BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants

Subject: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Girl Friday
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 03:44 PM

The McDonalds in Eltham, South East London seems to have had a makeover. Gone, is the red and yellow paint. It is now decorated externally with a rather more pleasant green. Instead of the nasty plastic seating, there are arm chairs. We know of no other McDonalds like it. Has anyone else seen one?

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Alec
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 03:49 PM

I know they have at least one branch in central York that has a very discrete & tasteful exterior.
They can do it when they want to.
Still behaved appallingly vis-a-vis McLibel though.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Peace
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 03:54 PM

Fast Food Restaurants


Three lies for the price of on.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Peace
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 03:56 PM

e.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Michael
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 04:27 PM

The one on Beverley Road, Hull, UK has closed through lack of custom!!!!!!!!
Aparently they hoped to get business from the local secondary school and didn't.(Or not enough)
It warms the cockles, so it does.

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 04:36 PM

Little heartwarming story from the McD's in Oxford St, London.

They employ a lad with Down's Syndrome as a general cleaning/table clearing guy. The manager had a chat with him at his revue and asked him if there's anything he wanted. His reply was that he'd always wanted to be a manager.

The following week he went home to his parents so proudly sporting his new badge that stated that he was 'customer care manager'. They'd invented the post for him, no extra money or anything, but they'd made him a manager just to make him happy.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 04:40 PM

That's sweet.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: kendall
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 05:04 PM

It wasn't the corporate office that promoted the guy, it was a decent person who just worked there.

For my part, even calling McDonald's a restaurant is false advertising!

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 05:09 PM

No turkey, no seafood to talk about, no veggies, no decent dessert...and the list goes on.

Of course, they DO buy all those potatoes from around here....

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: GUEST,ozchick
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 05:34 PM

In Australia we have "McCafe" which is McDonalds, but trendier - aimed for the Starbucks crowd. The coffee is actually quite good and the decor is much better than regular McDonalds.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Sorcha
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 05:37 PM

It's 'food'???????

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 05:52 PM

He's doing exactly the same job, clearing tables and mopping floors, but he's the customer care MANAGER. Sometimes one word can make a whole heap of difference.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Sorcha
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 05:54 PM

I'll suggest that we make Neal and Danny the Dish Managers or summat. Wonderful idea, IMO.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: John O'L
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 06:50 PM

When thesbians discuss takeaways is it considered bad luck to mention the Scottish burger out loud?

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Girl Friday
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 07:03 PM

I used the term restaurant because they call them that. Comeon, own up, who hasn't used one? This is the first of my postings to generate so many messages in such a short time. Perhaps these new-look Mcs will become McCafes. The coffee has certainly improved!

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: GUEST,LilyFestre
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 07:23 PM

There is a McDonalds near Cornell University that is done in hunter greens, deep shades of red and scenes of hunting dogs on the walls. I don't recall the chairs but did find it funny to see how they catered to the upscale, ivy league university crowd.

LQF

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 07:50 PM

The one thing that can be said about McDonald's is that there is a standard of quality that is worldwide.

Not a particularily high standard, but a standard none the less.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: RangerSteve
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 07:52 PM

Years ago there was one on 8th Ave. in New York City, just north of Penn Station, whose walls were covered in antique sheet music covers.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: kendall
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 07:53 PM

I don't ever hope to be that hungry.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: ragdall
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 10:01 AM

Last summer we ate in many resturants in Western Europe. Usually the occasions were recorded in digital images. This was the only place, during that trip, in which I was reprimanded for taking a photo inside a restaurant. World class dining, Gyor, Hungary. (Click on an image to see a larger version).

You may notice that this McDonalds has a few features not seen in most McDonalds in North America, such as an Austrian pastry section.

After the upsetting encounter with excitable staff when my camera flash was noticed, we decided not to eat here. I did however pay the ridiculously high price, 100 hft, to use the restroom.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: JeremyC
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 12:02 PM

There was a ghetto McDonald's in my old neighborhood that was redone to look sort of like a fifties diner. I never went inside, though, so I have no idea how thorough the makeover was.

I don't care what it looks like, I just don't like eating there. Last time I did was probably eight months ago (the first time in a few years), and it gave me explosive diarrhea.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 12:50 PM

When travelling by road we often choose to eat at McDonalds because we know that the standard and price will be the same wherever unlike the grossly overpriced stuff that motorway service stations want to offer us. No it isn't cordon bleu but it is tasty and the kids eat it without moaning and they will allow us to have a kids meal when we are not over hungry without insisting we are under 10 years old!

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Mr Fox
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 12:51 PM

Gillinham (Kent) McDonalds has been done out with armchars and such. The food is still bloody awful, though.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Penny S.
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 12:56 PM

Is that the Eltham one in Eltham, or the Yorkshire Grey?

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Girl Friday
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 01:26 PM

I understand that the Yorkshire Grey is/was on the South Circ. roundabout. This is the one on the junction of Well Hall Road/ElthamHigh Street.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Mr Red
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 01:47 PM

I guess Turkey Twizzlers are off the menu

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Homeless
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 01:51 PM

I've not eaten at a McDonald's since 9th grade when my parents got divorced and my father no longer made decisions about where/what I ate. Over 25 years, and counting. There's too much food growing wild in any field for me to be willing to eat at McDonalds. I'd eat dandelion leaves and cattail roots first.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 01:54 PM

There is a nice one at the Centralia outlet mall that has a fireplace. mg

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Shaneo
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 02:11 PM

Would you like fries with that ? just give me the burger I asked for / Is that a big mack meal you want ? no just a big mack , no fries , no coke , no evening newspaper , no shakes ,

Ahhh , just forget it , I'm out of here

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: MBSLynne
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 02:37 PM

I've been in a McDonald's once in my life and that was over 20 years ago. I have never taken my children to one, despite their friends being taken regularly as a 'treat'. Richard was taken to one with a crowd of kids for a party when he was about six and loathed the food...won't go in one now even though he's old enough to choose for himself. Shady has been in one once as well, with a party. She has no desire to go again. I've obviously brought them up with the right attitude to 'proper' food!

It's not just the food I don't like though, it's the whole ethos.

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Mr Red
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 02:43 PM

The last one I went into was with a pregnant neice! She is a food technologist! Uncles are so passé!

I had a coffee!

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Mr Red
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 02:45 PM

the coffeé was passeéééééééééyuk

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: John O'L
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 08:41 PM

"The one thing that can be said about McDonald's is that there is a standard of quality that is worldwide."

"...we know that the standard and price will be the same wherever..."

Rapaire & Mrs. Duck, this is not a good thing. To provide this worldwide "standard", the McDonalds machine is redefining animal husbandry, packaging and marketing on a global scale, eliminating variety by replacing natural feeding with standardised production-line feed, all of which creates fabricated economic habits and expectations so that eventually nothing will be able to function but the McDonalds machine or that which it controls.
I don't want to seem alarmist, but it's kinda, well, alarming.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: fumblefingers
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 08:49 PM

I can't count the number of times I've been traveling and bustin' for a piss. I can always find a McDonalds for a place to pee. The bog entrance is always next to the side door. Easy in--east out.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Greg B
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 09:17 PM

This always reminds me of folks who proclaim loudly, should you
mention some nit of televised popular culture, 'Oh, we don't
HAVE a TV!'

One almost feels one should say 'oh, sorry, didn't realize that
I was dealing with the uber class, I'll refrain from mentioning
Tony Soprano or Father Ted going forward.'

At least here in the US, McD's has made great strides. For one
thing, they have what is probably the tastiest decaf coffee I've
tasted in a long time. Indistinguishable from full caf, and both
taste as good as Starbuck's.

They've added some nice fun salads and fruit yogurt parfaits. But
I have to admit an addiction to their hash browns, which are
very similar to 'instant' potato latkes. Too bad they have no
apple-sauce for them.

The old Big Mac and similar slime is still there--- every couple
of years I get a Big Mac Attack and the woozy feeling after having
one reminds me of why it's a dumb idea.

But the point is, you can eat well in the places.

Oh---by the way, say what you will about 'corporate' and
promotions, but most McD's are actually owned by individual
entrepreneurs who purchase a franchise and tow the resulting
line. So if they want to make the retarded kid a manager, they
can.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: GUEST,LilyFestre
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 10:17 PM

I really like those little yogurt parfaits and also their iced tea! The coffee is good too...I prefer it to the over-priced, over burned cup of yuck found at Starbucks. And what the heck, I like their cheeseburgers too...I might get one once every three months or so. Considering the amount of business they do, I know I'm not alone in liking some of their stuff!

LQF

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: John O'L
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 10:33 PM

We went to McDonalds on a recent holiday and I took the time to read what was on the side of the little bag the hash brown came in. I can't remember what it all was exactly, but it seemed that most of the ingredients were just there to colour the salt and hold it together in the right shape.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: MBSLynne
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 02:58 AM

Greg B...it depends what you mean by "Eat well".

It has nothing to do with whatever you mean by "uber class" and I don't think it's necessary to be snide about it. I don't like the food, and neither do my children. I don't like the "fast-food" ethos at all and nor do I like massive, international chains. I am not being pretentious as you seem to imply. These are my feelings.

Who is Tony Sopranp?

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: GUEST,ozchick
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 05:09 AM

Has anyone seen the movie "Super-size Me"?

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 05:10 AM

"... it's the same the whole world over - isn't it a pretty shame?"

I preferred Wendy's with its wonderful salad bar, but alas, you'll find it seldom in Germany now.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Cats
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 06:08 AM

The one in Tavistock has closed own completely. Yes!!! One down , how many thousand to go?

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: GUEST,ozchick
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 06:13 AM

Look at the ads down below...hehee..... we could all open up our own McDonalds'

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Grab
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 06:33 AM

Wouldn't touch Mickey D's with a bargepole. Burger King or KFC for me, thanks - I like my meat products to be mostly meat. Not too long back, someone publicised the fact (taken from Mickey D's own nutritional information, no less) that the burgers were 50% water. That's why you feel bloated after eating one, and half an hour later you're starving again.

Graham.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Captain Ginger
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 07:25 AM

KFC, where the chicken is intensively reared and treated dreadfully?
Or Burger King, with levels of fat, sugar and salt in their burgers comparable to McD's? And whose beef is still intensively reared?
I'm afraid I'll only eat meat that I've shot myself or bought from my local butcher, who knows exactly where it came from and how it was reared.
For all their lip service to being healthy and green, all the junk food chains stink when it comes to the ethics. Eat well in such places? Don't make me bark!
Frankly I'm astonished at finding so many people here admitting to eating such stuff - I thought an interest in folk and traditional music went hand in hand with a concern for ethical production and good husbandry, and a concern for one's own wellbeing and that of the planet. But maybe it does explain why so many people one sees at folk festivals are so overweight!

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: JeremyC
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 09:22 AM

GUEST,ozchick posted:
Has anyone seen the movie "Super-size Me"?

I thought the furor over the movie was hilarious and revealing, the way people scrambled to defend McDonald's and declare the movie "unscientific," when it was pretty obvious to anyone who isn't retarded that the point wasn't an actual EXPERIMENT, and he wasn't trying to PROVE anything. It was a stunt intended to make a point, and the McDonald's defenders (a few of whom went to great effort to eat healthy meals at McDonald's, completely missing the point of the movie) helped him make it more than they realized.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Scrump
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 09:56 AM

I only ever go to McDonald's in desperation. The last time was about 6 years ago, when I was with my son and we had to get somewhere by a certain time. We passed a McD's and drove for miles trying to find an alternative - a pub, or anything. In the end we were running out of time and were forced to eat there.

I disagree with the person who said they are all the same standard. Years ago, in the US, (when I was less discerning about where I ate) I found they varied greatly in quality between different branches. I quickly found which were the best ones to go to, and avoided the others. I preferred BK anyway :-)

And I hate them here in the UK, because they are expensive for what you get, whereas in the US they work out around half the UK price.

As for KFC, they're even worse, IME. Years ago a bunch of us got food poisoning from eating their wonderful products. The only good thing is that they give you the bucket to throw up into after eating their 'food' - how thoughtful! :-)

When we complained afterwards, they apologised and offered us some vouchers for more of the same - no thanks!

The last time I went into a KFC, was when I was in Kentucky. I figured maybe it doesn't travel, and it may be better there, so out of curiosity I tried it. It wasn't, it was just as bad as everywhere else, and I've never been to one since. :-(

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: MBSLynne
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 02:21 PM

I haven't been to a KFC for over 30 years, but for a different reason from my absence from McDonalds. In the late 60s/early 70s Kentucky Fried Chicken opened their first shop in Perth, Western Australia. I was about 17 or 18 at the time and my friends and I went there a couple of times. I loved the stuff. Then one weekend I ate KFCs for just about every meal. By the end of that weekend I couldn't stand it. I think I have had it once since then, but the thrill had gone and the smell still reminds me of how sick it used to make mwe feel due to over-indulgence.

A few years after that I worked in the KFC offices in Perth. By then there were several stores and the managers used to bring their paper work in. The folders always smelled of KFC and it didn't help my loathing at all.

And just by the way...I had my photo taken with Colnel Sanders!

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Greg B
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 04:59 PM

Tony Soprano is--- oh hell, just Google the name.

KFC --- for some reason, their mashed potatoes and gravy
just set my mouth a-watering. Probably horrible for you,
but GOOD spicy gravy! They have these new bowl thingies--- kind
of like a meat pie or shepherd's pie. Look like great
comfort food. Never did care for their chicken, but I've
never been one on fried chicken as I don't care for the
search for the meat between the batter and the bone.

I do enjoy Taco Bell; always have, ever since being a kid
in SoCal. Not the wierd new stuff, but their old standby
tacos and burritos. Felt really bad for them when they were
the victim of some polluted lettuce fields recently. After
all it was BECAUSE they use some pretty fresh ingredients
that they got nailed.

Now for REAL Mexican fast food, there's a chain called
'Baja Fresh.' Just a slice of heaven. Great fish tacos.

Sorry Burger King fans, but everything there tastes the
same to me.

I generally don't eat beef products at McD's, except for
those rare Big Mac attacks which I later rue in a fit of
bilious regret.

I did take Bron, Philip, and Martin Hugill to McDonald's
in Mystic one time, when it was the only place to get a bite
to eat past 10PM.

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 05:04 PM

GregB - I dislike your use of the word 'retard'. He is probably more reliable and works harder than many so called 'able bodied' people. He has Down's Syndrome. He is not a 'retard'. He's also a very polite person - I've been to that resaurant and got a more sensible response from him than I did from the serving staff.

As for eating healthily or well at fast food restaurants, I don't think anyone has said that is why they eat there - although it is possible to eat healthy things there, the major factor is price. Feeding a family is expensive enough at the best of times but eating out can be incredibly expensive.

And I agree with the comparison between UK and US prices. It seems that the $0.49 burger translates across the pond to £0.49, about twice the price with exchange rates as they are.

Not everyone is lucky enough to have a garden big enough to grow veg in, or have a friendly butcher nearby who rears his own stock. Some have to travel miles to get food from a store that doesn't open 24/7. Some can't afford to buy organic or from local stores. Market bought goods don't always last as long and bulk buying is not always practicable for storage reasons.

I can see that some people are just making clear their opinions and actions, but there are others here who seem to be judging and that's not good.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: McDonalds Fast Food Restaurants
From: Captain Ginger
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 05:43 PM

It is never cheaper to feed your family junk than it is to prepare real food. An onion, a tin of chopped tomatoes and enough pasta to feed four can be had from Tesco for a total of 48 pence. Go mad and buy some garlic and some mixed herbs - you'll still feed four for under a quid. What's more you can cook it in two pans on one ring in 20 minutes.
Now what junk food joint can do that?
Sorry, but I am judgemental on this. There is seldom an excuse for feeding your family crap, and anyone who regularly feeds their family at junk food restaurants is guilty of abuse in my book.