A Big Mac is a Big Mac, but anyone with a preferred McDonald’s knows the location matters. There’s the one you’ll drive a few extra miles for, and the one you’ve given enough second chances.
Now there’s a ranking to back up some of those drive-thru loyalties. SEO Backlinks analyzed more than 20 million Google reviews across 12,834 U.S. McDonald’s restaurants to identify the best and worst-rated locations. A restaurant in Eagle Pass, Texas, took the top spot, while one in Surprise, Arizona, finished last. (Probably not the kind of surprise anyone wanted.)
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Which McDonald’s has the worst reviews?
The McDonald’s at 23512 N. 163rd Ave. in Surprise earned the lowest score in the study: 1.55 out of five stars across 745 reviews. Eighty-two percent of its reviews gave it just one star. Ouch.
According to the review excerpts published in the study, customers complained about slow drive-thru service and incorrect orders. One called it “By far the worst service of any McDonald’s,” while another wrote: “Drive-thru times are horrendous here, even when there’s low traffic.”
But the Arizona location wasn’t the only restaurant receiving flak. Michigan had three locations in the bottom 10, while Auburn, Alabama, had two. One reviewer of Auburn’s West Magnolia Avenue restaurant wrote: “This place seriously deserves an award for being the worst McDonald’s in America.” It finished third-worst, so not quite — but close.
Here’s the full list, starting with the lowest-rated restaurant. Scores are out of five stars.
| Rank | Location | Address | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Surprise, Arizona | 23512 N. 163rd Ave. | 1.55 |
| 2 | Goshen, Indiana | 18423 US-20 | 1.99 |
| 3 | Auburn, Alabama | 224 W. Magnolia Ave. | 2.27 |
| 4 | St. Clair Shores, Michigan | 22333 E. 9 Mile Rd. | 2.28 |
| 5 | Detroit, Michigan | Detroit Metropolitan Airport | 2.33 |
| 6 | Stafford, Virginia | 900 Wonder Rd. | 2.37 |
| 7 | Auburn, Alabama | 1634 Opelika Rd. | 2.42 |
| 8 | Brooklyn, Michigan | 306 S. Main St. | 2.46 |
| 9 | Roy, Utah | 4070 S. Midland Dr. | 2.47 |
| 10 | Corbin, Kentucky | 249 W. Cumberland Gap Pkwy. | 2.48 |
Where is the best-rated McDonald’s?
Apparently, Eagle Pass knows where to get its fries. The Texas border city claimed two spots in the top 10, including first place for the restaurant at 2130 E Main St. That location earned a 4.25-star average across 2,159 reviews.
A McDonald’s in New Hyde Park, New York, that’s in a literal Georgian-style mansion, and a Chicago-based location that serves McDonald’s items from around the world also made the top 10.
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Downey, California, also earned a spot for its Lakewood Boulevard location. It’s the oldest McDonald’s still operating in the world and finished third with a 4.22-star average. Here’s how the rest stacked up.
| Rank | Location | Address | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eagle Pass, Texas | 2130 E. Main St. | 4.25 |
| 2 | Calexico, California | 720 Imperial Ave. | 4.23 |
| 3 | Downey, California | 10207 Lakewood Blvd. | 4.22 |
| 4 | Florham Park, New Jersey | 176 Columbia Turnpike | 4.20 |
| 5 | Brownsville, Texas | 101 S. Expressway | 4.17 |
| 6 | Mattituck, New York | 8850 Main Rd. | 4.17 |
| 7 | New Hyde Park, New York | 2045 Jericho Tpke. | 4.16 |
| 8 | Chicago, Illinois | 1035 W. Randolph St. | 4.15 |
| 9 | San Diego, California | 2320 Roll Dr. | 4.15 |
| 10 | Eagle Pass, Texas | 2401 Del Rio Blvd. | 4.14 |
How were the restaurants ranked?
SEO Backlinks used Google Maps listing data from DataForSEO, collected Oct. 5, 2026. The final ranking included 12,834 open McDonald’s restaurants with at least 500 Google reviews each — a total of 20,466,218 reviews. Corporate offices and locations marked temporarily or permanently closed were excluded.
The researchers calculated each restaurant’s average from its counts of one- through five-star reviews. The average restaurant score in the study was 3.44 out of five.
The important distinction here is best-rated, not best in taste. The researchers didn’t visit every restaurant or compare the fries themselves. These rankings reflect what Google reviewers had to say about the included locations as of the collection date.
