You're being charitable. It's downright bad, even compared with various other franchises on an item by item basis. The last time I ate in one back in 2008 because nothing else was open that early, I had a breakfast that consisted of scrambled eggs, hash browns, pancakes, and sausage. Everything tasted almost identical - an oily salty mound - with only different chew textures. (Okay, maybe the sausage had a little extra zing from the spice mix, but that was definitely the only tip off). But McDs always was dirt cheap, and their calorie to dollar ratio for (reasonably freshly) prepared food has been tough to beat. If they can't hold the line on prices, I don't see what's left to keep them from losing market share. And I wouldn't miss it one bit.

No doubt, the food in McDonalds is bad. But it's very distinctive. You can buy a burger and fries at any number of joints, but you can only buy a McDonalds Big Mac and McDonalds fries at McDonalds.

You could call it Hershey Syndrome. Hershey's chocolate is not very good. In fact, it tastes like vomit. Yet the entire US has grown up eating Hershey bars.

Hershey don't compete on quality, they compete on "Hersheyness".

Likewise, McDonalds can't simply improve quality, because they would be losing their very essence in the process.

You definitely bought the wrong thing. You tried to order a normal diner breakfast at McDonald's. They don't do that well. You wanted to get one of their sandwiches -- Egg McMuffin, etc -- which, while not really like any other normal breakfast, certainly has that distinctive taste everyone here is talking about.

It's the old one-size-fits-all-(but-badly) problem. If you want to maximize your target customer base, the taste of the food becomes very bland. So they try to compensate by adding more items to the menu - and subsequently run into the problems described in the article.

I think the Big mac and McNugget have a very unique taste and cant say I've heard of or tasted any competitors versions of these that actually tasted similar. Im surprised to see a few people agree with the bland opinion.

I always loved their dollar menu, but these days it seems crappier in both selection and price.

I find the redeeming factor to be customizability. A McDouble with tomato, no pickles, lettuce, and Big Mac sauce for about a dollar? Yes, please!

Unique is the word. This is not a good thing—what exactly is a mcnugget if not fried chicken?

Happy meals are a big thing. Huge. Also the new menu helps with the guac/dijon additions. Egg McMuffin has always been huge and the new coffee is way better than before.

But they could make a better burger. I heard the McAngus was great. They should bring that back.

I once heard that McDonalds was the largest toy distributer in the U.S. not Toys-R-Us, McDonalds. Not sure if it's still true, but Happy Meals are definitely a big thing. I grew up with them; many of is did.

I actually like the food. But I never go to McDonalds, because I can eat a full day's worth of calories in one meal and still be hungry. I don't know how they do it.

As much as I hate McDonald's and know that their food is unhealthy garbage, your statement is completely false.

I'm glad you know how much I can eat at McDonald's before feeling sated.

What a dumb thing to say.

Big mac: 500 calories

Large Fries: 440 calories

Blueberry muffin: 400 calories

Medium coke: 170 calories

Total 1500 calories.

That's close to recommended daily calorie values (2000 for women, 2200 for men).

Salt.