McDonald's and Your Child's Diet Featuring My Expanding Waistline
Written: May 19 '08
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Big Mac, Happy Meal, McRib, caramel sundaes, yogurt parfait, fruit salad, good prices
Cons: Nutritionally speaking, not a good idea to eat at McDonald's every day. Newman's Dressing
The Bottom Line: The one fast food joint that everyone agrees on....it is bad for us and we love it anyway!
|
|
|
| pablothegreat's Full Review: McDonald's |
Ahhh McDonald's. When I was a child, we rarely ate out at restaurants. My mother's idea of eating out was a dinner at church where everyone would bring a potluck dish to share. So I am not that against eating out as an adult nor taking my child through a drive-in once and a while. My child has no weight issues except being underweight as she runs off everything she puts into her mouth. This child is rarely still! We have no McDonald's where we live but when we travel, we do stop in at McDonald's drivethroughs on the way. As unhealthy as most food choices at McDonald's, a rare stop in a few times a year never hurt anyone!
Customer service:
McDonald's restaurants can get very busy for kids hankering after Happy Meals! So I have felt rushed ordering at the drive-through. They are also timed on getting correct orders out and the line kept moving. So better know what you want as you drive up to the speaker! The lines can be very long but go quickly. Now a days, they usually have one window to pay and another window to pick up your order. The last stop we made at McDonalds just the other day, I was surprised to be asked if I wanted a free chicken sandwich by the person at the first window. Wish he had asked before I ordered and paid for my Big Mac!! The staff at McDonalds are always friendly and in clean uniforms. Ordering inside, I have found quicker service than through the drive-throughs.
Inside of the restaurant:
I have found clean restrooms and a clean dining room in every McDonald's we have visited. At times we have ordered through the drive-through to eat in the car (my daughter has issues with sitting still when she sees other kids playing so we prefer to eat in the car) and then went inside to use the restroom before leaving. There are lots of tables to be had and even at crowded times, we have been able to find a table. They have a kids' play area and tables out there for the parents to watch the children play. The tall play structure has tunnels and slides. Children remove their shoes and put them in cubicles until they are ready to go. I wish the tunnels were clear so I could keep an eye on my daughter when she is in them! At times, I am wondering where she is as she was in a tunnel for a while! McDonald's has at least 3 registers going at a time so the lines inside go quickly.
The food:
Of course my daughter's favorite here is the Happy Meal which comes with a toy. She loves the chicken nuggets although she will not eat the chicken strips at other places due to them not being like McDonald's chicken nuggets! Now they have various options for kids' meals that make them healthier like milk instead of soda and apple dippers with caramel. Caramel is not exactly healthy!! The toys are sometimes based on popular movies or characters that all children will know and love. I am happy that they have a juice option for drink but at times we have been charged over $1.00 to add juice to her Happy Meal! That is just so wrong!
Many foods have been added to the McDonald's menu. One of my favorite new items is the fruit and walnut salad: fresh apple slices and grapes with yogurt dip. Yumm! The last McDonald's did not have this selection which disappointed me! My daughter and I both loved the fresh fruit and yogurt on the side....we did not care for the sugared nuts, thank goodness that came in a baggy and not on the fruit salad! The yogurt cup was very small though. We also love the yogurt parfait with blueberries and strawberries!
I have never cared for the salads at McDonald's, the salad dressings especially were tangy which I did not care for. Only Newman's Own salad dressings are offered but I would suggest they change to creamy Kraft salad dressings! If you go inside at breakfast time, you will find breakfast items in hot plates at the front of the restaurant. I thought this was odd because they have no buffet table, they were just sitting on the counter. We rarely ate breakfast at McDonalds as we preferred Hardee's for breakfast biscuits. McDonald's has biscuits, eggs, pancakes, hashbrowns (these come in long flat stick instead of hashbrowns the usual way), sausage and bacon. Some locations have gravy but others do not.
McDonald's now has Wrap sandwiches and did have the salad mixings in a cup that you could swish around to mix it up...this was a mess and a half! Not a great receptacle for eating a salad! The Big Mac...so good! The last one I ordered looked smaller to me than before. Maybe they have downsized it to fit into nutritional requirements? The Big Mac has a french salad dressing mixed with mayo taste with shredded lettuce and two beef patties on a sesame seed bun. The McRib is never on the menu enough. It is an occasional item that is not offered on the menu. Soooo good! I do not like bony ribs where I can't find a scrap of meat but this is boneless rib meat with barbecue sauce!! Melt in your mouth good!
Dessert at McDonald's leaves you with little choice. An ice cream cone in vanilla or chocolate, sundaes, chocolate chip cookie,McFlurry, apple pie, or animal crackers. The hot fudge sundae is not very good to me as the fudge gets too cold too quickly! The caramel sundae when done right with tons of caramel is delicious! Sometimes you get a person who will only dab a dot of caramel on the top of vanilla ice cream and you might as well have ordered a cup of vanilla ice cream! A package of crushed nuts goes along with the sundaes. You can get hamburgers from a small just one patty of beef and nothing else to the huge Quarter Pounder or Big Mac! All burgers will come with ketchup and mustard so if you do not want one or the other, tell them! Mayo is offered on the side in packets. What is up with the fish sandwiches having cheese? I hate having to remember to tell them I do not want cheese on my fish...who does that? Yuck! The tartar sauce on the fish sandwich is tasty though!
The drinks:
Sodas, coffee, tea, bottled water, iced coffee, orange juice, and milk shakes in chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla.
My final say on McDonalds? A great place to stop and eat once and a while. No need to not eat great tasting food cause it is bad for us once in a while, right? It is not like we are eating a Big Mac at lunch every single day! Do I feel guilty that I had a Big Mac the other day? Nope. Not at all! My first Big Mac of the year and I think that I have run off all those calories and fat since then. The one fast food joint that everyone agrees on....it is bad for us and we love it anyway!
What is so good about THIS restaurant?
Big Mac, Happy Meal, McRib, caramel sundaes, yogurt parfait, fruit salad, good food at a great price
What is unique about this restaurant?
Kids' play area inside.
Is it worth the price?
Yes!
There has to be some bad to this restaurant, right?
Nutritionally speaking, not a good idea to eat at McDonald's every day. Newman's Salad Dressing not a hit with me.
Any warnings people should be aware of?
Will bust your diet plan.
Final verdict:
The one fast food joint that everyone agrees on....it is bad for us and we love it anyway!
pablo the nibbler
I owe it all to little chocolate donuts. John Belushi
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
pablothegreat
|
 - Top 1000 |
|
Location: Around Back
Reviews written: 919
Trusted by: 87 members
About Me:
Writing up a storm...
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.