McDonald's with all-you-can-eat french fries, couches and an expansive play area for kids. Is that your idea of fast food heaven or hell?

Who the hell would want “all you can eat” pommes frites?!
Maybe they should offer actual food instead.

The stuff of nightmares. McDonald’s already is. It’s a corporation that markets to kids and poor people, and pretends to sell food. Really, it sells obesity and confused ideas about food.

But, wouldn’t a nice couch on which to wipe your greasy fingers be a nice touch, @DoNotKnowMuch?

^ I suspect the couch might be more nutritious than the “food”. Seriously, this is really pretty nasty. Hope I can sleep tonight :)

Yuck…but, if they served the Wasabi mayo the McDonalds in Asia serves with their fries, maybe. lol
Guess they could really call their lounge the “couch potato.” haha

I live close enough to the McDonald’s with the world’s largest playplace (insert trademark symbol) to have been several times in my life. They have a fry-making robot, ice cream, and pizza, alongside all the “normal” offerings.

It is a good place to meet interesting tourists, though I don’t recommend going on the weekends unless you really like sugar-high five year olds.

If the fries are hot and the Wi-Fi is free, I’d say it’s the stuff of a decent afternoon of letting my kid burn off some energy with people his size.

@ragingloli

Why hate on McDonald’s so? They have frites. They have mayonnaise packets too (known in the US as Belgian Energy Shots).

Don’t you like McD’s there? I thought it was awesome.

I loved the Checkpoint Charlie Chocolate shake. I also had the Saturated Stalin McNuggets.

When I wanted something on the lighter side I tried the Langenstein-Zwieberge McLean Burger. I was a little surprised there weren’t more vegetarian offerings.

But my favorite was the limited offer extreme Eastern German Pussy McRiot Rib Sandwich with the PutinEsca sauce.

Delicious.

Fortunately live in a free society, so no one is forcing you (or anyone else) to go there.

I do like the idea of them delivering the food to your table. Chick-Fil-A started that a few months ago, and it is very convenient.

I don’t particularly like Indian cuisine, but no one forces me to go there, either.

Sorry, @elbanditoroso, did the question or story link imply someone was going to forced to go to this as yet unbuilt model store in St. Joseph, Missouri?

Did you think you were forced to answer this question? ~

About 40 minutes from where I live is a McDonald’s with a really large play area (about two story high climbing area). When my daughter was about 3 and 4, in the winters when it was really cold and crappy out and I needed a way for her to expend some energy, we’d go there and she could play in the play area with some other kids and I could get some coffee and hang out, it was a good thing. All you can eat of any type of food is not appealing to me but the indoor area is a good thing. I would think in the hot summers of Missouri it might be appealing to folks, too. The wi-fi is a bonus.

I think as an occasional treat it would be OK. Feed the kids and turn them lose while I read a book or something.
Don’t really know what “all you can eat fries” has to do with anything.

Just asked my kid. He says he would prefer all you can eat McChicken sandwiches, but he would love to go to the giant PlayPlace.

All you can eat fries would make my MIL’s day. She loves French fries. It’s rather funny actually. She’s like a kid about it.

I like fries, but I usually split a large with my husband, or order a smaller size if it’s just me. All you can eat fries isn’t a super fabulous perk for me. I’m not bothered by it though. I would never call it fast food hell. The large play area is nice for kids. Germ heaven, but still nice. Especially, in cold climates.

@Seek Where is that huge McD’s? I know nothing about it. I might have gone one time to check it out if I had known. Just as a tourist attraction.

It’s on International Drive in Orlando, just down the road from the Convention Center.

@Seek I thought you meant in Tampa. I’ve driven by the one in Orlando. I never went inside. For some reason if it was in Tampa I would go, but in Orlando I’m not as enthused.

Nope, there’s only one I can think of here that still even has a PlayPlace. Most of the franchises did away with them for lower insurance costs.

I never go there so I really don’t care.

I’m too old for “all you can eat” french fries, and, like @Dutchess_III I thought it was odd how they worked that perk into the story. French fries are what keep people from being bored at McDonald’s?
And like the place isn’t greasy enough, with grossly over-priced french fries?
I distrust public “occasional” furniture in restaurants as it it. Even in outlets trying for a lounge effect (like Panera) give me pause when it comes to couches and easy chairs. Add to that a lot of extra grease and a lot more kids, and I shudder.
An expansive play place is great for people with young kids. I don’t have young kids. I don’t begrudge people with young kids.
But what is the message here? Come and stay a while (couch) and stuff your face with non-nutritive grease (bottomless fries) while your kids blow off steam (XL play area).

I thought the concept was very poorly presented. Sure to be refined by McDonald’s in the months to come.

@ibstubro I’m with you on the couches. Sometimes, depending on the place, I think ick. Maybe the couches will be made out of fabric easy to wipe down?

As far as going to McDonald’s with your kids and hanging out while they play? I’m just fine with it. I used to go to McD’s and meet a friend with my niece in tow and she brought her daughter. They would play, and we would catch up, and it was a nice morning out. You can just have a coffee, you don’t have to pig out on fries.

McDonald’s has a long way to go to transform itself into a place I want to hang out, @JLeslie. Beginning with the food.
And honestly, why does McDonald’s want you to come and hang out, anyway? To compete with Starbucks? I doubt we’ll see a Starbucks with an XL play place any time soon.

Locally they’re building a new McDonald’s. The footprint is tiny and the intersection busy, so originally it was going to be true to McDonald’s roots and offer mainly drive-thru service. Now they’ve decided they’ll have dining. So the store is too small for the needs of the area, even before they start pouring the foundation.

I don’t see what’s hard to understand.

Kids don’t play in the streets anymore. There are too many cars, all piloted by people who are staring at cell phones instead of the road. If your neighbor even sees your kid outside without you literally physically touching them, you’re likely to get a visit from Child Protective Services.

Parks aren’t always a great option. For one, it could be hot, or cold, or raining, and none of those things are conducive to sitting down with a cup of coffee and a Kindle. There’s also no food at the park, so you either have to pack stuff to bring or whatever.

It’s incredibly easy to post an event on Facebook to share with mom friends and say “We’re all going to the McD’s with the big playplace on Thursday at five for a playdate and coffee!”

Then everyone can meet up, kids can play, Mom can get something to drink, and no one has to make another stop for ice cream, because hot fudge sundaes are a dollar.

It’s not a farmer’s market. It’s a playground with food. It’s Chuck E. Cheese without the creepy animatronics and bad pizza.

Yes, there will be germs. That’s what baths are for.

@ibstubro Is drive-thru true to McD’s roots? Not in my mind. Didn’t drive-thru come later? I can count on one hand how many times I’ve used a drive-thru.

I don’t go to McDonald’s often. Maybe 4–6 times a year? It’s a treat when it’s clean and has nice decor. It doesn’t compete with Starbucks really, but there is some crossover. My dad likes coffee at both McD’s and Starbucks. My mom doesn’t drink coffee, but McD’s has her ¼ coke ¾ diet coke. They get a senior discount at McD’s also.

Already, some “groups” meet at McD’s to get together, so I guess the company is trying to capitalize on it. I’m talking about groups without children. Then add in people with kids. It makes perfect sense to me.

Half of the food at Starbucks is cake and cookies. Plus, the drink selection is very limited. You can’t get a regular decaf tea even. Not hot or iced and their schtick is coffee and tea.

I don’t know why people hate McDonald’s so much? Once in a while I think it’s fine and can be very pleasant. There are some run down locations, and some in bad areas I prefer not to frequent, but plenty of McD’s are in very nice middle class areas, new or renovated, with friendly service, and clean. I just discovered I can get a side salad, so the last couple of times I got one with my quarter pounder. I was very happy. I don’t believe it was less healthy than most restaurants, even if the restaurant was fancier with wait service.

@Seek‘s last post is a perfect description. Not hard to understand and for a mom (or dad), it’s a no brainer.

Fast food heaven would be Shake Shack in Madison Square Park with no line.

“I don’t see what’s so hard to understand.”
“It’s a playground with food.”
Really?
I thought McDonald’s considered itself a restaurant.

If you notice, this is an opinion question posted in social. It’s not an either-or, belittle opposing views discussion.

“A playground with food” with McDonald’s food selection, price and bottomless fries is many people’s definition of hell.
Not mine, but not far off as the only entree they offer me is the ‘filet-o-fish’.

It’s not hard for me to understand, @jca. I realize McDonald’s is a no-brainer. I have good friends that love it for that reason. Friend’s I don’t eat out with.

@ibstubro: What I was referring to is that McDonalds with a play area for a parent with young children is the part that’s not hard to understand.

@ibstubro Hell why? Because the food is unhealthy? Or, because you picture kids running wild while you’re trying to eat?

* shrug * So don’t go. Not attending a McDonald’s restaurant is a perfectly valid life choice. More fries for me.

Lol. Valid life choice. I love that line.

I’m hoping to go to McD’s this week after participating on this Q.

I took the kid for breakfast burritos and freeze tag in the PlayPlace a couple of days ago. It was nice of them to build a PlayPlace big enough for me to crawl through.

McDonald’s, “a playground with food” is a “valid life choice”?

I hope your McDonald’s “attendance” is very life affirming for you, @JLeslie, if your dreams are realized. ~

I’m inspired. I’ve not visited my fast food temple of choice, Taco Bell, yet this year. I hear the heathens have taken to the evil spirits and a schism may be in the works. I hope my life choice may still be validated by partaking in the Burrito of the Seventh Layer.

Taco Bell is terrible. It never ceases to amaze me that my Mexican husband likes Taco Bell. His fast food of preference is Burger King though.

* shrug * So don’t go. Not attending a Taco Bell restaurant is a perfectly valid life choice, @JLeslie.

In all seriousness, it shouldn’t surprise you that your husband likes Taco Bell any more than it surprises you that McDonald’s is in NYC – literally minutes away from any food choice available elsewhere in the world.
I have friends that have traveled extensively, and if there’s a McDonald’s available, that’s where they eat – the wife wants no surprises when she eats. McDonald’s is unimaginative, American “food” attached to a playground.
Taco Bell is unimaginative American-Mexican food. McDonald’s is reminiscent of the American food of our youth, Taco Bell is likely reminiscent of the Mexican food of your husband’s youth.
Taco Bell also happens to be one of the few fast food restaurants that offer un-fried vegetarian options. Value, taste, convenience, and health-wise, it’s hard to stack a filet-o-fish against a 7-layer burrito.

For the life of me I can’t see the appeal of all-you-can-eat french fries.
When I was a kid there was a local diner that had all the fried chicken you can eat for, like, $7. Back then I could probably put away 1— 1½ chickens. Every plate was 2 pieces of chicken with fries. I told the waitress I wouldn’t eat the fries, she could keep them. She was required to bring the “Fried Chicken Plate” each time, so when we left there was a mound of fries, a foot high. Even as a kid I knew the scam of all-you-can-eat fries.

McDonalds is the food of my youth. Back when the PlayPlace still had a ball pit and a guy dressed in a Ronald McDonald costume.

Taco Hell makes me physically sick every time. Fortunately it’s right next door to Arby’s. Now there’s a fast-food restaurant.

@ibstubro: @JLeslie was not the first person on this thread to use the term “valid life choice.”

I’ll raise my hand, as well as the other moms here, that McD’s with a playground is a useful thing!

I don’t doubt that “attending” a McDonald’s – “a playground with food” – is a “valid life experience” for you and many other’s, @jca.
I never said it wasn’t.
Forgive me if I poke fun at elevating ‘grabbing some grub at the local fast food joint’ into some sort of religious experience.

Repeated eating at some place that make you physically sick is a whole nother story, @Seek.
i.e. worshiping the porcelain throne

@ibstubro: All I was doing was pointing out that you are crediting @JLeslie with something she didn’t say. ”McDonald’s, “a playground with food” is a “valid life choice”? I hope your McDonald’s “attendance” is very life affirming for you, @JLeslie, if your dreams are realized.”

I don’t know that three times in ten years can be considered “repeated”.

I make awesome tacos at home. Sometimes even vegetarian tacos.

I didn’t credit anyone, @jca.
I italicized quotes taken from this thread, followed by a tilde. Which, I might add, you failed to include in quoting me.

McDonalds is no worse for you than what ever you put in your mouth at home or anywhere else. I eat there virtually every morning for breakfast, and I have for years.

I miss Taco Tico. Taco Bell is so uninspired.

I said not eating there is a valid life choice.

Some people are practically religious in their vitriol against their least favorite junk food.

I’m glad to know my valid life choice is a valid one! Whew. I was worried about that.

I know what you mean, @Seek. If you don’t like it, don’t eat it. If you like to eat sheep brains, eat sheep brains. Don’t march about telling everybody they must each sheep brains too.

@ibstubro I found your response to me funny. Not to worry. :)

Thanks, @JLeslie. As intended.

I honestly don’t see why the whole question became such an ordeal.
I don’t have anything against McDonald’s. Hell, I don’t even visti (attend) McDonald’s. I bet I haven’t been in the local outlet more than a dozen times in the 40+ years it’s been there. Which is about 9–10 times more than I’ve been in the Burger King, which is relatively new.

But for Taco Bell, I don’t do fast food. (Arby’s had a great fish sandwich for Lent.) In any case, not having kids, the last place I’m likely to seek food is a playground that offers food. If you have kids and you love the Playplace, more power to you.

Well, it’s 2fer @ibstubro. Kids are hungry and restless so you go. I would take a book. It’s nice having them right there, enclosed, not like a park.

The kids are in the play place, it usually doesn’t impact the rest of the restaurant much.

My one experience was the local McDonald’s and it was years and years ago. The playplace was an add-on, so probably not typical. The kids kept running in the restaurant (which is not large) screaming at the adults to see of they were ‘watching’.

In any case, I don’t care. I understand the appeal of kids having a distraction.

I’m sure there are many things that a 55yo semi-retired male and a mother of 3 grade school aged kids disagree on, heaven/hell wise. lol

Well, that’s not cool. I think every McDonalds I took my kids to was an add on…this would have been in the 80’s. The add on wasn’t huge, but it was contained enough that the kids wouldn’t be running through the restaurant, unless the parents were jerks and let them.

Hell because of the Mc Donald’s part – I don’t care for anything other than the Mc Sundaes and the occasional curly fries, and I have ahard time ignoring what huge (fast food) companies do to the world. I like enclosed play spaces. In low doses.

McDonald’s has curly fries?

@JLeslie Just occasionally, as a special. Maybe once a year around here.

Maybe to go with the McRib fest?

I love, love love McRib sandwiches!

Morningstar Farms makes a vegetarian version that’s nearly identical to the McRib. All I need is a decent bun and some sliced onion.

Fast food hell. No one should eat endless french fries. One small order is bad enough for you. The playplace is a good feature for the kids, but couches, armchairs, and table service is a bit much for a McDonalds. They will soon start wanting tips.

That pretty much mirrors my thoughts, @nightwolf5. Lots and lots more greasy things in a McDonald’s restaurant.

@nightwolf5 and @ibstubro There are lots of things no one should do, but it’s their choice. No one is holding a gun to their head and forcing them to eat fries until they throw up. They are responsible for their own decisions. Period.

throwing up fries suuuuuucks. True facts.

Ew! I can only imagine!

Where did anyone say anything about anyone being forced to do anything? @Dutchess_III

When you do not have a good argument for something do you deliberately resort to a logical fallacy to obfuscate the issue?

@nightwolf5 said, “Fast food hell. No one should eat endless french fries…” and you agreed and expounded on it.
You and he should have qualified them as your opinions, rather than a blanket statement of what others should or should not do. It’s really none of your business.