14 McDonald's Menu Items You Should Avoid Ordering

Love it or hate it, there's no disputing that McDonald's is one of the biggest and most popular fast-food chains in the world. To date, the chain has close to 42,000 locations spanning the globe and legions of customers who can't get enough of the Golden Arches. While many of the menu items like the Big Mac and Egg McMuffin are fan favorites for good reason, there are also some dishes that are downright disappointing.

Since its inception in 1940, McDonald's has aimed to appeal to the masses. It started as a barbecue joint but changed focus when owners Maurice and Richard McDonald realized that burgers were the best-sellers. The original McDonald's menu from the 1950s had just nine items including shakes, burgers, and fries. As the chain grew, so too did the menu offerings. Now you can choose from a plethora of burgers, sandwiches, breakfast dishes, snacks, and desserts.

While taste is always subjective, there are some McDonald's menu items that consistently get bad reviews from diners. These include a few mainstays that have been around for ages and some newer creations. Based on our own experiences and countless customer reviews, these are some menu items you might want to avoid ordering at McDonald's.

It's no secret that many McDonald's breakfast items are absolute carb-bombs. If you want something lighter than biscuits, hash browns, and hotcakes, the Fruit & Maple Oatmeal looks like a good bet. The oatmeal was added to the menu in 2010 and to this day, it's still marketed as a wholesome breakfast option. It consists of whole-wheat oatmeal, diced apples, cranberries, raisins, and cream. It sounds healthy enough, however, there are a few major problems with this dish.

The main issue with the Fruit & Maple Oatmeal is it contains a whopping 31 grams of sugar. As Mark Bittman pointed out for the New York Times, "Incredibly, the McDonald's product contains more sugar than a Snickers bar." With that in mind, it may not be surprising that many reviewers find it far too sweet. Customers also comment on how soupy the oatmeal is and that it tastes artificial. A YouTube video reveals why that may be — namely that the oatmeal is made with a shot of coffee creamer, hot water, and bagged fruit. If you're looking for a truly wholesome breakfast, you're probably better off making your own oatmeal at home.

Hamburgers have been a mainstay on the McDonald's menu since it opened as a barbecue joint in 1940. The restaurant was revamped as a hamburger stand in 1948 and for many years afterward, the classic hamburger cost just 15 cents. A few things have changed since the good old days. For one, the price of the burger has gone up. In addition, McDonald's recently made improvements to many of its burgers including better sears on the patties, onions grilled with the burgers, and softer buns.

Today's classic McDonald's hamburger consists of an all-beef patty, chopped onions, pickles, ketchup, and mustard. It's one of the cheaper items on the menu at about $2.20 depending on location. It's also one of the most basic. One glance tells you that you're probably not going to be super satisfied after devouring the anemic-looking burger. It's also a tad bland. Part of that may be because all McDonald's burger patties are frozen except for the Quarter Pounder. Then again, it could just be the small, thin patty, the sad reconstituted onions, and the lack of cheese.

McDonald's offers a slew of beverages to wash down your fast food. For those who want a departure from the standard sodas and milkshakes, sweet tea might seem like a good option. A good sweet tea should be cool and refreshing with just a touch of bitterness and enough sweetness to make it thoroughly enjoyable without being overly sweet. Unfortunately, that's not necessarily what you'll get with McDonald's version of the Southern drink.

More than a few people agree that McDonald's sweet tea fails in the taste and texture departments. One Reddit user said, "It somehow tastes 'thick' and is just not good. The flavors taste like the tea was old (which it likely is), the sweetener tastes like it's off." The sweetener they speak of is actually medium invert sugar, which is a mix of glucose and fructose. McDonald's doesn't go easy in that department either. A large sweet tea contains 40 grams of sugar. If you want to save yourself from a sugar spike and crash, the unsweetened iced tea is a better option.

As we mentioned earlier, the Quarter Pounders are the only burgers at McDonald's that are made with fresh beef patties. With that in mind, you might be tempted to double up on your order with a meaty Double Quarter Pounder With Cheese. This hefty burger features two all-beef patties that weigh a total of half a pound. It also comes with two slices of American cheese, onions, pickles, ketchup, and mustard. It's a monster of a burger for sure. But for many, this beast may be just too much.

When Chowhound writer Katie Melynn ranked every McDonald's burger, she placed the Double Quarter Pounder With Cheese dead last due to the extra large patties that were cooked well done, which made them chewy. She also commented that there was way too much beef versus toppings. She's not the only one who isn't a fan of this massive burger. Others say the ample meat makes the burger extra greasy and causes the bun to get soggy fast. Some also say it's overpriced for what it is, with many suggesting that the Big Mac and McDouble burgers are much better value.

There's no doubt that McDonald's has some pretty enticing breakfast options. For those who prefer sweet over savory dishes, the hotcakes may stand out as a top choice. You can get them on their own or with sausage. You can also have them as part of the Big Breakfast meal with a biscuit, sausage, scrambled eggs, and hash browns. Regardless of what you order them with, the hotcakes will come with a side of salted butter and hotcake syrup. Just don't expect fat, fluffy, hotcakes though. These thin, doughy pancakes will likely be far from the freshly made versions you make at home.

There are many McDonald's items that aren't made fresh-to-order and the hotcakes are one of them. In a TikTok video, an employee shows that the hotcakes come in a plastic bag and are reheated for service. That's probably why every time we've ordered them, they've been rubbery and bland. You definitely need the butter and syrup to make them palatable. Speaking of the syrup though, it too falls rather flat. There's not a hint of maple in it. Instead, the hotcake syrup is made with cornstarch, sugar, "natural flavors," potassium sorbate, and artificial caramel color.

When a Canadian McDonald's franchisee named Ron McLellan had the genius idea to blend candy with soft serve ice cream, he never dreamed that the McFlurry would be such a huge hit. Since it arrived on the McDonald's menu in 1997, there have been countless variations of the creamy concoction featuring everything from Oreos to matcha and banana caramel pie. But before you get your hopes up about grabbing one of these sweet treats, there are some things you should know.

The biggest issue that people have with McFlurries is that the soft-serve machines always seem to be broken. It's such a persistent problem that there's even a website called McBroken that maps broken and working machines. The issue for McDonald's is that the machines are made by the Taylor Company, which has a copyright that states only authorized Taylor technicians can fix the machines. Because of that, it can often take ages to get a repair person in and the fixes can be costly. The good news is a recent ruling could bring an end to the ever-broken McDonald's ice cream machines. According to CNN, the United States Copyright Office recently passed an exemption that allows restaurants the right to repair the machines.

If you're craving a hearty, protein-packed breakfast, a breakfast burrito is usually a good choice. Ideally, you would expect fluffy scrambled eggs with an assortment of veggies, some cheese, and maybe some meat and beans wrapped in a soft corn tortilla. McDonald's sausage burrito looks good on paper. It features a flour tortilla filled with eggs, pork sausage, cheese, green chiles, and onion. Sounds good right? Unfortunately, customers have some pretty scathing things to say about the chain's take on this Southwestern breakfast dish.

According to several McDonald's employees on Reddit, the ingredients in the sausage burrito are pretty sus. One user described them as, "Pre-packaged scrambled 'egg' and pepper mix, half a slice of American cheese, and the world's worst tortilla." Several stated that the burritos are made well in advance and microwaved to order. In addition, many customers say the burrito is incredibly dry, has a poor filling-to-tortilla ratio, and has undergone some serious shrinkflation in recent years. Even the Picante sauce you can get with it gets shade for being overly sweet.

Milkshakes and burgers go hand-in-hand, so it should come as no surprise that McDonald's has been offering milkshakes as far back as the 1950s. There are three flavors offered year-round: chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. The chain also offers seasonal shakes like its famous Shamrock Shake, which debuted in 1970. While the minty Shamrock Shake has developed somewhat of a cult-like following, some of the other milkshake flavors are less celebrated. The strawberry shake in particular has its fair share of haters.

Like many fast food chains, McDonald's uses strawberry syrup in its milkshakes rather than real strawberries. The syrup is blended with reduced-fat vanilla ice cream and topped with whipped cream. That is if the ice cream machine happens to be working that day. Even when the machine is working, the milkshakes can be wildly inconsistent from one day to the next. You might get a shake that's watery and weak one day and one that's thick, syrupy, and sickly sweet the next. Either way, the flavor is unmistakably artificial. You're probably not expecting a gourmet strawberry shake from McDonald's, but even so, you may be disappointed.

Long before the chicken sandwich wars began, McDonald's had the McChicken. The sandwich first came out in 1980 and has spawned multiple variations over the years with slight twists like extra-crispy coating or spicy seasoning. The Deluxe McCrispy is one of those variations featuring a Southern-style fried chicken fillet with lettuce, mayo, and tomatoes on a potato roll. Crispy it may be, but the deluxe aspect is debatable.

First off, the Deluxe McCrispy is straight-up messy. The tomatoes tend to slide around with the slippery lettuce and mayo. Plus, the wet ingredients can make the bun ultra-soggy if you don't eat it fast enough. That being said, the chicken is not bad. Every time we've had it, the chicken has been seasoned well with a crispy coating and juicy meat. The main problem we have with this sandwich though is whether it's worth the extra cost. It rings in at about $6 depending on location, whereas the regular McCrispy with pickles is about $5 and the McChicken with lettuce and mayo is roughly $3. Does the combo of Southern seasoning, tomatoes, lettuce, and mayo justify a higher price? We're not so sure.

When McDonald's released the McGriddle in 2003, it took the fast-food world by storm. The marriage of eggs, meat, and cheese sandwiched between sweet hotcake-like griddle buns was a revelation for those looking for a sweet and savory breakfast that could be eaten on the go. The handheld creations now come in three variations: bacon, egg, and cheese; just sausage; and sausage, egg, and cheese. There's no disputing that McGriddles have legions of fans. But even the die-hard fans know these breakfast options are not great on many levels.

The worst offender is the Sausage, Egg & Cheese McGriddle. To start, it clocks in at 550 calories, 33 grams of fat, and an astonishing 1,290 milligrams of sodium. It may be a great hangover helper, but just like a big night out, you probably don't want to indulge in one of these bad boys too often. Then there is the taste. The fake, sugary maple syrup flavor clashes brazenly with the sausage and cheese. As one Reddit user commented, "It's disgustingly sweet — who the hell wants some weird syrup-nugget-laced pancake facsimile ensconcing a salt-laden breakfast sausage?"

Sundaes have been on the McDonald's menu from the very early days. In fact, they were one of the original menu offerings along with hamburgers and tamales. It's not difficult to see why the dessert has endured over the decades. The mix of cool, creamy soft-serve ice cream with gooey toppings is perfect for cooling off on a hot day or ending a meal on a sweet note. There are currently two sundaes on the McDonald's menu: hot fudge and caramel. Both are classics and have their fair share of fans. However, the hot fudge sundae has a few issues that rank it lower than its caramel cousin.

When you dip your spoon into a hot fudge sundae, you're probably expecting the chocolate sauce to swirl beautifully into the ice cream. That rarely happens with McDonald's take on the dish. Upon hitting the cool vanilla ice cream, the hot fudge sauce rapidly solidifies into a chunky, stodgy mess. The taste isn't bad, but the texture can be off-putting. Then there is the issue of whether the soft-serve ice cream machines are even working. If not, don't worry because in the case of the hot fudge sundae, you're not missing out on much.

McDonald's regularly releases special-edition burgers and sandwiches, some of which are huge hits and others that are total flops. One of the latest creations to hit menus in the United States is the Chicken Big Mac. It was released in October 2024 after experiencing spectacular success in the U.K. The sandwich is a spin-off of the classic Big Mac but with two tempura chicken patties instead of beef on a sesame seed bun with lettuce, cheese, pickles, and the chain's signature Big Mac sauce. This special sandwich sounds good in theory but it gets less than stellar reviews from many diners.

When Chowhound writer Matt Turner reviewed the Chicken Big Mac, he reported that the chicken was juicy and the flavors weren't bad, but the patties were rather thin and it was uber messy to eat. Overall, he thought it was tasty and filling, but nothing amazing. Other reviewers say it's a tad bland and that the chicken tastes like giant Chicken McNuggets. As one Reddit user said, "They should have used McChicken patties in my opinion. Flavor is way better." Another Redditor said, "It's not terrible, but not good. It just is. Try it once and move on with your life."

Craving something cold, creamy, and caffeine-laced? If so, you might be tempted by one of McDonald's frappes. You can choose from caramel or mocha, both of which feature a sugary flavored coffee syrup base, ice, and whipped cream. The frappes are also drizzled with either caramel or chocolate. If you think that sounds a tad sweet, you're not wrong. The Mocha Frappe in particular gets a lot of flack for being especially cloying.

A quick look at the nutritional information for the Mocha Frappe reveals that a large size contains 81 grams of sugar. It also clocks in at a shocking 660 calories. That's more than a Big Mac, which contains 590 calories. In terms of the Mocha Frappe's flavor, you can taste the mocha and definitely some sweetness, but the coffee flavor is a wisp of what you might expect it to be. That's because it's coffee extract, not real coffee or espresso. An assistant manager at McDonald's said on Reddit, "You're better off with an iced coffee. More caffeine and half the calories."

The cheeseburger is another item that's been on the McDonald's menu as far back as the 1950s. Today's version consists of a 100% all-beef patty dressed with a slice of American cheese, pickles, chopped onions, ketchup, and mustard. The slice of cheese gives it a leg up on the regular hamburger, although it doesn't make it all that much more exciting. The only real selling point is that it costs a reasonable $2.40 depending on your location.

Just like the hamburger, the cheeseburger is pretty sad and unsatisfying on its own. It's good in a pinch if you need something to sit in your stomach, but you'll probably still be hungry after you devour it in just a few bites. It may be salvageable though. One Reddit user said, "Pro tip, add extra lettuce, pickles, and onions in the app for free and it makes the burger much thicker and better."  Then again, if you want something more substantial, the McDouble is only about $1 more and you get double the meat. For $2 more, you can get a Double Cheeseburger with double the meat and cheese.