“Instead of making these new changes, why not remove the old changes and make them like they used to when everybody says they were better.”
That comment on a Reddit thread about McDonald’s revamped Big Mac became one of the top-voted replies – and it captures something a lot of longtime customers are feeling.
McDonald’s has spent recent years tinkering with its menu, updating recipes, and rolling out premium variations of its core items. The Big Mac got a 2023 overhaul featuring a softer bun, meltier cheese, more caramelized onions, and extra sauce. The company called it an upgrade. Many customers called it a mistake.
The Big Mac Isn’t What It Was
Reddit’s fast food communities lit up after the changes rolled out. “I miss when my bun didn’t taste like a sugared donut, or when it wasn’t super hard and seedy,” one customer posted, lamenting both what the bun had been and what it had become. Others complained that the sauce-heavy new version felt sloppy and overseasoned.
The changes would have been easier to accept if prices had stayed flat. They didn’t. The McChicken, which cost $1 in 2018, hit $3.10 this year – a 210% jump. The McDouble went from $1.19 in 2014 to $4.59 in 2025, an increase of 285%. McDonald’s framing of the newer $2.50 McDouble as a “value” promotion drew widespread mockery. “Anyone remember when McDoubles used to be 99 cents? It was only 10 years ago,” one Reddit user posted. The response was withering.
A Brand That Forgot What It Was For
At the core of the backlash is a sense of identity betrayal. McDonald’s wasn’t supposed to be a place where you thought twice before ordering. It was supposed to be effortless.
Customers who stopped going don’t describe dramatic last straws. They describe a gradual realization that the math no longer made sense – that the food had changed, the prices had climbed, and the McDonald’s they remembered was quietly gone. What’s left, for a growing number of them, isn’t worth the drive.
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