McBroken — Park City’s McDonald’s ends up in the bottom 25% of the worst-ranked state

PARK CITY, Utah — When there’s a website, mcbroken.com, that lets you check whether the ice cream machine at your local McDonald’s is broken, it is not hard to guess that the state of affairs at the fast-food restaurant isn’t great.

However, it is surprising that Utah has the lowest-rated McDonald’s restaurants of any state in America, with its 106 locations averaging 3.22 stars on Google. A McDonald’s in Roy is the ninth-worst rated in the country at 2.47 from 1,975 reviews. The Park City McDonald’s at 6450 N Landmark Dr averages 3.08 stars from 2,893 Google reviews, and 822 of those are one-star-ratings. That’s the 24th lowest of the 106 Utah restaurants in the ranking. The Heber City restaurant on South Main Street is just above it at 3.11 from 2 ,017 reviews.

The figures are from SEO Backlinks, who ranked all 12,834 US McDonald’s with at least 500 Google reviews on Oct. 5. That is 20,466,218 reviews in all, with each state’s average giving every one of its restaurants equal weight. All 50 states and Washington DC have at least 23 restaurants each in the ranking.

“Every McDonald’s sells the same menu at much the same price, so the star rating on Google is the only thing that sets one apart from the next,” said Oliver Weston, founder of SEO Backlinks. “When you search for a McDonald’s near you, that number is the first thing you see, and plenty of people will drive an extra five minutes to the one with the better score. Reading the reviews at the bottom of the list, it’s rarely the food itself. It’s waiting half an hour at the drive-thru, orders coming out wrong and tables not being wiped.”

Not one Utah restaurant makes the top 2,700 nationally; the state’s best, on North Main Street in Smithfield, scores 3.64, which at least gets close to the highest state average. Georgia (3.27) and South Carolina (3.29) are the next lowest-rated states, while Hawaii is the highest at 3.71.

The 10 worst-rated McDonald’s in Utah

1. 4070 S Midland Dr, Roy, UT: 2.47 (1,975 reviews)
2. 4137 E Pony Express Pkwy, Eagle Mountain, UT: 2.58 (1,136 reviews)
3. 1180 W State St, Hurricane, UT: 2.73 (1,992 reviews)
4. 312 State St, Pleasant Grove, UT: 2.74 (1,629 reviews)
5. 10180 N 4800 W, Cedar Hills, UT: 2.76 (1,339 reviews)
6. 5434 W Daybreak Pkwy, South Jordan, UT: 2.76 (1,119 reviews)
7. 961 W 400 S, Springville, UT: 2.83 (510 reviews)
8. 922 N Commerce Blvd, Washington, UT: 2.86 (633 reviews)
9. 735 W Telegraph St, Washington, UT: 2.91 (2,143 reviews)
10. 1155 N Hill Field Rd, Layton, UT: 2.92 (2,170 reviews)

The 10 best-rated McDonald’s in Utah

1. 180 N Main St, Smithfield, UT: 3.64 (1,150 reviews)
2. 11229 S Auto Mall Dr, Sandy, UT: 3.62 (1,698 reviews)
3. 48 S 850 E, Lehi, UT: 3.62 (2,561 reviews)
4. 10550 S 1300 E, Sandy, UT: 3.61 (914 reviews)
5. 810 N Main St, Logan, UT: 3.60 (2,170 reviews)
6. 7024 S Highland Dr, Salt Lake City, UT: 3.60 (1,413 reviews)
7. 895 East Fort Union Blvd, Midvale, UT: 3.55 (2,828 reviews)
8. NEC SR92 &, Digital Dr, Lehi, UT: 3.53 (2,338 reviews)
9. 789 N Main St, Payson, UT: 3.50 (2,894 reviews)
10. 2605 N Washington Blvd, North Ogden, UT: 3.50 (1,243 reviews)

Averages are rounded to two decimal places. Where two restaurants show the same figure, the order comes from the unrounded average, and where those are equal too, the restaurant with the larger share of one-star reviews ranks lower.