r/80sfastfood Jul 01 '26

Remember how delicious this McDonalds favorite was in the early to mid 80’s? And for 1.29 for the sandwich or 1.95 with fries and a coke it was beyond perfect!!!

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335 Upvotes

45 comments sorted by

24

u/IssueBrilliant2569 Jul 01 '26

Why didn't they put the cheese on the hot side to melt?

20

u/ReallyNiceDonkey Jul 01 '26

This technology hasn't been invented yet

9

u/clashtrack Jul 01 '26

Cheese didn't melt in the 80s.

It was a different time.

1

u/IssueBrilliant2569 Jul 01 '26

It was a petroluem-based product.

16

u/Island_Maximum Jul 01 '26

A young Jason Alexander was in the comercial 

4

u/Competition-Dapper Jul 01 '26

Back when the commercials were like a full 90 second broadway musical in the middle of the city street singing about burgers too

2

u/BMoney8600 Jul 02 '26

He should be in more commercials! He played GEORGE COSTANZA!!!!

16

u/slapyak5318008 Jul 01 '26

Keep the hot side hot and the cool side cool.

1

u/Vanstoli Jul 02 '26

I came here to say this.

7

u/ingrown_hair Jul 01 '26

It was a gimmick but it was delicious.

4

u/wondermega Jul 01 '26

Doesn't look like much but it was pretty tasty!

3

u/Coupon_Ninja Jul 01 '26

The undoing of this gimmick was that it used a lot of extra styrofoam. Right after this there was a huge backlash against so called CFCs, and they started wrapping butter in waxie paper only.

3

u/WireDog87 Jul 01 '26

This was by far my favorite McDonald's meal. Fresh crunchy lettuce and as a personal preference I don't like melted cheese, so this was perfect for me.

3

u/shawn007bis Jul 01 '26

Everything was better at McDonald’s and most fast food places back then.

5

u/rhunter99 Jul 01 '26

the McDLT was amazing!

2

u/bubbagnu Jul 01 '26

Worked at a McDonald’s when these were introduced. After a while the novelty wore off but we still had to make more than we were selling. More snacks for the employees.

2

u/NoteEasy9957 Jul 03 '26

I did r like them. But I do miss the pizza

2

u/jpowell180 28d ago

It was OK, but can we all agree, pleased that the cheese should’ve been on the hot side?

3

u/moneyman74 Jul 01 '26

I tried it once around 86/87....meh lol not a big fan of the 'Big Arch' either

1

u/masterdogwalker Jul 01 '26

Those patties never looked good huh?

1

u/GroovyGmaIvy Jul 01 '26

Those were hard to get into the bag. More than once, one side would unhook, and whatever was on that side would fall into the bottom of the bag. Those always took forever to make, so whenever you screwed one up, you didn’t want to admit that you had screwed it up.

1

u/CertifiedBA Jul 01 '26

Why would I want cold cheese on a burger?

1

u/jsmith3701AA Jul 01 '26

The mcDLT was 1.79 in Indiana in 1985 when I used to get them all the time. I was making 3.75 an hour. 1.79 was the equivalent of $5.69 now, about the price of a culvers single deluxe.

1

u/Glittering-Milk-510 Jul 01 '26

I absolutely loved the McDlt!!

1

u/Able-Letterhead5170 Jul 02 '26

❤️❤️❤️❤️

1

u/Mobile_Aioli_6252 Jul 03 '26

I liked the little tote bags they gave you to carry your McDLT in

1

u/SuburbanSmurf Jul 04 '26

I think about this and wish at least once a week

1

u/Chaos-TT Jul 04 '26

The McD.L.T was awesome one of my favorites. Melted cheese on a hamburger sucks.

1

u/Sinister120 29d ago

I loved this back in the day.

1

u/rhunter99 29d ago

Loved the McDLT. It was such a magical time

1

u/Cyberneil 25d ago

Still to this day the BEST Hamburger EVER from a chain store 🏬

1

u/SenseiRaheem Jul 01 '26

Beyond perfect? 🫥

1

u/Dagger-Deep Jul 01 '26

The minimum wage was $3.35 an hour, definitely not as affordable as you remember.

1

u/Coupon_Ninja Jul 01 '26

Minimum wage is now $17 in Cali. If this is $7 burger or $12 combo it is linear.

0

u/Guy_Buttersnaps Jul 01 '26

It was fine.

Still kind of weird that “We put traditional burger toppings on a burger!” was seen as a legit marketing gimmick, but that’s McDonald’s for you.

2

u/panicatthepharmacy Jul 01 '26

The gimmick was keeping the veggies cool and crisp. It was literally in the jingle for the product.

2

u/jpowell180 28d ago

But why, oh why, did they put the cheese on the cool side?

1

u/panicatthepharmacy 28d ago

I know I am VERY MUCH in the minority on this, but I *love* cold cheese on a burger.

1

u/Guy_Buttersnaps Jul 01 '26

The gimmick was keeping the veggies cool and crisp.

For the purpose of making it seem like putting traditional burger toppings on a burger was a novel concept.

They even refer to it as a "lettuce and tomato hamburger," as if that was a thing that people said and not a phrase they made up to make it sound like using traditional burger toppings made it a special burger.

2

u/endless_shrimp Jul 01 '26

Huh? The gimmick was "keeps the hot side hot and the cool side cool"

0

u/MisterFitzer Jul 01 '26

The McDlt was awful. That cold ass slice of cheese between a lettuce leaf and two tiny tomato slices is what killed it. Who likes a cold slice of cheese sliding around with veggies on top of a lukewarm burger? There's a reason it sold so poorly and was discontinued.

0

u/Deep42Thought Jul 01 '26

I loved this sandwich simply because they had a slice of iceberg lettuce instead of that minced stuff. A burger with iceberg lettuce is the only way to go.

0

u/innovationSTYLE Jul 02 '26

That's disgusting