Customers Say These Are The 7 Absolute Worst Dairy Queen Menu Items

Dairy Queen is a well-known, long-established restaurant that's best known for its ice cream, and more specifically, for its blizzards and ice cream cakes, which are made in-store in a fascinating way. Dairy Queen is also known for chicken strips that taste so good it's hard to believe they're a fast food item. If only every item on its menu was so revered, the chain might dominate the fast food market entirely. Unfortunately, this isn't the case, and not everything at Dairy Queen is a ballpark hit.

Some Dairy Queen menu items are the subject of quite a lot of debate as to how good (or, in this case, bad) they really are. But, there are a few items that a large number of people agree are abysmal in taste, presentation, quality, or some combination of the three. So if you want the best eating experience, you don't want to order one of these controversial foods. If you're heading to Dairy Queen to grab some ice cream this summer, or are just trying to get a quick bite to eat, make sure you skip these seven menu items that customers claim are the absolute worst in reviews. Trust me, your taste buds will thank you for it.

French fries are an American favorite, regularly served with everything from hamburgers and hot dogs to steaks and barbecue ribs. If I'm being honest here, they also aren't a terribly easy thing to mess up, since there's a huge range of fry styles that people find acceptable. French fries are also one of Dairy Queen's msot popular foods, Yet, somehow, Dairy Queen still managed to mess its fries up.

In an exclusive ranking by Chowhound, Dairy Queen fries came in dead last in a comparison of 15 different fast food fries. Per Chowhound, "... Something strange happens during your first few bites. Expecting a crunch, my teeth simply cut through the fried tuber as if it was a strip of butter. Expecting a smack of salty savor, my tongue lolled around inside my mouth searching for something — anything — resembling flavor." Of course, this is far from the only derogatory statements about Dairy Queen's french fries. A person on Reddit claims the fries were very mediocre in taste and the texture was always off whenever they ordered them. Overall, the general consensus is that these fries aren't worth ordering, so steer clear.

Soft pretzels are amazing, and pretzel sticks are even more so. After all, they have all the starchy goodness of the original twist, but in a shape that's easier to dip and hold. What's not to love? Well, if you asked people who've tried Dairy Queen's pretzel sticks, you'd find that they largely believe this menu item is unlovable, and that's a real shame.

One discontent reviewer on GrubHub said, "[The] pretzels were very hard and stale, [I] couldn't even bite them." There's nothing worse than an overly hard pretzel, but it's always possible one bad experience was just a fluke. However, a Redditor on r/DairyQueen concurred with the sentiment, stating, "I had them tonight and I thought the queso had the consistency of glue... and I had a hard time chewing the pretzels. It was just a very odd eating experience overall." This Reddit comment was left on a thread started by someone complaining about the pretzel sticks and discussing how disappointed they were. Long story short? Skip this Dairy Queen menu item if you want to be able to chew what you order.

When I conducted a taste test for a ranking of Dairy Queen's Blizzards, the Snickers Brownie Blizzard Treat came in dead-last when compared with seven other unique flavors. The taste of this Blizzard isn't necessarily disgusting, but rather unbalanced. I thought the dense bits of fudge and brownie were overwhelming, and they were distributed throughout the treat poorly, leaving some spots of pure ice cream and others of nothing but chunky brownie. While some people enjoy foods that have a whole lot going on, many people's palates can end up feeling overwhelmed. When that happens, it's hard to really zero in on any one given taste or texture, ruining the experience (or at least downgrading it).

But, the main issue with the Snickers Brownie Blizzard Treat might not be that it's overwhelming, but rather, that it's inconsistent. On The Impulsive Buy, the reviewer explains that they tried the treat two separate times, and had vastly different experiences each time – and both of their experiences with this Blizzard were quite different from mine. "The first time, the brownie bits were missing chocolate flavor, and I was complaining that it was too bland," the blog begins. "The second time, the brownie bits seemed much more flavorful." Consistency is important because it tells you what to expect. So, unless you want to play Russian roulette with flavor, skip this treat flavor and opt for one of DQ's many other ones.

In case you're not familiar with cheese curds, they're pieces of young cheese formed during the cheese-making process. They're characterized by a salty, somewhat rubbery texture that's mildly akin to mozzarella, and they're an incredibly popular snack in Midwest states like Wisconsin. Fried cheese curds are exactly what they sound like, and feature these unique pieces of cheese coated in batter and fried. Dairy Queen is one of the few places you can get these snacks all over the country rather than in select locations, but unfortunately, they're just not worth ordering.

The most obvious problem with Dairy Queen's rendition of this beloved Midwest snack is the portion size versus price. One person posted an image on Reddit of a small container of cheese curds that's only about ¾ of the way full, stating that this was supposed to be a large size and they were charged $8 for it. Of course, people are willing to pay more for things they really like. But a comment under this thread says, "They're not very good, either. I threw half of mine away." An Instagram post from someone claiming to be from Wisconsin agrees, calling the cheese curds "fine" but describing them as "soggy." Small portions and subpar quality means you should skip the fried cheese curds on your next visit to Dairy Queen.

A chili cheese dog is one of those things where all of the basic components have to be high-quality or they can throw the whole dish off. The bun should be soft, the chili should be fantastic, the cheese should be generous, and the hot dog needs to be high quality. But, it appears that Dairy Queen has managed to mess up three out of those four basic ingredients — at least, based on some customer comments left under a Reddit thread asking for opinions on Dairy Queen's chili cheese dog.

One commenter claims that the hot dog looks grey and the bun tastes rubbery. A rubbery bun is bad enough, but I think most people would throw their hot dogs straight into the trash if it looked gray. After all, if raw chicken turns gray, it's a sign of spoilage. Although I'm not sure what it means for hot dogs when that happens, I'm sure it can't be good. Another person believes that the issue isn't really the hot dogs, but the chili. They said, "Their dogs are fairly thick. It's definitely thicker than Sonic's dogs, but their chili is not very good. Almost dog food-like." With such disparaging reviews, I would avoid the chili cheese dog at all costs if I were you.

In an exclusive ranking of Dairy Queen Blizzards on Tasting Table, the Heath Blizzard Treat came in last when judged side-by-side against 13 other flavors. And, as you might expect, the reviewer didn't have many good things to say about this flavor, making it one of only two Blizzards that fall under the category of "worst Dairy Queen menu items." After noting that the flavor was dull and underwhelming, the Tasting Table reviewer expounded, "This Blizzard tasted more like a vanilla soft serve with the tiniest specks of chocolate. I really didn't taste much toffee, which is pretty paramount to a Heath bar, so this flavor was a letdown all around."

Like most things, this greedy distribution of candy bits could simply be someone having a bad day, or a one-off fluke. Except that a Yelp review reiterated the same thing, stating that their wife's Heath Blizzard Treat was basically just vanilla ice cream. That's truly disappointing, because the whole point of getting a Blizzard is to experience the unique flavor profile of ice cream and candy together. You'll want to skip this, since you could save money by opting for a vanilla soft serve instead. 

Mushrooms and Swiss cheese are both things that people either love or hate, with no in-between. For those people who enjoy both of these things, Dairy Queen's Mushroom Swiss Grillburger probably sounds like the perfect burger — until you hear what some people are saying about it.

One of the most concerning takes on this burger comes from a YouTube channel called Chris Eats Stuff. The on-video review is titled, "Is DQ's Mushroom Burger as gross as it looks?" In the beginning of the short video, the reviewer comments on how the burger looks gross, and goes on to later clarify that it does, indeed, taste almost as bad as it looks. As if that weren't enough to give you second thoughts, a Business Insider review also warns against eating this burger. "There are myriad problems with this burger," the reviewer starts. "The patty is burned, the bun is soggy, and the Swiss cheese is half-way melted on one side of the burger." None of this sounds particularly appetizing, so your best bet is to skip this burger if you want a decent meal.