5150 Sheridan Dr., Williamsville NY 14221
Web: McDonald's
Phone: 716.204.0087
Rating:
[learn more]Pros:
Strongest mocha of the group of cheap coffee chains; very low price for a plain 12-ounce cup of coffee. Fine drip coffee and decent cappuccino that would be better if stirred.
Cons:
Coffee drink pricing is amongst highest of the cheap chains; other menu items aren't so hot. Service ranges from acceptable to maddeningly bad depending on location.
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"We found the McDonald's mocha to be the best of all the mochas we tried, a rich and flavorful mix of espresso, milk, and chocolate, topped with whipped cream and syrup."
We won't mince words: we don't really like McDonald's. Though there are occasionally items that we don't mind on its menus - the McFlurry remains good, the declining McRib was once a standout, and its Indian-influenced U.K. menu items were once strong - the U.S. restaurants strike us as bastions of mediocrity, places content to sell items roughly equivalent in appeal to soylent green, staffed with people who often seem only one accident away from becoming part of the meals themselves. Bad attitudes, messed-up orders, low quality ingredients - "I'm Lovin' It" could hardly be a less apt marketing phrase. But McCafe, the chain's anti-Starbucks coffee initiative, is surprising. It's not bad; actually, depending on what you order, and if the right person's making your drink, it could actually be pretty good.
Sizing and Pricing: McDonald's small McCafe coffee drinks come in 12-ounce cups, the same size as Wilson Farms' small, and larger than Tim Hortons or Dunkin' Donuts. This chain charges $1.00 for plain coffee, but $2.19 for a vanilla cappuccino and $2.29 for a mocha. Our total bill for three drinks, no donut was $5.96 after tax, the highest of the places we visited given what we received. Though McDonald's is currently running a promotion for a free breakfast sandwich with a McCafe purchase, we weren't offered one on our visit.
Frills: Not surprisingly, McDonald's didn't have major frills to offer beyond a straightforward array of drinks that came very modestly customized in nicely designed cups. Each drink was available with either whole or non-fat milk, and several flavorings were offered for the cappuccino. As noted, the small cups were bigger than at two competitors, and topped with excellent tabbed lids that were easy to open and reseal. Opening each cup yielded more than just a brown slush - it was obvious that the drinks were being assembled component by component to order.
Oddities: As suggested by the spelling mistake shown above on the McDonald's sign, it's obvious that the company's employees aren't exactly Starbucks barista caliber in terms of coffee knowledge or even basic ordering skills. Despite the limited customization available for our drinks, we had to go over our order a couple of times with the drive-through operator to make sure they were correct. On the flip side, however, the people at McDonalds actually tried to make sure our order was correct - a good sign.
The Plain Coffee: We tried McDonald's right after Tim Hortons, which gave the McCafe coffee drink a real advantage - anything would have tasted better than the cup of ashtray washings we'd just sampled. Unlike the other chains, McDonald's didn't just take our coffee order; it asked us how many sugars we wanted added, and confirmed that we didn't want any cream in the drink. The plain coffee that resulted was somewhere between okay and good; it had no complex flavor, didn't draw us in, or have us wanting more, but it also wasn't burnt or obviously stale. Starbucks doesn't have anything to worry about on flavor here, but those who just need a plain coffee could easily be satisfied by a cup of McCafe.
The Cappuccino: Initially, we were pretty impressed by the McDonald's cappuccino - there was a lot of foam in the cup, as would be correct for this drink, and we really enjoyed the flavor. Unfortunately, as we made our way through the cup, we found that the sugar was all in the middle to the bottom of the cup, which really imbalanced the flavor and left the cappuccino too sugary to finish. Sometimes, fast food is made just too fast to get the mixing right, and this was one of those times.
The Mocha: We found the McDonald's mocha to be the best of all the mochas we tried, a rich and flavorful mix of espresso, whole milk, and chocolate syrup, with a wonderful topping of whipped cream and additional syrup, evident when we pulled off the top of the cup to look inside. The price, however, was significantly higher for this drink than competing options we tested, and many people will be equally or more satisfied with the less expensive, more numerous Wilson Farms variations on the mocha theme.
The Donut: We didn't order a donut from McDonald's and generally find its food to range from mediocre to repulsive. This would not be the place we would stop for a snack.
Rank and Conclusions: By coffee standards, McDonald's is a strong budget-priced competitor. While we'd never give up most of our favorite Starbucks drinks for the McDonald's versions, the prices here are fairly aggressive given the liquid volume of the cups, and both the coffee and the mocha were good enough to order again - at least, in a pinch. What hinders McDonald's is the fact that its average worker is even less likely than a Starbucks barista to make your drink perfectly, as our iffy cappuccino demonstrated, but at a lower price point, perhaps people won't mind so much.
