McDonald's

Eww, right? Who eats McDo's?! As a kiddo, it was by far my least favorite fast food place, mainly because they put chopped up onions on all their burgers and I thought that was gross. I also think the 3-bun Big Mac concept is terrible. But now I'm a little chilled out, PLUS they have breakfast all day, PLUS they have a vanilla ice cream cone with no nuts. Mmm, soft serve, so rare for nut allergy sufferers! So I've come around, and on a road trip or a lazy day, I'm A-OK with a little allergy-menu-having McDos.

I like their apple pie, vanilla cone, egg mcmuff, and way too creamy iced coffee. Hot coffee is standard/fine too.

I tried recently the Pico Guacamole Buttermilk Crispy Chicken, because it had guac and I wanted some veg. It gave me mad heartburn, but otherwise it was filling and fine. I think it'd be better with no cheese and no ranch sauce. So maybe a plain chicken sandwich would have been better. 5/10

I also tried the Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken, and even though it had little black beans I had to pick out, the dressing/chicken/strips/corn was good and refreshing (and healthy-ish!). The only downside was that it made me make eating noises and also smell bad and my boyf was perturbed and now I'm neurotic about eating this salad. But it's good though. :D? 6/10

Cheeseburger: McDonald's is gross and this burger was gross too. It was only a dollar though. But it has onions which make me vom and are so small they're impossible to remove, the burger is gross, and the bun is pretty good. 4/10

Buttermilk Crispy Chicken Sandwich: This was a crispy chicken sandwich and it didn't make me gag, so I guess it was fine. About 650 calos for a weird fake-looking shiny bun, vaguely buttery crispy chicken, small tomato, tiny lettuce, and massive gorp of mayo. But it was OK. 6/10

Quarter Pounder with Cheese: When will I learn that I hate McDo's burgers? I got this without onions because I thought I just hated little onions, but the burger still tasted the same gross way! It's like the onions are inside the patty! Or whatever bad thing is in there, maybe it's not even onion at all.  But it's truly terrible. The burger patty is the McDo's downfall. 3/10

Grilled Chicken Sandwich: This was devoid of any flavor and it was over 5 bucks. Yet it was only 380 calories, and fairly filling. It didn't have any mayo (or sauce at all), yet somehow it wasn't too dry. A weird product, but could have been worse. 6/10

Hash Brown: Don't understand the love for hash brown. Plain Mcmuff is better choice, this is oily and not great. 5/10

Bacon Smokehouse Artisan Grilled Chicken: Mistakes were made; I got this because it's chicken and not beef, and I like onions and BBQ and bacon, but the mustard made this weird, it could have used lettuce/tomato, way more BBQ and overall just wasn't a good mix for me, even though none of the parts were truly heinous. 4/10

Iced French Vanilla Coffee: This was difficult, because ordering it got us a "Sugar Free Vanilla Coffee" instead, which was freakin' gross. Second try, we learned just "Vanilla Coffee" (don't say french) is the way to go. Anyway, this is a solid way-too-creamy/sugary coffee, but it tastes good and not artificial or metallic or anything. A little like what I imagine milk is like for people who drink milk. Got a medium and it was more than enough, 'cause they don't put that much ice in. 6/10

Iced Latte: G-dang, McDonalds coffee is so difficult. I ordered plain iced latte (medium), no modifications or swirls or sugars. But it was SO PAINFULLY SWEET. Wtf. Full disclosure though, I got this via delivery (no issues there), and it was in a little cup inside of a bag lol. Very weird and cozy. No straw! I mean, it tasted like a sweet treat, but that's not what I wanted. Sigh. 5/10

McChicken: McChicken is a cute name for a sandwich. This was actually not bad; it was only 1 dollar and yet was filling and satisfying. It's just chicken/mayo/lettuce, and it could use more lettuce and less mayo, and maybe the addition of tomato or cheese or something would improve it, but it's still decent. 6/10

Pumpkin and Cream Pie: This isn't even on their online menu, but you can find the ingredients if you Google for it. And it's safe! And so good, this was awesome. It doesn't look like much but the inside is basically pumpkin pie filling and cream cheese. This is great. Spicy (in the pie way) and sweet. 8/10

McRib: Ah, the cultural zeitgeist! Top of the morning to you, Mr. McRib. I think I basically agree with the general sentiment on this sandwich: it's not bad, but not amazing. The first bite impressed me a lot; I thought it really did taste like rib insides. But then it became more bread/pickle/onion/general food-like substance. Not bad though, and the ingredients don't have any weird fillers (or legumes!). Good but not really great either. 7/10

Blueberry Muffin: So disappointing! I was so hype for the purported nut-free bakery additions since the Dunkin muffins are now may-contains. But while the top was good and moist/sweet, the rest was not sugary or wet or good, and the whole thing had kind of a chemical flavor. I like that the berries are real blueberries, but they didn't taste like it -- they tasted just like the artificial ones from my 99 cent muffin mix. Ultimately a letdown. 5/10

Hamburger (+Happy Meal): This Happy Meal came with apples, a toy, a little milk, a little fries, and a hamburger. Not bad, McDos. I was expecting to hate Hamburger as I have hated all Burger from McDos, but honestly it wasn't bad. Maybe I was just really hungry, maybe they're different now? maybe I got a good one? But the bun was nice and buttery, the meat was meat, and the onions and pickle were edible since they were focused in just one spot in the middle. Not very filling, but pretty tasty/fine. 6/10

Deluxe Crispy Chicken Sandwich: So McDo's added 3 new chicken sandwiches to compete with the Popeye's / Chik-Fil-Trash hype. Sadly, I tried this one first, and I thought it was kind of a dud. The bun was nice and buttery, but the chicken itself had a weirdly fishy/old oil taste. It really threw me. The lettuce/mayo/tomato really did not add anything, either. Maybe I just got a bad patty. 5/10

Honest Kids® Appley Ever After® Organic Juice Drink: I got this with a Cheeseburger Happy Meal, which again, is way more lit than I used to find it. This Apple Juice itself was also fun! It was not sweet at all, which is really different from any apple juice I've ever experienced, but I thought it was pretty tasty and also healthy. Very cute stuff. 7/10

Spicy Crispy Chicken Sandwich: The second of the three new chicken sandwiches, and sadly I won't be trying the third since these buns apparently have pea protein in 'em now (wtf). It was alright while it lasted, though -- really spicy to me, but much better than the deluxe sandwich. The chicken and bun were good (but really spicy), the sauce was just OK. 7/10

Double Cheeseburger: Again, honestly this was pretty satisfying. I still don't love the onion bits, but the pickle/ketchup/cheese is good, the meat is fine, the bun is fine. It's filling and it's fine. 7/10

 

Sprite: On the one hand, Sprite is Sprite, and it's not very good. On the other hand, I didn't like this version much. I've had better fast food sodas. Partly Sprite is to blame, but dare I say, McDos is not the best iteration of Sprite I've had this year. 5/10
 

McDouble: The name is good, good branding. But the burger was kind of dry, I still don't like the little onions on here, and even though this was edible and safe, it was honestly not very enjoyable. 5/10

Overall
Cost: 8/10, fast food is great for this (just avoid combos)
Taste: 5/10

Q says: It seems like the renovation has been bad for it. Later: This was a different McDonalds.