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

There are two on the A1 I’ve used regularly (right in the middle of a 200 mile drive) and I’ve never had to wait more than 10 minutes (often less) for a fish finger happy meal and a filet of fish meal, even when busy. Always hot, free dips, and when my DD dropped her orange juice they replaced it for free which I didn’t expect or ask for. The loos are also really clean.

I just wish you could ask for chips without salt on the app, but there doesn’t seem to be an option - I always have to go to the counter.

🤣🤣🤣

I don't go often but when I do I avoid anything containing Bacon. On the Ads it's crispy, golden brown deliciousousness. In real life it's sad, twangy and Pink with uncooked Rind.

Yep, customising means a longer wait but it generally means your food is hotter and fresher.

I got fed up with cold soggy fries, so I've started ordering them without salt, which means they have to be a separate batch. Most of the time, it works, but sometimes, they're actually colder and soggier because they made a batch of unsalted a while ago, and they've been sat there getting colder/soggier until some other unfortunate soul comes along to ask for unsalted!!

Certainly ordering a big mac, without, say, pickles, usually means a hotter/fresher one!

I gave up with them - as others have said they prioritise Deliveroo orders over those customers who physically turn up to get and order. When I go to footy I use a Wimpy - sit down, order, eat off a plate and be out the door within half hour!

I think we still have a Happy Meal toy from the 90s somewhere, unless it's been scooped up in a clear out. It's made of decent plastic, and has a simple robust spinning mechanism which mildly entertained a sibling of mine, kids my folks fostered, and my own kids. Now that the toys are so shit, they just get thrown away quicker!

It's all the Just Eat and Deliveroo orders that they prioritise over people in the drive through queue or stood at the counter. If they're not careful, it will kill their business.

It's been getting worse and worse over the past two or three years, well, ever since Covid really which coincides with the massive increase in home deliveries.

It's not just the waiting in the (very slow moving) queue, then waiting at the second window or being told to park up, all that time, your food is getting colder and mankier as parts of it are ready and left languishing under the heat lamps, whilst waiting for other parts, and then even when it's all bagged and ready to go, it can take a while for the staff to become available to bring it to you sat in the car park.

Whenever I finally get the order, I now always check that it's warm and fresh and will refuse to accept it and insist on replacements if the chips are cold and soggy for example (which is far too often these days!).

You used a lot of words to say your local Maccies is shit. There are plenty others, try a different one.

I absolutely despise fast food or any takeaways precisely because is so inconvenient and not fast at all, not to mention expensive and unhealthy. I can whip a meal faster, cheaper and healthier...not to mention tastier.

Why would a veggie want chicken?

Also there main stay veggie option is so retro now.

They need a veggie chicken offering.

That still wouldn't make plastic toys sustainable, though. Mass producing unnecessary (and often unwanted) toys is emissions intensive and unsustainable, regardless of whether it's possible to expend more GHG emissions melting them back down into something else.

If you will go to an establishment like McDonalds, this is all on you. Garbage "food" .

Sadly, there are 2 close together a short drive from us. Both shit. Both full of deliveroo and just eat drivers.

We have 3 McDonald's near to us. They are all ok. I've never waited 15 minutes for anything. I got one delivered once and it was lukewarm by the time we got it so I wouldn't do that again.

It’s because they no longer batch cook and prepare food. Every burger is built one by one. When I worked at McD’s twenty years ago it was deffo faster. This was partly because the systems monitored our speed, especially on drive through. Our pay rises depended on us providing quality and quantity of service.

In the sense that they haven't really bought put any menu items that are actually interesting.

I don't think they need to keep changing the menu. The standards are the best. The rest are just to generate a bit of new advertising, like when chocolate bars do orange or mint flavours. There's not really the intention that the Big New Tasty Whatever spin on burger/bacon/cheese/bread is gonna blow anyone's mind and become a staple. Most people want a Big Mac or Quarter Pounder or Chicken Nuggets or a handful of other classics with fries and they're happy with that.

The speed seems to be a local issue, it's still swift enough at our local ones. Maybe all the Deliveroo orders are causing more bottlenecks.

Sometimes they charge for dips, more often they don't ime, and if you're eating in, they often have the free dips where you squirt sauce into little pots.

Happy Meal Toys - I just wish there was an option on the digital menu for no toy. I love a Happy Meal because the normal meals can be too much at times, but I don't want the toy or book and there's no box to tick for that. It's a waste. Glad there's no longer plastic toys though, madness to want those back.

Aye, I only go if pestered by DD now and a max of once a week.

Absolutely no problem in my semi-rural part of Scotland but I think the Deliveroo type delivery is not much of a thing here yet. TBH, if you're ordering delivery of this type of food, I think you would expect it to be below par by the time it reaches you.

For me a visit to McDonald's has always been about grabbing something quickly rather than the food. The last two occasions we have been there the wait was ridiculous.....definitely not fast food anymore!

I bloody love KFC. Had some just the other day. Scrumptious.

I think Colonel Sanders should be memorialised in Westminster Abbey or somewhere equally significant. I know he was an American but he’s spread such joy to the world that I believe we can make an exception.

Just a statue outside the Vegan Society’s HQ in Birmingham for Ronald McDonald, I’m afraid.

YANBU. I went for an interview there and the guy interviewing me placed a big emphasis on the fact McD’s is fast food not fast service. He wasn’t wrong.

I avoid now, can’t be bothered with the chaotic ordering system and not really knowing where you are in the queue because the screen says your order is ready to collect but then nothing appears for ages.

Plus at our local one it always seems full of teenagers who won’t queue to use the machines to order, so you end up with a normal queue and then teenagers pushing in with most people too afraid to say anything and the staff completely ignoring. Far too stressful for a burger that looks like someone sat on it and soggy chips.

Yes all of our local McDonald’s take around half an hour now and it doesn’t matter if you do drive thru, click & collect or go in store - it takes forever! And the chips are always freezing.

The max amount of time food could be held is 30mins, and much less than that for fries so nothing would be sitting for hours.

They are still free depending on your order value like you can get one free with a a meal/ happy meal but not with other things.