Best, worst fast-food restaurants

The largest fast-food chains also have the worst food and service, according to a survey of Consumer Reports readers.

The magazine asked nearly 37,000 subscribers to rate 53 fast-food chains, and said the lowest marks went to McDonald's (MCD), Burger King, KFC and Taco Bell. All of those chains had uninspiring food and so-so service, Consumer Reports readers said.

"Chains like McDonald's and Taco Bell boast supersized values, but consumers don't necessarily think they offer much bang for the buck," an editor at Consumer Reports told Reuters.

Only 11% of subscribers said the food at those four chains was "excellent," but 15% to 19% described the food as fair, poor or very poor. McDonald's was last place in the hamburger category.

And woe to Sbarro, the pizza chain currently in bankruptcy. About 27% of customers said the food there was fair, poor or very poor.

By the way, the chief executive of Taco Bell Australia recently described his company as the Hyundai of fast food while Chipotle is the BMW. And there's nothing wrong with that! Check out that discussion in the following video.

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So why do people keep frequenting these joints if they don't care for the food? More than half of those surveyed said low prices kept them coming back.

Who did readers like best? In-N-Out burger topped the charts, beating everyone else in the categories of food, service, value and speed. And as far as chicken restaurants go, Chick-fil-A came in first, with KFC, a division of Yum Brands (YUM) ranking last.

Chipotle Mexican Grill and Papa Murphy's Take 'N' Bake Pizza ranked at the top of their respective categories.

Here are other results from the survey:

Best value: In-N-Out Burger, Papa Murphy's and CiCi's Pizza

Worst value: Sbarro, Round Table Pizza and KFC

Slowest service: KFC, Popeyes and Pizza Hut

No healthy meals: Only 13% of readers said they ate a healthy meal the last time they went to a fast-food restaurant. Those packaged salads aren't moving quickly.

Favorite of diet-conscious eaters: Subway