without further ado, here’s the list of top 10 secret menu items to order from fast-food restaurants.
10. Taco Bell – Chili Cheese Burrito
Nearly a decade ago, the Chili Cheese Burrito was available at almost every Taco Bell around the globe. Now, the burrito has almost become extinct. Thankfully though, Taco Bell usually keeps enough ingredients around to make this special for the customer. Just ask politely and the workers will whip this up in no time. Delicious, but messy.
9. Five Guys – Cheese Fries
Five Guys fries are the best fries from any fast-food restaurant, no question. But did you know that they’re willing to cover them in cheese and bake for a minute before serving them to you? Just ask the cashier and they’ll make them special for you in no time. It’s the best thing you will ever taste for under 4 bucks.
8. McDonald’s – Chicken and Waffles
If you want a chicken and waffle sandwich from McDonald’s during the breakfast hours, just ask for one and they will make it for you. If they won’t, then you’re going to have to get a little crafty. If you’re interested in beating the system, then all you’ll need to do is buy a sausage McGriddle and a Southern Style Chicken Biscuit, put the chicken in between the McGriddles, and boom: tasty, tasty chicken and waffles. And hey, you’re even left with a sausage biscuit!
7. McDonalds – McGangbang
While it may be going against the New York City rule of displaying the calorie count on all items in fast-food restaurants, McDonald’s doesn’t seem to care. But if you’re interested in the item itself, it’s a spicy chicken sandwich in between the two patties of a McDouble. It’s a classic secret menu item — just don’t expect to move for the rest of the day if you eat one.
6. Chick-fil-A – Chicken Quesadilla
Did anyone else know that Chick-fil-A had tortillas behind the counter? What do they make with them that’s on menu? Nothing, actually. Now the SECRET menu, that’s another issue.
To make the Chicken Quesadilla, the restaurant takes some of their already delicious chicken and mixes it into a surprisingly well-prepared Mexican dish. While they aren’t going to be going head-to-head with Chipotle anytime soon, the item is a great change of pace from what you’re usually accustomed to at Chick-fil-A.
5. Jamba Juice – Pink Star
Jamba Juice has one of the more popular secret menus, and the Pink Star is the best drink you’ll find on it. Made to taste like a pink Starburst, it’ll bring back memories of your favorite Halloween candy, only without all of the wrappers. It’s made up of lemonade, soymilk, raspberry sherbet, frozen yogurt, sorbet, and fresh strawberries. You can’t go wrong with that!
4. Shake Shack – Peanut Butter and Bacon Burger
If you want to try something new, bold, and surprisingly tasty, then man up and ask the boys at Shake Shack to make this item. Trust us; they’ll be more than happy to. Basically, the Peanut Butter and Bacon burger is a burger topped with lots of thick bacon and a healthy schmear of peanut butter. In this day and age, can you really go wrong with bacon and peanut butter? That’s value.
3. Starbucks – Biscotti Frappuccino
The Biscotti Frap is probably the best drink on the Starbucks menu that you’ve never heard of. Essentially, it’s a frappuccino with an entire biscotti blended in. How can you possibly go wrong with that?
First, however, a warning: Starbucks gets busy, sometimes really, really busy. Your friendly neighborhood barista is almost always more than happy to mess around with crazy drink combinations for you, except for when they’ve got 10 people waiting in line. Then all they want is to crank through their routine and get people out of the store.
But if you got the store all to yourself and made sure that you won’t hold up the line with your special request, then absolutely go for it.
2. A&W/KFC – Poutine
The only reason this isn’t number one is because you need to go to one of those joint A&W/KFC locations that can be a real pain to find. Don’t be discouraged though! This item is simply amazing, even though your body will probably hate you for it in the morning.
This fast-food version of poutine is a serving of A&W french fries smothered in gravy from the KFC counter right next door. Delicious, but not for the weak-hearted.
1. Chipotle – Quesorito
This oddly-named entry is a hybrid between the quesadilla and a burrito. It’s a tortilla filled with melted cheese that’s then opened up for you to stuff whatever you want inside of it. Finally, it’s closed back up, rolled up, and served like a burrito. In other words, it’s a burrito lined with golden, gooey, melted cheese.
Next time you’re at the local Chipotle, give this item a shot. The Starbucks rules still apply (don’t be that guy holding up the line because of your certain order,) but have some fun with it. Enjoy!
3 Comments
Rancho steak burrito was best thing taco bell ever made. I started a petition to bring it back in 2009, sadly only fake signatures made it that same day. Lets get this thing back, like i say there, now i dont care if they charge 4$ for it. I soooooo want one. Pizza sauce was in it tho? thats crazy. Being able to buy 5 of them for a buck each was awesome. Wish i would have frozen some.
You can get an a+w poutine at any a+w location in Canada…. Very gooood!!!
I worked at Taco Bell for many years before becoming a professional, and I learned many things. Namely that modern Taco Bell sucks in comparison to the Taco Bell of the 80’s when the food was made fresh in the store and when the chili cheese burrito was called the chilito. (BTW: adding onions to the chilito? Awesome.)
Having said that, here’s a few other “secret” items. They’re not really secret so much as just jumbled together with stuff off the menu:
1. Green Burrito. Take a regular bean burrito and replace the red onion sauce with “green sauce” – a chili sauce that has a nice flavor.
2. Cheesartio. If they have green onions, getting a burrito with cheese, pizza sauce, and green onions is a delicious deviation.
3. Enchirito. Some Taco Bells still sell this, but it’s a simple enough dish. Soft taco shell with beef, beans, and onions served on a dish and smothered in red sauce and cheese.
4. A Nacho Dish I forgot the name of. It wasn’t nachos supreme, but it was a smaller dish that came with nachos, beef, beans, pizza sauce, green onions, and nacho cheese. Basically, a Mexican Pizza with nachos instead of deep-fried flour tortillas.
5. Rancho Steak Burrito. Not the Ranchero – the Rancho. Now we can’t make this happen the way it did in the 90’s when 99 cents gave you the ultimate drunk food burrito, but here’s how you’d come close. Burrito shell, steak, beans and jalapenos (replacing the jalapeno beans, which were actual beans flavored with jalapenos instead of refried beans), pizza sauce, mixed cheese (cheddar and jack), all steamed in the steamer. They’re best served after sitting in the warming cabinet for a couple of hours.
PS: I really, really miss the original Rancho burrito. I also miss other awesome menu items like the original Cinnamon Crispas, the original fajitas, and olives and green peppers.