McDonald’s Italian Stack

Review of McDonald’s Italian Stack

McDonald’s Italian Stack:

What they say:

Two 100% British and Irish beef patties, pepperoni slices, tomato and herb sauce, cheese, onions and lettuce in a cheese and paprika topped bun.

Price: £4.39 for the burger only. £5.89 for a Medium & £6.29 for a Large Meal.

Calories: 605 kcal.

Great Tastes of the World concludes at McDonald’s for 2017 with The Italian Stack.

Long-time readers of BURGER LAD® will know that The Italian Stack started life out as the ‘My Burger’ McPizza Pepperoni which was available in November 2014.

One year later, McDonald’s re-jigged the recipe slightly and released their own version – The Italian Classic. You can read our review of that one here.

Both burgers were extremely popular, so it only makes sense that we now get an Italian-inspired stack as part of GTW.

This is very much a double version of the Italian Classic but now using the not-so-new bigger patties used on all the stack builds compared to the old oval patties.

Italian Stack

I was frequenting my new favourite McDonald’s this evening, but they instantly lost brownie points when I got my burger – it was missing the pepperoni!!

Back it went and because I hadn’t taken a bite out of it was returned to me within approx. 10-15 seconds… with three slices of pepperoni shoved in. Although the double I originally received wasn’t what I got back…

Visually (despite the poking and prodding and what turned out to be one Signature patty) this looks like a decent and tidy build from McDonald’s. The bun looks impressive and you’ve got slices of onion and lettuce poking out with a semi-melted cheese all interspersed with that tomato and herb sauce.

Oh boy I love this sauce.

Italian Stack

You can smell that sweet, basil-infused marinara sauce instantly. Memories of the aforementioned McPizza Pepperoni and Italian Classic come flooding back. Good if you were a fan the first or second time around.

It’s not too dissimilar to the Rich Tomato Dip you normally get with cheese sides such as the Mozzarella Dippers. I don’t believe it is the exact same sauce, but I could be wrong.

If it isn’t then it’s damn close. Either way it is so, so tasty. To the point that if it wasn’t for the greed and money I would probably have the Italian Stack every day. Yeah you heard me.

Italian Stack

Biting in you get a crisp freshness from the lettuce and sharp tang of the onion which although wasn’t on the McPizza Pepperoni I definitely think makes for an improvement.

Then you get a whammy of beef and the glorious sauce and (possibly) Mozzarella cheese slices. Creamy, rich, fresh – it’s pretty faultless as McDonald’s burgers go.

100% without a shadow of a doubt, THE best of the GTW 2017 line-up.

McDonald's Italian Stack

The pepperoni is strong on the palate with hints of smoky paprika and without it we’re talking a different burger. Come on dude… how could you forget it in the first place as it is such a key ingredient!?

I got three small slices which unfortunately were not spread evenly over my build. On this occasion, probably only the tiniest gripe on my part. And the fact on the 2nd attempt this was still incorrect.

But pepperoni (in the right context) is so much better than bacon (IMO) as high street burger bacon can be a bit hit and miss (more often than not miss).

This has the texture, the taste and is pretty unsusceptible to being executed poorly (unless it’s missing entirely of course).

McDonald's Italian Stack

If you were to ask me what I thought of the Italian Stack I would have to stress that I absolutely love the combination of the sauce, cheese, onions and pepperoni.

McDonald’s Indonesia are currently running an Italia promo where you can get a Bolognese Burger and McDonald’s Italy in the past have featured stuff like the McCharolais, Piemontese or Chianina – each using meat from a different breed of cow native to Italy.

You’re unlikely to find any of these types of burger in the UK, but like I said earlier, The Italian Stack is pretty faultless and is the closest you’ll get to a pizza burger at McDonald’s.

It is a respectable homage to the flavours one might associate with Italy (for a McD’s burger).

All the ingredients work wonders together and are housed within another great bun – a soft, flavoursome cheese and paprika topped variety. Really… what’s not to like…!?

The Italian Stack is at participating restaurants, subject to availability until Tuesday 14th November.

Please note: In this review I decided to overlook the fact I got a Signature Collection patty instead of the stack on the second attempt. The first build did have two patties.

After the pepperoni incident I couldn’t be bothered correcting them further so perhaps additional training is required.

Burger Lad®

Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/product/the-italian-stack.html

Italian Stack

£4.39
7.8

Taste

9.0/10

Look

7.0/10

Price

7.5/10

Hot

  • Sauce
  • Pepperoni
  • Overall everything

Not

  • 1st attempt missing pepperoni
  • 2nd attempt not a double stack but Signature patty