Having spent more time in McDonalds over the past couple of years (with friends and friends who have children and babysitting a couple of grumpy teenagers now and again, and my other half and 2 teenage children), it has changed from my student days nearly 11 years ago. Before it was something that vaguely resembled meat on a soggy bun and watery coke to wash it down served with fries that were maybe potato in a previous lifetime (one good thing back then about McD's, they let you add the salt yourself rather than Wimpy and Burger King where the salt is added when they are cooked), the staff (rarely spoke and were definitely unhelpful) looked about as grey as the burgers and the decor and the furniture was functional not stylish (think lots of moulded plastic). Now they've done an about turn and realised that if they are going to survive they need to change.
How have they changed? Well salads for a start, and I don't mean just a few limp bits of lettuce. The salad bowls are well thought out with good choices, garden salad (greens with tomato, cucumber, onion etc), grilled chicken salad and crispy coated chicken salad and Caeser salad (as well as being excellent portion sizes). With all the salads you are given the dressing in a tub, so its up to you how much you slather on. Also on the menu now are Quorn burgers (though I haven't tried these yet, but they actually look really good), so vegetarians now have a choice apart from the obligatory bean burger (which is hit and miss at the best of times).
The deserts have also changed and there is now fresh fruit, fruit salads and I've also seen natural yoghurt served with mixed berries.
.........and thats just for the adults. What about the kids?
We've all seen the documentaries about how badly the kids (and adults!) of today are eating. You only have to turn on the tv to see Jamie Oliver campaigning about school dinners or the fast food documentary 'Super size me' (was it this that prompted some of McD's changes I wonder?) as well as the scary health programmes that tell us that most of todays kids will not have a very long life span thanks to the junk they eat. ............So that brings me back to what McD's now have on offer to children.
Before it was chicken nuggets (and I've never seen chicken look like that) covered in ketchup (which is full of sugar and salt), although these options are still available they now offer chicken grills (mini proper chicken breast fillets grilled, no salt, no coatings), carrot sticks, veggie bites, grapes, apples, corn on the cob and fish bites (like fish fingers and 100% fish fillet). These are only a few of the now 108 items available to children for the new happy meals (prices range between 2.49 and 3.49 depending where you go). They also have a nutrition chart for their most popular products and their childrens basic menu printed on the back of the liners they use for the trays, so you can actually see that things are improving and they really are trying to cut down the amount of sugar, fat and salt in their food. Also available (if you ask a member of staff) is a booklet that contains the nutrition facts for every single product they sell (the information is also available on their website).
Add to this mix, special offers on burgers that are only available for certain periods of time or on certain days (their Deli sandwiches which look very like Subway's sandwiches).
The decor has changed and looks more Jasper Conran than eastern block with swish leather look stools and block sofas. Unfortunately the new look isn't going to last. Only a month after the furniture was changed I started noticing little tears in the fabric, stains on the wood tables and the children's art work which had been up on my previous visit had been removed to show that they had stuck it up with glue. The dried glue 'blobs' still attached to flaking paint.
I'll give McD's their due the whole chain has tried to change but in some locations you aren't going to get people eating rabbit food (salads) or being respectful of the furniture. It is meant to be a high turn over restaurant and I have noticed the staff make a lot of fuss around you if you've been sat for more than 30 minutes (you try being quicker when you have kids in tow) if the restaurant is busy in a hope you'll hurry up and leave and vacate your seat for the next hungry hoard coming in. I don't like being rushed especially when I've paid for the privilege to sit down and eat and I've noticed this branch is worse than most at doing it.
The toilets were grim and thats about as polite as I can be about them. I'm sure they were clean but the lack of respect I noticed by customer and also staff left the toilets in a very horrid state, with no proper handbasins only the metal wall mounted ones. I realise this is for space saving but I now make a point of trying not to use the facilities!
Overall, I try now and avoid this and other McD's as much as possible their recent read more
