McDonald's -- 2200 N Garey Ave Pomona, CA 91767

My Meal Cost: $7.40. Health Rating A. Yelp 2 stars

I heard that a scary clown hung out at this place but only saw him on a TV monitor. However, be forwarned. :-)

Kind of hard to get too excited about going to McDonald's. The lovely Mrs. C had foot surgery a couple of weeks ago and we had a post surgery appointment with her surgeon in Baldwin Park. It was difficult to pass by the In-N-Out Corporate location, 5 Guys, and some of the other places where we could have stopped for lunch so that I could "get to McDonald's." Sigh.

This location is a Play Place location which means that it was originally set up mostly as a kid-friendly location. It has been updated since I used to take Number #1 daughter there to crawl in the kiddie hamster trail. That is no longer there and the main dining room has been given a facelift and has a clean/modern look with an etched glass brick water feature and digital menu board.

The main dining area is quite pleasant and there are plenty of seats where you're not faced with a TV showing McDonald's branded content (where I saw that damnable clown). Everything was clean, bright, and shiny. The play area is still there but it doesn't have any "physical" activities with playground style equipment being replaced by educational touch screen monitors and an area with a projector and sound system that I wasn't able to figure out (should have brought a kid).

As a result, the space is a little schizophrenic in that it tries to appeal to the kids and family while also trying to give the McCafe vibe.

The staff behind the counter was friendly and service was actually better than I've had from the drive-thru at this location. I had actually tried, in the past week, one of their new signature sandwich options, the sriracha burger on the artisan roll and was disappointed finding it dry and overcooked (which will always be a problem with a burger from frozen meat which needs to be cooked well done).

Now for this blog, I needed to try SOMETHING that I could write about that wasn't a Big Mac (what can one say about that?).

I opted for the signature crafted Pico Guacamole as a medium combo. 

I opted for the beef (you can get the same sandwich with chicken or beef) on a potato roll (other options are the artisan roll or sesame roll). It came with ranch dressing, a generous amount of guacamole, and a somewhat spicy pico de gallo, as well as lettuce and a slice of indeterminate white cheese (jack? cheddar? ??). The fries were fries, what can one say about Micky D's fries except that they are an addictive guilty pleasure. While this location doesn't have a Coca Cola Freestyle machine, it does have a large assortment of beverages in the fountain and I opted for diet Dr. Pepper (a nice change from Diet Coke or Pepsi).

The burger was actually very good. If the meat was dry, it was counteracted by the three different sauces that adorned it. I don't think this location is as bad as the majority of Yelp reviews make it out to be but, as always be warned, "your mileage may vary."

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