This Portland, Maine, McDonald’s Shockingly No Longer Has a Self-Serve Soda Station

McDonald's on Forest Avenue in Portland recently underwent modernization at the end of 2023, and radically changed its look inside and out.

Up until the makeover, it looked like this:

And now it has been modernized (as many McDonald's have) to look like this:

It's a departure from the classic mansard roof that was McDonald's signature look since 1968. I'm fine with that. It was out of place in the 2020s. Progress is good, right?

The change on the inside, however, is a much different experience than you are used to seeing at the pre-modernized McDonald's. Here's a look at the remodeled inside of the Forest Avenue McDonald's.

If you ask me, it looks like an airport. The PlayPlace is gone (a relic of the past for most McDonald's now), but even before the PlayPlace, it was a great place for birthday parties when I was a kid. That's me on the far right:

So what's with this major redesign of McDonald's restaurants with wide spaces, no self-serve soda station, no place to get condiments, napkins, or straws, and ordering kiosks everywhere?

A McDonald's spokesperson told Food & Wine that,

...this change is intended to create a consistent experience for both customers and crew across all ordering points, whether that's McDelivery, the app, kiosk, drive-thru or in-restaurant.

Well, there was no self-serve soda station in most McDonald's when I was a kid, and napkins were at the count, so it seems like it's back to basics. Most McDonald's locations still have soda stations, but they will all be phased out in 10 years.

Food & Wine also notes that this is happening due to the challenge of keeping self-serve machines clean, the decreasing number of dine-in customers, and an increase in digital, drive-thru, and delivery services like Uber Eats.

I still think it looks like an airport though.