McDonald's — Restaurant in Springfield

I've been to many a McDonald's, and have had a variety of experiences at them. Mostly positive, some negative, though the one I had recently was honestly the worst I'd ever had at one.

My roommate and I wanted something quick before bed, and decided on McDonald's. This location was the only one still open, at 11:45 pm there was 15 minutes before it closed. We drove into the parking lot and right away I noticed an employee inside staring at us. Just standing there unblinking and her eyes didn't waver until we actually parked. Once we got out of the car she started waving at someone we couldn't see off by the counters. She then left, and we tried the door to get in.

It was locked, and we figured "The lobby is closed, she must have flagged the drive-thru attendant to notify them we'd be through. Maybe she stared because she wasn't sure if we were going to or not." No sooner had we returned to the car and started to try that than the parking lot lights went out. Everything was dark except for the drive-thru monitor, and I immediately went to it (both because now it was the only source of nearby light, and because I knew they were trying to deter us from getting food. Why else would you douse the lights when you know people are there?)

We sat in the drive-thru for a good few minutes before giving up and leaving. At this point it still wasn't even midnight, this establishment's supposed closing time. Upon trying to exit, though, we found it difficult to do so. As the lights were out and the building itself stuck between opposing buildings and parking lots, we had to weave through their parking lot, the neighboring bank's parking lot, and another building's parking lot. And there were other cars now starting to show that we had to try and avoid.

We went in today to let the manager on duty know, and although he was friendly enough, he didn't seem to know what to do. After a few minutes of trying to explain ourselves and encourage him to let someone know so as to avoid future problems, he kept insisting "the lobby was closed" even though that wasn't our issue and we knew that. We were complaining about the drive-thru. What's more, he said he would notify his GM, but I didn't get the feeling he would.

So, this establishment not only willfully closed down 15 minutes early, but they also created an environment that was unsafe to those already in the parking lot. This is incredibly lazy and disrespectful, and as an employee in food service myself I also know this is heavily against protocol. I'd have been fired on the spot if I'd pulled something like this.

We intend to contact upper management so they're aware and can hopefully prevent future mishaps. This was our first time trying this location, and neither of us plan...

(Im writing this review a few days after the experience) The kids play place is filthy. We went there soley for the play place. The actual slides are nice (new So they better be). But the floors and tables are awful. I don't like giving bad reviews but this is necessary. I ordered from the self order kiosk. That was neat but it's so much faster to order from the front counter. After the order was placed we waited 16 minutes. There were only a few customers all of which were eating at the time I ordered (becomes important soon) so you'd think our food would be fast but nope. I went to the front to find out where my food was. The staff were walking around, almost clueless as to where they are, walked past me as if a paying customer wasn't standing right there. Finally the manager came up and rudely asked what I wanted. (Was standing there alone for 3 minutes getting angrier each passing moment before this happened) I ask what was taking my order so long to come out. Instead of saying he was sorry he proceeded to blame his staff. NICE. I guess his staff is so under trained that the restaurant can't function without him micromanaging everyone. After waiting almost 20 minutes I finally got my food. And of course... the staff got the order wrong, even though it was spelled out to the receipt. Guess the manager being there didn't really help much. Ironically he assisted in putting the food in my bag. I told the manager the order was incorrect and he simply said "oh, yeah sorry" with no emotion. At the very least he fixed it. I felt like he was just trying to get me to leave because I was bothersome. Also, the sweet tea and ketchup were both out. This just added insult to injury. Remember the place is basically empty. Now to the play place... it was gross. Food covered the floor. The tables also had food on them. Some on trays and other food just lay sprawled out everywhere. After waiting for our food and eating we had been there for 45 minutes. The play place had 5 people including adults when we walked in. Remember me saying it was basically empty? There was plenty of time and space for the staff to clean. They didn't even come to check. Hello? Mr Manager? I wish I had taken a picture. Me saying "Trust me it was filthy" doesn't do it justice. Needless to say we didn't stay in the play place for long. We won't be coming back! Ever! Experience did not go well in any way. I'm not blaming the young people working there. I'm sure they're nice and hard workers. I blame the leadership, or lack thereof. To the manager I met at the McDonald's on south 6th street... let's not meet again. Take the extra 10 minutes and drive to Chic-fil-A.... or any other...

I highly recommend avoiding this McDonald's at all costs. First of all, there is salt, trash, and paper on the floor, overflowing trash, dirty restrooms, and less than satisfactory food, with a drop of mustard and about 4 tbsps of mayonaisse carelessly prepared sandwich. While they offer a playplace that seems to attract at least 5 families in this restaurant, to deliver the food to us the McDonald's woman employee literally walking through a trashed up salt filled floor and didn't do a thing to start cleaning it. A few employees, such as two young men that eventually started cleaning up the playroom just because it had an accident seemed professional, so they do have some really good employees, but really? Not checking on the appearance of the restaurant with it visible right in front of you. Totally unacceptable. Not even busy, and the store is not cared for at all. Ironic that they are trying to automate jobs at this location, with 4 screens bypassing a cashier which I have never seen before, in addition to a cashier traditional experience. There are people that need those McDonald's jobs. Take a hint and hire a full time cleaner that needs work. If you are traveler going South Litchfield has a playplace, and north in Peoria has several nice McD's with playplaces. This does not measure up to the standards of McD's, one of my favorite...