Athlone Town McDonalds

irishgrover

Hi All,
hoping some Athlone locals can shed some light on this. A couple of weeks ago (Friday tea-time) my family stopped in Athlone Town, at the old shopping center and went to get a McDonald's. The place was filthy, I mean seriously filthy. There were only about 10 people in the place, but there was not one clean table there, and the floor was seriously disgusting. I have never got into ad fast food chain and saw such a lack of basic hygiene or tidiness.
Now this isn't a rant against Athlone or McDonald's, in fast I often stop at the one on the Dublin road, and find it to be one of the the best and most reliable, although busy...

So did I just visit on a bad day or is it always like this?

PS: We left, ad went to the one on the Dublin road instead....

BoB_BoT

I detest the one in town, haven't been in it in years and can't see myself ever being in it again. The one on the Dublin road is great, nice, clean, had been done up recently too. The one in town was rumoured to be closing at one point and didn't. I don't know if its so filthy because of the staff or the customers but either way it need to be sorted. Sure send an email of complaint, I'm sure mc donalds take their image seriously when it comes to hygiene. There could be zero problems in the kitchen with regards to hygiene but the restaurant area needs to be clean to eat in too.

120_Minutes

the macdonalds is a magnet for shams, scobes, soverign ring wearers whatever you want to call them. its no surprise its a hole when the type of customer it attracts is the type that have a family sunday lunch there....and thats the highpoint of their week!

irishgrover

thanks for the responses!
Guess I'll just steer clear of the place from now on.

Onikage

A better idea is to stay clear of McDonalds full stop! A shame you didn't try one of the other places to eat in that area first, Charcoal grill do some nice food and Bethlehem do great chipper food.

IPushButtons

Oh yeah the Charcoal grill is a beaut of a place. Love it:)

Seaneh

Burger King >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> McDonalds.

JupiterKid

Regardless of passing judgement on the clientele who eat there, the Athlone town centre McDonalds is in a bad state of cleanliness because of sloppy/poor management.

You should contact McDonalds Ireland Headquarters and they will deal with the issue - perhaps even removing the franchise from the operator until they get their act together.

There is absolutely no excuse for a McDonalds to be in such a state.

flazio

Can I ask the OP and the rest of you if you play your part in this or any of these types of restaurants (Supermacs, BK etc) and actually bring your trays to the bins with your finished goods and rubbish as you leave, or are you all complaining that they don't have staff doing it for you?

irishgrover

flazio wrote: »

Can I ask the OP and the rest of you if you play your part in this or any of these types of restaurants (Supermacs, BK etc) and actually bring your trays to the bins with your finished goods and rubbish as you leave, or are you all complaining that they don't have staff doing it for you?

Hi Flazio,
personally, yes, me/wife/kids would always clean up after ourselves. However the McD's in question was so dirty that after reviewing the situation we walked out as I had zero confidence that there was any management or hygeine standards.....which to me would indicate a much higher risk of food posioning
I have fairly low standards, and have never walked out of a fast food place before, but this place was fecking filthy!

BoB_BoT

flazio wrote: »

Can I ask the OP and the rest of you if you play your part in this or any of these types of restaurants (Supermacs, BK etc) and actually bring your trays to the bins with your finished goods and rubbish as you leave, or are you all complaining that they don't have staff doing it for you?

I do put my rubbish in the bin, BUT I do feel like I'm putting someone out of a job in doing so.

ohthebaby

That place is disgusting. Its always filthy, floors always sticky and bins always overflowing.

It smells like vomit outside the door too.

SalthillGuy

IPushButtons wrote: »

Oh yeah the Charcoal grill is a beaut of a place. Love it:)

I agree, great spot.
We need more like this and less of the McDs

120_Minutes

cant recommend charcoal grill enough, everytime i go in i try something new. the balti is nice.

surfjunkie

bethlehem - best pizza ever!

SalthillGuy

The Old Mill just outside the town used to be good, but I heard it is now closed. Pity, good food can be had to get.

demanufactured

Charcoal grill FTW

jimmid098

flazio wrote: »

Can I ask the OP and the rest of you if you play your part in this or any of these types of restaurants (Supermacs, BK etc) and actually bring your trays to the bins with your finished goods and rubbish as you leave, or are you all complaining that they don't have staff doing it for you?

yes but what are you meant to do when said bin is full and all your doing is pouring it on to an already dirty floor the place is filthy the kids love mc donalds so we go often the one out at the dublin road is fine the thing is though when i was in england or europe generaly mc donalds are of relatively the same standard so why is there such a difference here ????

lt_cmdr_worf

Cleopatra restaurant, in Golden Island, do good burgers.

IPushButtons

jimmid098 wrote: »

yes but what are you meant to do when said bin is full and all your doing is pouring it on to an already dirty floor the place is filthy the kids love mc donalds so we go often the one out at the dublin road is fine the thing is though when i was in england or europe generaly mc donalds are of relatively the same standard so why is there such a difference here ????

I'd say the difference with the McDonald's in the town, is that it would have a lower turnover of cash than most other McDonald restaurants therefore it would have less staff to provide the same standard.

stapolinhosting

IPushButtons wrote: »

I'd say the difference with the McDonald's in the town, is that it would have a lower turnover of cash than most other McDonald restaurants therefore it would have less staff to provide the same standard.

It doesnt take a few minutes to one member of staff to sweep a floor and change the bins. I have been in there twice in 5 years... First time was not bad and it was clean enough (about 5 years ago) and second time I was not too long ago I was bringing my kid in for something to eat. 2 1/2 year olds love McD's. We went in and i looked around and all I could see was kids recking the place and not one of the parents trying to stop them. They were fecking food and drinks all over the place. The staff looked too frightened to say anything to them.

I picked my son up and walked out. Went over to Cliopatra and had a lovely Full Irish! yum yum.