# Is the McRib good? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2008, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268 "2008-01-28T03:09:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/1 "2008-01-28T03:09:50Z")
I always hear about the legendary McRib from people. They go on and on about how great this sandwich is and how they look forward to it coming back. Is it that good? I’ve never had one and I’m not even aware of when McDonald’s is carrying it. Also, is there some kind of email reminder that can inform me when it is coming back? I want one, but I don’t want to have to pay attention to the menu. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/2 "2008-01-28T03:21:24Z")
[Sam Kinison]Let’s see if we can get them to eat shit on bread[/SK] If the McRib comes back, try this. lick the sauce off the “meat” and then eat the “meat” by itself. You will find the “meat” tastes just about like the cardboard box it comes in. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/3 "2008-01-28T03:25:08Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to [del]The BBQ Pit[/del] Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/4 "2008-01-28T03:28:29Z")
I ate one a few years ago. It seemed to be made of slighly fatty, chopped and pressed into a rectangle shape, pork covered with BBQ sauce and served with pickles and onions on a rectangular shaped bun. The pork patty seemed to have some depressions at regular intervals to simulate a (very small) rack of ribs. I don’t recall it as being particularly good or heniously bad, but I normally would prefer to eat a higher quality of BBQ. I recall it being “OK” for a somewhat simulated BBQ- sandwich-on-a-bun-when-you-are-on-the-run. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/5 "2008-01-28T03:29:27Z")
Yes. Yes it is. ---
**Author:** ![Wheeljack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@Wheeljack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheeljack)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/6 "2008-01-28T03:31:09Z")
I’ve never met anyone who actually looked forward to the return of the McRib. I think the “demand” for those things is pretty much made up entirely by marketing people. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/7 "2008-01-28T03:41:49Z")
[QUOTE=Mahaloth] Is it that good? [/QUOTE] I had one for the first time a couple of years ago. I wasn’t really expecting it to be that good, but I was surprised by just how not that good it was. Stick to burgers and fries at McDonalds and get a real BBQ sandwich somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/8 "2008-01-28T03:43:48Z")
It really sucks dick. Save up for Chili’s or Applebees instead. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/9 "2008-01-28T03:51:38Z")
Reminds me of a story… I was in College when the McRib was introduced. A friend of mine walked into a McDonalds one day, and they were giving out samples of the brand new McRib. A girl walked over to my friend and said “You wanna try the new M’rib? Friend: “Huh?” Girl” “It ain’t got no bones” Friend: (mock incredulity) “It ain’t!?” Girl: “No, it ain’t” Friend: No thanks. Walks out. Good move on his part. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/10 "2008-01-28T03:54:30Z")
Let’s see how delicately I can put it: If I were to look forward to eating anything from McDonald’s, the McRib is it. Personally, though, I actually like those cheapo faux rib pork meat patties. [OnCor](http://www.on-cor.com/OnCor_Products.html) has some good ones, and while they’re hardly nutritious, they’re tasty enough. (It does say something that they’re selling it as Barbecue Sauce _and_ 6 Rib Patties, of course.) Obviously you can very easily get higher quality meat, but this is my guilty pleasure food and it tastes a damn sight better than the McRib. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/11 "2008-01-28T04:01:04Z")
The McRib is pretty bad. When I eat one, I can almost feel it tearing up my insides and it works its way through my digestive system. That said, I almost never fail to buy exactly one when it returns “for a limited time.” I don’t know why. I just have this masochistic tendency to check if it really is as bad as I remember it, and it always is. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/12 "2008-01-28T04:26:18Z")
I just think the perfect sweet and spicy bbq sauce, coupled with the meaty gelatinous pig patty is perfectly offset by the Mc Donald’s proprietary, neon green, bucket pickles and Quarter onions (fresh-ish). The bunlette/baguette is fluffy and warm. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/13 "2008-01-28T04:35:16Z")
I’m biased, I have actually lovingly made many hundreds of McD’s Chedder melt (Otherwise known as Manna), but the McRib was introduced shortly after I fleed the clown. I like a McRib, nothing wrong with that, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/14 "2008-01-28T04:59:15Z")
[QUOTE=Wheeljack] I’ve never met anyone who actually looked forward to the return of the McRib. I think the “demand” for those things is pretty much made up entirely by marketing people. [/QUOTE] I have. Several of them, as a matter of fact. The _only_ way the McRib is all that good, IMHO, is if you can get them to add bacon to it. Of course, bacon makes _everything_ better, so it’s not like the sandwich was missing one little thing to keep it from perfection. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/15 "2008-01-28T05:03:49Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > I had one for the first time a couple of years ago. I wasn’t really expecting it to be that good, but I was surprised by just how not that good it was. Stick to burgers and fries at McDonalds and get a real BBQ sandwich somewhere else. [QUOTE=pulykamell] The McRib is pretty bad. When I eat one, I can almost feel it tearing up my insides and it works its way through my digestive system. That said, I almost never fail to buy exactly one when it returns “for a limited time.” I don’t know why. I just have this masochistic tendency to check if it really is as bad as I remember it, and it always is. [/QUOTE] These two posts sum up my experiences perfectly. I like fast food just fine so it’s not just snobbishness on my part when I say I’m always surprised at just how not-that-good the McRib is. My college cafeteria used to serve McRib-style pressed rib-shaped pork patty sandwiches that were better than the McRib (maybe the ones **Bosstone** linked to). ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/16 "2008-01-28T05:23:12Z")
I get one every year, but the idiots at my local McDonald’s forgot to dip my 2007 McRib in sauce! Seeing the vaguely rib-shaped, molded, processed, boneless pork patty NAKED wasn’t a pretty sight, and the sandwich was bland and dry without that overly-sweet (probably HFCS-packed) sauce. That said, when all the ingredients come together, I think it tastes really good. The frozen En-Cor patties are pretty much exactly the same as the McRib, and you can even buy identical buns at most supermarkets. Get an onion and a jar of sliced pickles (I could do without the pickles, personally), and you can make six of your own at home, for the price of one or two from McDonald’s. ---
**Author:** ![Montgomery0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/0ea827/32.png) [@Montgomery0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montgomery0)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/17 "2008-01-28T05:37:59Z")
I always thought of them as a giant Chicken McNugget except with cow, dipped into barbecue sauce. Which for me is great, I love the things. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/18 "2008-01-28T05:42:33Z")
I used to work at a McD’s and the McRib was the only sandwich I never touched again after seeing them prepared. Namely, they spent the day soaking in a vat of luke-warm luminescent orange goo. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/19 "2008-01-28T05:47:38Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] Reminds me of a story… I was in College when the McRib was introduced. A friend of mine walked into a McDonalds one day, and they were giving out samples of the brand new McRib. A girl walked over to my friend and said “You wanna try the new M’rib? Friend: “Huh?” Girl” “It ain’t got no bones” Friend: (mock incredulity) “It ain’t!?” Girl: “No, it ain’t” Friend: No thanks. Walks out. Good move on his part. [/QUOTE] So the moral of this story is that your friend is a prick? Marc ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268/20 "2008-01-28T05:50:44Z")
When I worked at McDonald’s, the greatest non-official bonus of all was being able to take a cup of the McRib sauce to dip my fries in on my break. The sandwich itself? Meh. The sauce, though? Heaven. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mcrib-good/435268.md?page=2)