McDonald's — Restaurant in Clayton

Update, June 2024: After repeated and consistent disasters in management, and after repeated contact with the owners (patelmcdonalds.com), the only attempt to remedy the problems has been two gift certificates for free meals. This is an utter failure by the owners. I don't know how bad all their locations are, but they're surely just as neglected. The McDonald's up the road in Hiawassee is not owned by Patel, so there may be better service and accountability there.

The fish sandwich (McMinnow) is definitely shrinking as has been noticed on TikTok and elsewhere. And the buns are rock hard stale, inedible. Stale buns are not limited to fish. It seems to be a hallmark of this store. The quarter pounder is also shrinking in size, so the name is now fraudulent. With their rising prices, shrinking food, and plummetting value, other fast food stores are looking better.

Also consider it took 45 minutes to go through the drive-through. When is this ever acceptable? So much for their short-lived service improvement. At this speed, it's faster to go to the McDonald's in Franklin.

Update, January 2024: I just had a good experience here. It's just one instance so far but sufficient to warrant an update and more visits to confirm. Counter service was quick and delivered with friendliness and a smile, a marked change from last year. Condiments were offered up quickly. Finding someone to help in placing the order and gathering condiments was very easy.

The quality of the burgers, however, is not as good as I have come to expect from McDonald's. The beef seems precooked and just warming while awaiting an order to be placed or possibly microwaved instead of fried. This was for a double cheeseburger. Next time, I'll try the quarter pounder as it's advertised as using fresh beef, not frozen, and hopefully not precooked or microwaved.

Still, the service improvements are greatly appreciated.

Original review, April 2023: Colossally slow (drive-thru 20+ minutes). Couldn't get the orders right. I don't know how corporate permits this, as it's a horrible McDonald's experience.

Looks like reviews of this place are roundly terrible, yet mgmt and McD's corporate do nothing. Open a second one in Clayton, a competent one, and this one will be out of business inside a year. That will be one for the record books.

Update: Tried dining in. It was no better. The staff, which seemed numerous enough, was as bumbling as stooges but without the comedy. While the fries were surprisingly fresh and hot, the burger buns seemed stale and the burger lukewarm. Service was horribly slow, of course, so it's no wonder the food generally isn't fresh or hot.

The soda fountains were self-serve, but the condiments were hoarded by the staff behind the counter for no known reason.

One hard worker was cleaning the place well but the rest of the staff looked like it was their first day and they had no idea what they were doing. A customer spilled a drink and alerted the staff but they had no idea what to do about it, for example. The counter was mostly unmanned, and orders were all backed up despite having only a handful of customers. Fast food it ain't.

The thing that struck me the most was the character of the staff and their service were totally out of place for Clayton. Not particularly friendly....

We were leaving our AIRBNB from the outskirts of Clayton, passing through we stopped here for hashbrowns. I decided to add some burritos and a small frappe. My complaint is for the owners, not the employees that were working at this time. They were short staffed, very busy, and everyone was moving and doing something back there. Instead of drove through that was full, I went Inside, it was clear drive through was priority. The inside was full of about 10 families trying to order and waiting on food. No one to run register. So you have to order on the kiosk and pay, where it is almost impossible to get a refund back once paid. Everyone was complaining and upset. There was only one young boy running the food for to go orders and dining in tables. I waited 35 minutes for my order. My frappe was ready when I ordered it just sat back there. Was completely sweaty and melted. They keep all cups, condiments (ketchup etc.) and napkins in the back, so not only are you waiting for your food you are waiting for the runner to come back to you so you ask for what you need.. which could be anywhere from 5-10 minutes. The hashbrowns were fresh out of the grease, but the grease was dirty and needed to be changed so we couldn’t even eat the hashbrowns. The burritos I ordered (I get all the time from everywhere) was nothing but tortilla. One tiny scoop of filling and was tough to eat the tortilla.. I did receive my salsa without asking so I guess that’s a plus. It is the owner’s fault and problem that over 20 families that I know of, had an horrible experience here on Sunday morning. I see that it is Patel owned, which is fine, but they could do so much better. It is a McDonald’s in the middle of a busy tourist town on a Sunday where chic fil a down the road is closed, so of course they would be busy and the owners should have had their people...

Absolutely the worst restaurant ["fast food"] in town. Slow 🐌... *Rarely gets the order right the first time. *Only the morning lady at the 1st [pay] window who is tall with glasses, the manager Jezzel, and the lady in the mornings at the 2nd window [Sue], and there is another Hispanic lady in the mornings who is good too I cannot recall her name - Only these 4 ladies get the order correct 100% of the time. *Receiving the H.M. Toy is like gambling at the casino - You've got a 50/50 chance at best of receiving a kids Happy Meal TOY with the Happy Meal. *Depending on who takes your order in the d/t and it does NOT matter if it's a manager or not, the order will more than likely be wrong [the 'male' mgrs are the WORST!!!... can't get an order right to save their lives!] -Whoever takes your order, will be an indication as to whether your order was entered correctly in the POS system or not, and if you'll receive what you actually ordered, the way you ordered it! *Never go through the drive-thru between 3 pm and 5 pm - you will wait FORRRRRREVERRRRRRRR!!!! - 90% of the time, your order will be wrong during these hours too.

TODAY I WAITED 18 MINUTES IN LINE; NO LIE! - I WAS THE 2ND CAR IN LINE IN THE MOST OUTER D/T LANE... 18 MINUTES!!! - UNBELIEVABLE! I HAVE TEXT MESSAGES OF ME TALKING/TEXTING WITH MY DAUGHTER. I WAS GETTING A DRINK, AND SHE ASKED ME FOR AN ORDER OF FRIES, AND IT TOOK FROM 2:37 PM TO 2:55 PM TO GET A SNACK WRAP MEAL AND NOTHING ELSE! 🚨WHY ARE THERE 2 D/T LANES IF ONLY ONE PERSON IS TAKING ORDERS? Stupidest thing EVER!

*attached pic for proof of d/y...