Not so fast food at McDonald’s

Regular readers of this blog will know that I can highly critical of places that I go to eat, and McDonald’s has featured a couple of times.

Today they feature again, this time for a couple of small and a not so small problem. Here’s what happened:

Yesterday I took my daughter to McDonald’s in Oberstedten for a treat. A few weeks ago she had received a sticker album with pictures of horses in it, and could get another set of stickers with her meal. At the entrance a poster showed the available sticker sets – we were in luck, or so I thought. Inside there were new toys with a sign saying “from 6th June”. However at the till I was offered one, to which I replied that we were prefer a set of stickers for the album. “We don’t have those any more” came the answer. “You do according to the poster in the window” was my reply. Oh yes, they did have some left. Which set would we like? Warum nicht gleich so?

The other small problem was the mayonnaise that I wanted with my meal – I had ordered a menu with something called Gitterkartoffeln – “that only comes with fries, you can have it as an [payable] extra if you like” the cashier told me. I asked if she was sure, then on other occasions it has been included, although I admit not always. She was sure. “It seems to depend on which day and at which till you are as to whether it’s included” was my response.

I don’t think she liked that much, and although I didn’t really care about the 19 cent I find it annoying that such a simple thing is inconsistent depending just on who is serving you.

All this paled into insignificance compared to the next problem. There were no Gitterkartoffeln to give to me, so I was given a large plastic number to take with me, the Gitterkartoffeln would follow…

Waiting for Gitterkartoffeln
“Ein Augenblick noch… und wir bringen’s Ihnen”

But they didn’t follow. I watched other food being brought out but mine did not come. After waiting for 30 minutes (by which time we had either eaten everything else or it had got cold) I went to the supervisor at the cash desks and asked for my money back. At first she appeared to be a little unsure and asked how long I had been waiting for.

When I showed her my receipt, however, it was not a problem. She wanted to know who had served me and then she proceeded to give me a refund – in fact she would have refunded me the who meal but I played it fair and only wanted back the amount for food that I hadn’t received which she duly gave me.

And then I noticed it: the other half of the plastic number “5” was not waiting for my Gitterkartoffeln at all – it was sitting on its own amongst all the other unused plastic numbers. I wonder how long it had been there?

One final thought: there used to be a rule in McDonald’s in the UK that if you had to wait for longer than 20 minutes you were given a free apple pie. Perhaps McDonald’s in Germany would like to consider introducing this…

Personal Pasta in Bad Homburg

The Trattoria Fantastico in Bad Homburg is known to many German TV viewers as “Stein’s” – the restaurant in the ARD detective series “Polizeiruf 110“.

But for local residents it is an Italian restaurant with a difference. Here the guests can order not only from the menu, but they can also be personally advised by the staff.

They help the guests to find their perfect combination of fish, meat and pasta – all freshly prepared and served with the appropriate wine.

At lunchtime they serve set menus in three different price categories, consisting of either a main course and a starter.

The restaurant can also be booked for private events of up to 50 people.

Located just off the main shopping area (Louisenstr.) in Bad Homburg, it is easily accessible for visitors to the town wishing to try an Italien restaurant with a difference – and to enjoy “Mediterranean moments with Pino and his team”.

For more information, visit the restaurant’s homepage:
www.trattoria-fantastico.de

Service at McDonald’s

The local McDonald’s has put signs up recently saying that they are now open 24 hours every day.

Whilst this can be useful when we fly back from Madrid or Lanzarote in the middle of the night, it probaby won’t affect us much.

Or so I thought! Recently I’ve noticed that the staffing levels during the breakfast hours have gone down. The other day I ordered one item at the drive-thru and had to wait about 15 minutes for it – and those were 15 minutes that I didn’t have!

On another recent visit, none of the counters were staffed:

bild019.jpg

Not a sight you see very often!

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