Review: We Tried the Same McDonald’s Meal in the US and UK

The restaurant was advertising the chain’s new chicken tenders on its modern-looking exterior.

This is one of roughly 13,600 McDonald’s locations in the US, according to the company. That’s far more than its number of restaurants in the UK, where it has around 1,500 locations.

During our visits, the New York location also felt more modern and pared back, while the London restaurant featured brighter colors and more playful design details.

That kind of highly visible security message felt distinctly New York.

There was one security officer outside the McDonald’s in London, though there were no big security messages like in the New York restaurant.

Inside, the restaurant had self-order kiosks, a counter for pickup orders, and plenty of seating for customers eating in or taking food to go.

The meal came in McDonald’s signature brown paper bag and included a spicy chicken sandwich, medium fries, an apple pie, and a medium-sized fruity pink drink.

It cost $15.18, excluding tax.

It was also topped with pieces of freeze-dried strawberry. Erin enjoyed the balance of sweet watermelon, tart strawberry flavoring, and lemonade, but the dried fruit pieces made the drink awkward to sip — she kept getting chunks in her mouth.

Still, it was a refreshing, summery beverage she’d order again, ideally without the strawberry topping.

The sandwich is one of McDonald’s biggest attempts to compete in the fast-food chicken wars.

First launched nationwide in February 2021, the sandwich has become a staple on McDonald’s menu and can even compete with fast-food classics like Chick-fil-A’s famous chicken sandwich.

It looked far more substantial than the more basic chicken sandwiches often associated with McDonald’s, like the McChicken.

Erin was also impressed by the size of the chicken filet, which was about the same size as her palm.

It stayed crispy beneath the toppings and delivered a savory, black-peppery flavor that gave each bite a little extra kick, on top of the creamy, spicy sauce that left a slight lingering heat.

The fries were thin, salty, and hot — the familiar classic that remains one of the chain’s most consistent menu items. The US order came with a generously filled carton that was large enough to share, though Erin had no trouble working her way through most of it.

The tangy, creamy dipping sauce gave the salty fries an extra punch of flavor and made for an especially satisfying final bite.

The hand pie had a flaky, golden-brown exterior and came in a sleek purple sleeve. It cost $1.99, excluding tax.

Inside, the soft apples were sweet and caramelized, giving the dessert a cozy, almost homemade flavor that made it a satisfying end to the meal.

Erin did think the pastry could have been a bit less doughy and a bit more flaky to better resemble a real apple pie.

This McDonald’s had lots of emoji faces on its windows to advertise McHappy Day, a charity fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House UK on September 26.

Roya went to McDonald’s on September 22, which was the first day of the World Menu Heist.

These are popular McDonald’s items from around the world, made into limited-edition items in the UK and Ireland.

Inside, you can order at the counter or at the self-service kiosks. A lot of people pick up their orders after placing them on the McDonald’s app.

Roya opted for the “eat in” option, so the meal came on a tray. Adding a paper bag at this McDonald’s would have cost an extra 13 cents.

The meal cost £11.38 ($15.18) including tax.

The drinks we ordered weren’t a direct match: Erin ordered McDonald’s strawberry watermelon refresher in New York, which was not on the UK menu when we checked, while Roya tried the UK-only guava Sprite Zero.

This drink was part of the World Heist Menu. Roya found it refreshing and liked the extra tang that the guava-flavored syrup added to the Sprite.

There were also some differences in the portion sizes and sugar content between our two drinks.

A medium soda at McDonald’s is much bigger in the US, where it holds 21 fluid ounces, compared with 13.5 fluid ounces in the UK.

McDonald’s UK still sells some sugary drinks, but its soft-drink menu leans more heavily on zero-sugar options, including Sprite Zero. That reflects the UK’s Soft Drinks Industry Levy, introduced in 2018 to encourage manufacturers to cut sugar from beverages; drinks with more than 5 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters are subject to the tax.

In the US, the McCrispy is marketed as a sandwich, whereas in the UK, it’s more commonly referred to as a burger.

The McCrispy was launched in 2022 after the discontinuation of the very popular Chicken Legend. The spicy version launched this year.

Roya thought the chicken filet was substantial — much bigger than the beef burgers typically sold at McDonald’s.

Different from the US potato roll, the bread is a sourdough-style bun topped with sesame seeds.

McDonald’s varies its recipes and menus across countries to comply with local regulations and cater to customer tastes. For example, Canadian McDonald’s has a maple-and-cheddar chicken burger, another item that featured on the World Heist Menu.

The filet itself was moist, with a crispy, crunchy batter that Roya thought had a satisfying kick of heat. This was different from the US version, which has a lighter, less-crunchy breading without any heat — all the spicy flavor comes from the sauce.

She thought there could have been more spicy mayo and pickles, like in the US, to add a bit more texture. The lettuce, while adding a nice freshness, didn’t do much for the dryness.

While the London-based reporter always enjoys McDonald’s fries, she thought they could have been crispier this time — they were a little floppy.

Roya, who prefers her food saltier, added a salt sachet to the fries. Nonetheless, they came out hot and were a satisfying companion to the burger.

McDonald’s UK says it has reduced the fat, salt, sugar, and calories in its menu since 2020, which may contribute to the milder flavor compared with the US fries.

American McDonald’s fries also have beef flavoring added to them to replicate the old-school taste of frying in beef tallow.

Ketchup and barbecue sauce are usually available from dispensers in most McDonald’s in the UK. Roya opted for ketchup, which added a lip-smacking tang to the fries.

Ranch is not as popular or well-known in the UK, but McDonald’s UK did have it as a limited-edition dip this summer.

The apple pie in this London McDonald’s costs £2.29 ($3.05), including tax.

Roya’s UK apple pie was fried and sealed like a hand pie, unlike the lattice-topped baked pie sold in the US. The UK version closely resembled how McDonald’s in the US used to make its apple pies before it switched to a baked, not fried, version in 1992.

The US version got another update in 2018, when the latticed crust was introduced, and the chain switched to a sliced apple filling with cinnamon.

From the design of the restaurant to the actual menu, there were some key differences between the two locations. Even similar items differed in terms of ingredients and size.

We were surprised that our meals were nearly the same price, and the chicken sandwiches were pretty similar in portion size. However, the sodas were very different in size, with the US medium drink being much larger, and the UK apple pie looked more like a fried strudel than a lattice pie.

The chicken sandwich in the US also had more sauce and a saltier flavor, which Roya thought the UK version lacked.

From the restaurant design to the last bite of pie, our cross-Atlantic McDonald’s taste test proved that “the same” order can mean something very different depending on where you are.