My outings to McDonald’s have been limited to the occasions when I meet my friends for a get-together. The restaurants are all very nice and offer a very amicable environment for catching up with old times. Clear music playing in the background, cool videos being flashed on the television; It is the ambience of the place, coupled with a courteous staff and the general cleanliness all around that attracts me to frequent the place.
Since McDonald’s is a reputed international brand, one is assured that the quality of food, ambience and cleanliness at all its restaurants will be at the same level. They go to great lengths to satisfy the customer and personalize the food in each country according to the regional tastes. In fact, I am impressed to know that McDonald’s even claims to have developed a mayonnaise that is eggless for the veggies.
This weekend was a perfect day for an outing to McDonald’s. The occasion was the wedding of a close pal at Vashi, (New Bombay) where the food was totally non-vegetarian. Being a vegetarian, I and a couple of friends decided to go out for a brunch. For some time we remained undecided about the choice of restaurant when I suggested “To aaj McDonald’s Ho Jaaye”.
One thing that has irked me on each visit to McDonald’s is that you do not get water along with your food. Anywhere in India, upon entering a restaurant, one is served with a glass of cool water; even at a roadside ’dhaba’ frequented by truckers (Yes, I have been there too.) !! Surprisingly, this is not the practice at McDonald’s !!
Food : Very Good. The food was very tasty and hygienically prepared, but it lacked in variety. There is hardly anything on the menu that gives you a semblance of a choice. If one is to sit and count the number of vegetarian items on the offering, it is very disappointing to know that there are just 6 items available to choose from. I also discovered that the restaurant is extremely unbiased as it offers exactly same number of items for the non-vegetarian customer.
Price : Fair enough. If one takes into account the ambience and cleanliness, most of the items are decently priced. But if you see the nutritional content, the prices are exorbitant.
Service n Staff : The service was good. The staff is very good. They are well spoken and polite. Food was served promptly. Previously they had a one-minute sand clock that was started soon as you finish your order. If the order is not served in a minute, then you get a discount. Recently the practice has been discontinued as the staff claims to serve in lesser time.
Cleanliness : The cleanliness in all of the branches visited by me has been satisfactory. I have said earlier that since McDonald’s is an international brand, it maintains the same level of quality in all aspects in all its restaurants. But my faith in McDonald’s’ cleanliness was shattered with my visit to the Vashi Branch. My table not cleaned properly. My shirt got soiled due to it. It was utterly disgusting to eat after that. When asked for the feedback form, it took 10 minutes to get one. This also shattered my belief that McDonald’s offers great service. And to top it all, I was not even provided a pen along with it. Some service (sic) !!
Overall Experience : Very Bad at this branch. Good otherwise. The music was inaudible. The television was not functioning. Unlike other branches (Thane) no one came to my table to enquire about the feedback. The branch is definitely not worth another visit. That was another belief about good ambience getting shattered
Other : There is a section reserved for parties. But it seemed very illogical as the Vashi branch is very small to afford this. People had to wait for tables to vacate while one section was kept closed.
The washroom is very cramped. The washbasin is too high for children. As India is a very hot country, I feel that upon arrival, customers should get a customary glass of cool drinking water, at least in summer.
So what started with great gusto to go out and have a nice meal and spend some good time at a clean place with good service ended up being a day where beliefs were shattered and trust was broken.
PS: I was skeptical about my feedback being submitted. So I went to McDonald’s India website and submitted another feedback form there.
I didn’t get a reply mail even after 3 days informing me about the action being taken on my email.
For those interested, the site has a region based menu and also provides a calorie chart to let you know the exact amount of damage that you cause to yourself every time you eat junk food. ;-)