Because, unless you go every weekend I honestly can’t complain (Europe) about the taste of the meals (even though they’re rising in pricing).
Also for what I’ve seen the ones we have are smaller than USA big menu
From the sounds of this thread American McDonald’s is Canadian KFC. Food quality fell off a fucking cliff to the point of being revolting half the time, and the price keeps going up
I mean youre not wrong about KFC but that also describes Canadian Mcdonalds.
It’s definitely a gut bomb.
I gave up on McDonalds about 20 years ago. Wasn’t very good at that time. I’ve been told it got worse
Whenever I don’t bring my lunch to work my only options are gas station food or McDonald’s. Every time I go to McDonalds I get a cold meat patty on a hard bun, with the cheese somewhere on the side. The limp undercooked fries and bland nuggets that have the consistency of playdough.
I go to the gas station without hesitation.
McDonald’s ranks just above Arby’s. It isn’t cheap anymore, they have doubled their prices in the last 10 years completely divorced from inflation and you pretty much have to use a self-Order kiosk if you go inside.
I do live within a somewhat unreasonable drive of their corporate headquarters, so I can get the best version of McDonald’s possible in America if I have that level of self loathing.
I absolutely 99% of the time will go to Culver’s instead and pay like $2 more for a vastly better fast food experience despite having to drive 30mins round trip instead of 10 minutes.
I would love to try golden arches in a European country or Japan to find out how good McDonald’s can actually be.
Arby’s is pretty good
I miss the Arby-Q. I think it’s been 20-30 years now?
I have to travel at least 40min to have anything now
It’s ok to be wrong, just understand that you are and accept that.
While we’re at it, in n out is fucking terrible. Fries are the worst I’ve ever had, and burgers are bland
If you plan on going to Dubai, there is a McDonalds in the Burj Khalifa. There I got a spicy chicken burger. It was crispy, extremely delicious and they used a deboned thigh as the patty!
I would never knowingly give UAE my money.
This was about $4 USD in Ho Chi Minh City back in 2023. Looked much nicer than almost anywhere I’ve had in the US and tasted better too. Of course, you could get a special banh mi for half that price almost anywhere in the city.
I can get a double cheeseburger and fries from my local burger shop for $6 and not feel like shit after eating it. Why would I ever go to McDonald’s again?
Hell, I can spend like $3 more and get an 8oz sirloin and 2 sides (at least twice the food) from Texas Roadhouse instead of a bigmac meal at McDonald’s. The only time I’d even consider going there at this point is when they’re the only place open, and frankly I’d rather go to White Castle or Jack in the Box at that point.
100% with you on places like Culver’s. At McDonald’s new price point I would rather go somewhere slightly more expensive and get better food and/or experience.
It’s bad in the same way cigarettes are bad. It’s not good for you, but it’s tasty on the way down (though this varies by location and one’s taste). At the end of the day, it’s wildly popular for a reason.
Personally, I prefer Rally’s or Culver’s. Neither are much better for you, but they’re better than McD’s.
It’s possible to eat reasonably healthy at McDonald’s or other fast food restaurants. But a lot of people are going to add fries and a sugary drink, or even a milkshake, exploding the calories to unreasonably high amounts. If you just have it every now and then, whatever, it’s not going to kill you. I used to eat McDonald’s a lot when I was younger and it was actually cheap. Their prices are so ridiculous now that you may as well just buy something that actually tastes good instead.
“It tastes good so it must be OK”
Big brain time
It’s somehow always disappointing, but comforting.
I will say, McDonalds in Japan was pretty impressive. The food was still basically McDonalds’ flavors, but was made like they actually cared. All of our food looked like it did in the pictures, flawless bun and fries appearance. It was kind of jarring, since I couldn’t recall the last time I had seen a US McDonalds burger that wasn’t a loose-wrapper intentionally-squished disc of sadness, with ketchup splattered and leaking from the side of the bun.
I know this was targeted at the US but Ill answer from my perspective as an Aussie. Maccas used to be a good option for a cheap but by no means healthy meal. I dont eat there anymore because I no longer eat meat and the only things I would consider buying are exorbitantly priced. $1 AUD for a hash brown was a decent price, $2 is ok but not great. $3.60 for a single hash brown is simply outrageous even before you consider they are 2/3 the size they used to be. Even if I did eat meat, there are far better, more substantial options available for the same price
McDonald’s is franchised to a whole bunch of individual owners in the United States. This is why you get such varying quality reports. Some franchisees are better at making the food tasty than others.
For example with French fries: to get good fries you have to keep the fryers at the right temperature, change the oil pretty regularly, and get the right amount of salt on the fries right when they come out. A bad franchisee will skimp on the oil changes, not fix the fryer thermostat, and he won’t care what the 16 year old does with the salt
One thing that McDonald’s is really good at with their franchise rules is food safety. It is quite rare for anyone to actually get food poisoning from McDonald’s. Probably rarer than many fine dining places where a lot more people touch your food, and they use a lot of manual cooking processes.
food safety is unironically the one thing that mcdonalds does extremely well. Mere limp fries and stale nuggets won’t get the whole business shut down.
Big Macs used to be cheap. Now you can go to the Taqueria and get a meal for cheaper
Any food at the end of a long line of industrial processes is going to be bad. Fight me.
Flour
I was about to say something against it, but the only long processes I could think of were fermentation and pickling and they make stuff delicious - and those aren’t industrial.
and those aren’t industrial.
How pickles are made
Blueberries
I was kinda hoping to see blueberry pickles.
The fries are great. I will defend them wholeheartedly.
Everything else leaves a lot to be desired in terms of nutrition, flavour and cost.
In my experience, the fries are great for five whole minutes before they turn into soggy cardboard and broken dreams
It’s a pretty good five minutes though
I think that’s true of all French fries everywhere. The deep frying technique fundamentally dehydrates the outside while leaving the inside with enough internal moisture to be soft or fluffy. That’s an unstable setup that will trend towards equilibrium, drying out the center and softening up the exterior.
No, it’s not but people have formed really strong opinions about it online since it became expensive.
They have some good chicken sandwiches and the burgers are ok. If you are hungry and traveling it serves food fast.
It doesn’t taste as good as it used to so my kids won’t eat it anymore. Which is good because it’s gotten expensive enough to go to a diner instead.
Still it’s fine. It’s never been better than fine.
Whenever I have it it now tastes like slop compared to what else I can get for the same value. I think they’re overvaluing their offering. Wendies, a&w, burger king, and others are in the same ballpark price and their burgers are superior imo.
Wendys near here is 20-40% more. I liked them for the salads but simply couldn’t afford them .
Last I checked a Dave’s single combo at Wendy’s was around $10.50 and a quarter pounder combo was around $15.
I could be wrong though. I just remember being shocked at the price when I got to the window.
Edit: CAD $
