Tell McDonald’s what’s important to you when eating out with your family - £300 voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED!

[EmmaMumsnet]

Whilst eating out with the family can provide a much-needed treat and opportunity to reconnect, it can also entail much compromise in order to ensure that all members are satisfied with the outing. McDonald’s UK is keen to find out what is running through your mind when it comes to making that often tricky dining decision whilst keeping smiles on everyone’s faces.

Here what McDonald’s has to say: “We’re looking at new options for our Happy Meal and invited Mumsnet behind the scenes as we started the food development journey! Our restaurants have changed, options like kiosk ordering and table service make it easier for families to enjoy our food but we want to know what you look for when eating out as a family.”

Whether you are celebrating a special occasion, visiting your favourite family restaurant or simply popping into a local take away, we want to know on what basis you make such decisions. Is it the provision of colouring sheets for the kids, or haute cuisine for the more mature members of the family? Maybe you find it difficult to identify a restaurant with menus capable of pleasing all parties and resort to visiting several locations? Is making sure your children’s meals are well balanced or that the location is family friendly important to you?

Whatever your main considerations are when choosing somewhere to eat out with your family, please share them below and you will be entered into a prize draw for the chance to win a £300 voucher of your choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

• High chairs
• Cleanliness
• Fast service
• Good baby changing facilities
• A dairy-free option for DS, who is allergic

Choices for everybody are important for us. Dd would appreciate more vegetarian options, though. Quorn nuggets would be amazing!
We really like the ordering kiosks - we can have a much too long family discussion while not feeling that we are in a rush to order.
It’s great that you can customise your burgers.

When we visit as a family, it is often a real treat for the children to have a Mcdonalds. Very rare at moment to visit as we are cutting back.

However, we like the place to be clean, clean toilets are important. Somewhere to sit and have food. Not keen on the happy meals boxes, waste of time. Rubbish to recycle and plastic tat that the youngest likes and then gets binned immediately at home. My children like the breakfasts and the lunch menu i.e. burger and fries and a juice or milkshake. I like the idea of carrrots etc. but its often a treat for my children and they love the nuggest or burger option.

I like the places that provide something for the DC to do while they wait for the food. Good choices are great too, so pasta dishes alongside the chicken nuggets. In fast food places it is often better to eat in rather than get chips all over the car.

Specific to McDonalds, I do not like the screens in some restaurants as it distracts the DC from eating. I also think they are really unhygienic with various children rubbing their sticky fingers all over them

Healthy food. Two portions of veg, one of fruit and a non dairy calcium source. Low salt.

Hot food, fast service.
Cleanliness! I know that children make mess, heck our son is one of the worst, so I'd like to see staff cleaning regularly instead of having to dodge chips all over the floor.

Ours always has filthy toilets and the restaurant is uncomfortably cold.
Better range of drinks

I agree my teen often doesn't eat a full adult meal and the kids meal is too small.
Mind you teens are banned from both our local ones because of a small group of arseholes.

And yes I'm sick of cold food.

General cleanliness and a good range of food on the menu.

Good choice of healthy kids food
Quick service (v important when you have a hangry threenager)
Colouring/drawing materials
Nice food for the parents too!

Healthy food options for children and adults. Dairy free choices. Family friendly environment.

A Kids menu that is vaguely nutritious and served promptly.
Clean highchairs.

Child friendly food and nice, clean surroundings!

I would love to see more of the mcafe range at more McDonald's! Don't think any of them do where I live ! And buggy friendly tables ! My local McDonald's just got filled with long rows of benches but there's his buggy takes up more seats and cannot be pushed in to the table as the seats are bolted down

My children appreciate a puzzle sheet or colouring like in Pizza Express but it's really important the colouring pencils actually work (I.e. aren't all broken and need sharpening) and enough colours. Some pubs/restaurants do little party bag type things (paper bags would be better than plastic) with a little pack of pencils and so on. The best we ever had included stickers and a purse which they loved but I wouldn't say was necessary!
We like acoustics where we can chat as a family and it's really off-putting if children are watching DVDs or playing electronic games with the sound up. I definitely would not want screens to be provided by the restaurant.
Clean, pleasant toilets are vital.
Some flexibility on children's menus rather than having to stick to a very rigid system. We have had desserts before we have not wanted and then had to seperately buy a healthier dessert they do like.
Friendly staff who don't treat you like you are a bother to serve even if you don't ask for anything unusual or special.
It's not my favourite but we went to a Pizza Hut last year and my children loved the self-service drinks machine!
Good quality, fresh ingredients.

Organic, locally sourced food. Something the kids will enjoy such as sweet potato fries/wedges or baked sweet potatoes. Lower carb/high protein options.

I like places where the staff interact with my DC and don't treat them like an inconvenience. Also, places that don't serve toddler food on searing hot plates so that by the time the food is cool enough to eat the child has lost interest and refuses to have it.
Agree about high chairs that are clean and fit right up to the table. Also ones that have a barrier between the child's legs so littler dc don't just slide under the tray and onto the floor

Clean and spacious enough to have a pram/high chair next to your table are the top things I look for when eating out. Vibrant and inviting food, not just the usual brown colours also helps. My children love the colouring papers and crayons you provide. I also think healthier happy meal options would be fab and the chips for children have far too much salt (I always have to ask for them without). My eldest daughter would love a tween/teen option as she says she's now too old for a happy meal but doesn't really eat a full adults meal either.

As a wheelchair user I find it’s impossible for me to order on your fancy big screen iPads. As no option to lower options so still have ask for help or order at counter. Way to make it feel inclusive! I mean if I can order in ten lanaguages why can’t one option be to shrink the screen so it’s accessible at the bottom?

Also many of your funky seats are nailed to floor which dosnt help if your try seat a group of people and it’s busy. Most seats are out of bounds. I mean a toddler may not mind eating on their lap 5 foot from the table, but I do.

Good points from Akire there.

Cleanliness and great service. A good and balanced menu choice with plenty of variety.

Clean and spacious a must. We love places where there are crayons and something to do. Pizza express is a good example - decent Crayolas, hat to decorate and puzzle sheet. Something that we can do together - I don’t like iPads etc at the table.

A menu that has healthy and varied options. Whilst a trip to McDonald’s will result in nuggets and fries, if I’m doing elsewhere I want child sized portions of adult options...not the usual nuggets and chips, fish fingers and chips, sausage and chips, bland pasta dish.

I want staff who are patient and friendly.

Biggest concern for me is that allergen info is easy to find in store. I know there's the back of the tray liners with everything on, but you get that afterwards...

More Dairyfree options would be great in Happy Meals. It's possible to crumb the fishfingers in suitable stuff, why not the chicken nuggets?

and I herd a rumour that Mcds are going to ditch cheeseburgers from happy meals, not a concern for us, but how about letting the parent make that choice? Cheese is a protein with calcium. Not devils food. Ditch the fruit shoots instead!

Yes, that popped up on my Google news feed. My DS won't eat anything else from McDonald's. Also, there are some children whose life depends on the extra fat. Yet another place they can't eat out. Would McDonald's be okay with parents of children with CF bringing in their own food for them? Or do they have to pay for an adult meal for them?