So, I never visit McDonald's. Oddly, I have managed to visit them twice this year. Once a month ago while traveling and it just worked out that it made the most sense when we stopped for fuel while traveling.
And second last night. We were at the lake late and coming home just before 9pm. Most non chain places were closing, and the only local spot open was McDonald's. Had the whole family including my visiting parents.
The experience was pretty awful. First, they had 3 employees in the building, and the expectation was that you use the Kiosk. I didn't have 'strong' opinions of having to use it vs. speaking to a human. However after ordering 4 meals on it, it is quite the nightmare for the casual visitor. Probably took 4x as long to order our food.
My parents took their order on a second Kiosk and were not even able to complete their order (Parents are in their mid 70s). Not sure what happened, I wasn't watching them. My dad was quite irritated at this point.
After asking one of the humans multiple times for help, he took their order at the register.
<insert 30 minute wait for food>
Our food was placed in their pickup area in bags with napkins (store napkin holder empty). Nearly every burger was overcooked and quite dry. Both my buns were hard. The fry's were luke warm and not very fresh. The meal for 2 adults and 2 14yos was $40 bux.
I saw a story on Lemmy last week about how McDonald's profits were down and the general consensus was that it was the over priced food. While I'm sure that has an impact I believe the Kiosk, slow 'fast food' and overall experience has to be a huge negative.
My parents were PISSED, and they are historically huge McD Patrons. At least in their case, the price will not be why they do not return. Its the awful experience.
McDonald's has been on a really steep decline for the last few years, it seems. They used to be tolerable; they weren't the best fast food around, but they also weren't the worst, and were generally a pretty good deal for your money. The last few times I've gone, the prices have been higher than the time before, and the quality lower than before.
The last time I went was nearly a year ago; my food was cold and my shake was melted, and it was nearly $20 for just one person. There's just no reason to go back.
All fast food has been racing each other to total enshitification. I used to each so much taco bell, it was never good, but decent enough for the price. I had one of the large brown bags almost completely full of fire sauce. I haven't gone in probably a year because their food got blander and more expensive. It feels like everything is just made from nutrient paste but made to look like foods that existed in the old world.