Thursday, July 27, 2006

Oneonta, NY McDonald's: Really Bad

The McChronicles was on a jaunt through the Southern Tier of New York State and came upon the McDonald's in Oneonta. The timing was perfect so we dropped in for a late lunch. Expectations were high - only to have them dashed by poor service, insects, and below-par food.

Store: Oneonta, NY
Online Time: 45 seconds (no one was in line ahead of us)
Order Wait: 2 minutes
Service: not rude, but unprofessional
Quality: fries were stale
Cleanliness: store was slightly messy and was full of flies

Our first impression was from the road. The store has the typical big PLAYPLACE building/sign right out front. It felt good going in. As we entered, the restaurant looked fairly OK, but we were immediately surrounded by flies. Not a billion, but a noticeable amount. That always gets our mind running (why are they here? where else are they (on the food)? is it a cleanliness issue? etc.). Upon looking around a bit we noticed that the layout of this store is a little bit funky. The restaurant area is small, and seems to need another table or two. The PLAYPLACE seems plenty large.

The counter person seemed a bit stressed even though we could not detect anything happening. She wasn't rude, but she clearly needs some training on how to speak with people.

We then waited a little too long, only to end up with some of the worst fries we have ever encountered. We know - you're saying, "just take them back, exchange them". Well, people don't like doing that, although The McChronicles HAS done it in the past (and the staff is ALWAYS eager to please). And we were kind of put off by the whole experience up to this point, so, disappointed, we just wanted to eat and get out.

We all felt that the chairs and other items in the dining room seemed just a bit cheap.

Overall, this ranks among the worst McDonald's experiences we have ever had - not for one big reason, but for numerous small reasons.

The McChronicles: A blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.
Image: The McChronicles.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

About the stressed counter person: Usually when we've had a bad day, or are relativley new (I've only worked there for a month or so myself)We do get nervous and it may come off as being rude, but its nothing like that!
Just smile and tell us its ok if we start apologizing. Believe me, it makes my day when a customer is respectful that were busy and returns the smile.

Thanks!