Restaurant reviews aren’t usually my jam, but I’m just so annoyed, even the next morning, so here we go.
Once every couple of years, we go to or order from Red Robin. Each time, we are reminded why we do it so rarely. Tonight, I placed an online order for curbside pickup. When I arrived (albeit early), I called the number on the sign to let them know I was there. The dude who answered seemed surprised to hear from me. Still, I gave him my name and he said he’d tell “them” I was there.
I waited. And waited. Finally, when the order was 10 minutes late, I called again. Again, he seemed surprised and a bit put out that I’d interrupted whatever else he was doing. I asked if he could give me an ETA on the food. He replied, half-heartedly saying that if I could wait a couple minutes, he’d go check. Much to his chagrin, I agreed to wait (heck, I was becoming an expert on waiting for these folks). He came back and told me five minutes.
Perhaps 10 minutes later (if you’re not keeping track, that’s a whole 30 minutes late), a skittish young woman came out and asked me to tell her again the name on the order and what kind of order it was (?). I told what we’d ordered. She apparently meant to ask whether it was an online order or if I’d called it in. I told her it was online. She scurried back inside.
Another 10 minutes later, she came out with our food. It turns out that when they place a sticker over the name on the order receipt, it becomes difficult to read. Who knew? I gave a full name (as that’s what the online form asked for), but they were only looking for the last name (do they not get online orders much?). Because of the aforementioned sticker, they could only read the first two letters of the first name, so they apparently decided to ignore the mystery bag of food.
When she handed me the bag, I asked the apologetic gal if the food had been sitting there this whole time. She said no – they remade some of it. At that point, I didn’t even want to ask which parts were remade and which parts weren’t. I was hungry and no doubt had hungry people at home. Halfway back, I thought to myself, “they better have gotten the order right.” I really should have checked before driving away.
The Girl’s bacon cheeseburger had no bacon on it (though it did have the requested provolone) and my Caesar salad had stale croutons and no dressing. Also, oddly, her burger was wrapped in foil inside the takeout container, and Hubs’ burger was not. Was his order correct? I have no idea because he scarfed it down without questioning.
Now, friends, I realize this is a first world problem; but, how do they mess up their own process so royally? Please let me remember this next time, so I can suggest somewhere – anywhere else.