McDonald's in Southend-on-Sea

Absolutely shocking, poor service

Should be renamed "slow food"! Nearly 30 minutes to get an egg m muffin and a coffee in an empty restaurant! Sort both the staff and manager out!

Waited for ages for two sandwiches First attempt wrong burger. Second attempt 5 mins later two wrong burgers. Third attempt gave my order after it had been sat on a tray for 5 minutes. Come on really it not rocket science. Worst service at a McDonald’s ever

Visit here regularly always spotlessly clean including toilets which are a priority in my opinion. Food always well presented and enjoyable. Sometimes find background music a little loud but overall love this McDonald's.

Order for delivery. Baring in mind small order, 4 items of food, 3 drinks. Missed one food item off the order, that was clearly at the top. Called to complain and got voicemail. Not sure I'll actually hear from them. Wouldn't mind but that's one person with no food to eat at all.

Foods were over cooked and muffins were burnt

Friendly staff, food was hot and fresh.

Slow, unorganised, can't hear what the guy is saying as the speaker is broken, forgotten sauce with nuggets, and can't go back round as the sodding car park doesn't let you in more than once a day. Joke of a place

Visited today, waited 20 mins for a collection order. No cup holder for drinks, when I mentioned to the member of staff the only response was 'no sorry' and just smiled. Never have a great experience at this location, only use at a push.

Not open 24 hours every time I have been it was closed at 12 39

Been sitting in the drive thru for about 25 minutes - I do not understand how it can be this slow. We could have had a sit down meal in the time we’ve been waiting and the queue isn’t even long it’s just not moving.

Well, it’s McDonald's, so I wasn’t expecting fine dining, but I was hoping for something a little faster! The coffee took its time, especially considering the place was almost empty. For fast food, it wasn’t exactly fast. The service could use a little pick-me-up too—nothing says ‘welcome’ like a smile, right? Especially being so close to the airport, this might be the first stop for visitors to Southend, and let’s just say… we don’t want their first thought to be about booking a return flight! A little warmth and speed would go a long way."

Avoid at all cost, 40 minute wait for food though the drive though at 08:20 when it's was empty.

Slow service, 15 minutes waiting from ordering inside. Packed with ppl waiting... no room for customers to get to counter or toilet with pushing through waiting customers..

Food was warm wasn't happy about HAVING to use the machine

Food served quickly and hot, polite staff and nice atmosphere

It's McDonald's. It did its job. I was hungry, now I'm not.

Ordered couple of coffees and a manager (I'm assuming) Amir came over asking me to do a survey, essentially telling me what to write, hanging over my shoulder. Strange presence. Other female staff member there at the till (sorry didn't catch your name) was very polite and friendly

Ordered breakfast and literally HALF the order is missing and getting hold of them is ridiculously hard, TERRIBLE SERVICE

Worst McDonald’s in Southend! Every time I visit here they either mess up my order or make me wait ages on the car park! Seems to have got a lot worse since the refurbishment!! Save you time and money and go to Rayleigh weir or hadleigh

Gotta love Maccys, Una is such an amazing member of staff, always remembers us and always speak to us ensuring that the food is correct and hot. Such a credit to Maccys

Hotel was good, very clean, and everything worked. Staff were very efficient and friendly. AI bar was a bit limited, but coffee was good.

This McDonald's has been refurbished And was lot better than it was. Well for a few weeks The the food delivery drivers now have a separate entrance so the customer area is no longer as crowded. The self service points all seem to be working well. But back to the poor service and only warm not hot food and they can't blame it on being that busy

Awful experience, I ordered 2 wrap meals and a small fries for my daughter and McDonalds haven’t put any of the fries in so we now go without fries with a meal it’s not even a meal and my daughter hasn’t got her food now. Disgusting

Good service, like the new layout, snd seemed to run more smoothly

Seems like the staff are just completely disorganised and no one knows what’s going on, incredibly slow and when you do get your food it’s always cold. Got to be the worst McDonalds in the country surely 😂

Want to wait 45mins for fast food? Worst MC Donald's of them all in the area. Day light turned to nightfall by time I left. Awful service, and terribly slow, it's almost a comedy how painful every thing is around you whole you wait. So disappointed with my experience here

As with all mcdonalds these days, carnage and slow service as they prioritise delivery over customers

This MC Donald's is the worst in the area everything u order u have to wait in car park for what a joke I think some one needs sacking

I think they got my bacon and egg mcmuffin out of the fridge this morning!!

night munch, shift manager Mark very helpful when asking about gluten allergy gave me booklet to take home, pleasant busy staff, refurbishment is lovely but a shame the toilets weren't given a make over

Big Mac Meal, Crispy BBQ wrap meal and cheeseburger happy meal took over 45 mins to reach us when others of same items got their faster. Food was cold when we got it. Staff were rushed, blamed being busy but never apologised, tables were filthy and left for the customers to clean.

3 times in a row, I have received stone cold food. Absolutely shocking, especially as the one last night wasn't ready and had to park up and wait for them to bring it to me and then get served cold food. Absolute joke! I have been waiting to try this so called new and improved menu, but so far it has been worse than ever before. How on earth can you getting it so wrong after so many years in the business is just beyond me. On top of that, prices have virtually doubled for half the quality. I could get a decent, hot and filling curry for the same price. Save your money and get some good food instead!

The food was some of the best mcdonalds ive had in a while, mcdonalds is often a disappointment in essex but its so lovely to have a nice change. Graham the customer care gave us dinner and a show by doing magic and could be seen interacting positively with customers around the resturant floor. Absolutely amazing visit.

Food good as always, and fast x

Queued in the drive thru for 15 minutes until the manager came out and told every one they were closing and we wouldn't be served

Somehow missed 2 out of 4 items on a breakfast order. Not the first time they’ve forgotten items via delivery or drive through and have a reputation of missing items off of orders.

I came down here precisely 4 weeks prior, and had a questionable interaction with a young female. Before heading through the drive thru there was cones blocking the way. She was very rude and messed up our order. We couldn’t get her name as she then preceded to slam the window shut. We would have gone in but fortunately it was midnight. We then was driving nearby and thought we’d give this McDonald’s another go! I then received this as a burger! Half opened and didn’t taste anything like a usual chicken mayo!

The most incompetent and useless restaurant on the face of the planet. Working as a food delivery driver for uber for over 3 years, week in and week I turn up in the early hours to collect orders only to be told they can not for fill the order, they waste my time and money and disappoint so many customers, with no end to this long term problem of how MacDonalds operates. I will never go back to this restaurant again, I wish I could find the words to explain how staggeringly awful this place is. Even after a multi million pound refit that still cant manage the process of delivering a simple burger and chips, this place should be closed down and there staff fired, just so bad.

Forgot my egg in sausage and egg McMuffin and staff look like zombies.

Since it's been reopened after a refurb, the layout is awful and staff are poor robots

Golden arches. Perfect date night ❤️

Good placement by this McDonald’s in Southend . You have a hotel opposite it and it is in a retail park. I was very impressed with the food and the fact it was delivered to my table very fast. The staff were very friendly and helpful would definitely be coming here again. I would give this store a 10/10 . The food was hot and the staff were very happy .

The absolute worst McDonald’s I’ve ever been to and ordered from. It used to be brilliant and had top notch service but now it seems that both the staff and management are completely incompetent because they can never get their orders right, 9 out of 10 online orders are missing items or are filled with wrong items from other orders. Somehow they can’t even complete orders correctly even with receipts printed and stuck onto the bags saying what’s on the order

I expected a quick meal at a fast food restaurant, but waiting 30 minutes for a child's order was unacceptable. The long wait times caused significant customer frustration and nearly led to a confrontation. The restaurant clearly lacks effective leadership, management, and timely service. I will avoid this establishment in the future.

Incredibly slow service for a "fast food" restaurant and constantly getting orders wrong, used to be soo much better before the recent renovations

What a disappointment. All standard of food safety are NOT present here. Added to this, this store marks orders as complete before they reach the pass. Confusing all waiting for thier orders. The bins inside the store were overflowing with rubbish, a customer split a cooldrink and it took staff over 6 min to even notice the mess all over the floor. We ordered a eat in meal and got given our food in take away bags. There were no trays, condiments and staff looked very irritated when we asked for them. Absolutely a horrible experience and would insist that McDonald's corporate go as a ghost shopper to see how day things are

Went in today for the first time since the refurb and was really shocked. The restaurant itself has lost its soul. It looks really small and what used to be a comfortable warm buzzing environment is now uncomfortable and cold. The food was cold and the chicken sandwich had hardly any mayo. If you need anything good luck as you have to shout really loud as you cannot see any staff as they are all out of sight. Done me a favour really as not healthy but will be visiting Rayleigh Weir in future as food is hot and vibe is better.

Don't know how people can call this food a treate.. first time eating at McDonalds for many many years.. bun is tasteless, less taste than cardboard, and probably as nutritious. Kids nugget meal wasn't much better.

Quite busy but not to long to wait.

Have never waited so long for food anywhere, ever. Absolutely dreadful system and horrendous service. Staff clearly under pressure and entirely unapproachable. Walked out without my order.

It's McDonald's. Perfection is almost guaranteed

Very busy so slow service food not very warm

Very quiet and perfect break on our journey to Acle for our holiday on the Norfolk Broads

Absolutely awful experience. Won't be using this macdonalds again

Every time I've gone through the drive through there is always some delay. Orders constantly made wrong. I've even had a time where I was skipped in the q by 3 altars because the person at the microphone didn't take orders for over 5 minutes. I took my burger back in for the first time finally fed up with the subpar quality and service only to get back an equally bad burger. The lady I spoke to was very nice and I won't fault her at all as she was very sympathetic when the burger she handed back was poorly done. But something needs to change. If it doesn't I would rather have a bloody burger King at this point and I havnt eaten at one in years.

Took me over an 1h to get some food through the drive through

Great service while waiting for are food graham came and entertained us with some amazing card tricks don’t know how you did it 👍🏻👍🏻

Over half an hour to get through drive thru

had to wait 4 flipping hours when i ordered on just eat, im writing this and it’s still not here!

I ordered my food at 7 and it’s like 10 now, if they can’t get my food here in 20-30 minutes they should say that instead of making me wait hours honestly taking the piss.

This is what is writing by the owner of the business About McDonald's Airport Retail Park Southend On Sea. Since 1974, McDonald's has been dedicated to serving quality food and quick service, at an affordable price for our customers Now before the refurbishments were made when ordering food on uber eats it was very hit and miss if the food would be quick or take hours and even when the food actually was delivered again it be hit and miss if it would be correct or not or if everything ordered would even be in the bag After the refurbishment however the amount of mistakes and the amount of time needed to wait is ridiculous it's been 3 hours and still no food Now they have even added a new feature where you can add extra stuff to the original order if done within a set time with the driver being able to collect both in 1 go yet when I did this the driver informs me that the ice creams (the extras we added) are ready but the food (that's actually hot) isnt and can be 30mins still and 30 mins later still no food and ice creams are now melted I honestly don't know what's going on if they decided to get rid of there some what ok stuff (5/10 although I must admit they are really nice) and hire a new team who are just terrible at there jobs Or maybe after the new work was done higher ups want them to do more orders in a shorter time which they just can't keep up with All in all McDonald's if this is supposed to be a grand reopening or something it's not going to well and you shouldn't except orders if you can't handle it Servers definitely ain't quick and I sure as hell ain't loving it

I went there for breakfast. The food was what you would expect and the service was OK. However, when I ordered my sausage and egg mcMuffin breakfast, I received a muffin with just an egg in it. I was in a rush so wasn’t able to go back. A bit disappointing given that it wasn’t particularly busy at the time.

In the context of McDonalds this branch is ok, I've certain had worse experiences. Personally I find McDonalds food average at best, but the kids love it so I have little choice in the matter. Its usually quite busy here, eating in can be a bit of a bustle but the last three times we've eaten in, we've found a seat. The staff are friendly enough, if not a little downtrodden. The drive through it quite quick, however I don't think I've ever been handed my food at the window. Mostly I've been directed to a bay or parking space. The most recent two visits they have missed something on the order, the first they didn't give us drinks. The second they missed a portion of chips - when queried they've provided large versions of the missing items.

Took 35 minutes just to get 3 cheese burgers and a drink.

Great customer service by Oliver, provided us with everything we needed!

Ordered mcchicken meal when arrived the fries were cold and the mcchicken sandwich was only warm there were no serviettes and no straw for the milk shake not impressed at all.

Quick delivery after ordering. Delivered to table with a smile

We are still waiting for our food

For some reason, french fries are always cold or luke warm .

I ordered 2 Oreo McFlurrys and got 2 promo pies, I don’t like the pies at all, they could have refunded me the money instead, what a total waste, also asked for extra sauces none were even in there, total dissatisfaction

Hated it, waited ten minutes for food, they prioritise the drive through. Atmosphere was oppressive. Food is bog standard McDonald's

For a fairly busy airport McDonald's the service is way too slow.

I don't like the new layout. There is no one at the counter and it seems all staff are out of sight in the kitchen. Hash brown was barely warm.

One of the worst local McDonald's in our area , food on average takes up to 10 mins after ordering, the last sausage muffin I had was so greasy,half the muffin was soaked and not nice, ordered latte got a flat white , how hard can it be ? Other local McDonald's like Hadleigh has quicker service and better food and better restaurant area.

Since the latest refurbishment I went in and was very surprised by the changes, it looks so much smaller than before, not sure what the problem was but the food took absolutely ages to get brought out, but the staff were trying there best and were very apologetic and helpful to get the food brought out quickly. Once it came it was the same as you would expect from any McDonald's food vendor

The service was slow and the breakfast sandwich was dry like it had been left under a heat lamp..I was not impressed

Today, I want to share my experience at McDonald’s during a quick lunch that really impressed me. From the moment I walked in, the cleanliness of the place was impeccable, which is always a big plus. Everything was in its place, making it easy to move around and find what I needed without any hassle. However, what made this visit stand out was one person in particular: the manager. This lady, likely the one in charge, showed an exceptional level of kindness and attention that is not common in fast-food restaurants. Her attitude not only enhanced my experience but also left a lasting impression. Her warm and helpful demeanor made the atmosphere feel welcoming and pleasant. In summary, McDonald’s not only met the expectations of a quick and convenient lunch but exceeded them thanks to the impeccable cleanliness and the outstanding attention of its manager. Definitely, a detail that made a difference and worth highlighting.

I only got nuggets and they were disgusting. Tasted reheated or been sitting there for ages. So disappointed

Not open 4.30 Sunday morning ..

Went to thru the drive through. Got told to park up. Waited 15 minutes for food. Wrong order came out. Had to go in to the restaurant to sort it out. Terrible.

What an unbelievable experience! Twenty minutes waiting for my food before I got tired and asked for a refund! To add insult to injury I was told I was rude by the manager! I don’t want to name her. I don’t think I was the only one! How disappointing and to boot no apology! Just ‘we are busy’. If this is how McDonalds wants to treat their ‘guests’ then I feel for them. If there was a zero stars I would have given that as it wasn’t worthy on one star. It’s a real shame as it is now a refurbished restaurant!

Chicken burger was thrown together looked like someone had stood on it and flattened it. Paid for sauce sachet snd was missing. Food cold, chips cold....lovely ladies cleaning and tidying tables that was the only plus....won't go there again.

New refurbishment has brought a cold but modern take to the restaurant. It also appears that the workforce has been completely transformed into newbie school leavers and adults that don't understand simple kiosks. I ordered a large wrap of the day meal and my large fries had less in than my partners medium fries, gone right downhill.

The new renovations here look amazing, and great quality food as you would expect!

Very slow service and food was a bit cold

No milkshakes, cold chips, no sauce in bag given wrong order wait time horrendous Was hoping after re opening Things would have improved I was WRONG Won't be going back

Been a few times and food never piping hot

The expected arrangement could not be fully created. As usual, incomplete service and an arrangement where you cannot see who to ask from is behind the walls. Self service has been removed, totally disappointing

Recent refurbishment has allowed for more seating and gives a more modern amd spacious feel. However, they've removed the self serve dips option.

Absolute car crash since it reopened, items missing long waits, priority is delivery now, everyone else can go and swivel

Absolutely useless every single employee at Southend airport clearly have there eyes shut & not even capable of reading what someone has ordered & placing it in a bag

Waited 28 minutes inside the restaurant for food! They had 4 members of staff on break smoking. Focused on mainly driver thru and online orders. Ended up getting a refund and walking out. No one on front desk had to go round the counter to find staff to complain. Refurb is nice but it’s like they refurbed and trained there staff to be slow.

ask Graham the Customer Experience Manager if you can see his magic show, you will not regret it

Waited over half hour for our meals after ordering at the drive through, I asked for 2 triple cheese burgers with extra cheese no onion and no pickle instead I got 1 triple cheese with extra pickle extra onions and it was cold seriously how hard is it to get that right. Every time there's a problem with this place it's just terrible.

Terrible since the re open. Double charged me and told me just wait a couple days!! 66 taken instead of 33. Then the wait was 40 mins and food was cold, sauces forgotten and then tried charging me for them when I asked where they were. Considering I ordered for pick up! Inexperienced staff on the till and an awful hectic atmosphere. Will not be going again. Would prefer the extra drive to rayleigh weir

Recently reopened, swung by here twice and had issues both times. Once for breakfast around 6am which I ordered in advance in the app. When I arrived the app said the store was closed, despite it clearly being open so couldn’t collect via drive thru and had park and to go into the store to collect, had to shout to get the attention of staff as nobody at counter, then have a manager process the order. Other time dropped by late evening went through drive thru and immediately got asked to park up, it was clear there were another 5-10 cars also waiting for their orders and took a good 20 minutes for food to be brought out. Food was fine both times, but it’s frustrating that this location seems to be struggling with even more issues after the recent refurb than they were before. On the plus side the inside looks better, but the drive thru is still really slow.

Newly updated and opened. Went to the drive through where the que wasn't that long. Took ages to get to the order point though and was apologised to for the wait. Ordered but didn't move, waited there for 10 minutes more and was told sorry for the wait 3 more times. Eventually paid and made it to the collection point 15 min after ordering and was told its not ready and to wait in the car park. Given our drinks, all 3 somewhere we're wrong. Got to the carpark where customers from multiple (6+)cars arguing with the food walkers asking Where's there food? We sat for 15 min and having had enough went in for a refund. Was told the card machines were not working and was given cash in £5 £2 & £1 coins. 30 minutes to exchange £36 on my card to £36 in cash. Brilliant. All the while more orders were being taken at the window and could here the staff saying park in the carpark.

I have ordered ice cream and have been waiting more than 2 hours for them to pack it 3 delivery drivers have taken my order and declined it after waiting so long

Hard to find a seat to eat our food !