McDonald’s

Welp, it’s McDonald’s so most of the usual applies. It’s conveniently located (I mean they put golden arches virtually everywhere). It has a parking lot so you can park and go inside to order and leave or dine in, as well as a drive through. The typical nationwide specials apply. The service here isn’t actually bad. I think they do a good job with taking orders, preparing food, keeping fresh coffee, etc. The people who visit here kinda kill this location at times. I mean McDonalds has been around since before most of us were even born (unless you’re like 73 years old). Which such being the case, it amazes me people get in line or in the drive through and sit stunned and amazed like they have never seen the menu before ever. Like what? A big mac? What is that? Is that new? Such backs up the lines inside and outside. The last time I was here, simply to get a $ 1 any size coffee, the lady in front of me ordered like 6 $ 1 sandwiches and wanted all of them made differently, then changed her order, then forgot she changed it and screamed and hollered saying they screwed up her order. They got it right, but it took the ladies daughter showing her the receipt and reminding her she changed her order. This is a solid location, just if the lines look long, avoid it.

Snackin at the Micky D’s — can’t go wrong!

Large french fries tasted delicious. We bought them with a $ 1 coupon we received in the mail. Unfortunately, I had to return back to the counter and ask for ketchup as our bag was not provided with any ketch up and the dispenser required staff access. A lot of the customers I saw had coupons too so some of the traffic seems incentivized.
We received a free coupon in the mail for the McCafe Frap. The hard chips were very hard and coarse so I give the French Fries better marks than the Frap.
This is a model MCD for interior decoration (one of the best decorated that I have seen in the DC area). It saddened me to see that someone would pen what appeared to be a «Hitler» style a mustache on a world class photo of the Abraham Lincoln memorial. As much as it reflects more on the neighborhood than MCD, I was saddened me that no one had deployed some alcohol solvent to remove that pen ink vandalism as the photo looked good enough to include in a coffee table book or the type of photo I would have wished to snap (minus the vandalism I witnessed).
Considering the context in which this restaurant operates across the street from «stressed» real estate, I guess this place is an ongoing experiment into whether capitalism will ever get any return from rejuvenating an area that looked like it had historically been a challenge to insure? For example, the furniture seemed brand new. The parking lot seemed fuller than the restaurant which was an upbeat sign although there were no lines inside on a Saturday at noon despite watching other customers presenting coupons as well.
The men’s rest room seemed to be good working order. The staff are doing a good job of keeping the tables clean and place free of insects so you know some employees have to be working their tails off.

(2.5 actually)
*sigh* It seems pointless to critique McDonald’s…after all, IT’S A GOTTDAMN MCDONALD’S! Nevertheless, I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least give some helpful hints to those of you who would follow me through my adventures in purgatory. TO BE FAIR, this place isn’t that bad – especially if you go inside to order your food. But, really, who’s getting out of their comfortable, climate-​controlled car (in THIS neighborhood) to go walking into ANY fast food joint, much less a McDonald’s. But I digress. Here are my helpful hints:
1) Learn Spanish. Yes, this is America… that’s why you’re gonna have to learn Spanish eventually, so why not get a jump on it. Besides, since most of the high school students that used to work at fast food joints have been replaced with Hispanic workers (and EVERYONE who works at this particular location is straight-​up Guatemalan, or something of the like), if you wanna be able to ask for extra ketchup or napkins, you’d better get with the program (Puedo tener alguna salsa de tomate adicional y servilletas, por favor?);
2) No, really, go inside and order. It’s usually pretty empty and is much faster than sitting in an 18-​car line for who knows how long. I know, I know… you’re a fat-​ass who just can’t be bothered by the extra effort of walking and pulling doors open and standing and the like. Trust me, I understand; but as an experienced fat-​ass, I know that the slight exertion I’ll experience in the 5-​minute process of walking in the store to order my food means I’ll be shoving hot fries in my mouth faster than if I waited the 10 – 15 minutes in the drive through;
3) This McDonald’s IS NOT 24-​hours. I learned that the hard way; tipsy, starving and too scared to take any chances getting caught driving around in my condition, I decided to by-​pass all the other places I could have stumbled into to drive all the way home to this McDonald’s (I say «home» because I’m staying a block or so away from here for the summer – yeah, paradise lost). Needless to say, I ended up swallowing spit for dinner on that night.

After 2 complaints to Mcdonalds online complaint web site, this restaurant continues to have contractors do construction work while patrons dine in their restaurant. Today they were working in and around the ceiling tiles and columns. I know restaurants renovate and make repairs, but I have never been to one that did it during regular business hours. I would think they would do this after closing time. I went there to use the free wifi and it wasn’t even working today!