We tried McDonald's latest additions to its burger menu — here's the verdict (MCD)

Hollis Johnson

As Joni Mitchell once said, you don't know what you've got till it's gone.

That's exactly how I felt upon discovering that McDonald's had killed its Create Your Taste experiment.

A thorn in the side of many franchisees offering over 30 fancy ingredients and toppings, the Create Your Taste customizable menu was recently replaced with a different and more limited menu platform called Signature Crafted Recipes.

Instead of allowing you to build your own burger, this new menu offers three burgers to choose from: pico guacamole, sweet barbecue bacon, and maple bacon dijon.

You can then choose a protein — quarter-pound burger, crispy chicken, or grilled chicken — and pick from two options of buns. 

As a Create Your Taste fan myself, I decided to test all three replacement burgers. Which, if any, are worth a bite?

Unsurprisingly, the sandwiches come in the same strange double-wide container that the Create Your Taste burgers arrived in.

First up, we have the pico guacamole burger. It's a vaguely Southwestern themed flavor — very vaguely. Underneath the "artisan roll" (you can choose between that or the classic sesame seed bun) lies a quarter-pound beef patty, white cheddar cheese, pico de gallo, guacamole, lettuce, and buttermilk ranch, all for $6.69.

See what I mean by "vaguely Southwestern"? I'm not sure what flavor demographic this is aiming for… Southwestern, without spice? But with ranch? And I can't even discern the white cheddar cheese, so why bother including it? Why not spicy pepper jack, which was on the Create Your Taste menu?