This seems to be the year of customization in the restaurant industry. The latest to join the trend is McDonald’s. Currently there are four McDonald’s in the US that offer a build-your-own-burger experience and two of them happen to be in San Diego (Midway and Santee; the other two are in Orange County).
I love customization, so I was really excited to learn that McDonald’s is testing it out. Last week, I was invited to a media event to experience it for myself. The event took place at the McDonald’s on Midway Drive (3805 Midway Dr, San Diego, CA 92110).
When you enter, there are several banners letting customers know of this new option. Rather than go to the register, there are touch pad tablets set up to take your customized order. The base price for the premium burger is $5.49. You can add as many toppings, sauces, cheeses from the Build Your Burger menu as you want. The only extra charges are for bacon ($.80) and additional patties ($1.25).
Here’s a breakdown of the options:
Bread:
- bakery-style
- artisinal
Cheese:
- white cheddar
- pepper jack
- American
Toppings:
- grilled mushrooms
- caramelized onions
- tortilla strips
- guacamole
- green leaf lettuce
- tomato
- red onion
- pickles
- jalapenos
Sauces:
- spicy mayonnaise
- garlic aioli
- sweet BBQ
- Big Mac special sauce
- mayonnaise
- mustard
- ketchup
One thing you can’t customize is the patty. There’s no choice other than a beef one and you also can’t choose the size (it comes with a quarter pounder)
Once you’ve finished placing your order and paid, you sit down and wait for the food to be brought out to you.
The burgers arrive open-faced in a metal basket.
My burger: artisan bun, pepper jack cheese, guacamole, bacon, tortilla strips, green leaf lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion, and spicy mayonnaise.
Verdict? Well, obviously this was better tasting than the regular off-the-menu options at McDonald’s. Each sandwich is made to order and you can definitely tell, down to the patty which is hand seared. I really loved the buttery artisan bun, and I liked having so many toppings in my burger.
Mr. K’s burger: bakery-style bun, pepper jack cheese, bacon, caramelized onions, tomato, lettuce, jalapenos, spicy mayonnaise, Big Mac special sauce.
Overall, we had a fun experience here. I would love to see even more options added to the Build Your Burger menu. I realize there’s a matter of logistics, but ideally, I hope to see other patty options besides beef and even more fun toppings added such as hash browns. Hopefully, customers will respond well to this new concept and it will continue to expand. I think the price is pretty reasonable for what you get and it’s worth a detour from the usual menu options.
And if you are curious, I’ve got two $10 McDonald’s gift cards I’m giving away. Perfect to cover a Build Your Burger meal and then some! Please follow the PromoSimple instructions below to enter the giveaway.
Also, don’t forget, I have two other active giveaways right now.
Please note, as indicated above, this was a media event and our meals were complimentary. Other than the meal, and the two gift cards for the giveaway, I was not further compensated for this review and my opinions are my own.
The artisan bun especially looks yummy! I’m curious about the guac, was it very fresh or did it taste packaged?
it tasted like packaged guac to me, but honestly I wasn’t concentrating on it too hard since I had so many toppings in my burger so I could be wrong
The burgers look good! Can you tell me what the difference is between the artisanal bun vs. the bakery bun? Is there a bunch of butter on the artisanal bun?
The bakery bun is the buns usually offered on the bigger burgers at McD’s. It’s soft, fluffy, similar to a burger bun you would buy to make your own burgers, but a bit nicer. The artisan bun is, I believe, a brioche bread base. It’s a different flavor, texture. You can see fro the photos that they are completely different looking. Both were good, it might just come down to your personal preference.