The McRib returns to McDonald’s on Oct 27 — but not everywhere

The McRib is back — again. McDonald’s is bringing its cult-favourite pork sandwich back for a limited time starting October 27, which would be a perfectly normal bit of fast-food news if the chain hadn’t spent 2022 insisting this thing was gone for good.

Here’s the catch this time: the return isn’t nationwide. According to McDonald’s, the McRib will land at select restaurants in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Dallas, with more locations potentially joining later. Your best bet for finding one is checking the McDonald’s app for your local restaurant’s status.

For the uninitiated, the McRib is a seasoned, boneless pork patty pressed into the shape of a rib rack, slathered in tangy barbecue sauce and topped with slivered onions and dill pickles on a toasted bun. It has been one of the chain’s most recognizable limited-time items since it debuted in 1981.

The farewell that keeps not happening

The sandwich’s relationship with retirement has become a running joke. In 2022, McDonald’s announced the McRib was heading out on a “Farewell Tour,” complete with commemorative merchandise and the implied promise that this was your last chance to order one. It wasn’t.

The McRib returned to select restaurants in 2023, came back again in 2024, and showed up yet again in 2025. This year marks its fourth consecutive post-announcement appearance. As Delish put it, McDonald’s and the McRib clearly have very different definitions of the word “farewell.”

Fans are already reacting in predictable fashion. “I need this more than I need air,” one Instagram commenter wrote. Another, who’d recently had one, said, “It was so damn delicious…and I always ask for extra onions and extra sauce!” One skeptic asked the question everyone’s thinking: “I’ve never had it but I know people go crazy for it. Is it THAT good?”

McDonald’s hasn’t said how long the McRib will stick around this time. So if you want one, check your app — and maybe don’t take the next farewell tour too seriously.