The limited-time McDonald’s ‘couples meal’ was put on the menu on Feb. 14, and although McDonald’s hasn’t given an end-date, it’s safe to assume this meal will last until the end of the month. The McDonald’s Cardi B and Offset meal, at first glance, may seem arbitrary or unnecessary, but there’s more to it than you think. 

As Valentine’s Day rounded the corner, McDonald’s wanted something to release as part of the holiday. Made public via a Super Bowl advertisement by McDonald’s featuring Cardi B and Offset as a couple, the Cardi B and Offset Mcdonalds meal came to life. It is advertised as a couples meal, and according to the McDonald’s website, it’s inspired by, “Friends, lovers and Fries coming together for a hot McDonald’s date.” Though the big question arises: is this McDonald’s meal actually good?

After opening everything, the first thing that came to mind was how overpriced the meal was. It is $16 for a quarter-pounder with cheese, a normal cheeseburger, a large fry, baked pie and two drinks. It also comes with two tangy barbecue sauces. I was so shocked that I looked at the app to see if the prices legitimately matched up, and they did. The meal, in total, is 1575 calories, which makes sense because it’s a couples meal, so I split it with my dad. I cut both burgers in half to get the full experience and it was subpar. 

The fries were big enough to split, so kudos to McDonald’s for recognizing that, although the fries aren’t as good as I anticipated. The baked pie was a nice cherry on top of the whole meal. I even tried dipping both burgers in the tangy barbecue sauce. McDonald’s advertisement of a couples meal was a creative idea for Valentine’s Day, but there is honestly nothing that special about the meal. In fact, the meal (in general) makes you feel like you got scammed out of $16. The food was way worse from the last time I had McDonald’s, which was a couple months ago. The whole experience was literally the definition of “meh.”

Sadly, the quality wasn’t good enough to make the experience better. The quality of the meal was very mediocre and distasteful. Granted, some McDonald’s locations are better than others, but the one I ordered the meal from was not great. Don’t forget this is taking pricing into account. The fries were flimsy and cold, and the hamburger was nothing special. The drinks were fine, it was the one thing I can be satisfied with. The quarter-pounder with cheese was average, although adding barbecue sauce to the fries and the burgers surprisingly made both of them better. The baked apple pie could’ve fooled me if it was legitimately baked, but it was pretty hollow and missing most of the apple filling. Overall, the quality of the meal was mediocre at best.

The Cardi B & Offset couples meal is a campaign for Valentine’s Day meal gone wrong. The meal was unsatisfactory and distasteful. It didn’t live up to the hype at all, so I think McDonald’s should scrap the idea of a couples meal. But, it seems so far McDonald’s has made a profit — after all, these meals are $16 and this promo has been selling merchandise like t-shirts, polos, sweaters, etc. In summary, if you are thinking of going on a date or some place with your friends, family or others I highly suggest you don’t order this new meal.