Fast Food Review: McDonalds Mac Snack Wrap

Do NOT ask me why there’s a picture of a Mac Snack Wrap floating on a McLily Pad. Blame McDonalds’ un-freakin’-navigable website that, like Subway, doesn’t make it easy to find any pictures of the newest item. There was this one, and one of the wrap on a silver platter, with the ingredients laid out beside it. This one seemed McFunnier. I guess unlike movie studios, they don’t expect people will want to write about them and need product images.

 

I remember, I think, when the notion of a “wrap” first came into common California parlance, the basic idea being that it’s a burrito with a filling other than what a Mexican restaurant would provide. Caesar salad, maybe. Chicken, onion rings, sweetcorn, slaw, and barbecue sauce, in the case of my favorite “Campfire” wrap at Tacone. They were thought out, and sometimes had flavorings in the tortilla itself. They were not merely shoving something you already sell inside a tortilla and calling it something different. Technically, what McDonalds offers can be called wraps. However, it is my premise that they violate the spirit of that notion, if not the very letter.

 

McDonalds is venturing dangerously into Taco Bell territory here, not because of the pseudo-Mexican thing, but because they seem to be adopting the same philosophy of “what new way can we combine the same ingredients that we use to make everything else?’ Sure, they could do the standard lo-carb lettuce-wrapped burger, but that’s been done. And actually, cheeseburger-in-a-tortilla has been done too, by Rubio’s, briefly, which dubbed it the All-American Taco. It was good; now it’s gone. Now, the Mac Snack Wrap is to the All-American Taco as Del Taco’s fish taco is to the Rubio’s version. Not the original, not the best...but McPassable.

 

Prior to today, I had eaten exactly one Big Mac in my life. Yeah, that’s right: one. Back in college they had that special where they were a buck for a while (yes, college was that long ago), so I tried one, was relatively satisfied but not impressed, and said to myself that with curiosity sated, I never needed another one.

 

But of course, my teenaged McImagination could never have conceived the addition of a McTortilla. That, ladies and gentleman, is a Game McChanger.

 

Not that this is quite a Big Mac. It’s half a burger patty, cut in half again, with a slice of processed cheese, shredded lettuce, pickles, and the “special sauce” that, based on the ingredients list McDonalds provides, is basically pickle relish, mayo, and a few mustard/ketchup-type flavorings. They put more of it in the wrap than on the burger. At least I McThink so.

 

My McDonalds also now dispenses ketchup out of what looks like a beer tap. McAwesome. Sadly, the Diet Coke on offer was McFlat.

 

There are a couple of ways to go about getting a McWrap combo. You can go for the mini-combo, which is one plus fries and a drink, or take the choice I McMade, of two wraps for $3, then extra for Whatever McElse. For wrap numero dos, I went with the grilled chicken, and chose “salsa roja” as the sauce option from a rattled-off McList of about five options.

 

The Mac Wrap I liked. It’s a burger taste, but not as big as a burger, so you don’t feel obligated to stuff your face. It’s probably lower carb by a longshot. And the meat was better than I McRemembered. Heavy on the sauce, as I said. But at least it was Spread McEvenly.

 

As for the grilled chicken – the meat itself, undoubtedly raised from super-enhanced chickens, as it was Inhumanly McTender, pleased me while also frightening me a little bit. But the sauce...bad call by me. I appreciate that the so-called “salsa roja” had a spicier kick than anything I’ve eaten at Mc Donald’s ever, but the taste, oh my. Errrgh. Imagine you buy a big jar of generic salsa at the 99-cent store. Pour half of it out. Leave the jar open a coupla days. What’s left? Something that tastes very much like what McDonald’s are using in this instance. Again, Errrrgh.

 

I await the day when the company busts out something like McNachos. Or perhaps not – maybe I should fear that. McSigh.