We ate at dozens of fast-food chains in 2017 - here are the 9 absolute worst things we tried

• We ate at dozens of fast-food restaurants in 2017.
• Some highly-hyped new menu items were duds.
• Other chains clearly need to clean up their acts, as some iconic items have lost their luster.

A lot of bad things happened in 2017.

Riots broke out over the lack of Szechuan sauce at McDonald's. When Chipotle needed a savior most, its queso condemned the chain to further derision. We discovered our President's diet is disconcertingly dominated by fast-food.

As these horrors played out in headlines throughout the year, we choked down meals at restaurants across the country. Dozens of trips to fast-food chains later, we've distilled these meals down to the worst of the worst.

Here are the absolute worst things we ate - or imbibed - in 2017.