DARIEN, Conn. (WTNH) — The McDonald’s meals at a Connecticut location are going viral for all the wrong reasons — and no, it has nothing to do with the disturbing Grimace Birthday Meal TikTok trend.
The meals — which included a Big Mac combo and a Quarter Pounder combo — were selling for $17.59 (Big Mac meal) and $17.99 (Quarter Pounder meal) at a McDonald’s restaurant on Interstate 95 in the town of Darien, photos shared by Twitter user Sam Learner appeared to show.
Just a Big Mac alone was going for $8.29, according to Learner’s photos.
“This was at a rest stop, but these McDonald’s prices are nuts right???” Learner wrote in his Twitter post, which has been viewed over 300,000 times since it was posted on Tuesday afternoon.
He also provided a link to the restaurant’s online menu, so other users could “see/gawk at the prices for yourselves.”
The photos have since sparked outrage on Twitter, though some noted that McDonald’s prices at highway rest stops are always inflated.
“Yes it’s nuts. But! How much is the rent for his location at this rest stop[?]” one user asked. “That’s probably where the money is going.”
“I wouldn’t pay half that for any McDonald’s hamburger or combo meals,” another said.
According to McCheapest — a website that tracks the price of a Big Mac at every McDonald’s location across the country — the cost of a Big Mac at a northbound I-95 rest stop in Darien is about $8. But as Learner claimed, the specific restaurant he visited was on the southbound side, and its price ($8.29) is not currently listed on McCheapest.
Many restaurant prices on McCheapest were also last updated in February, so it’s unclear if the pricing information on the platform is still accurate.
Even still, the prices at the Darien location where Learner allegedly took the photo appeared to be quite steep all around, according to its online menu (via the McDonald’s app). That particular location also charges $18.29 for a 10-piece McNuggets meal, and $8.99 for a children’s hamburger Happy Meal.
NewsNation affiliate WTNH in Connecticut reached out to the restaurant to confirm the menu prices.
According to the company’s website, McDonald’s allows its franchisees to set their own prices on menu items.
The coastal town of Darien, located in Fairfield County, is one of the wealthiest in Connecticut with a median household income of just over $250,000, according to U.S. Census data.
