to think McDonald's have lost the main idea of "fast food"

I miss the BK halloumi burger...

I'll always have fond memories of McDonald's though as before the arrival of smart phones and ubiquitous WiFi, your option "out and about" used to be go to an Internet cafe or haul your laptop to the nearest McDonald's, so the upstairs would always be full of travelling business men and foreign students. Good times!

The vegetarian happy meal is literally very spicy veg nuggets. Granddaughter cannot eat them and the plant burger isn’t available for Happy Meals.

I'm always amazed given how busy the drive though is that others haven't copied the model for healthier foods. I wish I could go and pick up healthy meals for my family through a drive through sometimes

Both local ones near me are the same, really slow and then usually when you do get your order half of it is missing anyway

I think the same. It;s often cold and soggy when you collect at the restaurant, so add a car/bike journey, it's going to be inedible by the time it gets delivered. But our son thinks differently. He's happy to have a cold McDonalds and doesn't think it's a problem when he has one delivered! He's even been known to buy a meal deal, then get on a bus back to his flat with it, to eat at home which takes even longer than a delivery driver! It must be an age thing!! I can't eat "hot" food unless it's hot, not even warm and certainly not cold!

Thanks for that, I want one now. 😂

It varies by branch.

There is one branch I know where you can take a seat and they'll bring you your food quickly and with a smile. The toilets are relatively clean.

There is another branch I know where they always disable table service (if you order via the app, they just won't bring it or tell you), the big screen with the orders is always turned off, most of the touch screen order stations are always out of printer paper and the food will take you well over half an hour, even if it's a simple order. Don't even ask about the toilets - I feel traumatised just thinking about the one time I walked in and immediately walked out again wanting to vomit from the sight/smell.

Ordering via the app is a bad idea because when something is missing, you don't get a refund.

The best way to order is directly via UberEATS (i.e. not through McDonalds powered by UberEATS) or Just Eat, as you'll get account credit for your missing items that way. No McDonalds reward points, but at least you won't pay for food you don't get.

PS With the terrible branch, it's obvious when you walk in that all hope has gone to die. If you get that sense, walk out. Chances are, there's another fast food joint (maybe even another McDonalds!) nearby that's better.

I can order online and get it delivered in 20minutes. 30mins at the drive through is outrageous, but probably the fault of people like me ordering online.

I remember going to a McDonald’s in central London that had extended its seating area massively to the whole of the upstairs. But the kitchen area was still the same size. The seating capacity did not match the staff numbers and kitchen size at all, we waited about 45 min

Also it used to be delicious in a disgusting, trashy way, but last few times I've been (different places) it has been really unmoreish: not enough salt or sugar, not enough gross UPFish sauce or oozing fake cheese. So it's like, if you aren't going to be an OTT junk overload then what's the point of yiu?

I go to McDs about once every 6 months.

It takes me about that long to forget how bad the previous experience was, and also be sucked into the idea that the juicy burger shown on the advert will be what I will get, rather than the saggy miserable offering that is actually served up.

To be fair the gourmet burgers from most fast food places are OK.

If you think McDonalds is slow, try Burger King at Skipton (Yorkshire). We called in and there were only around 3 people before us. We ordered on the screens. It was a "whopping" 40 minutes before our food was served! They were on a go slow, and seemingly only preparing one meal at a time. The "cook" didn't seem to know how to do two things at once. It wasn't as if it was busy, there were only a couple more people came in after us. None of the staff looked remotely interested in actually doing their jobs and were just randomly walking around behind the counter. Then when the burgers finally appeared in the serving area, the counter woman went to the fries and only then realised there weren't any, so she started cooking them, as the burgers were sat there going cold! No "joined up" thinking at all.

Although even worse at the Scotch Corner KFC. We only wanted two soft drinks, but the guy doing the drinks was doing it strictly by order number, so we had to wait behind everyone else who was waiting for food to be cooked. We asked him if he could do ours, as he was literally doing nothing, until each order had been cooked and then doing the drinks for them, but he looked at us as if we'd asked him to explain quantum physics - he just couldn't grasp that it was nonsensical for him to stand there doing nothing, when there were orders he could fulfil!

I stopped going there because there’s no veggie option (not in the UK) and Burger King has about 3 different veggie burgers. It feels like they haven’t moved with the times at all. In the past there were no veggie options anywhere so I would get the DDs something and I’d just eat at home.

I love a McDonald’s every now and then but would never order it for delivery. It must be cold? There’s no way the fries especially would last a journey.

This is true my DS works at MacDonald and they can't cook any quicker than they do , they can only cook to order and cook so many at a time for quality. Just eat and deliveroo take up a massive amount of time that they are cooking as well, so that customers coming in or at the drive thru have to wait longer .

Can't believe you would actually order McDonald's from deliveroo so many times that you get barred

Never understood who would want to deliveroo McDonald's. These days you have shit loads of actual good burger places to get burgers delivered from

They really are, I don't even bother buying a Happy Meal now for my son, total waste & just more plastic tat we don't need... whereas I still have Muppet Baby Happy Meal toys from the late 80s who were/are very treasured

The cost puts me off these days. It used to be a fast cheap meal. something you could get while you were shopping etc.
I also don't want a drink, but the pricing of meal vs sandwich only is also off putting.

My 18 year old Autistic Grandson works in one of ours p/t .. he's at Uni..They are great employers for ND .
He is rushed off his feet all the time.. and they stay behind to clean.. it's actually the deliveries ( take aways) that now take up the most time.. just eat and Mcdonald etc.
But we have 3 here in our city and we don't seem to wait that long.
Please be patient.. you never know what is going on behind the scenes with the servers.

I took my kid for a quick Wagamamas (gross salt fest, but still) and despite there being next to no one in there, we waited ages and ages and ages. Because of the 20+ UberEats and Deliveroo drivers sitting on their phones in the waiting area.

My local McDonald's is really slow too. I usually have to queue up for a while and then they ask you to park up in a bay to wait for the food.

I only ever order a couple of things too so it's not like I'm making a massive order but it always takes at least 15+ minutes and to make matters worse it's usually cold too! I rarely go but when I do it's usually disappointing 😄

Because it's cooked to order now to reduce waste. I actually prefer it now you know it's not being kept warm for goodness knows how long.

Agreed. I’ve been to McDonalds twice this year and both times it was a long wait for food. I certainly wouldn’t go there if I was in a rush. Very strange.

It’s expensive. It’s ganky. The chips are limp.
Happy Meal book or cardboard toy? No!
Mr Men recently, were good, more like it please.
Everyone is on their phones, at a family meal out.