Rideau Street McDonald's

The Rideau Street McDonald's, unofficially known as the World's Worst McDonald's, was a McDonald's restaurant located at 99 Rideau Street in the ByWard Market area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It operated from 1985 to 2023 and was notorious for its daily crime and incidents.[1]

99 Rideau St.

In 1985, a McDonald's opened at 99 Rideau Street in a building built in 1908 and previously known as "The Atwood" apartments. In 1983, the building had received a heritage property designation under the Ontario Heritage Act, following the demolition of properties across the street to make way for the construction of the Rideau Centre. That year, the city approved construction of a shopping centre on the site which would incorporate the building's façade.[2]

The restaurant originally spread across three floors, with seating on the main floor, a mezzanine above, and the food service counter and kitchen below.[3] It downsized in the early 2000s, concentrating activity on the main floor. The Rideau Street McDonald's had two entrances: one on Rideau Street, and a back door on George Street that led to the rest of the ByWard market.[1]

Issues

For nearly all of its history, the restaurant was open 24-hours a day, and it attracted night life revellers who came from bars and night clubs in the area. Customers included "drunk youth, tourists, homeless people... and gang members". Staff struggled to keep up with the demands on the restaurant. The restaurant's floor was always filthy, and people formed crowds rather than lines at the registers. A Toronto Star reporter noted, "It just looks like people are gathered there to watch a concert behind the counter or something".[4] Customers witnessed drug use and sexual acts in a long, narrow hallway to the bathrooms dubbed "The Hallway to Hell" and isolated from the rest of the restaurant. Because the McDonald's had two entrances, people passed through the restaurant as a shortcut to the ByWard Market, and criminals used it as an easy escape from police. In addition to its proximity to Ottawa's night life district in the ByWard market, the location was close to several tourist attractions, the city's largest shopping mall, the Rideau Centre, the University of Ottawa, and several emergency shelters and social support services.[1]

The restaurant was a site of frequent stabbings, drug use, liquor licence violations, violent attacks, sexual assaults, and many other criminal acts.[5][6]

Closure

In January 2023, the Rideau Street McDonald's franchisee decided to not renew the lease. The restaurant closed in May after 38 years in business.[10] Ottawa's mayor, Mark Sutcliffe, said he had regularly dined at the Rideau McDonald's on Friday nights as a teenager, and expressed positivity about the future of the area and its new police hub plans.[11]

A crowd of about 200 people gathered to memorialize the institution with the "Rideau McDonalds Farewell March" in March 2023. Some carried signs of raccoons and some dressed in costumes including Ronald McDonald, French fries, the Hamburglar, and a raccoon.[1] The event raised money for local housing charities such as Operation Come Home and Shepherds of Good Hope.[12][13]

377 Dalhousie St.

In November 2025, it was revealed that a new McDonald's location was set to open at 377 Dalhousie Street, at the intersection of Dalhousie and Rideau Street. The location officially opened in December of the same year.[19] The restaurant is takeout only in order to combat the issues that prompted the closure of the previous location. Rideau-Vanier Ward councillor Stéphanie Plante supported this opening, hoping that with some changes the new location will benefit the local economy.[20]

External links

Episode of The Big Story podcast about the Rideau Street McDonalds from 2023

References

Midnight brawls, a baby raccoon and a police chief’s letter: How the ‘World’s Worst McDonald’s’ became a symbol of downtown decay Toronto Star, May 2, 2023, retrieved July 14, 2024^
Danielle Jones. 25. The Atwood, 101 Rideau Street, and the Featherstone Building Heritage Ottawa, 2017-09-14, retrieved 2024-03-17^
End of an era: Rideau Street McDonald's officially closes

The "raccoon brawl"

In 2013, a physical brawl broke out near the registers between more than six McDonald's guests around 2 am. The incident was recorded by a bystander and posted to social media in 2014. "The video begins in the middle of the chaos, with young men punching, kicking, choking, and knocking or dragging each other to the ground as onlookers shout and jeer", writes the Toronto Star. After "thirty-eight seconds and approximately 11 punches", a man appears on screen and can be seen pulling out a baby raccoon from his sweater. The man waves the raccoon around casually as a cigarette droops from his mouth. "Man and raccoon are not part of the fight, but a sideshow to it, a delightful surprise", notes the Star.[1] The raccoon brawl made international headlines, and the cameraman later said, "I didn’t even know there was a raccoon in it until after I posted it."[1][7] The raccoon is known as "Pocket Rocket" and has been compared to young Simba in The Lion King.[8]

The raccoon brawl was not the only incident caught on camera at the restaurant. The Rideau McDonald's was the site of many violent viral videos of unusual altercations, such as customers beating each other with "Wet Floor" signs.[1]

Public plea from Ottawa's police chief

On March 15, 2019, Ottawa police chief Charles Bordeleau — who had worked at McDonald's for seven years prior to joining the police force in 1984 — sent an open letter to the CEO of McDonald's Canada. The 99 Rideau location was "breaching your established standards of operation" wrote Bordeleau, outlining the restaurant's "ongoing criminal activity and social disorder".[1][5] He noted the increasing burden on police, with an increase in the annual calls for help made from the restaurant from 2014 and 2017: a jump from 647 to 928 calls. "In fact, even as I draft this letter, another individual is recovering from a stabbing that occurred at that address yesterday."[9]

In response, the restaurant announced it would shut down from 10pm to 6am each night, close its back door, and hire additional security guards.[3] Ottawa's mayor, Jim Watson applauded the move, saying "far too many police resources were being spent in that restaurant".[1]