McDonald's
 

Why do Fodorites keep telling us that they abhor McDonald's. It is the safest place in the world to eat. It's free toilets have caused a revolution in restaurant sanitation. Its management and company policies are the best in the business. And its stock value is inceasing!

I love Mcdonald's in Europe and at home in Texas. I usually eat salads and chicken nuggets or grilled chicken sandwich. Their coffee is not bad. I don't like to waste a lot of time sitting waiting on meals. I would rather be out doing something or shopping.

Speaking strictly for myself, I need to eat better, meaning more fruits/veggies and not so much fried food; my cholesterol is borderline high. As far as fast food chains go, I just happen to prefer a few others taste-wise to McD.

Things may have changed over the years, but when I did used to go to McD at home, the counter people were always rude. Always. I know that is epidemic among those places, but in other places I had better odds of geting a neutral or even somewhat pleasant person.

<Why do Fodorites keep telling us that they abhor McDonald's>

Uh - try the food!

I don't know why Fodorites keep telling us that, but I know why I do. I have no tolerance at all for fast food of any kind, really. I don't like the look of it, the taste of it, the smell of it, or the texture of it. Living in a world that has endless possibilities for healthy, good-tasting food, I just see no reason to put crap in my body.

If you enjoy it, go for it!

GSteed wrote: "Its management and company policies are the best in the business."

For whom?

McDonald's is a business. Its purpose is to make money. And it is doing just that. Imagine the airlines with McDonald's management. Prices would be lower and the service customer friendly.

One of the reasons I enjoy looking in on this forum is to read the opinions of others and sometimes pass on a little of my own advice.

In particular I find a lot of North Americans who quite clearly want to find out how others live and have new experiences. This makes a pleasant change from the often parochial ambitions of their fellow citizens.

McDonald's now covers the world like a rash, with Starbucks, KFC, Pizza Hut, Subway etc.

It's understandable that many occasionally have to retreat to the familiar in a strange tiring place. However, those who largely populate this forum do probably visit such establishments less simply because they are more adventurous in outlook.

But yes, a free toilet, I grant you that.

GSteed wrote: "Imagine the airlines with McDonald's management."

No need for imagination: think Ryanair.

When I choose where to eat, I have lots of different criteria.

The food. The booze. The location. The food. Whether Mrs F might like it. Whether they'll let me bring the flannerpooch in with me. The price. The food...

But the holding company's share price? How good it'd be at running an airline?

Call me a boring old fart, but somehow the food always seems just that wee bit more important. Which is why McD rarely gets onto the short list.

I LOVE STARBUCKS>LOVE IT!!!!! The Pikes Peak coffee is the only thing that gets me going in the morning. I also LOVE LOVE LOVE their giant chocolate cupcakes.

When we (Keith, Muffy, and I) were in Greece this past summer, we were in Starbucks every day.

I also LOVE McD's Oreo Cookie McFlurries!!! MMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!

I will never forget taking the Star Ferry in Hong Kong with Oreo Cookie McFlurry in hand! Proust's madeleine!

Thingorjus

Thin - I think it is called Pike Place and while I think it is OK I do miss the variety of choices they used to have on offer for fresh brewed. I always liked the Estima.

Free toilets? That goes without saying in all restaurants in Germany.

"Why do Fodorites keep telling us that they abhor McDonald's. It is the safest place in the world to eat."

Because part of the joy of travel is expanding one's culinary horizons. If I want fastfood in Istanbul, then I'll try some pide from a little shop or same lamb carved right in front of me. I'll try whatever fastfood the locals eat. I'm damned sure not going to a place I can go anytime back home.

"Look at me! I went to Budapest and stayed at a Best Western and ate at McDonalds!"

North Americans must be the fattest people in the civilized world.
Eating at McDonald's ( and other fast food outlets) at home AND abroad might have something to do with it.

I eat at McDonald's and I'm as skinny as a stick.

I don't know. I was in Berlin a few months ago and some of those German gals looked like they could be potential customers of Mr. Pinky's Hefty Hideaway Dress Shop in Baltimore.

North Americans aren't the only fat people on the planet.

Thin,
remembering Pike Place not Pikes Peak.

I try to stay away from McDonald's b/c it's so fattening and salty. But if we're on a road trip, I love their egg mcmuffins.

McDoginabun is not a restaurant, or even a chain of restaurants.

You can stretch the term as much as you like...It's not even a bistro or a café.

It is a fast-food outlet, a take-away with an option to eat in.

On a par with a fish and chip shop, a grease truck or a kebab house.

Restaurant? Indeed! Were you brought up in a cave?

"Waiter, could you bring another bottle of Bordeau and some bread rolls? I'm afraid we've put a stain in the table cloth and my wife has dropped her fish knife and would like a clean one. We'll skip the dessert and go straight onto the cheese course and have the digestif served at the same time. Our complements to the chef, his home made soup was excellent, and kindly ask the gypsy violinist to stop bothering us"

I have seen far cleaner toilets than the ones in the overpopulated McDonald's in Paris.

I think the worst McDonald's I ever visited was in Manila, and I'm not sure that the hamburger was made of beef, and I know for damn sure that the french fries were not made out of any items that would be recognized as potatoes in the developed world.