McDonald’s Restaurants

I can’t believe I’m reviewing a McDonald’s (or even giving them my business, for that matter!), but I had such a frustrating experience there the other day that I just had to Unilocal about it.
Our cooker was broken last week, so my stepsons and I did the drive-​thru at this particular McDonalds after their Friday football session. I asked for a grilled chicken salad and the boys wanted Happy Meals with lemonade. When we tried to place our order, we were told that they were out of lemonade. Out of lemonade?! The guys shrugged it off and asked for Coke instead, but lemonade is their favourite and that’s what they really wanted. We paid for everything and were asked to pull up and wait for my salad. A few minutes later, a guy came to the car with my salad in a bag and asked if they had told me when I ordered that they were out of salad dressing. Guys, I was tired and hungry, and I’m sure I probably whined at him when I said, «nooooooo, they DIDN’T tell me that.» He asked if I wanted to take back the salad and get a grilled chicken deli sandwich instead. I thought about it for a moment and accepted.
So we waited in the car a few more minutes, then the guy came back with a sandwich for me which wasn’t very good, didn’t stay on the bun and just generally wasn’t what I needed right then. I was disappointed with the whole experience and a stupid, nationalistic little thought occurred to me, «this wouldn’t happen at a McDonald’s in the States!» Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn’t, but the point is that a big restaurant like McDonald’s should not run out of something as fundamental as lemonade, nor should it run out of EVERY variety of salad dressing on offer (and then forget to tell customers about it when ordering!).
All right, this is probably one of the most embarrassing things I’ll ever reveal on Unilocal: I used to work for McDonalds… and not just as a cashier, but as a swing manager. It was a long time ago, okay? As part of my role there, I ordered all the lemonade, the salad dressing and everything else that a restaurant needs to keep its supply lines strong. So I know from personal experience that it is REALLY HARD to run out of lemonade. The syrup bags for all the sodas are enormous, but should still be checked daily. Most McDonald’s get deliveries every five days, so you check your stuff and plan accordingly. And the salad dressing thing is also crazy — it’s just bad planning!!! Okay, now I’m sounding like a freak but I’m just baffled as to how a not very large McD’s completely runs out of lemonade.
The only reason this McDonald’s gets two stars and not one is that the staff were all pretty friendly and apologetic about it. But still… get it together, McD’s!

This is quite a good branch of Mcdonalds. The staff seem a little more on the ball at this restaurant than some of the others, and the service seems to be quicker, suggesting to me that the inside of this burger joint runs like a well oiled (with chip fat) machine. They have all the usual food stuff on the menu, and it does taste good if you like that sort of thing. My favourite most recent seasonal thing on the menu has been the little cheesy bites they had around christmas– whoever thought fried processed cheese could taste so good? Overall I think this is a pretty good branch, but watch out if you’re watching your waistline as fried cheese never did anyone any favours!