Review of Mcdonald's Angus Third Pounder Burgers

Are Mcdonald's new "premium angus" burgers worth $4 dollars a piece?

In the fast food industry companies are constantly looking for ways to outdo the competition by putting a new twist on the standard hamburger. Mcdonald's launched a line of Angus burgers in Summer 2009, touting the higher quality meat, larger size, and higher quality ingredients. I'm not sure what this says about the rest of McDonald's menu; but are these new burgers really something different?

In my mind Checkers makes the best fries, Burger King and Wendy's provide the best burgers overall, and well McDonald's was always on the bottom of my list. Until now. The new Angus burgers are actually quite tasty and no I have not been compensated in any way for saying that.

There are 3 types of Angus burgers available: the Deluxe, the Mushroom and Swiss, and the Bacon and Cheese. I have tried the first two; the bacon and cheese one just doesn't seem that different looking from other fast food burgers. Apparently the third pounder with bacon and cheese is McDonald's first burger with bacon on it.

The Mushroom and Swiss is basically a large 1/3 pound worth of angus beef with mushrooms and swiss cheese on top. I wasn't too impressed with this one; the swiss cheese, while a nice touch, kind of dried up quickly and had an odd texture. The mushrooms were good but the burger tasted slightly overdone.

The Deluxe was a different story. This one, surprise surprise, actually has McDonald's boasting that this burger has all fresh ingredients. This is something I always felt the other line of sandwiches lacked. The Deluxe has crinkle cut pickles, red onions (as opposed to white onions), actual leaves of lettuce (no shreds here), big tomato slices, cheese, and a bit of mayo.

All of the Third Pounders come on larger and softer sesame seed buns as well. One thing you will notice about these burgers is that for the most part they do look like the ones in the ads and the toppings bulge out the sides of the bun. The lettuce really looked and tasted high quality; dark and leafy as opposed to pale, shredded, and bland.

The Angus Third Pounder Deluxe puts the Big Mac to shame plain and simple. And this is coming from a guy who thinks Burger King and Wendy's consistently walks all over McDonald's food. This burger could quite possibly put Burger King on notice.

The only downside to the Deluxe burger was the mayo. They tend to overload on the mayo on the Deluxe to the point where I was scraping it off the sides and removing pieces of lettuce that were soaked in mayo. I'm sure you can ask to hold the mayo, but without other sauces it can be a bit dry.

A medium extra value meal of any of the 3 types will run you between 6-9 dollars depending on location and tax. The only question I have is: How come McDonald's hasn't shifted all of their burgers to higher quality angus beef?