McDonald's Changning Road, Shanghai, China

The McDonald's on Shanghai's Changning Road (corner with Dingxi Lu) is interesting to the McChronicles.

Is it huge? No.

Beautiful? No.

Super clean? No

Does it provide awesome service? No.

So, what is it that piques our interest? Surprisingly, it is the total

"averageness" (if there is such a word).

The Changning Road store is a place that hosts international business travelers, tourists, school children, families, and even the occasional gaggle of retired women (the EXACT group that people say will reject McDonald's in China).

Walk in the door and the counter is right in your face. Quick looks right and left reveal the first-floor dining areas. The stairs to the 2nd-floor dining area and rest rooms is immediately to your left.

The seating is typical, the counter area is typical, the floor is the same faux-wood ceramic that is experienced so often worldwide.

This store can get busy, and it can be slow. The McChronicles dropped in at

11:30AM, dodging the noon rush by a bit, and experiencing a crew that had a little breathing room.

We were greeted with smiles, a routine welcome, and proactive help as our meal was selected. We were "processed" as if there were 100 people in line behind us (told to move to the side and wait for our order - The McShuffle), even though we were the only customer - habit we guess.

We chose to sit beside a table of four retired women to see how they enjoyed their McDonald's experience. They seemed to have one mode: everyone talk and laugh at the same time!

OK, so this McDonald's is "average". We had expectations, they were met, we received what we wanted - and it was good. Sometimes it's not so bad being average.

For those interested in McDonald's prices in China, The McChronicles paid 5.5 Chinese RMB (renminbe: the peoples' money) for a hamburger and RMB4.0 for bottled water. Today 1 US dollar is approximately equal to 6.8 RMB.

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

Images: The McChronicles.