Generally, McDonald's is as reliable as they come - cheap, quick food every time regardless of which location you dine at.
Sometimes though, some of the fast food giants locations can become victim to scathing reviews and bad ratings, as seen on the TripAdvisor website.
One McDonald's restaurant in particular has a wimpy two-star rating and over 15 below-par reviews of customers who left less than impressed with the restaurant.
This location is none other than in Edinburgh, on Telford Road, to be exact.
Out of the total 26 customer reviews as of January 17, 2022, one was average, two were poor and 14 were terrible.
One review from November 2021 read: "We waited for 1 hour 15mins and confirmed order by phone but they still cancelled without notification.
"I should have checked their reviews before ordering which would have put me off as they have a terrible rating."
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Another from September was even harsher, saying: "Not worth the wait. The last few times we've ordered online there have been items missing, sealed from the restaurant, bought on just eat but missing full meals.
"Waste of money, time and effort, never had a full meal arrive without something missing."
One lengthy review from August last year was entitled 'Horrendous customer service', and read: "My partner and I went to the drive thru before driving up north. We ordered a medium Chicken Nugget meal and a large Spicy Mayo Legend meal.
"After paying and arriving at the second window my partner found he had not received a large meal like he had asked for. He mentioned this to the girl that gave us our food.
"She then disappeared for a while , we assumed to swap the order . A while later a blonde man claiming to be the manager popped his head out the window and said abruptly ‘Hi there you ordered a medium meal and that is what is on my screen’ to which my partner replied I’m sorry but I had asked for a large meal I have no problem paying any difference.
"The manager responded ‘I can’t do that, you ordered a medium meal it’s says so on my screen’.
"We were both astounded by this behaviour and reaction to such a minor complaint and that a manager could lack such basic customer service and people skills(almost robotic) … let alone the ability to find such a simple solution in order to make this right.
"We are very concerned that this man is a leading figure in this establishment and is mentoring others."
So, is this specific McDonald's restaurant really all that bad? Reporter Abbie Meehan went to investigate, and here's what they found.
First impressions
After driving up to the McDonald's on Telford Road at a little after 4pm today, I was extremely surprised at how quiet the restaurant, drive-thru and car park was.
At the optimum finishing time for many schools and workplaces nearby, I was expecting a lengthy queue at the drive-thru at least, but I was the second car in line.
When I entered the restaurant later on, it was mostly clean, with just a few tables looking like they could use a good wipe-down - but I wouldn't hold that against the workers, as they could just be winding down from a busy period.
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Now, given that there was only two cars in the drive-thru queue, you'd expect to be served quickly and away with your food.
But, that was not the case.
Drive-Thru experience
I'm not a consistent complainer at restaurants, in fact, I tend to not bother people working in those industries if I spot a small issue with my meal and just get on with it.
It could be that my anxious feelings in social settings could prevent me from moaning a lot, but today was an exception to this rule.
I had waited at the drive-thru intercom for around five minutes when someone eventually spoke, asking what I would like to eat.
I ordered my food and drove round to the window, which I found empty.
After what felt like an age but was only around ten minutes, a worker came and gave me my total, to which I paid with my phone and moved down to the next window.
Again, the window was empty, and the same girl handed me my food and drink, which told me that they had one person on both windows taking orders, payment and serving the food.
This seemed like a lot for one person, but as they were quiet, I assumed it might be protocol?
Now this is where things began to go downhill.
The food
I had ordered a five Chicken Selects medium meal with a Diet Coke for myself as my dinner, as well as a Chicken Mayo and Cheese Melt Dippers for my parents, as a snack.
I parked up and checked the bag, as I tend to do nowadays as it was quite the drive home to then realise I was missing food.
To my surprise, I had been given a three Chicken Selects box, so I had to do the unspeakable thing for those of my generation - go back into the store and ask to swap.
Given the review I had read before heading to the store about the catastrophe of a swap order, I made sure to bring my receipt as well to prove I'd paid for a five-piece meal.
The workers were nice, if a little quiet, and swapped my food quickly, as I stood burning up with embarrassment.
Taste Test
After returning home from the store, I decided to tuck into my food before returning to work.
Up first was the chips, which were good in flavour, but disappointing in quantity.
A pet peeve of mine is the fries box being half full, and this one was the most disappointing part of the meal.
The chips were still reasonably hot after having to travel home, but the lack of quantity did irritate me - and don't worry, I checked the bag for stragglers that may have fallen out, none there!
The Selects were next, and these honestly saved the day for me. Still relatively hot, seasoned well and cooked perfectly, these chicken strips were the saviour of the whole trip.
The juice was as expected, fizzy and cold, but nothing too bad standing out from that either.
Overall Thoughts
So, what was the final verdict? Given the scathing reviews, talks of terrible service and lack of customer satisfaction, my hopes weren't exactly high.
In all honesty, it was an average visit to the golden arches. The discrepancy in my meal was fixed quickly, and the only two other issues I had could be specific to my experience.
Lack of chips and waiting times aren't exactly something I'd get too upset about, but again, this might annoy another person more than it did me.
It was not as bad as the reviews made out. Whether this is based on the fact I visited and didn't order online, as a lot of the reviews were complaining about the delivery service.
Had I visited after the busy lunchtime rush, in an evening or at a weekend, this could be an entirely different review.
Would I visit this location again? Honestly, if I was in the area then yes, but I don't tend to frequent this side of Edinburgh so there's a small chance I will do again.
All in all, the moral of this story could be to not listen to what everyone says, and go experience things on your own terms, in order to form an educated opinion - even if it's just about food!
