This Might Be The Weirdest McDonald’s Menu Item (Even For The ’80s)

McDonald’s has tried some pretty wild things over the years. There have been strange burgers, colorful desserts, and plenty of limited-time experiments that disappeared almost as quickly as they came. But pizza? Yes, McDonald’s once thought pizza belonged on its menu.

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The idea sounds strange now, but during the late 1980s and 1990s, McPizza was a very real thing. Some McDonald’s restaurants had actual pizzas on the menu, complete with pizza boxes. Decades later, people still remember McPizza, and some former fans are convinced McDonald’s made a mistake by getting rid of it.

McDonald’s Really Went For It With Pizza

McDonald’s started testing pizza during the 1980s as the company looked for new ways to compete for dinner customers. Pizza was already a huge part of the fast-food world thanks to chains such as Pizza Hut and Domino’s, so McDonald’s clearly saw an opportunity.

By the early 1990s, the pizza experiment had grown to more than 500 McDonald’s restaurants. This was not some tiny test hidden in a few locations. McDonald’s was seriously trying to make pizza happen.

The pizzas changed over time, too. Some restaurants sold larger pizzas meant for sharing, while later versions were smaller and designed for individual customers.

One Big McProblem

A Big Mac can be cooked, wrapped, and handed over pretty quickly. But a pizza needs time.

The original McPizza could take around 10 minutes or more to prepare. That might be perfectly normal at a pizza restaurant, but at McDonald’s, waiting that long for food felt like an eternity.

The pizza also created problems at the drive-thru. A regular McDonald’s order could fit into a paper bag. A pizza needed a big box.

So while one customer was already driving away with a burger and fries, another could still be waiting for a pizza to finish baking. That was not exactly the fast-food experience McDonald’s was built around.

Eventually, the pizza experiment began disappearing. By around 2000, McDonald’s had removed pizza from almost all of its U.S. restaurants. And just like that, McPizza became a piece of fast-food history.

People Still Love McPizza

A lot of fans still love McPizza and you can feel the nostalgia when they’re talking about it. 

A Reddit post about the old McDonald’s pizza sparked plenty of memories from people who actually ate it. Some commenters remembered it as surprisingly good, with a few even saying they preferred it to pizza from some of the big pizza chains.

Of course, there are those who remember McPizza as average at best. But the most interesting thing is that even people who did not love it seem to remember it. 

McDonald’s Tried A New Kind Of McPizza

McDonald’s didn’t completely give up on pizza. The newer versions simply look a lot more practical.

McDonald’s Italy introduced Panzerotti, a small fried pocket filled with pizza-style ingredients. It was much easier to eat than a full pizza and, more importantly, much easier to imagine fitting into a McDonald’s kitchen.

Then McDonald’s Canada brought another pizza-inspired item to the menu in 2025: McPizza Bites. Instead of bringing back the giant pizza box, McDonald’s went with small fried bites filled with mozzarella and pizza-style filling. The product came from McDonald’s Italy as part of the chain’s International Menu Heist lineup.

Of course, Reddit had opinions. Some customers liked the McPizza Bites and compared them to pizza pockets. Others thought the portions were too small for the price. A few basically said the whole thing missed the point because what they really wanted was the old McPizza back.

There Is Still A McDonald’s With Pizza

For anyone who wants to get McDonald’s pizza, there is one location in Orlando, Florida. It has become something of a destination for people who want to see what happens when McDonald’s gets a little weird with the menu, as they also sell pasta.