- I've now been in Venezuela for several weeks
and something that I've been really
curious about is McDonald's.
All around the world,
McDonald's is known for its quality and consistency
in delivering the exact same product,
and I can pretty much agree that it's true.
McDonald's in Kazakhstan, as good as it gets.
McDonald's in Germany,
Argentina.
McDonald's in Morocco.
- Everywhere.
- I'm at McDonald's in Paraguay
and they have the smallest menu I've ever seen.
However, word on the street
is that the quality of McDonald's
in Venezuela is horrendous.
So today I'm on a mission to see if McDonald's
can hold up to its high standards and tastes,
given the country struggles in recent years.
I hope you guys are ready to join me on this wild adventure
because you'll never hear another McDonald's story
quite like this one.
All right here's the receipt from my McDonald's meal.
It's 17,550,000.
I believe it it's like 17 million
- Twelve and a half million for Doble..
- McTocinete is bacon.
- [Drew] Do you think that McDonald's here,
is one of the most expensive in the world?
- Maybe, yeah,
Cheeseburger cost $3 while in the rest of the world is $1.
- Yeah. In the U.S is $1.
- Yeah. $1 and sometimes less
like Tuesday are 50 cents or something in U.S
(upbeat music)
- For some background context,
I've eaten at McDonald's in over 70 countries,
74 to be exact by my health and wellbeing,
I'm not kinda exactly proud of this fact.
Eating at McDonald's is something I did in my early days
of travel because it's a cultural experience in itself.
There are always different menu items that cater
to local cuisines,
like the McSpaghetti in the Philippines.
The Durian McFlurry in Singapore.
The Bulgogi burger in Korea, tartar balls in Romania
and the taco burger in Belaruse.
Don't get me wrong,
99% of my meals are local specialties when I travel abroad
but sometimes when I'm on the road
for months and months at a time,
it's pretty nice to get a taste of home
and that's exactly where McDonald's comes into play.
The fast food restaurant/cafe is oftentimes
the cleanest place where I can relax,
drink a coffee, get some work done, enjoy the free AC
and use the bathroom before I go out exploring
whatever city I'm in.
I was actually quite surprised when I first
recognized the golden arches because of the political
tensions and the economical crisis that this country
has been suffering for the last decade.
But sure enough McDonald's is still around,
And I was eager to explore.
I linked up with some local friends
who you guys should know by now.
Gabo, who's been my camera guy here in Venezuela
and Daniel who is one of the most decorated
BMX riders of all time.
Are you guys pumped?
- Not that much
(laughing)
- That's the point of the video.
The three of us headed into one of the last
remaining McDonald's in Caracas.
What I experienced there was far different
from any McDonald's on this planet.
Quickly guys before I blow your mind
by McDonald's in Venezuela.
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- That (bleeps) entrance is closed.
- [Drew] That was the entrance?
- Yeah, the entrance is closed.
In Venezuela, for some reason,
they're like closing every entrance to go in places.
But it's also very Venezuelan thing
to make things inconvenient.
(upbeat music)
- Would you maybe try a quarter pounder?
- Yeah. If I'm seeing this right,
the Big Cheddar costs 8 million bolivares, is that right?
- [Cashier] 8,060,000 will be like.
- Okay, so we'll get one Big Cheddar,
one 10 piece nuggets.
- You want a regular burger?
Just to see
- Yeah, yeah.
Like a cheeseburger or something.
- And I'm telling you, man.
I hope you have a long hard stomach.
- I can eat a bunch of (bleeps), but we'll see.
McDonald's could be the end of me.
Can you get a bottle of water too?
- Do you have water?
- [Cashier] No, we don't have
- They really have no water here?
- Yeah there's no water.
- You want another drink, another Coke.
- No, I just, I need water. I'm thirsty.
All good, No drink.
- 17 million,
something I got lost,
But 17 million.
- [Drew] 17,550,000 bolivares.
- Yeah.
- That's pretty expensive, man.
- Probably doesn't change.
So you must have order away until you...
- That's wild.
They won't have changed for a 20,
checking if it's real.
- [Daniel] Yeah, basically.
- It's 17,550,000 bolivares.
Unbelievable.
- Despite the economical crisis
that Venezuela has been experiencing
which has caused this massive hyperinflation.
The price of everyday items has actually gone up.
Many people don't realize this,
just because the money is losing its value,
doesn't mean that the prices of food
and everyday items becomes cheaper.
Therefore McDonald's in Venezuela,
is the most expensive in the world.
Yes, more than Switzerland,
more than Norway and more than Australia.
Believe it or not.
(upbeat music)
Here's the McCafe, which is not working,
cause nobody's, it's not open.
The moment of is to try the burgers.
It was fun to order them and pay 17 million something.
But now we're going to try the Big Mac.
Sorry, excuse me the Big Cheddar.
- I think the fries tastes the same
and then maybe their Coke tastes the same.
- I'm so thirsty man.
- [Gabo] The fries, there I think they came back.
But yeah.
- Fries?
- [Drew] Pretty much the same.
- Approve.
- I gotta be honest, the fries are pretty normal tasting.
Yeah and there's no debating.
McDonald's has the best fries in the world.
You can say what you want about Burger King,
Wendy's but McDonald's definitely has the best fries.
And here is, this is a big, what is this one?
Hecho especialmente para ti, it's made specially for you.
Is this the Big Mac?
- Yeah
- Oh my God.
- [Gabo] Big Cheddar man, don't get it twisted.
- Oh, it doesn't look the most appetizing of any burger
I've ever tried and it's $8 for this, which is wild.
- [Daniel] Good luck man, you're gonna need it.
(upbeat music)
Please feel the sauce.
- Yeah I was just about to say, it's all sauce in my mouth.
(laughing)
You can see, I ate some of the meat,
but it's all sauce, It's like
what kind of sauce is that?
Like mayonnaise or something?
It's not the best McDonald's I've ever had.
Even if I had low expectations coming here,
like look at all, like look at that.
Why is that so necessary to put that much sauce?
- Holy (beeps) man
- [Drew] It's edible, but barely.
- It's not that bad though.
- [Drew] That's not a Big Mac though.
- [Daniel] That's why they call it the Big Cheddar I guess.
- [Drew] Eat it please.
Okay. So Gabo says it's not that bad.
Daniel says he's not
- I'm not even trying it,
I had to eat it in a day I'd almost pass away.
- So usually when you go to McDonald's, it's anywhere
in the world that comes with a fancy box, like the fries
this is kind of a nice, you know, logo and everything.
But the nuggets, it comes
in a little white greasy cheap bag.
And it's like, you don't even know what's inside of here.
So not the greatest display of a packaging.
- the nuggets I can do.
However, I know the nuggets stays like
you made them at home.
(laughing)
- [Drew] Hi. How are you?
How is everybody?
You can't even swallow it.
- Yeah, it's okay man seriously try one.
and hope for the best.
- [Drew] Okay.
- You want some ketchup to like water it down?
- Kind of I'm a big fan of ketchup.
I'm watering down my nugget with Ketchup.
Oh the texture man,
the texture is like bouncy,
- [Daniel] Rough.
- Rough.
I'm not hating on McDonald's.
cause I actually like
around the world McDonald's is really good.
And I love going to McDonald's
in other countries and seeing the menu items and stuff.
But here in Venezuela,
I'm going to give it like a three out of 10.
- We got one more.
We got a small burger.
This burger already looks different
than a regular
- [Drew] Dude, it's like a square bun.
- [Daniel] What's up with that?
- [Gabo] Is that Wendy's?
- [Drew] Dude.
- [Daniel] Dude what the (beeps)
- [Drew] No, no, no,
just this Patty is square bone.
Dude, don't get food poisoning, man.
Not your favorite.
- Do you want it?
- [Drew] Yeah, I'll try it.
- I think it's a cheese
cheese is not regular cheese I think it's like cheese whiz.
I think that's why it tastes insane.
- It is cheese whiz.
- [Daniel] I think that's the problem.
- Oh yeah.
The cheese is horrible for real.
(laughing)
I'm not just saying this
because there's a camera in my face.
Like the cheese is not
- Let it sit tongue for a second.
I know Gabo's going to eat everything.
So this is all for you.
Take it down bro.
- You guys are picky.
- [Drew] You're a big cheese whiz love.
- Yeah, yeah I am.
- [Daniel] Go on, eat it.
- [Drew] Go for it.
- [Gabo] The barbecue is made in Venezuela.
- [Drew] Is it?
- [Gabo] I'm gonna try it, I'm gonna try it.
- [Drew] The nuggets.
- Nuggets with barbecue.
Nuggets are not good.
- [Drew] Wow. If they hear that from you
means they're really not good.
- He's the brave one here.
He's like I'll eat it all.
- [Drew] Yeah exactly.
I came to find out
by asking others that McDonald's here in Venezuela
really isn't all that good.
It's horrific.
- McDonald's quality in Venezuela is so, so poor.
They used to import everything.
- [Drew] McDonald's has a standard
that all the McDonald's in the world.
- Yeah. They don't respect the standards in Venezuela.
These guy here he's YouTuber,
Unfortunately he doesn't speak English.
He made a video last week talking
about tasting all the products of McDonald's
and he just tell me right now he asked
for a big Mac and they put cucumber, cucumber!
(laughing)
And the fries are exchanged
by Yuca because fries are so expensive in Venezuela.
- [Drew] Do we know the reason why the McDonald's here
is the quality is lower?
- Because McDonald's all around the world,
I think they bring the food from the same source.
I think that's the issue of Venezuela,
you can bring the nuggets from the stage.
The thing you can bring the sauce.
That's why there is no real Big Mac.
We'll make the Big Mac is the sauce.
I think maybe they are able to get the fries or somehow to
figure that out,
barbecue sauce is not even brought from the States.
- [Drew] Somehow they figured that out.
- Yeah.
- Dude for a couple of years.
They couldn't bring the fries and they have like
a national fries and they had to tell everybody
you saw national fries
- [Drew] Seriously?
- For a time.
I think even they have both choices
like important ones and national ones
- [Drew] For real?.
- And you can see the difference
- [Drew] How do people in Venezuela feel
about McDonald's in general?
Is it like, oh, we like eating this is (beeps)
- I don't know, man.
It used to be used to be better right now you see,
- [Drew] It's expensive.
- It's expensive
- [Drew] Like the average person.
- Yeah it's rough.
- coming, like coming here,
- It's expensive and it's
it's not great quantity.
So people rather, you know, spend a lot of money
in a better quality joint.
- It has definitely been a surreal experience to dine
at McDonald's in Venezuela.
Thanks guys for coming.
Daniel, thanks man.
- Everything for a good.
I mean it never will
I ever have another
bill that says 17 million for a few burgers and nuggets
but that is the sad reality of Venezuela.
Also, I'm pretty sure that
I will never taste another burger
that is this bad, not even close.
Much like my other seven videos in the series.
I decided to make this one to share with you, a glimpse
of real life situations happening on the streets of Caracas.
And I hope you enjoyed watching.
This has truly been one
of the most eye-opening and memorable trips of my life.
And I can't wait to see more.
(upbeat music)
What's up guys,
Thank you so much for watching this story.
Quickly, I want to let you know
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how to use travel rewards points,
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So that's all I want to say.
Thank you so much.
Have a wonderful day and I'll see you next week.
I'm Drew Binsky and if you like my travel videos
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