TEXAS, USA — Y'all, we're sick of North Texas food getting dragged through the mud.
First, there was that list of "best BBQ cities" in the U.S. where San Antonio topped the list. Now, there's apparently a problem with our Whataburger spots.
According to Google reviews, the second- and third-worst Texas Whataburgers are in Dallas and Fort Worth. That's from a study compiled by the San Antonio Express-News.
Grab a Patty Melt. We're breaking down this research.
First, the Express-News team pulled up the 900+ restaurants across the U.S. that are listed in the company directory, then picked those with at least 100 Google Map ratings.
Then, they looked at seven Texas cities with at least 20 Whataburger restaurants: San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, El Paso, Corpus Christi and Houston.
Lastly, they compared the average Google ranking for each restaurant against the average ranking for all Texas Whataburgers, which is 4.1, according to their research.
Their analysis said 77% of the Dallas locations were ranked below average, making it the second-worst Whataburger city. Fort Worth is slightly better off, with 3 out of every 4 spots (75%) being below average.
Austin is worse than everyone with 4 out of every 5 (80%) being rated under 4.1.
According to the study, San Antonio is the third-best in the state with just 10% of its locations being below average.
The study showed that San Antonio has more Whataburgers with 100+ reviews (52) than Dallas and Fort Worth combined (23 and 21 respectively; 44 total).
That could mean two things:
- There could be some DFW Whataburgers that are so good, that no one felt the need to write a review at all, let alone a bad one.
- A bad review for a Dallas or Fort Worth restaurant could hurt their city's average more than a bad review for a San Antonio location.
And it doesn't help that most of the San Antonio Whataburgers have an above-average ranking. All but five of the 52 listed have ratings of 4.1 or higher.
Dallas, on the other hand, only has two locations that made the mark. But the lowest ranking for the city is 3.3, which is only .1 point lower than San Antonio's lowest.
The lowest rating in Fort Worth is 3.5, and six of the 21 locations reach the 4.1 average.
Either way, you probably won't see people avoiding Whataburgers anytime soon. If there's one thing Texans love -- whether they're in Dallas, Fort Worth, or San Antonio -- it's Whataburger.
Well, Whataburger and H-E-B, of course.
We reached out to Whataburger for comment on the study. We'll let you know when they respond.
