Ten years ago, the idea of going to a fast-food joint to get a salad was somewhat akin to going to Wal-Mart to get foie gras. It simply wasn't going to happen. The closest you'd come to a salad was the lettuce, tomato and occasionally onion on the burgers.

How times have changed. These days, every major chain has embraced, to one degree or another, the salad concept. With serious profit margins to be found by selling a bowl full of lettuce, carrots, cucumber and other reasonably cheap and durable ingredients topped by a piece of chicken that's already on the menu as part of a sandwich, the big boys would have to be stupid not to trot out a salad or three.

There has been a fair amount of creativity involved, too. A couple of the chains have even gone beyond traditional and completely flavorless iceberg lettuce in their efforts.

A note on iceberg lettuce: While the freshness of the ingredients is taken into account in the ratings for each salad, no points are awarded for iceberg lettuce being crisp. You have to really try to take the snap out of iceberg. It's the lazy-man's salad green, and rewarding its use is contributing to an overall decline in salad quality.

One of the chains included a pack of "homestyle" croutons with the salad. Who makes croutons at home? That's like saying "homestyle" truffle oil.

Now that I'm done ranting, let's get down to rating, shall we? Each salad receives an A-F grade based on freshness, variety of ingredients, taste and quality of meat, appearance and overall impression. All the salads were purchased mid-afternoon, when the kitchens are not busy and thus should be turning out their best-quality product.

Nutritional information is provided, where available. Nutrition facts are calculated including croutons and ranch dressing.

Arby's Market Fresh Chicken Club: 613 calories, 32 grams fat, 182 mg cholesterol, 1,482 mg sodium, 46 grams carbs

Two words came to mind immediately upon opening this salad and seeing how the cheese, bacon and hardboiled egg had molded to the contour of the lid: airplane food. The bacon bore little or no trace of the pepper promised on the menu, the popcorn chicken was stone-cold and gummy, and the cheese tasted like yellow-tinted library paste. But at least the iceberg lettuce was crisp! Final grade: F.

Burger King Tendergrill Chicken Salad: 590 calories, 31 grams fat, 100 mg cholesterol, 1,400 mg sodium, 19 grams carbs.

The chicken that won our grilled chicken sandwich comparison makes an appearance here, diced and provided in its own foil pouch on the side for addition to the salad. I was a bit suspicious, thinking perhaps precooked, chopped chicken was used, but if that was the case the King's minions did a great job of making it taste freshly cooked. There was a good variety of salad greens, but the three undersized baby carrots and some really flavorless tomato slices were off notes. Final grade: B-.

Sonic Grilled Chicken Salad : 570 calories, 42 grams fat, 100 mg cholesterol, 1,580 mg sodium, 19 grams carbs.

Here, the dreaded iceberg lettuce strikes again, joined by three cold, lifeless onion rings for no apparent reason. The chicken was tasty, if not cut up terribly well, and the grape tomatoes were a nice surprise. While it's nothing to write home about, the Sonic salad earns a respectable C+.

McDonald's Premium Bacon Ranch Salad with Grilled Chicken: 500 calories, 26 grams fat, 110 mg cholesterol, 1,680 mg sodium, 31 grams carbs.

I'll be honest: I didn't expect much from this salad, from the unchallenged king of factory fast food. I was pleasantly surprised. The chicken still had that slightly odd texture present in the grilled chicken sandwich, and the sliced carrots had a slightly waxy texture from having been cut well in advance, but this was an altogether quite tasty salad. It was also the best-looking of the test, nicely tossed, with a good mix of colors and textures throughout. Final grade: B+.

Wendy's Chicken BLT Salad : 690 calories, 41 grams fat, 120 mg cholesterol, 1,470 mg sodium, 24 grams carbs.

This was our winner. The chicken was tender and flavorful, the salad greens were a great mix, the bacon and cheese properly flavorful, and the grape tomatoes almost as sweet as berries. I'm not a cucumber fan, and I liked them in this mix. I'm not positive, but I'd swear I even tasted arugula in there somewhere. Final grade: A.

Most of these chains have more on the menu than what was used for this comparison, but I had to compare apples to apples as much as possible. You would do well to explore the salad menus for yourself, especially at our two top-rated chains.

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