Folks, this past Friday I went on a MISSION. The mission - bring back one of the elusive Angus Third Pounders from McDonald’s. These wily burgers are for now restricted to the environs of Southern California (to be exact: LA, Orange, Kern, Riverside, San Bernadino, San Diego and Ventura counties). I felt so privileged knowing I was going to be one of the first to try 1/3 pound of cow cooked McDonald’s style. Yeah.

(For those regular readers who are wondering if I’ve completely fallen off the apple cart, I’ve designated Friday’s as Anything Goes Day, which is the reason you’ll still see a lot of junk food reviewed here.)

So to be truthful - who cares, right? McDonald’s restaurants are everywhere here in the Southland and for the most part I try to avoid them whenever I can. Two reasons for that: McDonald’s hamburger meat tends to give me the runs for some reason (I’m certainly not “lovin’ it” when that happens), and there just happens to be an In-N-Out a few steps away from the McD’s I pass by frequently. Given the choice, it ain’t hard to go with a Double-Double Animal Style.

However, I wanted to report on it for the benefit of other Cheap Eaters out there who don’t live in SoCal. And more importantly, there is actually a current coupon for $1 off any Angus Third Pounders Sandwich or the Extra Value Meal , good until April 15.

Now, since the 1/3 pounders cost $3.99 normally, $1 off is a pretty good deal. I mean, you might pay that much for comparable sandwiches at other fast food places. And I wanted to try and see if the “Angus” hamburger was any different. And before you ask, I absolutely DESPISE Carl’s Jr.’s Six Dollar Hamburgers. I’ve tried them several times at many different locations and they are horrible. I actually have grown to despise Carl’s Jr. in general, but that’s another rant (and most likely an upcoming Hall of Shame entry).

I started off the day pretty excited - I’d been planning this “mission” since about 4 weeks ago but it was hard to get up the courage to actually walk through the golden arches.

Actually, my biggest fear was that they wouldn’t honor the coupon, which is a web-only printable thing. I’ve had the worst of luck with these coupons… there seems to be some sort of disconnect with the people who design them and the people who are training the serfs that are taking your order. (Side Note: When I say serfs, I’m not poking fun at the people working at fast food joints. I feel sorry for the folks who work in the trenches… remember that the next time they screw up your order, how draining it is to work at one of these places.)

It was high noon when I pulled up to McD’s, so I didn’t want to risk a traffic jam by trying the coupon in the drive-through. I walked up to the counter and said, “I have a coupon for a McAngus burger.” The girl looked at me kind of funny and said, “Oh you mean you want an Angus Third Pounder.” I’m still trying to figure out why they didn’t name it the “McAngus” burger, it’s just smoother than saying “Angus Third Pounder”. But anyhow, she took the coupon with surprisingly little fuss. The manager was called over to ask how the coupon was put into the computer, but after that I was set: a McDonald’s Mushroom and Swiss Angus Third Pounder was mine for $2.99.

I decided to take it back home where the lighting was better. One interesting thing is that it came wrapped in a standard burger wrapper. I sort of expected they would have a special box for it or something. Nope, just a wrapper imprinted with blue “M”s. The name wasn’t even on the wrapper. Maybe it’s because it hasn’t gone national yet.

There are three different Angus Third Pounders to try, and thinking back I probably should have got one of the other two for review. The three are the Deluxe, Mushroom & Swiss, and Bacon & Cheese. I should’ve probably picked up the Deluxe because that has the works with lettuce, tomato, pickles and onion. It might be good to compare that against other similar burgers. The Bacon and Cheese is probably similar to a CJ Western Bacon Cheeseburger minus the BBQ sauce. My Mushroom & Swiss has just those two items on it, along with some mayo.

On first glance, it doesn’t look very impressive. Although, to their credit it doesn’t look entirely unlike the photos (like CJ who are masters of product misrepresentation). In the photo on the website, the swiss cheese is hanging out of the burger like that as well. The burger seemed pretty heavy, but yeah I’ve been working out so I was able to one-arm it. Haha.

It’s probably not a good idea to disassemble your burger like I did. But the one thing I needed to do first was shovel off some of the mayo that was slathered all over the place. I had considered asking them to hold the mayo, but since it was lunchtime I figured I would get it faster without special treatment.

Once the mayo was gone, the appearance was slightly better. The meat seemed thick enough and cooked decently. The cheese is indeed real Swiss cheese - the kind with actual holes. The sauteed mushrooms looked a bit bedraggled but there was a good amount of them. I sort of expected that they would count out about 5-6 small mushroom slices and just put that on. Instead, it’s like they took a big scoop of mushrooms and plopped it down. You can see it on both halves of the burger, because the mayo made it stick to the bun side. The bun is just a standard toasted sesame bun, maybe a bit larger than normal.

So it wasn’t a pretty sight, but it had everything that it promised. Now, the most important thing was the taste, right? I had some extreme doubts, but I took a few bites anyhow. The first thing I noticed was that the meat was very different. It wasn’t as salty and rubbery as the average McD’s hamburger. It actually tasted a bit like cheap chopped steak or something. It had some chew to it. The outer surface of the meat was also a bit charred, which differs from some of the other McD’s hamburgers I’ve had in the past which are a uniform grey.

Now, I’m not trying to get on McD’s good side or anything (unless they decide to send me coupons for a free year of their food, in which case I will definitely be their pretty little bizotch), but the Angus Third Pounder tasted light-years better than any other hamburger that they have. The one thing I noticed is that the hambuger was cooked quite well-done, which means that the extra mayo may actually be beneficial in helping it taste less dry.

If you’re looking for a juicy hamburger, you will definitely be disappointed. This isn’t bone-dry as a desert, but it is not “juice-dribblin’” by a long shot. But the mushrooms were a welcome addition, and the swiss cheese made it go down easier.

This is also probably not a hamburger for those looking to watch their weight - I believe the 1/3 pound (6 ounces before cooking) weighs in at 760 calories and 40 something grams of fat. And you can probably get a much better burger from a mom ‘n pop burger stop for just a little more. But if there is a coupon for a buck off, it suddenly becomes more of a viable Cheap Eats option. I may have over-scored it here, and I’m not a McD’s regular so maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about. But at $2.99 it’s worth giving it a try when you absolutely HAVE to eat at a McD’s.

Price: $2.99 Sandwich Only, $3.99 w/out coupon.
Found At: McDonald’s
Cheap Eats Score: 8/10 with coupon, 6/10 otherwise