McDonald’s Spaghetti in the Philippines – You may not realize this, but there is a long line of misses among the hits that McDonald’s has served up since it opened its first franchise in 1955. If you’re always craving McDonald’s food, then you might as well be surprised to discover this fascinating fact.
Facts about McDonald’s
McDonald’s is the largest fast food chain in the world, as of early 2023. The chain has over 38,000 locations which are spread across approximately 100 countries. About 13,000 of those locations are found in the United States.
It is hard to drive nearly anywhere in the country without seeing at least one, if not several, of these restaurants. The chain is also known for its reasonably priced menu items. These include
- The Big Mac
- Chicken McNuggets
- French fries
Part of the appeal of ordering from McDonald’s is that you can get your food quickly, allowing you to get on with your day. However, some big mistakes can be made when ordering from this fast food chain.
These mistakes can end up costing you time or create a less-than-satisfactory dining experience. Read on to discover if you’ve been making some of the most common McDonald’s ordering mistakes — and learn how to avoid making them in the future.
Scintillating Details about McDonald’s Spaghetti
McDonald’s tried its hand at Italian food. For a while, you could get spaghetti and meatballs, fettuccine Alfredo, lasagna, and pizza at any McDonald’s. However, the menu items were eventually phased out at the majority of its locations.
Currently, there are only two places in the world where you can still order McSpaghetti, but contrary to what you might assume, Italy isn’t one of them.
Though McDonald’s Italy released a pasta salad and a calzone Happy Meal in 2013 for a limited time, the famous McSpaghetti has never earned a spot on its permanent menu. However, in the Philippines and at one McDonald’s in Orlando, Florida, you can easily order one still.
Similar to other menu items like Onion Nuggets and the Hula Burger, McDonald’s stopped offering the McSpaghetti nationwide because most customers weren’t very interested in ordering it.
But clearly, some fans continued to crave it because in 2017, the Orlando McDonald’s, known as “Epic McD,” made news for having build-your-own pizza and pasta options that made it possible to order DIY versions of both the McPizza and McSpaghetti well after they were nationally discontinued.
As of 2023, many customers on Yelp and TikTok confirm it’s still an option there.
The explanation for this is simply that not all McDonald’s locations are run by McDonald’s corporate. Some, including the Orlando one, are operated by franchisees who can decide what to put on the menu (within reason and upon approval).
There’s a McDonald’s in Missouri, for example, that offers French fry refills, which isn’t standard practice at corporate-run McDonald’s locations. The reason that McDonald’s Philippines still has McSpaghetti, however, is entirely different.
Does the McSpaghetti in the Philippines taste better than that of the U.S.?
Getting McSpaghetti in the Philippines is a lot easier than doing so in the U.S. because you can order it at any location, and you don’t have to DIY it — it’s actually on the menu as McSpaghetti, not a build-your-own pasta.
It was introduced to the menu in 1986, around the same time it launched in the U.S., except the recipe was and is slightly different. The McSpaghetti in the Philippines is Filipino spaghetti, not Italian spaghetti.
Filipino spaghetti originated in the 17th century when America introduced canned goods to the Philippines. It’s made with a much sweeter “Bolognese” sauce consisting of banana ketchup and hot dogs. At these McDonald’s, it’s also served with fried chicken.
Like its American counterpart, when McDonald’s Philippines decided to release McSpaghetti, keeping up with the competition was a big motivation. But rather than Pizza Hut and Domino’s, Filipino fast food chain Jollibee, which also sold spaghetti, was McDonald’s biggest competitor.
Fortunately for McDonald’s fans in the Philippines, McSpaghetti didn’t succumb to the same fate as it did in America, and it remains on the menu to this day.
McSpaghetti comes with a sweet meat sauce
McDonald’s biggest competitor, Jollibee, talks about McSpaghetti’s debut in a slightly different way: that it had been serving pasta with a sweet meat sauce and hotdog slices that had a distinctly Philippine flavor — and that McDonald’s had taken the hint and began serving its McSpaghetti and other items geared toward its target market.
Reporters from SoraNews 24 ventured to McDonald’s to try the McSpaghetti back in 2013, and while the noodle’s texture was declared perfect, its sauce was proclaimed too sweet and said it would benefit from a bit of salt. But they did enjoy the fried chicken that came with the pasta.
Summary
McSpaghetti, as it exists today obviously, caters to the palate of its Filipino customer base and appears to be doing a good job of it. But by the looks of things, McSpaghetti isn’t destined to appear on any McDonald’s menu outside of the Philippines anytime soon.
