McDonald's — Restaurant in Visalia

So we went to McDonald's because we were pressed for time and figured that fast food would quickly served. In addition I was curious what raising the minimum wage to $20 an hour for fast food what do for restaurants in California.

When we walked in, there was no one at the front registers so we placed an order on the kiosk. We don't like the kiosk experience since you can't ask a kiosk simple questions to make ordering more efficient. In addition kiosks do not take cash which is not friendly to people who are unbanked and those are oftentimes the people that rely upon fast food.

It took a while to figure out the kiosk ordering system, scrolling through menus of various options and having to look for what you want to order. But if we were to eat frequently at McDonald's and used a kiosk each time, it would have been much quicker. It's a learning situation.

We sat down and figured that since there was only two other guests and it was only 9am, the order would be processed quickly since fast food is mass produced for JIT delivery and isn't made to order. Nope. It took another 15 minutes to get the food. Meanwhile no one came out to clean tables the entire time we were there.

In fact the only interaction we have with any service employee was the one second it took to hand us the order when it was finally ready.

So raising the minimum wage for fast food employees has done this to the fast food experience:

1. made the business rely on automation that apparently hasn't improved efficiency but has eliminated jobs
2. eliminated the pleasant experience of ordering food from a friendly person who greets you with a smile, offers advice and answers questions
3. creates a dining room that is understaffed so that it constantly looks unkempt, messy and dirty
4. raised prices so that food costs for customers is similar to eating at a full service restaurant
5. forced guests out the door in 30 minutes by claiming that they are loitering
6. created an environment of anxiety and urgency instead of enjoyment and peace

Basically the result is you no longer go to a restaurant to enjoy a timeout with your family while being served by friendly staff. Instead fast food experience is more like a turnstile where you are expected to serve yourself place your own order and clean up after yourself when done. In other words they just want to take your money and hand you sub-par food.

It used to be that when you go to a fast food restaurant the level of service would outweigh the marginal quality of food. You got smiles and greetings from friendly service employees. And that made up for the cheap food.

Now you don't even get the service so the food tastes even worse since there's nothing to distract you from the cheap quality of food.

Basically going to fast food in California 2024 is like getting a hamburger at the gas station. The quality is the same and the level of service is the same and the uninviting atmosphere is the same.

The only difference now is that McDonald's cost more to eat at than the gas station because fast food employees make $20 an hour and gas station employees still make $16...

This McDonald's is located on N. Dinuba Blvd in Target shopping center. As far as I'm concerned, this is the WORST McD's in Visalia. I've tried to give it a chance time and time again! NO MORE!

They are always slow no matter if there is one person in the drive-thru or 10. Inside is no different - I've done it both ways. The last 3 times I've been there (spaced a few weeks apart) the drive-thru speaker in lane 1 didn't work. I waited til 3 cars were helped in the second lane and then I just went to the window and ordered. Each time, the worker didn't say ONE WORD about it and didn't apologize for the inconvenience. I told them they should get it fixed or put a sign up/block that lane and they just ignored me.

The workers the handful of times I've been there this summer have been rude. Not one worker says thank you, "have a nice day", etc. They didn't even smile! Hey, I get not being happy to have to be at work, but come on!

The last 2 times I was there they practically threw my order through my car window. One guy shoved my coke on my door and tried balancing it there because I obviously wasn't grabbing it fast enough!

When they were giving Avenger toys out with Happy Meals, I went to each McD's in Visalia and bought what they had. So when I ordered our meals here and asked which ones they had the girl was super rude and said I need to ask when I pick up my food at second window. I explained I wanted to buy them, not get a Happy Meal, she just blew me off. So I asked the girl at second window and she said I would need to come in and look at the display! What?! I tried to explain all she needed to do was look in the box next to her window and pull out what they had so I could pick what I wanted to buy, she STILL didn't understand. All of the other McD's in Visalia sold me what I wanted with no problem.

Even if I didn't have all of the problems above, I still wouldn't go to this McD's because the food there is only good about 1 in every 3 visits. The fries are usually burned when we get them, the shake machine is usually down, the biscuits on my bacon/egg/cheese biscuit sandwich is way too hard half the time, among other things. You just basically don't know what you're going to end up with half the time.

So suffice it to say, I will NOT be giving the McDonald's on N. Dinuba one more chance. I don't care if it's the only restaurant open in a 100 mile restaurant and I'm craving fries, I refuse to give my money to a store who has rude workers, are slow regardless of how many people are in line, and where the food is rarely good. They can tear that building down and put an In-N-Out there and residents would be...

Avoid at all cost!!! Go to Jack in the box just north of here or In-N-Out across the street! Do not dine in here. They will completely ignore you. Employees won't even acknowledge you when they see you. Definitely not a staffing shortage problem, it's a lack of customer service. On one occasion I stood at the counter for 10 minutes before leaving to go across the street to In-N-Out where they appreciate your business. On a separate visit my family and I ordered at the kiosk because nobody was at the counter and I already knew we would be ignored anyway (7:45 AM Saturday breakfast time so we didn't have many options). When we were leaving to go back to the sports complex we all needed to use the restrooms which are locked. We stood at the counter for 8 minutes among several other frustrated customers. Finally I just went around the counter next to the register and flipped the button to let myself in the restroom. Pretty sad. 8 minutes in line when all I needed was someone to push a simple button. Do I have permission to be behind the counter next to the register? NO, but what choice did I have? On our way out I noticed everyone still standing there being ignored. Who knows how long they stood there waiting. It was only after we left I noticed they built a Jack in the Box nearby. We are so happy to know that every Saturday morning between games we can go...