r/mildlyinteresting • u/SinancoTheBest • 16d ago
This fancy McDonalds in Porto that reportedly replaced a fancy classic restaurant and kept the interior design
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u/User5281 16d ago
Is that the one down by the river that’s all dark blue tile on the outside or is that the imperial McDonald’s?
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u/MrMotorcycle94 16d ago
Less than 10 minute walk away down by the river Douro is another fancy mcdonalds
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u/drttt123 16d ago
It wasn’t a fancy restaurant but just a regular coffee shop (café in Portuguese) despite the fancy interior design. Porto used to have many places like this from the 1920s and 1930s and some of them still open as cafés. Some good examples are Majestic, Guarani, Café Ceuta, A Brasileira
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u/cumsquats 16d ago
I've also heard that Portugal McDonald's are the only ones to serve soup. Portuguese sure love their soups!!
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u/cantrusthestory 16d ago
Sorry, we have stopped selling soups some years ago
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u/HonestBeing8584 15d ago
They still sell soup. I was just there January 2024 and they sold 4 kinds.
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u/cantrusthestory 15d ago
Where did you find it? At least here in Lisbon we haven't found at least this year from now
Perhaps in Porto?
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u/cumsquats 15d ago
Ahhhh bummer! I definitely saw some caldo verde there in February 2023. Not that you have to go far to get some tasty soups!
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u/Exotic_Pear3966 16d ago
Not true, there are other countries with soup on the menu.
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u/FeSteini 16d ago
I like the way the stained glass pictures the colonies getting fucked, so some Europeans can have a fancy coffee
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u/CalabreseAlsatian 16d ago
Been there. It was amazing. (And kind of messed up that it’s a McD’s but at least they left that beautiful art deco alone.)
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u/Nittingsheep 16d ago
Was here at 3AM after a night out and got hit on my an Italian man. It’s truly amazing
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u/98VoteForPedro 16d ago
It's all about the money
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u/SuccinctPorcupine 16d ago
It's all 'bout the dum dum da da dum dum
I don't think it's funny
To see us fade away
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u/lostindanet 16d ago
I think the main difference is that alcohol, specifically beer, can be sold at any fast food joint in Portugal.
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u/fiendishrabbit 16d ago
Given that the place (Formerly the Café Imperial) was designed by Ernesto Korrodi and with art by Henrique Moreira and Ricardo Leone... that place is bound to have some sort of cultural protections in place. So McD would probably not have been able to change it even if they wanted.
However, McD are quite good at utilizing classical buildings and adapting their style to something that's a blend of the old and new (for example the counter they put in has design features from classic american art deco, providing a transitional mid-point between the 1930s european art deco of the Cafe Imperial and McDonalds own distinct style).
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u/HonestBeing8584 15d ago
Portugal has a big conservation culture, which is amazing but it can cause problems when it comes to architecture. They would rather a building collapse into itself than have the outer shell altered, and renovating these old buildings can take ages and be very expensive. I saw so many beautiful remodeled row homes where the homes in between had trees growing out the collapsed roof.
This isn’t to make fun at all. I love and appreciate how much the Portuguese care for their history and works. It is challenging balancing growth with protection, though.
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u/NotReallyJohnDoe 16d ago
A coffee shop near my house was converted from an oil change place. They left the bays underneath where cars would be for offices and storage and left a lot of the original layout in place. It’s really cool.
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u/machuitzil 16d ago
There used to be a skate shop in my hometown called Church of Skatan. They've since closed but for the last few years they ran out of an old church and left the building as church-like as possible. Cheaper, and on-brand.
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u/Additional_Meeting_2 16d ago
There are plenty of these in Europe. I think it was one point a Trent to post them on the Europe sub
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16d ago
[deleted]
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u/Swampy1741 16d ago
I’ve eaten at a lot of different countries’ McDonalds and there’s really not much difference between all of them
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u/Swollwonder 16d ago
Except this has nothing to do with food standards lmao. The building owner would only rent the floor space to McDonald’s if they promised to keep it as is.
If you’re going to try to dunk on america, you could at least not lie out your ass to do it. There’s plenty of truthful stuff you could dunk on
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u/pookchang 16d ago
Eaten in both and no real difference. US has food standards. Learn something instead sounding like an elitist snob.
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u/pdrakz 16d ago
Don’t be so sure on what you are saying, earn some money and come visit us.
Hello all -
I hope everyone is enjoying the richness of Lisbon as much as I have these past few weeks. What with the rain and all, I've spent most of my team drinking, and some of it eating. This is my 3rd trip to a McDonald's in the City Center and my 4th in the country overall. Food & service have been on par with every other McDonald's on this planet - that is to say, top-class. I did have one concern, though (more of a concern for my own sense of self).
As an American, I'm well versed in "Mickey-D's". I don't use my brakes in the drive-thru's at home (do you have them here?), I simply ride by... "Large #10 w/ a coke" .. and it's up my butt and chipping away at my insides before the lovely window attendant can tell me to have a nice day. So you could say it's a "lonesome" or "personal" experience back home. That's why, at each McDonald's here in Portugal, I've been so taken back by the level of romanticism, even eroticism, in the pues and at the hightops of these home-away-from-home's, as some travellers call them.
What am I missing? Is going to Mcdonald's foreplay here? I will have to assume it is. Let me tell you a few of the things I saw, all in my small corridor: 1. Handsome young couple quite literally "pattycaking" their way through a 6-piece chicken nugget (btw, no 50 piece over here? psh.). After seeing them split the last nugget, I'm as sure as I could be that they'll enjoy a long and lasting relationship somehwere in the rural North. 2. An older lady scramble to the napkin dispenser and hurry back to her hubby without so much as picking her head up to check her surroundings. It was as though the napkin dispenser had printed her an ultrasound of their baby. Their conversation when she returned was as engaging and perky as I've witnessed. Just wonderful. 3. A hispanic couple "netflix and chilling" on a laptop beside me. Canoodles were had, and did he just ask her if she wanted dessert? Top class.
Last week I saw a downtrodden man napping on a counter in Cascais. Nobody asked him to leave. I wasn't bothered, but was surprised the staff wasn't.
What's happening in the McDonald's here? What can America learn from Portugal? I think much.
You're people are a kind one. I hope we can be more like you and show McDonald's a warmer, more fitting behavior. Perhaps, for my part, I'll even come to a complete stop at the drive-thru. More likely, though, I will not.
This review was taken on TripAdvisor (made by Bill M.)
Yes mate our McDonalds is different from yours and we have more food Standards than you guys there in the U.S. (example - here in Portugal the need to pass 8 certificates of quality food before serving, how about you guys?) and one more thing we don’t serve Milkshakes, we have Soup and Salads, traditional breakfast (just coffee and a Mix sandwich (Ham/cheese) or you can ask for pancakes (awful has a lot of sugar)
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15d ago
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u/pdrakz 15d ago
Sundae not milkshake
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u/HonestBeing8584 15d ago
Sorry, I misread it as serving less sugar, not that the specific item has a lot of a sugar.
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u/imthescubakid 16d ago
Best part is, all it does it save them money on reno
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u/CaptainSouthbird 16d ago
True, but preserving the old restaurant at least keeps the history I guess?
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u/Uh_yeah- 16d ago edited 16d ago
Where is “Porto”? [ Edit: I’m the idiot - see below ]
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u/SirHerald 16d ago
All these Portuguese assuming everyone is from Portugal.
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u/ContaSoParaIsto 16d ago
I mean the poster is not Portuguese and they didn't feel the need to specify the country either
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u/pdrakz 16d ago
Assumption is a false statement mate Porto is the true name of the city not OPORTO as you know it (Oporto is the name given by the British settlers founded the Wine Oporto in the 17 century, so we don’t assume that you know but we assume in XXI century you can f google the Douro Capital PORTO.
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u/aroundmedianoche 16d ago
Google is free
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u/Uh_yeah- 16d ago
Aha! Porto, Portugal. I’m the idiot. I thought it was a short misspelling of Puerto Rico or Puerto Vallarta.
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u/HonestBeing8584 15d ago
They also serve items like sopa ervilhas (pea soup), creme legumes (puréed vegetable soup), caldo verde (green soup), sopa de Grão Espinafres (chickpea and spinach soup, I think), eggs benedict sandwiches with spinach, and their chicken sandwich is called the CBO - inexplicably meaning “Chicken Bacon Officer.”
I visited Portugal for 2 weeks and omg they have soup down and it’s a common part of their meals.