McDonald's — Restaurant in Great Britain

You don't see much of Ronald McDonald these days, I can only assume that's because he's now working in management.

This branch appears to have no awareness of when they are likely to be busy, and if there are more than a couple of customers it is a complete waste of time. It isn't uncommon to see the queue for the drive through loop entirely round the building, and there are times when it is of sufficient length to cause problems for customers of other retailers on the same estate. They also seem oblivious to the fact that the queue can block people attempting to leave, so the problem is compounded.

In theory, it would be quicker to park and go in the store, but the genius who came up with the carpark layout decided to have the entrance coming off of the drive through queue.

A couple of points of advice to McDonald:

The "fast" in "fast food" is used in the context of speedy. While technically correct, McDonald's use of the word in its not eating sense, because they make it so hard to make a purchase isn't very useful.

"Drive through", I'm not sure which of the two words the management don't understand, probably both, but strictly speaking it should be called a "park wait".

Fortunately, there's one positive thing to note in this review; a Burger King will soon be opening relatively close to this branch of McDonald's. As soon as that's opened I'll never have cause to visit this branch again, and given how poor service was this evening, pretty sure I can survive without a burger until...

Staff extremely rude since covid (Nov 2020). Miss "im so important" mcdonalds employee (not wearing uniform but a business dress so probably a higher up), gets to sit down at her laptop/phone (yakketty-yak!) while customers don't. (Clarification: I was told I could sit down & wait by one worker, only to be rudely told off by "Miss important", with a ruder loud sigh behind my back, that I wasn't allowed to sit. Same worker just before tried to manhandle me into using the self order kiosks, only I had a loyalty card I needed to use so that wouldn't have worked. She was convinced I could use it, only to find out she was wrong) Basically treated like an unwelcome nuisance ("stand here! No! Not there! Here!), when I was the only (fully compliant, well behaved mask wearing) customer at the time in the morning. Mucked around by staff. I mean a misunderstanding is one thing but overall attitudes towards me were very poor, the so called covid protocols in place are no excuse. Wary of ever coming back again in person but delivery aint cheap (I'd say I'm owed delivery since I can't come in due to things being so fraught..)

Further general disappointment: the refurb they did a year or so ago (2018/2019?] made the place unwelcoming & confusing. Why ditch the firm padded chairs for those uncomfortably hard plastic monstrosities? Claims it was done to "increase space/efficiency/clarity" are false, there's less space/windows than before and there's nothing more "efficient" & "clear" about...

Food is great.

I came here to write TOP 5 UK MCDONALDS HACKS, from Bringing Back the Sundae to fresh burgers and fries.

Bringing Back the Sundae! We all missed the sundae. How to do: Order an ice cream cone. Then ask them to put it on a glass/cup instead (make sure its small!). Then ask for the sauce. (you may have to ask for Raspberry sauce)

Fresh Burgers and Fries You want fresh? Deal! How to do: Burger; Ask for it to be customised. Fries; ask them to not add salt. FRESH!

Ever-so-convenient dipping. Fan out one of the fries's flap so it becomes flat

Keep the Extra Carbs to Yourself! Remove all meat (except the patty, of course). Alternatively, you can remove the buns (this works particularly well with McMuffins. That's what i do. I hate the buns)

No Spillage? Hold the bag to the side by closing the open bit and making a hole on the side. This works particularly well with takeaway burgers that have sauce on it, Such as the Fillet-o-Fish; and if you don't want fries to go everywhere.

Thats it!

My food review: The best mcdonalds. piping hot fries even with salt. They never mess...