They exaggerated, but not by much. You can easily find brasseries in Paris with a lunch menu for 15-20 euros. The catch is that you have to eat during lunch time, they are typically not open through the day. Dinners are more of course.
We really do live on different planets if you really think those prices are real. I never paid prices anything like that in various countries in central Europe, and I sure as hell didn't go to McDonald's. But if I had, a typical meal there is about 10 Euros or so in Germany. What the heck are you ordering, their most expensive bottles of wine or something? Or are you going to the most exclusive restaurants in these cities?
We live on different planets. Eating in Bucharest or Sofia, one of the lower priced European capitals, will cost you far more than that.
In Paris it will cost around 200 euros, unless by brasserie you mean McDonalds. And even at McDonalds in Paris you don't get much for 25 euros.