Full of salt, processed, and heavily (pun intended) contributing to the nation's obesity epidemic, McDonald's isn't a place I go to because I want to.
Except for the fries. I crave the fries. The fries are my cigarettes, but the good news is I tend to stay away from them for weeks at a time. Regardless, I do believe, but cannot prove, that McDonald's has done something to their food to make it addictive.
So here's the list. We're not ranking them by which McDonald's is the best. No, no, that would be boring. We are going to rank them by the worst, with #10 being so-so and #1 being horrifying.
So here's the list:
10.) Hometown- I can't really fault this McDonald's for much other than the default McDonald's problems. So it's here to simply place itself on the list.
9.) Frackville- There used to be two McDonald's in Frackville- one inside the Schuylkill Mall and one outside. The inside one used to be popular for birthday parties (does McDonald's even do that anymore?) but the outside one has always been more convenient. Anyways, the outside one is the only one left, and remains a popular stop off of Interstate 81. It's not horrible, I'll give it that. At the same time, it's not good- the service I've gotten there has been lacking, and their recent "upgrade" features the Most Uncomfortable Seats Known to Man. The bathrooms are also usually very, very dirty.
8.) Pine Grove- Also easily accessible from Interstate 81, it has the exact opposite problem of the Frackville McDonald's- it could use an upgrade. Also, I once got a Shamrock Shake from this location that was all white stuff on the bottom and green stuff on the top. It was quickly thrown away. Otherwise, this is a fairly inoffensive location aside from the obvious "You'll die if you eat here too much" factor.
7.) Danville- SLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. Their Drive-Thru location is easily reached from I-80. Technically this isn't the Coal Region, but come on, I've fallen asleep here before my food was ready. Okay, not really, but I HAVE listened to 1/3 of a baseball game from the time I ordered to the time I got my food.
6.) Schuylkill Haven- There's not enough seating here. It's also at an intersection, and in an area that doesn't have enough lanes for the very busy traffic. The drive thru, therefore, isn't really very "convenient". Also, WHEN I SAY NO CHEESE ON A QUARTER POUNDER I MEAN NO CHEESE THANK YOU.
5.) Elysburg- about a year ago, I went to the Elysburg location and ordered a grilled chicken sandwich. I received my order, and before driving off, I saw they gave me a fried chicken sandwich. I went inside and pointed out the error. They took my sandwich, and then I waited 10 MINUTES before they gave me back a FRIED CHICKEN SANDWICH, THIS TIME A DIFFERENT PATTY. I didn't want to wait any longer so I sucked it up and had my arteries clogged. I haven't been back since.
4.) Hazleton (the location outside of the Laurel mall)- once I ordered a ten piece chicken nuggets here, and instead I got a ten piece box with five nuggets in it. Thanks for looking out for my carb intake, Hazleton McDonald's, but no thanks for charging me full price anyway. Also, this location routinely has people with loud and fast cars who go out of the way to show you how loud and fast their cars are. Be careful walking inside from your car, some restored hot rod might mow you down in the process.
3.) Wilkes-Barre (the "old style" one next to Toys R Us)- not enough seating, and absolutely the most disinerested employees I have ever encountered, except for McDonald's #1. They act like your request for a meal is more like a request for them to do heavy manual labor.
2.) Pottsville (across from the Fairlane Village Mall)- "I wanna go to the Playplace!" Those words, shouted by a young child, have resulted in many Coal Region families taking their kids to this Mcdonald's location. While this makes it a popular place for families, if you are just trying to eat, it's annoying to hear the yells of little Stevie trying to get his mom's attention 5,000 times because he's at the place on the top with the clear bubble that he can see through. What makes it worse is when real little kids get stuck and/or lost in the Playplace and the whole focus of everyone in the store is on the staff and parents of little Tommy trying to get his screaming mouth out. This is also the part of the entry where people will think I don't like kids. That's not true, I love kids and want some of my own some day. I just don't like boneheaded parenting that DOESN'T READ THE RULES POSTED AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE PLAYPLACE, AND THEN WANTS EVERYONE TO HAVE SYMPATHY FOR THEM BECAUSE THEY REFUSE TO READ SIGNS. Plus, that thing has to have at least 5,000 diseases running through its plastic structure because I can bet the staff doesn't clean it as thoroughly or often as they should. Just a hunch.
And the absolute worst McDonald's in the Coal Region:
1.) Shamokin- WOW. I could write a book on my experiences with this location alone. And don't argue with them, because their attitudes are horrible. Not too long ago I ordered two double cheeseburgers plain, and I got them back with ketchup. No biggie, but I went up to the counter and asked them to fix the mistake. The counter guy mumbled, "that is plain", so I just went and dealt with the extremely super-sweet McDonald's ketchup on the sandwich. They have constant turnover here. If you have special requests, you have about a 10% chance of that request being granted. My wife doesn't like cheese. Late one night, we hadn't eaten so I swung by because it was pretty much the only option in Shamokin. Upon getting home, my "Quarter Pounder No Cheese" was a Quarter Pounder with FIVE SLICES of cheese on it. I'm fairly certain some cranky worker wanted to punish me for making a special request.
This place, again, has major attitude. I have had food just about thrown at me from the drive-thru window, and they really seem to get the most clueless people ever to work at this place.
And if you eat inside, be prepared to wait about 15 minutes to get your food EVEN THOUGH YOUR FRIES ARE SITTING RIGHT THERE BUT THE PERSON JUST STANDING AROUND DOESN'T HAVE THE ENERGY TO WALK OVER AND GET THEM.
Ugh. The only reason this place is in business is because sometimes it's one of very few options for quick food. But regardless, I've heard more than one person in Shamokin refer to this place as "Asshole McDonald's". I have to agree.
Shamokin McDonalds is THE WORST. I received an undercooked grilled chicken sandwich there once. On other occasions the presentation of the food has been haphazard at best.
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