Upon entering "McDonald's", I had very high hopes; many of my friends have eaten at the restaurant before and I have noticed the place referenced in a few films, documentaries, radio broadcasts, etc. However, after overlooking the somewhat cheap and childish façade (they really should have settled on a more sombre tone of red and yellow in order to establish a more serious tone for their clientele's dining experience), I made my way through the rather heavy doors and into the atrium.
This is when my opinion of the place started to crumble. As I stood, waiting for the maître d' to escort me to my table, I briefly scanned the entirety of the restaurant's interior: 'dated' to say the least. The walls were bare, the floors were covered with cheap tiles and on these tiles, I routinely saw squished fries, abandoned napkins and other general refuse that would have been much better suited to the seemingly abundant waste disposal bins rather than the floor of the restaurant. It was quite frankly an appalling first impression of the place. What is more, the maître d' never arrived and I was left simply standing in the mouth of the doorway. This had clearly irked other customers as everyone had abandoned usual practice of waiting to be seated and had taken the task of finding a table into their own hands. The restaurant had not managed to make a good first impression, nevertheless, determined to give the place a fair shot, I made my way to a vacant table.
The service in the place leaves a lot to be desired. Just as the maître d' had failed to make himself known to the customers, so did all the waiting staff. Yet again, diners were forced to take matters into their own hands and approach the kitchen, ordering their food at the serving station, paying on the spot, presumably so as to guarantee that their meals arrive, stemming from the broken trust between them and the restaurant caused by the lack of staff presence in the front-of-house. I followed suite and placed my order. I selected their "Chicken McNuggets" to start, followed by the "Big Mack" accompanied by "French Fries" as my main course, rounded off by a "McFlurry Ice Cream Sundae" for dessert. I refrained from ordering a beverage given the distinct lack of choice. If you only drunk sparkling sodas then you would have no problems, however there were no decent wines or other appropriate supper-drinks on the menu. Therefore, in my slightly irritated state, I decided against ordering a drink. To my surprise, the "Chicken McNuggets" were delivered to me on the spot, merely seconds after paying my rather reasonable bill (I didn't include a tip, the staff didn't warrant it. You could see others had shared the same thought as their large, plastic tip jar adjacent to the till contained only copper coins). At least they were able to offer rather rapid service, although it made me question the effort and dedication that would have been put into the preparation of my food.
I picked up my serving plateau (waiters were still nowhere to be seen) and turned to head back to my table, though before I could make my move, my "Big Mack" and "French Fries" were hastily dumped onto the plateau... At the same time as the starter! I assumed this must have been a mistake as I had barely had enough time to verify that I had the correct amount of "Chicken McNuggets" (6), let alone finish them. I gestured to get the attention of an employee and thankfully, my gaze was met with a pair of apologetic eyes. I was relieved and waited for the becapped employee to take back my premature main course. However my shock was only increased exponentially when my "McFlurry Ice Cream Sundae" was placed on the plateau too. Before I could say anything, they employee was already having an interaction with the customer behind me. Fed up, I gathered the serving plateau and headed back to the table.
The food left a lot to be desired. It was extremely salty, heavy with the grease and was certainly prepared using largely frozen or otherwise-preserved ingredients. By this time I knew that "McDonald's" had failed to impress me and I did not understand why it had garnered such widespread public revere (it has been featured in over 3 national newspaper articles). I wiped by lubricated fingers on the plastic wrapping that shrouded my "Big Mack" hamburger, a wrapping which also served as my plate, and left. The dishwashing team had clearly lost control of their crockery amidst the swarming mob of customers who were all ordering at the same time, forcing the kitchen to include these plastic wrappings as some sort of surface for the food to be eaten from.
Overall, "McDonald's" can be described in one word: rushed. The décor looks like it was rushed during the building of the place, the training of the staff must have been rushed, the preparation of the food was rushed and, as a result of the generally negative experience, I made sure my experience in there was rushed; I couldn't get out quickly enough. read more
