LaVale's NEW McDonald's

Imagine this: you pack the kiddos into the car, promising McNuggets and fries for lunch, head to the local McDonald's, and when you get there, the McDonald's is....a pile of rubble. Yes, this actually happened to us - April or May I believe it was. No worries, at least, not too many. There are 4 other McDonald's within reasonable mileage of our home, and we could wait a few months while they renovated. Why did they renovate? Well, apparently, the MickeyD corporation felt the structure was outdated. Since it had been built before the drive-thru era and the drive-thru had to be subsequently retrofitted, the parking lot configuration was a bit awkward, and evidently, so was the interior since the employees had to go down steps to enter the drive thru area themselves. This, plus it seems many McDonald's are getting a face-lift these days I'm guessing triggered their decision to knock the whole thing down and start again from scratch.

Well, guess what? They just reopened. Must've happened just as we got back into town. On Wednesday, I took the kids to see what it was like. Oh boy. Not sure what Ronald was thinking here. First of all, it's smaller. This is not good. If you've ever seen this particular McD's the morning of a WVU home football game, everyone and their brother on their way to Morgantown wearning navy and gold piles in and you can barely get in the door. And when Fall color starts in the mountains. And when summer weekends begin at the lake. This is a busy little place, all year round. And not only did they make it smaller, the seating configuration is just...stupid. Where they could've put in a ton of seats, they've got this artsy, semi-circle configuration of booths and tables facing a giant-screen tv...hmmmm...just what I needed as I ate my fast food, more television.

But wait - they've got the McCafe now. Now you can order Cappuccino and McLatte. And Iced McMocha. Which I tried, only because I was given a free sample. Now I'm not a fan of iced coffee to begin with, but...it just wasn't that great. Very sweet. Too sweet. So when the guy passing out the free samples noticed me tossing mine into the trash (oops!) he approached me. Asked me what I thought. I told him - too strong, too sweet. He says "too strong coffee or too strong chocolate?" Chocolate, I told him. He smiles and says, well, that's because they're putting extra shots of chocolate in all the mochas so people will "like them better". Whaaaattt? People who LIKE mocha or iced mocha like them because they like them, not because they're as sweet as a cupcake and loaded with chocolate syrup. Oh well, I guess they figure most of the clientele at McDonald's isn't going to like a reasonable rendition of mocha or latte or whatever...and I can't see why not, after all, their paletes are discriminating enough to enjoy the finer things in life, like a Big Mac.....

Oh well. Maybe they'll do okay. Maybe the WVU fans will stick with the new and improved drive-thru, now that they're certainly not going to be able to get a seat anywhere. And maybe they'll figure out that McCafe just isn't going to attract the crowds they're thinking about, and they'll convert that area to more seating!! Hey! Great idea! Ronald, are you reading?