I tried the McRib for the first time. Sorry to everyone who loves this sandwich, including my dad, but this just ain’t it.

Given that I’d gone my entire life without ever eating a McRib, I decided that it was time to give it a try. If McDonald’s was telling the truth, this might be my last opportunity.

The McRib was born in 1980 and debuted at McDonald’s in 1981, but sales were lukewarm, so the company pulled it from the menu in 1985.

Source: Mental Floss

After the “Flintstones” campaign, the McRib cult following grew, and every year or two, McDonald’s would bring it back for a limited time. Diehard fans took that opportunity to stock up and get their fill because they never knew when it would return.

This isn’t the first time that McDonald’s has made the claim that McRibs were going for good: The first three farewell tours occurred in 2005, 2006, and 2007.

Source: Eat This, Not That

I’ll admit that the McRib never appealed to me. I grew up in South Carolina and spent eight years in Memphis, so I know what good barbecue tastes like — and the McRib didn’t seem like it would qualify.

But if this is truly the end of this era, I didn’t want to miss out. So, on a rainy afternoon, I dipped into my neighborhood McDonald’s to finally see what the fuss was all about.

The line was long, so I decided to be efficient and place my order at the kiosk. The price varies depending on your location, but in my neighborhood of Astoria, Queens, it set me back $4.99.

Source: Axios

I think every sandwich on earth benefits from extra pickles, but I didn’t customize this time. I wanted to taste the McRib in its standard form.

I snagged a table to wait for my order, which I thought was going to be brought to me (as per the instructions listed on the kiosk).

But they just called my number for me to pick up my food from the counter. No worries: I’m willing to put in the work.

I grabbed two sandwiches: one to eat and one to pull apart and dissect. I was excited to dig in and see what the fuss was all about.

The McRib I got was a substantial sandwich. If you were to eat the entire thing, it would definitely be filling and satisfying.

It was super messy and packaged without much care. All of the onions and pickles were in the center, so I had to spread them all back out again.

The meat felt spongy. It was more like a chicken nugget than any barbecue that I’d ever tasted.

And there was so much barbecue sauce.

Honestly, the sauce was actually really good — tangy with a little bit of a peppery kick.

It was also perfect for dipping fries into.

The bun was buttery and nicely toasted.

It was a sloppy one, but I managed to get my first full bite of McRib, including a little bit of the onion and pickle.

The flavor was actually pretty good. The freshness of the pickle and onion really complimented the richness of the barbecue sauce.

On the other hand, the meat had no discernable texture whatsoever — it could have been any meat or meat substitute.