Ask Lemmy

McDonald's used to be cheap decent food here in the U.S. but over the last decade or so the prices have kept going up while the quality has gone down.

To be fair no one has ever considered McDonald's to be gourmet food but it didn't matter because it was cheap and it was still pretty good.

Now they are neither cheap nor good. You could get a real burger at a much better restaurant for about the same price.

Since they've converted all of their restaurants into soulless little bland shoeboxes no one even stays there to eat anymore. The building is basically just a hub for drive through orders and DoorDash pickup.

It's pretty depressing. I hardly ever go there anymore. A Whataburger just opened down the street where the food is much better and everything is at least 25% cheaper depending on what you order.

Long, long ago (2019) I could run to mickey d's and grab two mcchickens and a large drink for $3 US. I think those same terrible choices cost $8 now.

Fast food got stupid expensive in 2020 and never went back, and its made my wife and I healthier because we stopped buying fast food.

Is American McDonald's expensive?

Now it is. Might as well go to a proper restaurant for a better meal at the same price.

Is American McDonald's crap?

Also yes.

Have you tried McDonald's over seas?

I went to one in Germany while I was there. It was more or less the same; the sauces tasted slightly different. But you could get a pint of beer, unlike American McDonald's. They didn't really have any special "Germany only" items. At least, not then. It was also back before it was expensive. I paid maybe a dollar less than I was used to back home for the same meal.

Yes. They used to be cheap and tolerable. Now they are expensive and shitty. Last time I went it was $16 for a 10 pc nugget meal. It's Ridiculous.

Can't speak to McDonald's, but I can for KFC.

KFC outside the US is great. Genuinely good and typically not the cheapest food, but not pricey. In some places it's just original recipe (which is fairly crispy) and spicy.

In the US it's fully disgusting. Top to bottom, everything is gross, and it's not cheap enough to be so gross. I would rather skip a meal than eat KFC in the US. But KFC anywhere in Africa is on par with the excitement of a Nando's - guaranteed good food ahead.

Last time I had McDonald's at all was 2007 in Morocco and it made me feel gross, so I haven't touched it since.

You can always rely on McDonald's to sell the cheapest product they can make, at the highest price people will pay for it.

McD is crap everywhere.

Yes

Yes. Go to a non-chain place. Support small business

Around 2014 or so, I used to go to McDonald's for two McDoubles and a small soda. The McDouble was on the dollar menu, and all drinks, regardless of size, were $1. I could eat a filling meal for $3.

Today, a McDouble is $2.79 in my area and drinks are $1.59, $1.79, or $1.89 depending on size. I'm looking at a minimum of $7.17 for the same meal I used to eat a decade ago, not counting tax.

I used to go out to nice restaurants and spend around $20-30 to feed myself and my wife. Now I spend around that much just feeding the two of us at McDonald's. Going out to a nice restaurant with my wife is easily gonna cost me $50-$100 today, plus tip.

And I always tip a minimum of $20 regardless of the cost of the meal. Much more if it goes over $70. I don't agree with tipping, but I'm not gonna screw over waitstaff when their income is heavily based on tips.

[...] have you tried McDonalds overseas?

I lived abroad for nearly a decade, thanks to military service, and I always loved trying McDonald's in every country I visited, just so I could compare with the US as my baseline.

[...] what item do you wish was available at US McDonalds but only remains in that country?

My favorite foreign item, which I miss dearly, was the teriyaki burger in Japan. It's the best McDonald's burger I've ever had. Japanese food in general is my favorite of all the foreign foods I've eaten and I'm definitely planning a trip back to Japan once day just to gorge on their local foods again. But I will definitely be making time for a McDonald's teriyaki burger the next time I'm in the country.

Is McDonalds in other countries better or worse?

That's kind of a complicated question, because it depends on the country and whether you're looking for "healthier" or "tastier."

In Europe, food regulations prevent American fast food joints from loading their food with tons of sugar, so they end up being (relatively) healthier than their American counterparts. And depending on the country and where they source their ingredients, it might be tastier too. Although it's hard to beat a fattening greasy American burger on flavor.

But I remember being in Germany around 2011 or so when they introduced a "1955 Burger," which they claimed was the burger McDonald's used to sell in Germany in 1955. It was exceptionally good! I came back many times while the promotion was going on.

When I was back in America, I caught another promotional for the "1955 Burger," but it was gross! And nothing like the German variant. Apparently, Germany made the burger differently than we did in the US back in the day, and I much prefer the German version.

I live in the UK and, on a visit to the US in 2017, I decided to try McDonalds in its home country, so to speak. It was significantly worse than what I'd had at home, which is saying something.

I actually quit eating there over 15 years ago which is before I started traveling. Got tired of having hydro-dynamic gastrointestinal expulsion after eating.

Yes, McDonalds in America is overpriced crap.

It didnt always used to be, but the past 10 years has seen a hard downward spiral in McDonalds America.

Fast food in America, In General, has had a hard downward spiral in the past 10 years. Quality is down, prices have skyrocketed.

Things you used to get off a dollar menu, now cost 3-5 dollars.

I don't know what it's like in the US but in Canada you literally cannot find a worse "burger". Maybe horse meat somewhere? Also, it's more expensive than most of those high quality burger places. I couldn't tell you why anybody eats that trash.

The McDonald's in Indonesia is the first place I had black pepper sauce. It was a revelation to me and I love it to this day.

Vietnam and Indonesia McDonald's have spicy fried chicken that is fantastic.

Off topic but for some reason in the Da Nang airport (Vietnam) there is a Burger King that has burgers that are fantastic. I don't know why it's so much better, and the first time I thought I must have just been hungry as hell but, I went back a year later and it was still good as hell.

Yes. It use to be so cheap that you were OK with a slab of cardboard on 2 rocks. Prices gone up to where you would expect human quality food, but the cardboard got thinner.

Yes to both. Food quality is probably poorer than it's every been (which is saying something!). And the prices are crazy expensive for the shit you get. Their prices have gone up more than basically any other fast food chain in America.

As an American I gave up on fast food. It's expensive, stories about workers not getting paid or treated well

There is the bigmacindex. It doesn't speak for quality, but it gives a very clear picture of pricing over the world

Yes and yes.

Fast food has become even more expensive in the last 10 years, it's as much as some sit down restaurants with much better food.

But… It’s consistent!

If it's anything like the UK it's certainly crap.

My ex went to McDonald's when we went traveling overseas (yes really), so I can say I've (unfortunately) had McDonald's in Australia, Paris, Hong Kong, and Japan.

Australia was the worst. Paris and Hong Kong were ok, but the menu was weird. Japan was actually good. Though... maybe it was skill issue, but the menu was completely impossible. So I ended up just begging the cashier for a ham-bo-ga, please God just any hamboga I'm so hungry.

All fast food is delicious when cooked with the fresh ingredients and exactly to the standards that they spent many thousands of dollars perfecting in their corporate test kitchens

The problem is that the overcooked patties and the stale buns with too much ketchup and the wilted ass lettuce used by your local franchise and assembled by a 15yo who couldnt give less of a fuck ruin the experience. Thats also assuming you eat it fresh in the "restaurant" not after a 10 minute drive home at which point its fully congealed and the chips are soggy.

If you have a family it’s definitely expensive. And I literally sat down in a booth the last time I went to a McDonald’s and there was a huge turd just sitting on the seat next to me, no lie, and so it’s literally crap as well.

I’ll never go back after that experience. I just can’t trust any location, the business model is to enshittified