Our Least Favorite McDonald's Burger Was Unexpectedly Bready

Despite McDonald's continuous focus on its chicken sandwiches, burgers are still typically considered to be the primary attraction at the world-renowned fast food chain. With that being said, not all McDonald's burgers are created equal, and while some — such as the remarkable Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese Deluxe — are superbly delicious, some of the restaurant chain's more textbook offerings simply can't measure up. This is, unfortunately, the case when it comes to McDonald's standard cheeseburger, the weakest burger on the global chain's expansive menu.

We here at The Takeout came to this conclusion when we ranked each burger on the McDonald's menu, and we simply haven't been able to forget about it. How can the standard cheeseburger, the quintessential McDonald's item, be the worst of its kind? Well, the primary answer is simple: There is too much bread and not enough meat. While you may think this would be a similar problem for the standard hamburger, the more barebones item at least benefits from a greater focus on the meat itself, while the cheeseburger simply doesn't deliver in the areas a cheeseburger must in order to be satisfying.

When it comes to burgers, the buns are ultimately a tasty vehicle for the actual ingredients that you find between them. For the McDonald's cheeseburger, these ingredients come in the form of a beef patty, American cheese, ketchup, mustard, chopped onions, and pickles — a fairly standard makeup for a cheeseburger. However, while McDonald's burgers have improved in quality in recent years, the cheeseburger's patty is still quite thin and its condiments are scarce, so the taste is still quite underwhelming. In fact, the standard McDonald's cheeseburger will likely leave you tasting an overwhelming amount of bun, a little bit of cheese, and even less of everything else in the equation.

Plus, the expansiveness of McDonald's menu proves that a more perfect cheeseburger is not only possible but is available at the fast food chain. To solve the biggest problems the standard cheeseburger faces, adding more meat to the equation is an absolute must. Even if you aren't the kind of person who likes to add things like bacon, lettuce, and tomato to your burgers to make them deluxe, you can still order items such as the double or triple cheeseburger to experience the standard lineup of ingredients that a McDonald's cheeseburger ensures in a more satisfying form than the single-patty variation.