We Ranked the Official McEva Burgers

In late December 2024, McDonald's Japan announced the unlikeliest of collaborations, one with Evangelion. Starting with the announcement of transformable Evangelion McDonald's toys, the fast-food chain subsequently released a trio of collaboration hamburgers. Dubbed the Cheese Double Teriyaki burger, Zakukiri Potato & Nikuatsu Beef Koku Uma Garlic Mayo (literally “Large Cut Potato and Thick Beef Rich Flavor Garlic Mayo) burger, and the Mexican Cheese Chicken burger, the three burgers represent Evangelion characters Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, and Asuka Langly Shikinami respectively. So, in a sense, fans of Evangelion can eat their favorite characters. But are these McEva burgers any good? Richard Eisenbeis and I, Ken Iikura-Gross, walked over to our local McDonald's to try them out.

Cheese Double Teriyaki (Shinji) Burger

The Shinji burger is a double pork patty topped with a heavy coating of teriyaki sauce, cheese, lettuce, and mayo. The heavy coating of teriyaki sauce drowns out many of the other flavors in the burger. This is a real shame because when you get a bite with some mayo, it adds a slightly salty and vinegary taste.

The most unfortunate thing about the Shinji burger, though, is the teriyaki sauce doesn't work well with the cheese. This is likely because teriyaki sauce is generally made with soy sauce, sugar, sake, and mirin rice wine; these flavors don't mesh well with cheese. Additionally, there's a distinct aftertaste of the pork patties, which, if you've ever eaten a multi-patty burger, can be the death knell of the flavor profile.

What really works against the Shinji burger is that the Teriyaki Burger is available year-round at McDonald's Japan locations. Granted, the Teriyaki Burger is a single pork patty burger with lettuce and mayo, but this diminishes the uniqueness of the Shinji burger. Then again, thematically, it fits the bill. As Richard said, “For the most normal of the burgers, that is the Shinji burger. And I guess that makes sense.”

Zakkuri Potato & Nikuatsu Beef Koku Uma Garlic Mayo (Rei) Burger

The Rei burger is a thick beef patty (possibly the quarter-pound patty) with a thick sliced hashbrown patty, cheese, garlic mayo sauce, and steak sauce. Like the Shinji burger, we mistook the steak sauce for BBQ sauce in our video review. The Rei burger is the burger both Richard and I thought we'd enjoy the most. This stems from the hashbrown placed in the burger, which we thought would add a little extra something to the flavor. We were, sadly, disappointed by the burger. Not so much in the flavor department, but because of how little the hashbrowns brought to the burger. More precisely, we wanted a salt and pepper flavor from the potatoes.

However, despite the lackluster hashbrowns, the garlic mayo sauce is delicious and fits the burger well. It also took a bit of eating, but once you hit the steak sauce, it adds a new dimension to the overall flavor of the burger. Where it starts off garlicky, the steak sauce mixes well with the hashbrown and bun to give the burger a sweeter taste. It's a nice respite from the generally salty taste of fast-food burgers, making it much more enjoyable. But the lacking hashbrown left us wanting more. Or, as we joked:

Mexican Cheese Chicken (Asuka) Burger

The Asuka burger is a fried chicken patty with cheddar cheese, pickles, mayo, and taco meat filling. The first thing I noticed was the aroma. The moment you unwrap the burger, you get a strong whiff of that faux-Mexican seasoning flavor you'd smell at a Taco Bell or other Mexican-style fast-food restaurant. However, living in Japan and not experiencing this aroma often, it did make me hungry and curious. And the burger does not disappoint.

The taco meat filling has a mild spice level, giving those with a low tolerance for spicy food just enough burn to enjoy. The mayo also contains a smooth, salty, vinegary flavor to counteract the spice. A sort of tsundere flavoring in that it “Burns and then is sweet.” This makes the Asuka burger thematically appropriate, as she is the quintessential tsundere character. Unfortunately, something about the burger–either the chicken patty or the taco meat filling–makes it a bit salty. Had the salt content been toned down just a bit, the Asuka burger would have gone from great to excellent.

While Richard and I enjoyed the McEva burgers, a few potential menu items were missing from the collaboration. The first is two extra burgers for Kaworu Nagisa and Mari Illustrious Makinami. While it's difficult to imagine what the two burgers would be, their absence makes the collaboration a bit underwhelming. But this is understandable as we follow Shinji, Asuka, and Rei for much of the Evangelion TV and film series. The other menu item could have been an LCL fluid drink. Again, it's hard to imagine what this would be. But it feels like the LCL fluid drink would be an orange-colored Hi-C Ecto Cooler or some orange-flavored drink. Sadly, we'll never know what all three items would be.

Despite our minor lamentations about the Evangelion and McDonald's collaboration, ranking the burgers was easy for Richard and me, as we shared the same opinion.

Rankings

The Evangelion and McDonald's Japan menu collaboration began on January 6. At the time of press, McDonald's Japan has not announced an end date. So, if you're visiting Japan in January and want the taste of Evangelion, hit up the closest McDonald's.