McDonald's Waterloo — Restaurant in Sydney

McDonald's Poor Performance: A Reflection of Declining Food and Customer Experience

McDonald’s, a brand that prides itself on consistency, convenience, and quality, has seen a steady decline in customer satisfaction across many locations. While corporate messaging boasts of a “robust and leading business model for performance and perfection,” the reality in stores often tells a different story—one of poor service, subpar food quality, and a workforce that appears overworked and disengaged.

Take, for example, the experience of one long-term customer who has visited their local McDonald’s for over 7 years, only to leave disappointed time and again. Their complaints highlight recurring issues that should be basic expectations for a fast-food giant:

Inconsistent food quality: Even when requesting fresh food, meals arrive stale, with limp and soggy fries and portion sizes that feel short-changed.

Disengaged and frustrated staff: From drive-thru interactions to the final service window, employees openly display dissatisfaction, reflecting an internal work culture that seems overwhelmed and under-supported.

Lack of adherence to customizations: Despite McDonald’s promoting the MyMaccas App as a way for customers to personalize their orders, these modifications are rarely followed, rendering the feature practically useless.

What makes this situation even more frustrating is that the customer lives just three minutes away and chooses McDonald’s primarily for convenience. They recognize that food could be prepared properly with good customer service, but the responsibility falls on the franchise owner to implement proper training and support for staff. Instead, the employees appear burdened by their work environment, which directly affects service quality.

This example is not an isolated case. Across many McDonald’s locations, similar complaints persist. While corporate leadership may emphasize efficiency and innovation, the actual in-store experience often contradicts these claims. If McDonald’s truly aims to maintain its reputation as a leader in the fast-food industry, addressing these widespread issues at the operational level should be a top priority. Otherwise, customer loyalty will continue to erode in favor of competitors who offer both convenience and a better...

McDonald's Waterloo.

UPDATE: Dec 2020. I am never prone to exgaeration so I hope.its not taken as such here. After 12 months of non stop issues with this store I have stopped going.

The owner promises the world but nothing changes. I have never in all my years ever experienced a store perform this poorly.. Early mornings and late nights are a struggle for this store. Even their own managers complain about not having enough crew on. You will wait 15 mins or more in drive thru at 5am. Even if you are the only customer. There is never a manager present in front of house. the crew walk around like they don't know what they're doing. The product is rarely fresh or good quality at this time of the morning.

The problems at this store just seem too big for the licensee and the store manager to handle. in my opinion this is sad considering McDonald's gives them all the tools they need to be successful. So in my opinion it comes down to lack of will to improve our just plain incompetence. It's just a burger joint. Not that hard. The appearance is this is a social gathering for staff and they are all "friends and buddies" so incompetent managers are kept on when they should be let go and the attention to customer is forgotten. Same feeling from other reviews I see.

Probably THE worst store in Sydney region. 80(ish)% of my orders have issues. Either COLD, MISSING ITEMS, EXCESSIVE WAITS trapped in the drive thru. Rude staff. No front of house management. Store manager completely incapable of handling complaints (No wonder the store is a mess)

Staff don't care and are so apathetic and even rude. The licensee seems to treat the place as a social hub or a mint and doesn't really care about the customer. MANAGERS AT THE STORE even whinge to me when I complain about how short staffed they are and how they have so many issues... but NOTHING EVER GETS RESOLVED.

McDonald's really need to revoke the licensee from this store.

** apart from the experiencesI have listed all opinions here are of my own...

This McDonald's constantly underdelivers on many fronts. We regularly get food from them as they are our local, although we wouldn't if there was another close drive thru takeaway. The fries are almost always soggy. If it isn't breakfast time, the coffee is always badly made with hot chocolates and chai lattes constantly being 50% foam with no real substance to them, the milk also seems to be left on the bench even late at night when it isn't busy, which would explain our upset stomachs after buying late night coffees. When buying the Macca's monopoly deals, we regularly are missing stickers, and even when we directly ask for extra stickers to make up the missing ones on other items, we are outright refused with no apology, if I pay for a monopoly deal, I want the monopoly stickers that are the whole point of purchasing said deal. The photo is of the "7 Ticket monopoly deal" that came with 3 tickets, as well as below average fries as usual. This Macca's also struggles to update their available items on the app, we constantly have to forego the points we get from ordering online to order manually so we can actually get the items that are readily available otherwise. The feedback we give via the app is regularly ignored with no type of reimbursement, even when the order is outright incorrect. None of these issues are deal breaking on their own, and most people wouldn't notice going through every now and then, but as a regular customer, these issues leave a very bad taste in the mouth. I would avoid getting food from this McDonald's if you can help it, and certainly don't get coffee if it isn't in the morning, as this is a real health...