McDonald's — Restaurant in Wales

More and more I find myself convinced that McDonald's has become a grand psychological experiment. An experiment to be as uncomfortable, rage inducing and inhuman as possible.

First, you are herded into narrow corridors of flesh, fighting for space amongst prams and buggies, and the weird plastic viewing zoo where the delivery drivers have to force their way, enormous Death-Stranding esque backpacks atow, to their own little section of hell. Meanwhile, our mechanical orders placed, the rest of us are forced waiting and irate into what can only be described as The Pens. In a melee of sound, space and disgruntled, irate customers, awaiting the under-paid and harrowed looking staff number to vainly call a number into the aether. Doubtless unheard, until the trance of misery is broken and someone finally realises "Wait, that's my number!" and staggers forwards to the counter, forcing their way through throngs of resentful customers who are still waiting for their 25 Kids Meals.

The wait, the discomfort, the noise, all coalesce into a simmering anger, an undercurrent of resentment for one's fellow man and the dire circumstances that have brought you here. You can see it when you look across to foolhardy men desperately asserting their masculinity against this torrent of evil by pointlessly and impotently voicing their displeasure that their Big Mac lettuce is -too- lettucey and they demand something done about it right now.

Then there is The Noise. The unbearable drone, a sonic assault on three fronts. The angry beeping and chirping of machinery from behind the counter. The low gossip, grumbling and murmurs from those likewise shuffled into "the pen". And the screaming, screeching barely human customers on hard plastic prison chairs and tables, crammed into the grim and miserable seating arrangements. Once, McDonald's at least endeavoured to be fun. To be visually stimulating and exciting for children. Now, bereft of any kind of stimulation they run like screeching savages, ill attended by globular parents who have long since given up on standards or propriety.

In criminology, the broken windows theory states that visible signs of crime, anti-social behavior and civil disorder create an urban environment that encourages further crime and disorder. But for the barely cognizant denizens of this fast-food oblivion, the entire world is their broken window, and they are merely kicking about the shards of glass in despondence. They have been denied the beauty of culture or the pride of their own aesthetic history. And as a tombstone to this dead world is McDonald's.

And to what end are these compromises wrought? The fries are always cold. The sauce and dips are always forgotten. The Milkshake machine is always faulty. The food is always a disappointment. What has this Faustian bargain saved in terms of quality? Nothing.

Why is this acceptable? Why do we allow , expect and accept the most popular fast food chain in the world being the most miserable experience possible? It is positively Soviet, except even that grim regime sought art. Even McDonald's builds are now well known as grim, miserable and brutalist. It is anti-humanism in its highest form.

With that said, the...

Absolutely disgusting ... I ordered a Big Mac and when I went to tuck in the buger was missing on the bottom half... showed the girls I was with then went to the front to show the person at the till and ask for another .. as I watch this young lad go in to the back, he opens the burger to show them that it is missing a beef patty and 1 person acknowledges it then another person takes it from him opens it up again whacks a patty in there then tells the poor kid to bring it out to me and state that the burger was in there the whole time -which it wasn't. I tried arguing the fact with him that it wasn't and it was just thrown in there and I could see that and he stuck to the line he was told to say that it was already there. . So I just left it.. On top of that, one of the happy meals had no chips so had to go back and my drink was a diet coke not a regular so had to go back as I can't stand diet coke. I felt so sorry for the poor lads running round constantly but the people in the back that prepared the food... not impressed. Will not be going back to that one again. So many violations of Health and Safety regarding food... mouldy chips on the floor (Didn't think a mcdonalds could go mouldy but apparently in Rhyl anything is possible... how long had that chip been there?!) Chips tasted awful and so did the chicken nuggets -old oil, been cooked in with something not nice at all kinda...

We had a very pleasant visit to this particular McDonalds. Normally it's a quick meal with no expectations. But "james" a very polite staff member literally made the visit more of a positive experience than a quick meal. He was incredibly polite and smiling, and was not at all annoyed (like normal staff) when we pointed out a minor mistake with the order (the till staff member didnt hear my wife saying big mac and a cheeseburger - we didnt get the cheeseburger) When approaching James with this mistake, he took it very nicely and sorted the problem quickly, went to ask his manager if he is allowed to take money of us at the table and bring us the cheeseburger. Which he was. From the time we told him the mistake to the time we got the burger, we hadn't even finished the big macs. He came back with a smile and a penny and went on with his work... great employee.

Also, the restaurant in general was very nice, very tidy and clean, and food came quick and hot....