LITTLE ROCK — Golden arches. Once upon a time you’d instantly know a McDonald’s restaurant by its golden arches.
The golden arches haven’t disappeared from the McDonald’s landscape. They show up on the signs and the logos, because they are, after all, the corporate symbol. But until recently they haven’t been part of the golden architecture.
The new McDonald’s at 104 S. University Ave., Little Rock, built on the site of the former Bennigan’s, part, more or less, of the new Park Avenue development in Midtown, re-incorporates the arches into a prototype design that has been built so far in only two other locations, with two more to go.
It combines a “retro” style exterior with glass walls and McDonald’s new upscale interior, a nonlinear, pastel landscape with quirky lighting fixtures, mobiles, flat-screen TVs and Internet access.
The new building is much bigger than most McDonald’s you’re used to, and owner/ franchisee Eliecer Palacios, whose third Mc-Donald’s this is, has hired a staff roughly twice the size of the usual McDonald’s crew, which seems to speed up service and actually provides people to go around and clean off tables and sweep floors even during peak periods — not always something you’ll see at your average, everyday McDonald’s.
Walk through the main door (with the word “Welcome” over it) into an almost Dr. Seuss-ian world where the decor incorporates flowing lines and curved surfaces, plus a multitude of seating options — at booths, banquettes, high-top bar tables and long rectangular and two-top round tables featuring composite tabletops surrounded by bright, parti-colored vinyl chairs and small stools.
An abstract mobile helps occupy some of the space in the two-story atrium. Vaguely familiar but nonspecific street maps at the main entryway and the names of all the city’s neighborhoods inscribed, in flowing script, on the front windows localize the establishment, so you will know at a glance that you’re in La Petite Roche (that’s inscribed on the windows, too) and not in, say, Oak Park, Ill.
At the front of the building is a sort of mini-Internet cafe with two computers — Macs, of course — which while we were watching were primarily camp-out spots for kids. The whole place, as with most Mc-Donald’s outlets these days, has free Wi-Fi for customers to access the Internet, though you have to click on a button agreeing to the terms of use.
The fancy lighted menu board is practically animated, or at least full of moving components, partially, perhaps, to distract customers from realizing that most of the items on it are missing the prices.
The folks waiting to take your order, and there are more open and staffed registers than you’ve probably ever seen at a McDonald’s, are universally friendly and bright-eyed. (The place is still brand-spanking new. How long they can keep that up remains to be seen.) You place your order and get a receipt with a number prominently printed on it; the number flashes on a screen along with the yell-out from the counter when your food is ready.
The food, of course, is no different from any McDonald’s, as far as we can tell. We paid $6.10 for a third-pound Angus Mushroom & Swiss burger meal, including fries and medium drink, and except for the plentiful smear of mayonnaise on the burger (we will remember next time to find out if they will graciously hold that), it was pretty good. Our $4.35 Sausage Egg McMuffin meal, with an oblong lump of hashbrowns and a small coffee, tasted no different from that at any McDonald’s of our experience.
(We somehow missed out on the “CBO” — cheddar, bacon and onions — promotion, which has exited this McDonald’s to make way for the periodic return of the McRib, a composite pork patty slathered in a sweet barbecue sauce and festooned with onions. The McRib apparently is pork in much the same way McNuggets are chicken.)
Also new with this McDonald’s: Two drive-through lanes leading to a three-window system — one at which to order and pay and two for pick-up, designed in part to keep to-go traffic from backing up onto University Avenue. (A special turn-in lane on the other side is supposed to keep left-turning traffic from backing up and blocking West Markham Street.)
And the new McDonald’s, along with many of its older cousins, is open 24/7, a blessing if, say, you get a 2 a.m. craving for a McRib.
McDonald’s
Address: 104 S. University Ave., Little Rock Hours: 24/7 Cuisine: McBurgers, Mc-Muffins, McNuggets, McRib, etc. Credit cards: V, MC, D, AE Alcoholic beverages: No Reservations: No Wheelchair accessible: Yes Carryout: Yes (501) 603-2228
Weekend, Pages 27 on 01/03/2013