Apparently The 'World's Worst McDonald's' Is Set To Close For Good
What would make the worst fast food restaurant in the world? Bad service? Poor food quality? Dirty tables and bathrooms? Unsanitary working conditions behind the counter? The biggest fast food secrets restaurants try to hide can be pretty gross, but they're generally pretty gross at every location, like how Taco Bell's ground beef isn't 100% ground beef, according to TikTok. It's a fair portion cellulose, otherwise known as wood pulp (per Taco Bell and NPR). Yummy. If Taco Bell, McDonald's, and doubtless other fast food eateries are proudly willing to serve wood pulp in all of its locations, what would it take to make the worst fast food restaurant?
While the U.S. has no clear winner, other countries do have clear front runners (per Business Insider). In fact, our famously gentle neighbor to the north, Canada, is home to a McDonald's location that is considered the crown-holder of this distinction (via Yelp). And the ways in which this Mickey D's has made its international reputation may surprise you.
The worst McDonald's in the world
So what makes this McDonald's the worst in the world? Despite the restaurant's one and a half stars on Yelp, most of the reviews say the service was fine and the fries were hot. It's the ambiance at this Ottawa, Ontario location that makes it so bad (per The Mirror).
Described by the Ottawa Chief of Police as a "beacon of chaos," and by one Yelp reviewer as having "the ambiance of a prison," the locale lives up to its rep (per Eat This, Not That). In 2013, it went viral in a YouTube video of dozens of patrons brawling and one pulling out a raccoon as a weapon. In 2018 alone, the police were called to this spot no less than 800 times. This bad behavior prompted Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau to write to the CEO of McDonald's Canada, begging him to close the dangerous location, citing the "ongoing criminal activity and social disorder" on display (via Eat This, Not That).
The letter had some effect. McDonald's shortened the location's hours to 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. While these measures did help bring the total 911 calls down to 150 in 2022, that's still one about every two and a half days. At this point, you cannot sit down in the restaurant or use its bathrooms (per CTV News). But it appears this infamous location will finally be shuttering its doors this April, after McDonald's chose not to renew the lease.