Little by little, the cost of Wendy’s and some other fast food places has caught up with sit down places like Applebee’s, Red Robin’s, or your local independent diner. And you get much better food and bigger portions at the latter.
If you get a Wendy’s full sized salad and a coke, the cost is about $10.
IMO, sit down places have done a much better job at keeping prices low than fast food places have.
Most of the time when I go to fast food places, the food tastes like it’s been sitting around for hours. If I don’t ask for fries hot and crisp right out of the fryer, I will always get lukewarm, soggy fries. The opposite should be the norm - you should have to ask for lukewarm, soggy fries, not hot crispy ones.