Dave D.
Yelp
Beep ... beep ...
Yes, I have returned to a chain restaurant and a fast food chain restaurant, which should cause all of you who read my reviews to say DAVE NO!!!!!
So, if you haven't read one of my reviews you should understand that chains in my opinion rarely deserve more than three stars because ... well just because their food arrives frozen in 18 wheel trailers that have been pulled across thousands of miles eliminating the concept of both fresh and locally cooked food. This stop, once a place where a clown was celebrated along with his array of friends, had trouble reaching 1 star and it wasn't due to the food because their fabricated food tastes the same everywhere.
Now, I haven't sampled the new "never frozen" quarter pounders at the arches and I just might never experience them but one never knows.
So, I found myself hungering for food ... any food ... FAST FOOD because I had just left one presentation near the Jersey Shore and now had to get to a meeting close to Philadelphia. If you have ever been in a car knowing you were just a bit "famished" then you know how your mind can easily succumb to generations of fast food images. Perhaps a Colonel comes to mind or a King or a sweet girl named Wendy for some it's ground meat in hard corn shells but consistently for many of us the Golden Arches easily become the image of the mind.
I knew that I would be driving past this Deptford location. I knew that fact 40 miles down the road when the tasty of salty fries began to get my mouth watering for food; oh glorious fat enriched cheap fast food.
Before pulling into the plaza I had sorted through my imaginary McDonald's menu and with thoughts of extra gym time in mind I had decided that the relatively new Buttermilk Fried Chicken Sandwich would be the choice.
The stars started vanishing as I drove up to the drive in machine because there was literally a ugly pile of "stuff" outside the restaurant where the old drive in was located. A trashy appearance is not a good indicator of a well run establishment.
Now, I should have noticed the line of tail lights brightly lit as drivers feet rested on their brake pedals but I didn't. However, at 8:30 in the evening this line of FAST FOOD ... DRIVE THROUGH customers were basically filling the air with exhaust fumes sitting in the IDLE LINE.
Perhaps, I thought, someone is buying food for the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team so their large take out order was causing the delay but nope. The slow process was an attribute of this store. It seemed that every car was given a nice slow delivery of their food allowing the rest of us to enjoy the view from our car windows as we tapped our fingers wondering if we were going to get our FAST FOOD.
I am not a fan of the talking machines used by drive through restaurants to begin with but at this McDonald's whose star was already sinking to under 2 the first machine gave all indications that it was in operation. However as I gave my order there was no response. The screen wanted my order but clearly the headset inside the store was not tuned into me. Just an aside ... in this era of FACETIME, DUO and VISUAL MESSAGING wouldn't it be nice to see the person taking our order rather than staring at a machine whose audible responses make every word sound garbled?
I finally realized that Machine number 2 wasn't working so I pulled up to machine number 1. The order was taken ... couldn't really tell for sure the price but was told to drive ahead. I wanted to laugh ... I couldn't drive forward because the line of cars wasn't moving.
Now, you would think that the cashier would know what your order was since you followed the car in front of yours but the young lady had to ask what my order was. Really? But, I had time to tell her because the cars weren't moving.
My biggest surprise when I finally reached the food delivery window was I didn't have to wait ... maybe just buying a sandwich was the trick.
But as I looked at the YELP ratings I could have kicked myself ... this mistake was on me. I shouldn't have gone here because others had warned me.
My food ... sandwich was warm. Could really taste a lot of mayo. Nothing special but if you have had one of these in Tennessee or California you know the taste because they make sure they are all the same.
SLOW FOOD ... so many better options ... BEEP BEEP!