I was traveling from Philadelphia to Texas by car and stopped in around east Tennessee to try Cookout at the behest of my friend. Who hyped it up so much.

A few things about Cook Out. Yes there are locations that have indoor seating. The BBQ sandwich is worth it but not the burgers. If you order onion rings as a side, you may get four of them if you’re lucky. The chili is awful. They use the broken up/overcooked burger patties for that swill. You are better off going to…

I enjoy a hamburger, but the floor and ceiling of a hamburger is maybe the narrowest of all commonly eaten American food. The worst fast food hamburger is ‘meh’ and the best is ‘mmm, good burger’.

Yeah, cookout isn’t known for it’s fantastic burgers and such. When one near me opened up five or six years ago I went because I could get a decent burger with 2 sides... (Double corn dogs please), a side of hush puppies and a shake for around 8 bucks. Like everywhere their prices have gone up... Last time I went I…

The only thing I’ve had at Cook-Out I would consider actually great without price being a factor is the fresh watermelon shake—but yeah, it’s not a particularly *drinkable* shake.

The answer is FUCK YES. I lived near Raleigh a few years ago, and literally lived next to one. I miss walking home late at night after work and grabbing a Cook Out Tray for just $5. I really wish they would expand to Florida.

As someone who’s never eaten at an In-N-Out...

The In-N-Out of the Southeast. So they serve cheap, mediocre burgers with nearly inedible fries?

I eat a lot of Cook Out—not because it is great, but because it is convenient to where I live and it is open late.

This and maybe Culver’s are really the only good comparisons that I’ve seen to In N Out. Not on the food taste/quality but at least price. Everyone always wants to throw Five Guys or Shake Shack or similar in the comparisons. But when you’re burger and fries cost 50-75% more, then it SHOULD be better.

Appreciate this review and everyone else’s comments that seem to concur that it Cook Out is OK at best. I was in NC recently and thought I might try Cook Out. I was dismayed to find that they didn’t have an option to order online, but I figured I would just go and order at the drive through. Got there and there were…

Stopped with my son on a road trip, ok road food. The boy was like, “hey dad, this place has weird music I don’t recognize.” The food isn’t good enough for me to deal with a company’s religious views piped in via music or on their wrappers.  100% hard pass going forward

ANY burger joint is better than In N Out. Their burgers are mediocre at best, their fries are absolute garbage.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve argued with people defending them, and ultimately they always end up being simple-minded waterheads.

I don’t know anyone who goes to cookout before 11PM.

Literally nobody thinks Cook Out compares with Culver’s or Five Guys. Cook Out is cheap and open late and has good sides.

Cookout’s value prop is value, i.e. it’s cheap! One of the few places you could still legitimately feed a family of four for 25-30 bucks. Plus there is real variety to the menu, families with picky eaters can probably find something to assuage all palates. (Bonus nice thing, they still have cheap chicken snack wraps,…

As a native Ohioan who has lived in Tennessee for nearly a decade, Cook-Out is ... fine? It’s not what Southerners hype it up to be, and it isn’t in the same *galaxy* as Swenson’s, but it’s decent for what it is. If the food were priced any higher, it would probably lose all of its appeal to me.

You know what I like most about Fatburger over In-N-Out?

Agree with In N Out being highly overrated and Culver’s is great. Used to love Fatburger when I worked out West. I think The Takeout needs to review Meatheads...a small Midwest regional chain that tops all of them IMHO.

As the regional chains go, Culver’s wins every time. I just don’t get In N Out’s clout at all. The burgers are fine.