McDonald's in General

There are a lot of specific McDonald’s threads in these here parts, but nothing on the chain as a whole. In a management course my daughter is taking they are looking at McDonald’s. Good grief. They’re by far the leading fast food company in the world?!?! And by a lot!?!?

To add flesh, so to speak, to the report that’s expected in her course, my daughter went a local McD and brought back a Big Mac for me and a chicken nuggets meal for herself.

Everything was uniformly awesome …
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… – got you going there for a second didn’t I? – awful, except for the passable fries. The burger was stone-cold (and we get delivery from places five times as far that are still hot) and the nuggets were more bread than chicken.

How does this chain still exist?

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The only things I ever order from Mickey D’s are two cheeseburgers with a small fry if we’re on the road. Or, if I’m by myself once or twice a year I will order a sausage egg McMuffin. That’s it.

McDonald has one of the strongest QC/QA product performance. In addition, unlikely most fast food franchises, McDonald is a real estate company.

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Good question. I like McMuffins, and they are usually the most consistent item on the menu. And if you get there well before noon, the fries and filet o’ fish are pretty good. But most of the time it is hit or miss (usually miss).

You can of course ask for mods to the items in your order to get fresh as long as you’re willing to pull over and wait for them.

IMHO the shakes have always been awful, but the Cokes are great.

I think the reason for my occasional return is based more on the memories of my youth rather than the reality of the present. I do think that (with the exception of In 'N Out) McD’s is more consistent than most fast food places, but at their best, others like Wendy’s and Carl’s Jr. are superior (with the exception of breakfast). And the most variable are JitB, Sonic, and BK.

Oh, and again based on the kid memory thing, JitB tacos are the worst taco I have ever had, but I love them!

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Are the cheeseburgers hot – or even warm?

Yes, that’s an important factor. My wife has a fondness for White Castle and Carvel, based on the taste-memories of her youth in Queens, that I, brought up on Bhel and Pani Puri, do not share.

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Eve now that I have to order them without cheese, I still have a thing for Filet o’Fish. If you get the fries when they are fresh, they’re still some of the best out there. And McMuffins for breakfast.

Outside the US, they can actually be pretty good

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That was very interesting. Thanks.

Yes, the cheeseburgers are hot. Our sad foray into a Big Mac when we were on the road was horrible. The patties were cold and the cheese wasn’t melted. Cheeseburgers are always reliable in our limited experience. I really do not like fast food…

The …

  • Filet-O-Fish

  • Hash browns

  • (*And sometimes a Filet-O-Fish with Hash browns)

  • Sausage egg McMuffin

… are the raison d’être for McDonald’s. For me.

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Thanks, and nor do, I mostly – but I have to admit that I do occasionally Shake Shack.

Having said that, I will say that my SS allegiance goes back to the days when they were a single stand in Madison Square Park, and my taste for their stuff has gone down as they’ve gone up. Still, my worst burger from them is defeated by the Big Mac from today,

For me . I have always been a mc donald’s fan . I remember when they first opened in my home town. They had the regular hamburger you could buy for 12 cents. It rose to 15 cents the following week . I only eat there maybe 3 times a year now . I still order my favorite. Big mac and a cheese burger please .

I always want to check it out but never get around to doing it. Wouldn’t go near a McD’s at home (the smell). Specials in other countries are usually interesting.

No time to go through the photos on my hard drive but here are 2 taken in Kaohsiung (Taiwan) and Hong Kong. Yes, I take photos of interesting Western fast food in foreign countries.

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Since we’re swinging international, here’s a McDonald’s menu from India (from 2009):

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I have been known to put the hash brown on the Sausage Egg McMuffin…

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Someday, I am going to have time to find out if a “Mc 10:35” is actually a thing…

Otherwise, I fall into the camp that occasionally will get a Quarter Pounder or Chicken McNuggets out of nostalgia and almost always come away disappointed. The fries are very good when they are fresh, but have a quick half life. The Sausage or regular McMuffins are generally the most consistent and appear once in a while in our rotation depending on travel plans or hangover.

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Funny thing about McDonald’s—and fast-food outlets overall—is that somehow the quality can vary from location to location. As in: food hot or not, fries freshly made or sitting around getting stale. It’s obviously the same food though the experience can differ because humans are involved.

We frequent McDonald’s as a utility stop a couple times a year on road trips to see extended family, with our dog along.

We can eat in the car and get a plain burger for the dog. (I give her little bits of the burger patty when it cools down.) We scope out a location where families seem to be happily enjoying a lunch out and the premises are kept clean. Bonus points for outdoor space where we can stretch our legs. If the premises look grim we avoid.

And on the subject of international menus, a couple times I saw something called “Yankee Sauce” touted on McD’s signage in France. Absolutely idea what that is, or if McD’s still features the stuff there. I got a chuckle out of that name, living here in Red Sox nation where I’m pretty sure people would not welcome a condiment described as “Yankee.” (Long-time baseball rivalry between Boston and NY teams for those who might not know). :wink:

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Here’s my Big Mac…

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“Yankee (sauce) sucks!”

#GoSox

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I wasn’t gonna go there, but you’ve nailed exactly why I believe we’d never see such a condiment here at McD’s. :rofl:

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