The Best Burger At Wendy's Is Named After The Founder

Imagine you're heading to Wendy's for dinner with a somewhat picky child who only wants meat, pickles and tomato on their burger. You get to the drive-through and are overwhelmed by an array of similar menu items – burgers in different sizes, with ever-so-slight variations in condiments and other toppings. Of course, you can always just say, "I'd like a small hamburger with pickles and tomatoes." But if you have a chance to plan ahead, you could turn to Chowhound's ranked list of every Wendy's burger to help make sense of the menu. In this hypothetical case, you'd want to order the Junior Hamburger, no condiments, add tomato (the menu version of the Junior Hamburger is ranked number six out of fourteen on Chowhound's list). But if you're wanting the best of the best that Wendy's has to offer, you'd order the Dave's Single. 

The Dave's Single, named after founder Dave Thomas, features the signature square patty Wendy's is known for, plus "all the fixings:" tomato, onion, lettuce, pickles, ketchup, and mayo. It's one of three "Dave's" burgers Wendy's offers, each one referring to a different number of patties featured on the hamburger.

In the case of Dave's burgers, it seems that less is more. The Triple was deemed unbalanced in terms of meat to toppings with the three meat patties overwhelming everything else. The Dave's Double came in at a more respectable fourth place, downgraded primarily because it's just a larger burger than many diners would need most of the time. The Single hits the sweet spot, offering a perfect balance of toppings to meat, and small enough to consume along with fries and a Frosty.

Decoding the menu at Wendy's

For the most part, the distinctive qualities between Wendy's burgers seem to be whether or not they come with bacon, which specific additional toppings they come with (you can choose between tomato, lettuce, raw onion, and pickles), and how many patties are included. Most come with a combo of ketchup and mayo, with some exceptions. For example, the Junior Cheeseburger (ranked five of sixteen) is topped with ketchup, mayo, pickles, and onion. Meanwhile the Junior Cheeseburger Deluxe (three out of sixteen) adds lettuce and tomatoes to that lineup. The highly lauded Dave's single is essentially the same as the Junior Cheeseburger Deluxe, only with a quarter-pound patty instead of the smaller junior patty.

Many of the burgers feature bacon, and if that strikes your fancy, go with the Junior Bacon Cheeseburger, which came in at a close second on the list. It's similar to the Dave's Single, only with bacon instead of pickles, hold the ketchup, and, again, featuring the smaller junior patty. Starting in 2025, Wendy's plans to roll out dynamic pricing, meaning that whether you order the top-rated Dave's Single, the middling Big Bacon Classic, or the meaty-to-a-fault Dave's Triple, your burger may cost more or less depending on when you order.

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