McDonald’s brings back cult-favorite BBQ sandwich — and Los Angeles is on the menu

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Fast food aficionados will rejoice with the return of a beloved sandwich later this month — but it’ll only be for consumers in select cities.

McDonald’s is bringing back its McRib sandwich starting Tuesday, Oct. 27, though USA Today confirms it will only be available in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Dallas.

The fast food giant also confirmed the McRib will be available in St. Louis, Seattle and Cleveland, and customers are advised to check the McDonald’s app to see which locations the McRib is available in.

The fast food chain even teased the news on its verified X account Thursday with a rather cryptic tweet: “Are u a mcRib bc ur really playing hard to get.”

are u a McRib bc ur really playing hard to get

— McDonald's (@McDonalds) October 22, 2026

While those cities were confirmed by the restaurant, customers have been reporting McRib sightings at local restaurants all over the country, according to the aptly named website McRib Locator.

Customers have reported purchasing a McRib in cities such as San Antonio; Charlotte, N.C.; Pittsburgh; Scottsdale, Arizona; El Paso, Texas and Columbus, Ohio, to name just a few.

The news comes just a week after The Independent reported the barbecue-slathered pork sandwich will be returning to United Kingdom restaurants at the end of October as well, after a near-decade absence.

The McRib first debuted in 1981, first offered as a limited-time offering in Kansas City before expanding nationwide, developed by René Arend, the Luxembourg native who invented Chicken McNuggets in 1979.

The boneless pork patty is shaped like a small rack of ribs, dipped in barbecue sauce and served on a hoagie-style bun with pickles and slivered onions.

Arend revealed in a 2010 Maxim magazine interview that the overwhelming success of his Chicken McNuggets ultimately led to the creation of the McRib.

“The McNuggets were so well received that every franchise wanted them. There wasn’t a system to supply enough chicken,” Arend said at the time.

“We had to come up with something to give the other franchises as a new product. So the McRib came about because of the shortage of chickens,” he continued, adding that Southern barbecue inspired the sandwich. “I had just come back from Charleston, South Carolina, where I ate sandwiches made from pulled pork. I said to myself, ‘Something with that flavor should really go over.'”

It was ultimately removed from the menu for the first time in 1985, due to low sales, but McDonald’s brought it back in 1989, where it would remain as a fixture of the menu until 2005.

Despite a “Farewell Tour” publicity campaign in November 2005, McDonald’s would ultimately bring back the sandwich on limited basis between 2007 and 2012.

The chain has brought the McRib back for annual, brief offerings every year since 2014, with last year’s offering also bringing the return of another long-lost dessert: the Holiday Pie.

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