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> with hamburgers from smaller, non-franchise restaurants Sorry to disagree here. I think yes, there are definitely many non-franchise burger places doing fant

> with hamburgers from smaller, non-franchise restaurants Sorry to disagree here. I think yes, there are definitely many non-franchise burger places doing fantastic burgers but I haven't seen any clearly superior. Yes different in taste but superior? No. And very often, they lack the perfection level of McDonalds. You often get 'over-engineered' burgers, too thick, to much salad, too sticky whole grain non-typical burger bread, same frozen beef but from an unknown source, too much organic salad, too slow, too expensive, too much of being different. Too much of this attitude of not being McDonalds. Maybe it's just a matter of taste but I prefer the plain vanilla type burgers McDonalds offers, I don't want the super organic rucola vegan burger with soybeans from your friend's burger in. And again nobody matches their thin and ultra crisp fries.

the_af 10y ago
Well, obviously this is a matter of taste, and by definition subjective, so I'm not saying you're wrong and I'm right, but... ...I'm speechless at our level of disagreement. This truly surprises me, to the point I've always assumed everyone acknowledged McDonald's food was trash, it's just that it's sometimes so damn convenient. To me, McDonald's burgers taste like cardboard. They definitely don't taste like meat. A guy I know who admits he likes McDonald's burgers says it's precisely because they don't taste like meat (in his words: "I don't like ground beef, which is why I like McDonald's: their burgers don't taste like beef.") In my experience, almost any randomly chosen non-franchise burger place will make a superior burger (I mean, the ones using actual ground beef, and not frozen patties like McDonald's). From that basic standard, you can only go up. The ground meat is immediately superior, it doesn't look like that pre-frozen brown-grey stuff McDonald's uses. The dressings of good burger joints (sorry, I don't know the proper word in English.. toppings? dressings? you get the idea) are almost universally superior to McDonald's. You get a vast variety of sauces to go with your burger, whereas McDonald's only has a couple, and they are disgusting, something straight out of a cheap bottle. As for fries, I also disagree. McDonald's uses, at least in the countries I know, pre-frozen fries of brands such as McCain's (if this particular brand doesn't exist in your country, I'm sure you'll get the idea anyway), instead of actual, freshly made french fries. I understand why: their logistics don't allow them to make proper fries. But almost by definition they are inferior. Again, not comparing them to other fast food burger chains -- which in my opinion fare similarly to McDonald's -- but with what I can make at home or what gets made in small, non-chain burger joints.
- greenspot 10y ago
  on mobile, so i keep it short. re the fries you are misinformed, just google, either HN or Reddit, a guy there deconstructed the recipe, their way of preparing fries (they freeze them two times) is very sophistcated, better than frying fresh potatoes and not close to the cardboard fries McCain produces.
  - the_af 10y ago
    Ok, so they are not McCain like I thought. Maybe they have a sophisticated process, but what does it matter if their fries taste bad? I assure you, it's not "better" than frying fresh potatoes. I know so: my fries taste way better, and I'm no chef! And aside from the fries, do you agree their frozen patties taste nothing like real ground beef burgers?

the_af 10y ago

Well, obviously this is a matter of taste, and by definition subjective, so I'm not saying you're wrong and I'm right, but... ...I'm speechless at our level of disagreement. This truly surprises me, to the point I've always assumed everyone acknowledged McDonald's food was trash, it's just that it's sometimes so damn convenient. To me, McDonald's burgers taste like cardboard. They definitely don't taste like meat. A guy I know who admits he likes McDonald's burgers says it's precisely because they don't taste like meat (in his words: "I don't like ground beef, which is why I like McDonald's: their burgers don't taste like beef.") In my experience, almost any randomly chosen non-franchise burger place will make a superior burger (I mean, the ones using actual ground beef, and not frozen patties like McDonald's). From that basic standard, you can only go up. The ground meat is immediately superior, it doesn't look like that pre-frozen brown-grey stuff McDonald's uses. The dressings of good burger joints (sorry, I don't know the proper word in English.. toppings? dressings? you get the idea) are almost universally superior to McDonald's. You get a vast variety of sauces to go with your burger, whereas McDonald's only has a couple, and they are disgusting, something straight out of a cheap bottle. As for fries, I also disagree. McDonald's uses, at least in the countries I know, pre-frozen fries of brands such as McCain's (if this particular brand doesn't exist in your country, I'm sure you'll get the idea anyway), instead of actual, freshly made french fries. I understand why: their logistics don't allow them to make proper fries. But almost by definition they are inferior. Again, not comparing them to other fast food burger chains -- which in my opinion fare similarly to McDonald's -- but with what I can make at home or what gets made in small, non-chain burger joints.

greenspot 10y ago
on mobile, so i keep it short. re the fries you are misinformed, just google, either HN or Reddit, a guy there deconstructed the recipe, their way of preparing fries (they freeze them two times) is very sophistcated, better than frying fresh potatoes and not close to the cardboard fries McCain produces.
- the_af 10y ago
  Ok, so they are not McCain like I thought. Maybe they have a sophisticated process, but what does it matter if their fries taste bad? I assure you, it's not "better" than frying fresh potatoes. I know so: my fries taste way better, and I'm no chef! And aside from the fries, do you agree their frozen patties taste nothing like real ground beef burgers?