The McDonald's on First Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street reopened today as promised after a nearly month-long renovation.
Among the upgrades: There are now four self-service ordering kiosks where you can use a credit/debit/gift card or some mobile payment system. You can order here then use cash and coupons at the register. (You can also bypass the kiosks and order from a cashier.) In case you're having problems figuring out the ordering system, there were two McDonald's employees roaming the kiosk area.
You can customize your order at the kiosk, adding, say, butter, cheese or sausage to your Sausage Egg McMuffin, not that we're recommending this.
Aside from those uncomfortable-looking stools we noted the other day, there are a variety of booths and chairs for your dining-in experience in the renovated dining area ...
Cheap renovation. Could have done better as far as the design. Hopefully the bathrooms are renovated too
ReplyDeleteVery nice. Finally a well deserved and modern upgrade. Welcome to the 21st century, Mc D's.
ReplyDeleteHow charming. My ass hurts from just looking at those chairs.
ReplyDeleteMost McDs already look like this. Why did they wait so long to upgrade this one? I prefer to order at the kiosk and pay cash. The other McDs have renovated and much better bathrooms. Hope this one does too.
ReplyDeletewow, funky-cool mismatched chairs. It's so E V now...
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Good for them. They have been in business there for decades. And now they have modernized and updated.
ReplyDeleteI just went inside for lunch. It is actually nice despite what some might say. There are many places to sit besides the stools. Why are people harping on it? There were many tables, chairs and booths to rest at it. The level of service is better. Staff were wiping the tables and greeting you at the door not to mention someone was near the kiosks if one needed help. It was also very clean. You can tell it is a few steps up from its predecessor. Let's put aside our angst and reticence and welcome back this place into the neighborhood.
ReplyDelete@2:48 PM
ReplyDelete"Let's put aside our angst and reticence and welcome back this place into the neighborhood."
LOL! For a McDonalds? No.
Welcome back? Are you kidding me? Let’s not forget that it was McDonald’s that helped drive many of the neighborhood diners and luncheonettes out of business. I can remember when there weren’t any McDonald’s in the city and if you wanted a hamburger, shake and fries you went to the diner, where you could relax in a nice booth with padded seats, order from a waiter, eat a relaxing meal with real utensils, and they had ketchup in a bottle instead of in little packets. A hamburger, shake and fries, that’s what you got from a diner or one of the many small luncheonettes that were in every single neighborhood. Now most of those places are gone, and instead we have McDonald’s and Shake Shack, with a kiosk to take your order. This is not an improvement, its a downgrade with new tables and chairs.
ReplyDeleteThis McDs serves cheap fresh hot coffee to seniors, homeless, amd working class locals. Not everyone can/could afford a diner. They cater to local lifelomg NYers. Why do businesses that normal locals go to get dumped on? People like McDs, Marshalls, etc. Stop with the elitist classist nonsense.
DeleteAt last! Whatever people think, their breakfasts are really quite appetizing, and a good value, especially the hotcakes with sausage. I’m glad they’re back.
ReplyDeleteI encourage the mcdonald’s haters to read Arnade’s book Dignity.
ReplyDeleteThe diners aren’t coming back and McD plays an important role in providing a third space for poorer communities, including here.
The new design is interesting it looks like they designed it to keep customers moving after they order and eat in and to keep homeless people from getting to comfortable and staying in the establishment for too long.
ReplyDeleteAt 11:30 AM, Anonymous said:
ReplyDeleteCheap renovation. Could have done better as far as the design. Hopefully the bathrooms are renovated too
All the McDonald's stores are following the same design program, so don't get your hopes up for ones in better neighborhoods; but yes, the bathrooms are renovated as well.
And people waxing nostalgic about the diners of yore: there's a diner right here on 14th and A. I hope people are patronizing that one—especially since it's been hidden behind construction barriers for quite a while now.
BTW, I hope Mickey D's follows the lead of certain other chains in offering vegan options—there, I said it. Ronnie Mac has been notably stubborn in refusing to change their menu—does anyone else notice McDonald's keeps losing market share? This cosmetic renovation to its stores is a nice thought, but it's the food that sucks.
ReplyDeleteSome months ago, one of the regulars here said—wishfully—that "vegan is a fad." Sorry to burst your bubble, but we aren't going away (cf. the Animal Rights March that happened Sunday.) We are a growing movement, and resistance is futile; you will be assimilated.
@scuba diva. The chains are all starting to do vegan options. Even Kentucky fried is testing vegan chicken in Atlanta. Unfortunately it, like Burger King, cooks in the same cookers/grills as the meats. This does nothing to attract any real vegetarian /vegan, only grabs the meat eater who wants the occasional vegan option.
ReplyDeleteWhy has this renovation become a hot, temperamental issue? I have been loyally following EV Grieve for almost ten years. I can't recall a recent topic which elicited such anger and apprehension. We can't live in the good ole days where diners were on every block, where employees remembered your name, where you could spend less than five bucks for a meal, where a cup of coffee costs 50 cents, where every McD's had a Ronald McDonald statue at the door, where the floors had brown tiles and the seats were bright yellow. The sense I gather from a number of these comments is melancholy and nostalgia. Many are longing for a simpler period. I understand. It probably offers a sense of safety and stability for some. We can't time travel though and assimilate to decades before us. What we see in McD's and other places is just the beginning. Plant based products. Self Serve kiosks. Cashless. Minimalist interiors. In the near future, I would imagine there won't be much staff as a result of computer automation due to higher labor costs. The minimum wage will rise again. We will see fewer employees in the work force to interact with and more modern albeit sterile environments. I personally don't wish in returning to the 50s, 60s,70s, 80s, 90, and even 2000''s, even though I was born in the late 70's. This is almost 2020. Do we really expect for everything and everyone at this location and other businesses/corporations to remain the same? From my perspective, if we don't adapt to what is happening around us, and stop complaining about trivial matters, we won't survive. I chose to live and to be grateful in the present.
ReplyDelete"I can't recall a recent topic which elicited such anger and apprehension"
ReplyDeleteReally? Just reading any article here about a person on a bicycle.
The issue about McDonald’s doesn’t have to do so much with nostalgia as it does with the disintegrating purchasing power of the average worker has these days. Wages adjusted for inflation are the same as they were 1978. Meanwhile, the cost of every day goods have gone up 400% or more. So that 50 cent or one dollar cup of coffee now cost you three or four dollars, but you make exactly the same income that you made 40 years ago.
ReplyDeleteIt’s even worse when it comes to real estate. My family had a very nice $28 apartment on Jones Street back in the 60s. Then we moved to the East Side side and had to pay $93. Today those apartments rent for over $5,000. Another family member once had an entire top floor penthouse apartment of a Park Avenue building for $1750 a month. Today that apartment is worth over $10 million.
So yes, people are nostalgic. We are nostalgic for a time when anyone with a job could earn a living wage and could afford to go to a coffee shop and have a decent meal. That kind of thing shouldn’t be a luxury reserved only for people who make a lot of money. And it shouldn’t be considered a luxury in the wealthiest nation on the history of this planet.
Geeze Louise. Can't people just get along?
ReplyDeleteI looked in at the new 14th Street McDonald's and sure enough it’s already starting to look worn, especially the floor. It requires constant mopping or else all that foot traffic starts to show the dirt tracked in from the sidewalk. Same thing goes for the Chipotles with the light colored floors. If these place want to design it to look all shiny and modern and new then they also need to figure out how to make these renovations look clean for more than a month after they reopen.
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