In late December 2016, the Michael W Travels family headed to Costa Rica over winter break.

This was the first visit to the country for all of us. And what do I need to do when I visit a new country? Stop in McDonald’s to see what local and unique menu items they might have!

On previous trips I’ve visited (and wrote about) McDonald’s in:

• Russia
• Japan
• Serbia
• Germany
• Romania
• USA (Mozzarella Sticks)
• Mexico
• Nicaragua
• Canada
• Poland

I’ve also stopped in McDonald’s in many other countries around the world.

On the last full day of our trip we drove from the Manuel Antonio area to San Jose. We stopped at our hotel before heading out to see the city. Since we were hungry and it was lunch time, this was a good time to stop at McDonald’s.

Here are a few items we tried at McDonald’s Costa Rica.

Item #1: Pollo McCrispy 

Costa Rica has lots of fried chicken fast food restaurants. We tried a couple and they happened to be really good. So when I noticed Pollo McCrispy on the menu, it came as no surprise.

I was really hungry and couldn’t wait to open up the box to see what  McDonalds Costa Rica fried chicken was like. (I’ve had fried chicken at McDonald’s in other countries in the past.)

I ordered the two piece meal and was really impressed from the moment I took a bite.

The chicken had good flavor (from what I recall, a bit of a saltiness) and was very juicy. This didn’t seem like fast food fried chicken to me! The piece shown above had lots of meat on it and I’m pretty sure that I didn’t leave any behind.

I’d definitely recommend Pollo McCrispy and order it again.

A couple of other interesting item…

Item #2: Yuquitas (Yuca Fries)

I don’t recall seeing yuca on the menu anywhere we dined in Costa Rica (I did have yuca chips) but I know that it is a popular root vegetable.

I’ve had yuca fries many times before and have even bought them a bunch of times at Whole Foods close to home. For those of you not familiar with yuca fries, they’re basically denser, heavier french fries.

The McDonald’s Yuquitos were big and thick and looked really good. Kim and I shared them and really enjoyed.

Look how thick the yuca fries are. If you look closely, you can see the fluffy creamier inside, surrounded by a crunchy outside.

There yuca fries held up well to other versions I’ve had in the past. After Lucas woke up from a nap, he gave the fries a try but he wasn’t a fan.

Item #3: Cheese Bites

I’ve had mozzarella sticks and other varieties of fried cheese at McDonald’s in many countries. I’ve liked some and disliked others.

How would the McDonalds Costa Rica version stack up?

I can’t say that the cheese bites looked appealing. However, you can’t always judge fried cheese based on its appearance…

I gave a cheese bite a try and wasn’t impressed.

First of all, the cheese wasn’t gooey at all. You can see in the photo above how it is congealed inside of the somewhat crunchy shell. The other thing is that I didn’t like the taste of the cheese. It seemed to be a bit funky, not in a good way.

For what it’s worth, Lucas really enjoyed the cheese bites and ate most of them!

Overall, McDonalds Costa Rica offered a couple of interesting items which I really did enjoy. With rice being such a popular item in Costa Rica, I would’ve liked to have seen something like McArroz con Pollo on the menu!