Well, it has been a long time since I wrote or rated an opinion due to several reasons. One being a lightning strike directed through my phone line to my modem, another being my travelling around the country. Anyway, this review has been re-entered, not due to minor changes, I have re-written it completely. Anyone who read the old review is welcome to ignore this one but if you look you will notice many changes and opinions. So here goes.
The following op is a slightly byast account of my experiences in using Mcdonalds restaurants. I will try to include all aspects of the restaurants including the types of foods they sell, level of service and if possible, in some cases, a price range.
My experiences come from the three outlets that are within 5 miles of my home. This will be of no use to some people but if anyone else has been to them then I would love to hear of your experiences. They are situated at:-
Newton Aycliffe Services, Newton Aycliffe, County Durham (Drive Thru)
Newgate Street, Bishop Auckland, County Durham
Thinford Roundabout, Spennymoor, County Durham
So, I would imagine that nearly everyone on this site has been to, at some point, a Mcdonalds restaurant. Whether it be the most common routine of taking the screaming kids to keep them happy or just because you fancied a snack. Most of my experiences come from the time period of the last job I had. It was situated around one quarter of a mile from the Thinford branch of McDonalds so it was frequently used by our workforce. I must admit that even though I will be giving them some bad publicity in the following words, I went there a lot myself. Mainly due to the fact that there was nothing else around and you get sick of eating sandwiches. That is a perfect contradiction that I have heard a lot because in fact, the Mcdonalds menu mainly consists of sandwiches.
Well then, due to me frequenting the Thinford branch a lot more than the other two, I will concentrate my efforts on there. The following is a rendition of the menu you will find in a british Mcdonalds restaurant along with my description and experience of the food. Forgive if I have missed anything as I am trying to memorise it off the top of my head. I will however miss the stuff that I haven’t eaten and the breakfast menu due to never having tried one myself. Here goes.
Big Mac:- How people can enjoy these monstrosities is beyond me. It consists of two wafer thin beef patties, one slice of processed cheese, a bit of salad, some terrible sauce, those bloody gherkins and is packed in a three tier bun. The worst part for me is that the beef patties don’t really taste like beef. Sounds great to some people but who wants to eat something that won’t stay the same shape throughout its short lifespan. Everything falls out and you end up with just bread in your hand. They can be bought separately for around £2 or you can include them in your meal with fries and a drink for around £3. The latter is not necessarily the better option as I will explain later.
McChicken Sandwich:- This is what I would eat if I ever had to visit McDonalds again. It is a basic chicken pattie served with lettuce and mayonnaise in a kind of oblong bun. To me, this is very tasty and actually resembles chicken. That is what plays the major part in me buying this product. On the other hand it still has a long way to go before it entices me back to Mcdonalds. The main problem with it is the fact that they put too much lettuce and mayonnaise in. You would think this is a good thing but the truth is that when you take it out you are left with a very paltry sandwich. The chicken and the bun don’t really consist of nothing so the lettuce and mayonnaise is really just selling a lie to everyone. Again the price is around £2 for the sandwich and £3 for the meal.
Quarter Pounder:- The first thing I would like to state about this is:- is it really a quarter pound pattie? I cannot be sure but it is worth looking at. After all, the two pre-mentioned sandwiches are certainly bordering on rip-off status so who knows. In this sandwich you get the burger, a couple of strands of onion, 2 slices of processed cheese, a huge dollop of tomato ketchup and those bloody gherkins again. Overall, the sandwich is not my idea of food heaven. Again the prices are around £2 for the sandwich and £3 for the meal.
Chicken McNuggets:- These come in packs of 4, 6, 9 or 20 pieces. Although they do actually taste quite good the pricing of these is horrendous. A box of 20 is around, and correct me if I’m wrong on this, £4. How can this be justified? You can go in to just about any supermarket and get a frozen bag of 40 for no more than a quid so why the high price. You can also get include these in a meal and I believe the standard meal amount is 6 pieces. They are not as filling as the sandwiches so the hungry person is advised to stay away. Pricing is I believe £2 for 6, £2.75 for 9 and the above mentioned disgrace of £4 for 20. I am not sure about the price for 4. Meal deal is mentioned above.
Fillet o’ Fish:- This is terrible. Rotten.com material. The company states that this is a piece of 100% pure cod but I personally believe that it is actually whiting, the poor mans equivalent of cod. Again, this could be worth looking in to. The sandwich consists of this piece of discarded seafood and some terrible sauce that is supposed to be tartare. I have never tasted Tartare like it. It is unfilling, unfulfilling and uneatable. I still have nightmares about it today. Again pricing is £2 for the sandwich and £3 for the meal.
Hamburger and Cheeseburger:- Tiny little crappy beef pattie in flat bun. That just about sums it up. Oh, for the ten pence extra you can have a slice of processed cheese on top to make it the cheeseburger. Those bloody gherkins pop up again too! I believe pricing is 69p for the hamburger and 79p for the cheeseburger.
Fries:- Thin, salty pieces of potato. I cannot believe how much salt they add to these fries. Maybe that is why pricing is so high due to the amount of salt McDonalds has to extract from the sea each year. Another thing, maybe it is only me who has noticed but why do they wear those outrageous spacesuits when cooking these? Beats me because I can cook chips and I haven’t got a degree in nuclear physics. I’m not sure about this one but pricing is 59p for a tiny bag of fries (regular), 79p for medium, 99p for large and £1.19 for supersize.
Carbonated Drinks:- These come in the form of Coca Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite. When you order, it is best to ask for no ice due to the fact that you get less drink. I think that the drinks are priced at around the same as the fries (above).
In the above paragraphs I have covered only the things that I have eaten myself. A special apology goes out to vegetarians as I haven’t included the veggie burger. I would appreciate it if someone could leave a small mention about the veggie burger in the comments area of this opinion.
We now come to the question of - is the service any good? Quite frankly, in my own experience, no. The three outlets that I have been to have been slow. This is supposed to be a ’’fast food’’ outlet. I think this phrase comes from the fact that due to the meals not being very substantial, the food disappears fast. There is my answer to the service but again, if anyone has had similar experiences or thinks that this level is limited to these three stores then let me know.
The one good point to come out of all of this is that the restaurants are generally very clean. Both in the restaurant itself and the toilet facilities.