McDonald's — Restaurant in London

(We would like to have awarded a further 'half star' to this restaurant if that facility had been available.)

It was a snowy Saturday morning and we arrived in Plumstead on the 53. It was kicking up a blizzard as we approached the McDonald's drive thru on foot, led by the Golden Arches, but uncertain how or where to enter. I had received a communication about 'the return of the Mozzerella Dippers,' 'the big reveal.' The communication left no space for our felt ambivalence, so we went to find out for ourselves. Once we had negotiated the labyrinthine underpass and the aluminium and wood-effect enclosure that shepherds cars, we were confronted at the tills by an advert for the very dippers we came in search of. The pricing was clear, the illustration accurate. We were sold and set about ordering right away. In addition to the aforesaid dippers I ordered the classic double cheeseburger (£1.49) and a small coke (although many people think of McDonalds as a place to order excessive food and drink, they also offer smaller sizes such as a 250 ml serving size for the customer who knows their limits.) My dining companion ordered the cheese sticks for themselves and took the plunge and ordered a toffee latte. As we were waiting, an amoniac waft tickled our nostrils (source unconfirmed). In the pause in between ordering and receiving our food, we were enthralled by the time-and-motion choreography of globalised capitalism embodied in the stacked lids, the timing of the chips, the thrusting of trays, screeching of reciepts, tapping of contactless cards... in minutes that felt like seconds, we watched our lovingly wrapped burger traverse the dispensing chute, our cream extruded and our 'Mozzerella dippers returned' with its proprietary salsa. My dining companion remarked that the first lashings of cream and toffee drizzle topping on her coffee tasted, 'like summer holidays in a bad way.' She also remarked of the salsa accompanying the cheese dunkers, 'food tasted like this in the 90s'. As I let the notes of the salsa play on my tongue, I was captivated by a certain je ne sais quoi. Scrutiny of the salsa packet ingredients revealed, 'dried glucose syrup', which perhaps explained its elusive gustatory quality. At first bite, the dippers disappointed. Despite the pleasingly stretchy cheese behaviour, the texture was more rubber than cream. Were we deluded for having imagined these dippers would have been lovingly hand crafted? Their uniform shape, size and texture spoke of a harsh industrial process. Ho hum, we came for the dippers and stayed for the ambiance. We were met with smiles everywhere we looked, including the toilet attendant who thanked me for using the facilities. In the three and a half hours we lingered over our fast food, we were not made to feel we had overstayed our welcome. A few extra points before we conclude. 1.) we enjoyed the opportunity to familiarise ourselves with the latest chart hits, the soundtrack to our experience. 2.) it was obvious that others felt welcome. Some arrived in slippers, one man in some rather fetching pyjamas! 3.) children of all ages are catered for here- balloons are as common a feature as burgers here! We left replenished in body and soul, ready to investigate the curious local earthworks on the roundabout opposite. (Which we have written about at length elsewhere) and a stroll...

This place is an absolute mess, waited 29 minutes to collect an order. Very Unhygienic and Unprofessional Management, Staff working at kitchen area wasn’t wearing hairnets, one of the lad was preparing Burgers, suddenly he noticed his shoe laces aren’t tie, he finished the burger tie his laces and started making burger again while not wearing any gloves, The floor was slippery, oil spillage from kitchen area was so visible while all MacD kitchen staff was happily roaming around, the girl at drive tho window was busy chatting with a coworker, while people from drive through was honking. As a Quality Analyst I spotted 5 Hygiene and Food Safety Issues and politely highlighted those issues to manager at reception she was clueless. She replied thanks I appreciate it. There were more than 7 delivery drivers waiting in Queue to pick up orders, it was looking like a shelter for homeless people. This place is a Such a disappointment ! I wish I could...

This is one of the worst mcdonalds going we are in very cold water and they have the air conditioning on freezing cold food is very cold and I think if this place is on fire the food will come out cold why do people eat this rubbish food for and the staff are very rude so we got cold food rude staff it's very hard to give one star this what it's should be 0 and this what I give it food not good at all we need to close them down for good give me a wimpy any day but not a lot of them around just cold and rude mcdonalds everywhere I think Russian and the better deal getting them out of here for good I think mcdonalds in a America is good and hot but we are in England and this food is not good at I have McDonald's in other countries and they good with hot food and hot drinks and the meat tasted better I don't know what rubbish food we having here this is the McDonald's 24 hours Plumstead bus garage keep away...