kirbyks

I just got back from my umteenth trip to Ireland (I do business there). One night the conversation turned to restaurants, and my colleagues (who have been to the U.S. many times) all agreed that for the most part they prefer McD's over the generally mediocre eateries in Ireland! The bottom line is this- don't feel like you're some kind of rookie just because you're eating at McDonald's in a foreign country- YOU may well be the one eating with the locals while the tourists are eating at a local restaurant!

ira

I would prefer McD over a mediocre eatery anywhere.

I try to avoid mediocre.

flanneruk

Well, there is a contrarian contrarian viewpoint.

Irish food isn't generally mediocre these days. In fact, however monotonous its pub food can get after a while, their stews and pies knock McD into the back end of yesterday.

What the Irish are seriously crap at is crap food. Those Abrakebabra places or are all a subtle plot by "Dr" Ian Paisley to poison any of the Republic's population who miraculously survive what passes for food at Supermac.

Just like at the UK's Wimpy Bars, there's no debate: McD do crap food better than their foreign imitators. And there are still too many times and places in Ireland (North and South) where crap's the only thing on offer.

The trick, of course is to plan so as to avoid it: the real thing or the imitation.

kirbyks

"I try to avoid mediocre."

As do I- but as you well know there is no reliable way to know if a place is good or not until it's too late, and your odds of happening upon a good restaurant (in Ireland anyways) are rather slim.

Travelnut

What, no Zagats for Ireland..?

Dukey

Kirbyks,

Thanks very much for this post; I tend to agree with it.

Some of the responses thus far make me happy that I am not hung up on food and that it has never become the focus of my travels.

Of course, there are many here who feel eating is a major, if not THE, highlight of any trip, and I understand that.

As to the "quality of crap" well, I cannot imagine wasting much time on that concept.

logos999

But what can you do when the stuff tastes so repulsive. Lots of fat, chopped into small pieces, mixed with some meat particles from at least a thousand dead pigs. In some countries it's your best option.

A post from xyz123 some while got me hooked on Subways sandwiches, which are so much better than MCD.

PalenQ

Micky D has some good for the price salads if you eschew meat

and for flanner to be calling McD yukkie food whereas it is healthier by far than the usual fish and chip shop serves up

as usual these criteria he presents mainly apply to the upper crust who can afford the absurdly high prices for a 'proper' restaurant

thank God for McDonalds and i for one patronize them a lot in Europe - mainly for coffee, ice cream sundaes and salads and clean WCs without the usual hassle.

And yes 99% of folks at the gazillions mobbing the Mac Donalds in UK are in fact British - again more ordinary blokes and families.

tod

kirbyks - I am shocked to hear about the food in Irish eateries being ' just not worth it'!
We are planning a trip to Ireland next year and have been warned it's hellish expensive but I have no intentions of parting with my meagre South African rands for a putrid meal!
What about fresh ingredients to do our own catering - are they below par as well? I'm dying to try an Irish potatoe and see if the match up to the fabulous ones we had in Guernsey!
As for McD's........has only been around in our part of the world for about 10 years! Very basic fare. Nothing as choice orientated as USA or Europe. If I have to eat McD's I like the 'Fish-O-Fillet'.

Fra_Diavolo

Haven't been to McD's since my son outgrew them at age 10.

Given the choice between McD's -- or any chain for that matter -- and a greasy spoon diner, or pizza parlor, or a hot dog stand or barbecue pit, I'll pass on McD's every time.

In Europe there's always a pub or cafe or something. No need to patronize an establishment I avoid at home.

missypie

We travel with three kids, so it seems like at least once on each trip, we'll find ourselves at McDonalds (except in Barcelona where we managed to avoid McDs until we had a layover at O'Hare on the way home). It's certainly not my favorite food, but sometimes you find yourselves with hungry kids at an odd time. For example, when we took a day trip from Florence to Pisa, we got back to Florence (hungry) at about 3 pm and we wanted to go to one more church before it closed. Being able to zip in to McDonalds and be finished eating in about 20 minutes allowed us to see some things we couldn't have seen had we settled in for a 90 minute meal (IF we had found on open "Italian" place.) We don't always have as much time as we'd like in each destination and some times we need to just grab a quick bite.

xyz123

It's funny the way it works...I am a very picky eater and with the exception of Paris for some reason, the one thing you can count on at McDonald's is exactly what you would expect from a McDonald's in Chicago or Los Angeles (not in New York BTW where local McDonald's have had to get special permission to put only ketchup on burgers and not ketchup and mustard!)...they are reliable and you can pretty much count on clean restrooms (as a matter of fact, when nature calls, I have no problems whatsoever ducking into a McDonald's to use the facilities although I must admit there are places where they put locks on the restrooms to discourage rift raft or in other words freeloaders like me...Paris is another story!)

Several years ago, I was doing a city tour with a local guide in Krakow in Poland and at the end of the tour, she was pointint out places to eat there in the main square...frankly I wasn't impressed and uttered under my breath "but where's Mcdonald's?" She said why would you want to eat there; I said at least there I know what I'm getting...she told me around the corner...went in there and lo and behold it was jammed with locals not visiting Yanks. Same thing was true in Prague....the local guide told me that everybody says such terrible things about McDonald's but they are always jammed with locals. And in London, I defy you to go to a MickeyD and not find plenty of locals there not wanting to wait 15 to 20 minutes for a mediocre meal.

But having said that, as logos pointed out, I am most partial to Subway which has made a great push in Germany and Austria recently and I find a 6 in cheese steak with southwest sauce (15 cm. in Europe) and onions and tomatoes and black olives (no lettuce) to be yummy...have had it several times during visits to such places as Frankfurt just off the main square, Heidelberg, Berlin in the Postdammer Platz U and S Bahn station, Hamburg at the railway station, Vienna and a great great lunch sure more edible, at least to me, than wurst (although I must admit I've developed a taste for white sausage at various stands in Munich! gobbled down with a liter and a pretzel)....

Everybody loves to complain about how terrible this American innovation is but the funny thing is none of them are every empty and as I said, at least I know what I'm eating!

NeoPatrick

I suppose if you're comparing to a cheap mediocre local restaurant then you might have a point, but I try to find something unique and good and usually have no problem doing so.

But you do bring up one valid point. Even in places like Paris, I think you'd be rubbing elbows with more locals at McD's than you would if you went to many of the nice restaurants often recommended here and elsewhere, which generally tend to be at least half tourists. Nevertheless, I'd prefer to eat with other tourists at a nice place, than with a bunch of locals at McD's.

Andrew

I avoid McDonalds in the US even though I do eat fast food. In Italy I ate a "meal" there only once, when I was starving and about to return from Pisa to Florence by train. So I grabbed a McDonalds take-out burger meal at the train station. It was pretty average. I did visit McDonalds a few other times to snack after I got tired of paying 2 Euros for tiny gelato cones.

I ate a KFC in Prague a few years ago and believe it or not, it was (by fast food standards) really good. KFC in London by contrast was awful, almost inedible. Their standards obviously vary by country.

Raydotman

I am always amused by the travellers with the sophisticated palates who would never eat at a McDonald's. I have a lot of European friends who enjoy the occasional sneer at the expense of poor MickeyD. However, I have ben in McD's in Paris, London, Rome, Florence, Malaga, Torremolinos etc... and they are usually filled with natives. With the precipitous dollar decline we expect to be patronizing dear Mickey even more on our annual winter trip to Spain. We enjoy the salads, sundaes, etc...
What can I say?? We're peasants.

ira

Re: McDs filled with locals outside the US.

1. It is exotic.

2. What's the population of these cities? How many McDs are there in each city?

So, on any given day several hundred people, out of a population of millions, decide to have something different and go to McDs.

This means nothing.

travel2live2

Like Fra, I avoid McDonalds at home - absolutley hate it. But then I generally am not a fast food person. There is NO WAY I would eat at a McD's anywhere else, either. Never have liked it and cannot see myself liking it in the future. Very doubtful. And I have tried again fairly recently to give it another chance. Nope.

While in different countries I want to try different foods. Therefore McDonalds would be a waste of time for me. It's not because I'm a chef - it's just that I don't like the "food" or plastic-y environment or the sameness.

PalenQ

Ira

<So, on any given day several hundred people, out of a population of millions, decide to have something different and go to McDs>


there are many many MacDonalds now alal over Europe - in no way is it exotic

McDonalds are in outlying areas and McDrives all over - they are all packed with locals because no tourists are in these areas

<it means nothing> well it does McDonalds and Burger Kings and Quick, etc are extremely popular day in and day out in just about every European sizeable town except the "Slow Food" towns in Italy it seems where local officials scheme to keep them out.

McDonalds for the masses yes not for something that ceased to be exotic say 30 years ago or so

lobo_mau

I like MacDo's (I learnt in France to pronounce like this).
Usually I attend MacDo's once each 2 weeks when I'm in home country and once each 2 days while abroad.

logos999

>in no way is it exotic
It was in Summer 1966, when the first MCD opened in Munich (Sendling afaik)