strangely - this result is about 150% more healthy than your intended

Where's the beef?

(Pretend a little old lady is saying that gruffly)

excellent prank on Dmitriy's part.

I bet you it was the Hamburgler!

At least there wasn't a bathroom tile in there!

I had that happen with a big mac once. Worst lunch ever! Luckily I live in a small town and called the restaurant. They were very understanding and sent me a few coupons for free food. I think it helped that this was all around 2 in the afternoon so they weren't too busy to deal with me [but I guess busy enough to make a stupid mistake!]

Is that white goo mayonnaise?
I mean, I like mayonnaise, but that is like way too much mayo for anyone to consume, ever.
Much less on one hamburger, with or without the actual meat.
Yuck.

They need to bring those burgers over to the west coast.

@marsneedsrabbits:

You better damn-well HOPE that it's mayo...

Did the clerk taking the order also say "...it's for a cop..." when placing it?

I've had this happen to me before as well. It's annoying as hell, but usually there is nothing I can do to fix it when it happens.

First, that photo is gross. Ugh. But with it being a 1/3 pound beef patty, wouldn't you notice a weight difference?

They can easily market this as the Vegetarian Angus Burger.

@marsneedsrabbits: Actually, I believe that is the "melted swiss cheese". Which is why it's strange that the cheese ended up melted on the bun without the burger.

@humphrmi: No, you can see the squares of translucent swiss on the bottom... that white goo is INDEED mayo. :P

No, I can not has cheezburger!

I read the article title wrong for a minute there and thought, "Who would name this thing the Anus Burger?"

I'm sorry I had to share.

When your only task in life is flipping a patty and placing it on a bun you must feel really bad when you can't even get THAT right.

Did they really forget the meat r is this just another "what is that grey stuff burger?" Any idea what kind of 'shroom it was supposed to be? I'm really interested in investing in the art of artificial fungus.

Good think you didnt order the Swiss Anus Burger...

^ yum!

It's not too hard to have melted cheese without the burger, you just dip the cheese in the fryer and plop it on... oh yes, that works. I'm also not surprised in the least that they melt their cheese like that.

@warf0x0r: You must work for Jack in the Box.

That is the most backasswards Atkins recipe I've ever seen.

I worked at McD's back in college. We'd regularly have people come in and order burgers with all the fixings but no meat. I bet somebody ordered a "vegetarian" version of the burger, and it got mixed up. Especially because the cheese was melted on the bun. Unless they've changed something in the ten years since I've worked there, the cheese is always melted on the burger on the grill.

This sounds like an honest mistake to me. And since he didn't really give them the chance to make it right, can we really complain? I understand that he was busy and couldn't return to the restaurant, but he could've called. As Foghat said, they would have likely told him that his lunch was free next time he came in or sent him a coupon. It seems like another case of "let's pick on McDonald's". If you don't like it, don't eat there.

@scoobydoo:

Not being able to get it right and not giving a shit about that fact are intimately connected :)

@katyggls:

"If you don't like it, don't eat there."

Kind of gives one a head start on the 'don't eat there' part when they don't give you anything to eat to begin with...

Something similar happened to me when I went to McDonald's for breakfast about 6 months ago. I ordered a McGriddle sandwhich without bacon. When I got home and unwrapped it, sure, there was no bacon - there was also no egg.

I was served a piece of cheese between two pieces of "McGriddle cakes."

I went back and they happily exchanged the sandwhich and even gave me another hash brown, which I had already eaten from the meal.

I got shafted in the drive-thru once. Took the bogus food home and waved goodbye to the wife as she took the (only) car. (I was watching the kids that night.)

When I realized I was screwed, I called up the McD's and insisted they deliver the right order. Twenty minutes later, a McD kid shows up with the goods.

I can be pursuasive when I'm angry. (You wouldn't want to see me angry...)

Yeah, I'm sure the part of the schtick that got them to deliver the food to me was "but my kids! They'll go hungry! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!" (heehee!)

The saddest thing about the picture is that there are TWO BITES out of the burgerless bun. TWO. It took this person TWO BITES to figure out that there was no meat in the bun. A quick visual inspection from the side should have told them that. Or the reduced weight. I mean, 1/3 of a pound would make quite a difference in burger heft, no?

@adamondi: I've ordered fully assembled burgers from places that require 2 or more bites to get to the meat. It sucks, but it happens.

This is why I go to Whataburger. They're just so much better at this whole killing me by slowly filling my veins with congealed fat business.

I fail to see any problem here. They didn't even bring this to McDonald's attention. Wtf?

A week ago, my Wife stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home and brought a banana split and a brownie earthquake.

My banana split had no banana, her brownie earthquake had no brownie.

Because she was driving a different home, she stopped at one that wasn't one of the two closest DQs to our house, so it was kind of a haul to return them. Regardless, the employees were appropriately dismayed, and gave me free take-home items as well as appropriately made items.

IT was actually kind of funny.

If you don't like it, don't eat there.

@katyggls: Who's supposed to like not getting what they ordered?

The OP wasn't even really bashing McDonalds. "Let's just take it as a warning-make sure your 1/3 pound Angus burger is just that" is hardly bashing.

@Chrispiss they are sorta here on the west coast, albeit in the Southern California area. I remember reading it was a test market in and around LA. I saw big billboards for it, with one side askew from the 'weight' of it, on the 5 when driving down from the Northern CA area.

This happened to me at a Chik-Fil-A once. I ordered the grilled chicken club sandwich. It came with plenty of Club, but the Grilled Chicken was noticeably absent.

It was a drive-through order, so I didn't notice it until I got home. I called and complained, and was promised coupons, but none ever came!

This is what happens when people are too damn lazy to eat inside like youre supposed to. Nothing bugs me more than people using the drive through especially when they order food for like 6 people. The drive through should be for people who just want a quick soda or milkshake. Had this person who was too lazy to even get out of his car went inside to eat, he wouldve noticed the meat was missing and would have got the sandwich replaced. Like they saying always go, they screw you in the drive through because till you get home and find out your order is screwed up, you arent gonna drve back.

Is this really a big deal? I mean I've said this once and I've said it again. I'm sure you ALL are perfect at your job and have never forgotten to do a single thing.

Pointing these types of things out and trying to make them news is getting old here. It's called a mistake, not everyone is perfect, and those that claim they are have some soul searching to do.

@DanGarion: And this blog is called "Consumerist - Shoppers Bite Back". When someone publishes a blog called "Big Investment Bank IT Architecture Customers Bite Back" then they can post all kinds of stuff that I forget.

I actually take the meat out of my big macs. The whole fun is the bread and condiments and ketchup. The meat barely tastes like anything, and adds way too much fat.

I call it "the vegetarian big mac"

I used to eat at McDonald's probably twice a week for convenience's sake and they shafted me about once a week. I tried writing to corporate because the staff at the location I went to were completely rude and I doubted they'd be helpful. I got a form letter in response. I decided not to eat there after that.

Seems similar to the Lethal Weapon movie quote from Joe Pesci:

"They always F**k you at the drive-thru cause they know you will be miles away before you notice your order is all F**led up".

@SaveMeJeebus:
LOL!

I remember many years ago (1990?) going to McDonalds to buy a couple McRib sandwiches. I went through the drive-thru and returned to work. when I opened up the first sandwich the bottom half of the bun was missing. I checked the other sandwich and it was also missing the bottom half of the bun!

This happened to me once years ago at a McDonald's in Massachusetts. I was still in high school, mom brought me dinner on her way home from work so it had already been about 10 minutes by the time I got it. I always open up my 1/4 pounders and take out the pickles to save them for last, and lo - no burger! The cheese was a little melty just from being warm, so everything was sort of stuck together, but they definitely had not made me a "vegetarian" burger.

Who really cares except that when we went back (another 10 minute drive, by now my fries are gross and cold and my soda's flat since it's been over 30 minutes since the food was ordered) the manager said we were lying and did not want to replace the burger. When we showed him there was no way I could have eaten the meat but not anything else, he agreed to give us a new burger, but refused to replace the now-gross fries and flat coke. When my mom asked for his district manager's info, he finally replaced the whole meal.

I'd be sad if my burger came without meat. the Angus mushroom and swiss redeemed mcdonalds for me. I think it's a fantastic burger. Easily better than the Carls Jr. fare they're obviously trying to match by introducing the angus burgers. Cheaper too.
Not that there's anything else worthwhile at mcdonalds...

a) They don't *EVER* melt the cheese on the burger, *unless* they happen to microwave it, at McDonalds. The patties have to be pre-cooked, then they're placed in a steamer until a sandwich is ordered (or, during the "rush" periods, lunch and dinner, X number of sandwiches are premade and stuck under the heatlamps).

b) Stop eating at McDonalds. The burgers are "pressed" on a griddle. Unless you're eating fresh, made-to-order food at something like the Waffle House, that's a nasty way to have your food cooked - nothing like keeping the fat in the burger.

It isn't much healthier, but if you're going to pick between McDonalds or Burger King, eat at Burger King - the patties travel through a flame-broiler on a chain, which allows more of the fat to drip away.

c) Mistakes happen. If you fail to bring them to the attention of the store, DON'T SUBMIT THEM TO A SITE LIKE THIS. If you bring them up and the store refuses to do anything about it, *THEN* you're justified in tossing the story around.

You might have a little more justification if you order a $1,000 stereo and they ship you a box of sawdust, but yeesh. It was just a burger. Deal with it at the source.

If you go to the website and complain, they will send you coupons for free food. Worked for me, all I did was send them an email complaining about how a manager was publicly degrading one of her employees.

I agree this is a waste of bandwidth. You know what happened to me/ I once went to a diner and got a coffee light and sweet to go and guess what they forgot the milk. The HORROR of it, the HUMANITY, get real. There are real consumer issues that need airing, not a mistake by some highschool kid at McD's. I see more and more of these whine stories on this blog - makes me not want to read it. Bad editing.

@skrom: I'm gonna take a wild guess here and say there probably isn't a drive-thru at a McDonalds on the Upper East Side.

@humphrmi:
It seems to me that it would be more beneficiary to actually "Bite Back" about issues, instead of small mistakes such as "my burger didn't have such and such on it" or that "the $50 electronic device I bought didn't come with a manual", and not to mention the "oh those silly Wal-Mart clerks, don't they know that $1.79 is higher then $1.65!"

How is pointing out small petty mistakes like this biting back?

OH NOES!