• We compared similar McDonald's meals in New York City and London.
• The meals cost exactly the same, but there were some key differences.
• The US meal had a more flavorful sandwich and a bigger drink.

McDonald's may be a globally recognized brand, but ordering the same meal on opposite sides of the Atlantic can feel like a completely different experience.

We tried similar McDonald's meals in New York City and London — including spicy chicken sandwiches, fries, an apple pie, and a fruity drink — to see whether there were differences in taste and value between the two.

Our New York-based reporter, Erin McDowell, found that the spicy chicken sandwich had a more distinctly Southern flavor profile, from the spicy mayo to the thick buttered bun and crunchy pickle slices.

Our London-based reporter, Roya Shahidi, thought the UK's version of the spicy chicken could have done with some crunchy pickles like in the US, but the chicken was moist and crispy.

We compared portion sizes, value, and, of course, taste to see how each meal compared in the US and the UK.

Our New York-based reporter visited her local McDonald's in Brooklyn.

The restaurant was advertising the chain's new chicken tenders on its modern-looking exterior.

This is one of roughly 13,600 McDonald's locations in the US, according to the company. That's far more than its number of restaurants in the UK, where it has around 1,500 locations.

During our visits, the New York location also felt more modern and pared back, while the London restaurant featured brighter colors and more playful design details.

Just inside the front doors, an ad promoted a new energy drink refresher … alongside a reminder that the restaurant is monitored by the NYPD.

That kind of highly visible security message felt distinctly New York.

There was one security officer outside the McDonald's in London, though there were no big security messages like in the New York restaurant.

The restaurant was pretty quiet for the midday lunch rush.

Inside, the restaurant had self-order kiosks, a counter for pickup orders, and plenty of seating for customers eating in or taking food to go.

Erin ordered a spicy chicken sandwich meal with a dessert. She also tried the new strawberry watermelon refresher.

The meal came in McDonald's signature brown paper bag and included a spicy chicken sandwich, medium fries, an apple pie, and a medium-sized fruity pink drink.

It cost $15.18, excluding tax.

The strawberry watermelon refresher is made with strawberry and watermelon flavoring, lemonade, and ice.

It was also topped with pieces of freeze-dried strawberry. Erin enjoyed the balance of sweet watermelon, tart strawberry flavoring, and lemonade, but the dried fruit pieces made the drink awkward to sip — she kept getting chunks in her mouth.

Still, it was a refreshing, summery beverage she'd order again, ideally without the strawberry topping.

Next up was the spicy McCrispy chicken sandwich.

The sandwich is one of McDonald's biggest attempts to compete in the fast-food chicken wars.

First launched nationwide in February 2021, the sandwich has become a staple on McDonald's menu and can even compete with fast-food classics like Chick-fil-A's famous chicken sandwich.

It featured a thick, crunchy fried chicken filet topped with spicy mayo and pickles on a soft potato roll.

It looked far more substantial than the more basic chicken sandwiches often associated with McDonald's, like the McChicken.

Erin was also impressed by the size of the chicken filet, which was about the same size as her palm.

The chicken filet was moist, while the crispy breading held its own, despite the generous serving of sauce slathered on the bun.

It stayed crispy beneath the toppings and delivered a savory, black-peppery flavor that gave each bite a little extra kick, on top of the creamy, spicy sauce that left a slight lingering heat.

No McDonald's meal is complete without fries.

The fries were thin, salty, and hot — the familiar classic that remains one of the chain's most consistent menu items. The US order came with a generously filled carton that was large enough to share, though Erin had no trouble working her way through most of it.

The fries were delicious dipped in ranch — an American staple.

The tangy, creamy dipping sauce gave the salty fries an extra punch of flavor and made for an especially satisfying final bite.

Erin also tried one of McDonald's baked desserts.

The hand pie had a flaky, golden-brown exterior and came in a sleek purple sleeve. It cost $1.99, excluding tax.

The apple pie's golden crust was decently crispy, with a light crunch that held up well around the warm filling.

Inside, the soft apples were sweet and caramelized, giving the dessert a cozy, almost homemade flavor that made it a satisfying end to the meal.

Erin did think the pastry could have been a bit less doughy and a bit more flaky to better resemble a real apple pie.

Our London-based reporter visited her local McDonald's in Islington.

This McDonald's had lots of emoji faces on its windows to advertise McHappy Day, a charity fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House UK on September 26.

It was the first day of the World Menu Heist in the UK and Ireland.

Roya went to McDonald's on September 22, which was the first day of the World Menu Heist.

These are popular McDonald's items from around the world, made into limited-edition items in the UK and Ireland.

At lunchtime, the restaurant was busy at the self-service kiosks, but there were plenty of seats available.

Inside, you can order at the counter or at the self-service kiosks. A lot of people pick up their orders after placing them on the McDonald's app.

Roya ordered a medium Spicy McCrispy meal, which came with fries and a drink. She tried the Guava Sprite Zero from the World Heist Menu.

Roya opted for the "eat in" option, so the meal came on a tray. Adding a paper bag at this McDonald's would have cost an extra 13 cents.

The meal cost £11.38 ($15.18) including tax.

The Guava Sprite Zero from McDonald's India is Sprite Zero with guava-flavored syrup and ice.

The drinks we ordered weren't a direct match: Erin ordered McDonald's strawberry watermelon refresher in New York, which was not on the UK menu when we checked, while Roya tried the UK-only guava Sprite Zero.

This drink was part of the World Heist Menu. Roya found it refreshing and liked the extra tang that the guava-flavored syrup added to the Sprite.

There were also some differences in the portion sizes and sugar content between our two drinks.

A medium soda at McDonald's is much bigger in the US, where it holds 21 fluid ounces, compared with 13.5 fluid ounces in the UK.

McDonald's UK still sells some sugary drinks, but its soft-drink menu leans more heavily on zero-sugar options, including Sprite Zero. That reflects the UK's Soft Drinks Industry Levy, introduced in 2018 to encourage manufacturers to cut sugar from beverages; drinks with more than 5 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters are subject to the tax.

The Spicy McCrispy chicken burger was up next.

In the US, the McCrispy is marketed as a sandwich, whereas in the UK, it's more commonly referred to as a burger.

The McCrispy was launched in 2022 after the discontinuation of the very popular Chicken Legend. The spicy version launched this year.

It consisted of a crispy chicken breast filet, shredded iceberg lettuce, and spicy mayo.

Roya thought the chicken filet was substantial — much bigger than the beef burgers typically sold at McDonald's.

Different from the US potato roll, the bread is a sourdough-style bun topped with sesame seeds.

McDonald's varies its recipes and menus across countries to comply with local regulations and cater to customer tastes. For example, Canadian McDonald's has a maple-and-cheddar chicken burger, another item that featured on the World Heist Menu.

The chicken was juicy and had a thick layer of spicy batter, which stayed crispy — though the burger felt quite dry overall.

The filet itself was moist, with a crispy, crunchy batter that Roya thought had a satisfying kick of heat. This was different from the US version, which has a lighter, less-crunchy breading without any heat — all the spicy flavor comes from the sauce.

She thought there could have been more spicy mayo and pickles, like in the US, to add a bit more texture. The lettuce, while adding a nice freshness, didn't do much for the dryness.

The McDonald's fries were hot but could have been crispier.

While the London-based reporter always enjoys McDonald's fries, she thought they could have been crispier this time — they were a little floppy.

Roya, who prefers her food saltier, added a salt sachet to the fries. Nonetheless, they came out hot and were a satisfying companion to the burger.

McDonald's UK says it has reduced the fat, salt, sugar, and calories in its menu since 2020, which may contribute to the milder flavor compared with the US fries.

American McDonald's fries also have beef flavoring added to them to replicate the old-school taste of frying in beef tallow.

Roya used the ketchup dispenser in the restaurant for her dip.

Ketchup and barbecue sauce are usually available from dispensers in most McDonald's in the UK. Roya opted for ketchup, which added a lip-smacking tang to the fries.

Ranch is not as popular or well-known in the UK, but McDonald's UK did have it as a limited-edition dip this summer.

With no lattice crust, the apple pie in the UK looks and tastes different from that in the US.

The apple pie in this London McDonald's costs £2.29 ($3.05), including tax.

Roya's UK apple pie was fried and sealed like a hand pie, unlike the lattice-topped baked pie sold in the US. The UK version closely resembled how McDonald's in the US used to make its apple pies before it switched to a baked, not fried, version in 1992.

The US version got another update in 2018, when the latticed crust was introduced, and the chain switched to a sliced apple filling with cinnamon.

The apple pie is deep-fried, making it extra crispy.

Because the apple pie is deep-fried, it makes for a very crunchy outside, which complements well with the warm, soft, and sweet filling.

The fried batter does make it feel a little heavier for a midday dessert, but it's worth it for the crunch.

Overall, our experiences were more different than we expected.

From the design of the restaurant to the actual menu, there were some key differences between the two locations. Even similar items differed in terms of ingredients and size.

We were surprised that our meals were the exact same price, and the chicken sandwiches were pretty similar in portion size. However, the sodas were very different in size, with the US medium drink being much larger, and the UK apple pie looked more like a fried strudel than a lattice pie.

The chicken sandwich in the US also had more sauce and a saltier flavor, which Roya thought the UK version lacked.

From the restaurant design to the last bite of pie, our cross-Atlantic McDonald's taste test proved that "the same" order can mean something very different depending on where you are.

• McDonald's is planning to spend billions to lure customers back.
• The chain's McDonald's Next plan calls for changes from employee training to store tech.
• McDonald's is facing stiff competition from rivals and increasingly value-sensitive customers.

McDonald's is spending big to bring customers back to its restaurants.

The fast-food chain plans to devote $8.5 billion over the next 10 years to improvements in its restaurants through investments and rent relief for franchisees, it said on Wednesday. The plan, called McDonald's Next, includes adding more technology to stores, new training for employees, and increasing the burger chain's market share of chicken menu items and beverages.

The goal is "to be the first choice for more customers, more often - while making our restaurants stronger and easier to run," McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski said.

"We are confident that executing across the key components of NEXT will unlock stronger restaurant economics, generate attractive returns for the Company, our franchisees and shareholders, and increase capacity to keep investing in growth," Kempczinski said.

The plan comes as McDonald's faces challenges both within the company and from rivals.

The burger chain reported slowing comparable sales growth in its most recent quarter, pointing to trouble it faced in rolling out a new value menu featuring items priced at $3 or less.

It's also been trying to win back customers who used to head to the Golden Arches for a cheap, quick meal but who are now going to other restaurants, like Burger King and Chili's.

McDonald's executives described several menu changes, including more McNugget and Quarter Pounder options and higher-quality coffee. The chain also wants to grow sales of beverages, which customers often purchase after lunch and pair with a burger or fries, said Jill McDonald, McDonald's global chief restaurant officer.

The chain is also considering options such as grilled chicken and egg bites to offer diners healthy protein choices.

In the US, McDonald's is still deciding on the best strategy for its value menu pricing, Kempczinski said. "That is really the key to going after that low-income consumer," he said.

McDonald's Next will make restaurants more efficient with AI and other operational improvements, the company said. Those types of changes will improve cash flow per restaurant by about $100,000 annually, it said.

McDonald's plan also includes an effort "to elevate the customer experience through great food and great hospitality," which the company calls Make It Golden.

In addition to maintaining its share of the burger market, the plan also calls for McDonald's to increase its share of the beverage and chicken market by 1.5 percentage points each by 2030.

Do you have a story idea about McDonald's? Contact this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com or via encrypted messaging app Signal at 808-854-4501. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• A VC got his Resy account shuttered after using an AI agent for a reservation at one of NYC's hottest restaurants.
• It's an example of how AI agents often take questionable approaches to the tasks they're given.
• "I will probably, in the short term, ask it to lay out a plan and tell me what the plan is," he said

AI agents can do lots of tasks. Landing you a table at one of New York's trendiest restaurants might not be one.

JC Bahr-de Stefano, principal at Better Tomorrow Ventures, a fintech-focused VC firm, learned that after he connected an AI tool called Instinct to his Resy account in hopes of getting a reservation at 4 Charles Prime Rib, the West Village steakhouse where diners gobble up reservations within seconds of them appearing online.

Instinct, which is an invite-only service at the moment, communicates with users via text. The bet was that Instinct could check for open tables at 4 Charles much more frequently than Bahr-de Stefano — or any other human — could manually.

Instead of getting him a ticket to some prime rib or an egg-topped burger, though, Bahr-de Stefano's AI agent spammed Resy's website so much that the platform temporarily shut down his account.

The VC's experience is another example of how AI agents are bending or breaking the rules of the internet, from impersonating Wikipedia editors to trying to convince a GitHub user to upload malware into a project.

Agents might appear to understand their objective, though exactly how they carry it out — and whether the strategy they pick might have unintended consequences — is often an afterthought.

"Resy does not currently permit unapproved third-party bots or agents to independently access or interact with the Resy platform," an American Express spokesperson told Business Insider. "Unapproved automated activity can introduce risks to the platform and compromise a fair reservation experience for diners."

Users can find restaurants and make reservations through Resy's integrations with OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude, the spokesperson said. The company declined to comment specifically on Bahr-de Stefano's case.

'It was acting like a bot'

Bahr-de Stefano noticed the Resy issue on Sunday when he couldn't get into his account. In his email inbox, there was a message from the American Express-owned reservation platform saying that his account had "displayed behavior in violation of Resy's Terms of Service."

He got details about what went wrong after checking Instinct's activity log. Unbeknownst to Bahr-de Stefano, the AI agent had been sending Resy about 200 API requests per hour. That included checking the restaurant's availability through Resy every 10 minutes throughout the day, as well as looking every 0.4 seconds around the time that reservations usually dropped each morning.

That behavior mimics the bots that some people use to snag everything from restaurant reservations to limited-run pairs of sneakers and resell them, Bahr-de Stefano said.

Bahr-de Stefano wrote back to Resy, laying out how he had used the AI agent. The log made clear why his account had been flagged, he said.

"Of course, this account got flagged for spam, because it was acting like a bot," he said.

On Tuesday, an email from Resy informed him that the company had reinstated his account.

It came with a warning, though: If he did it again, American Express could permanently close his Resy account as well as his AmEx credit card. Bahr-de Stefano shared screenshots of the Resy and American Express emails in posts on X.

The tool has worked well in other cases, such as finding an appointment at an otherwise booked-up doctor's office and deciding which attractions to visit in Paris during a trip, Bahr-de Stefano said.

"That was part of what made it really great," he said. "It felt like magic."

The VC said that he plans to continue using Instinct, though with some adjustments. Instead of simply giving the AI agent a simple prompt, he said, he'll now set parameters on how the agent tackles the task, such as how often it pings a website looking for reservations.

"I will probably, in the short term, ask it to lay out a plan and tell me what the plan is before it does it," he said.

At the same time, he added, websites like Resy need to distinguish between legitimate AI agents and those with more nefarious intentions.

"Most of these sellers or providers need to get to a point where they can understand the difference between a verified agent acting on someone's behalf versus a bot farm," he said.

Have a tip? Contact this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com or via encrypted messaging app Signal at 808-854-4501. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.