Went to A&W last night to grab a late dinner and what an awful experience.
We placed 2 orders in the drivethru, 1 being a Spicy Habanero Chicken Sandwich, no Mayo (due to an allergy), the other was; a mozza burger combo, add grilled onions, with onion rings and a root beer a truffle buddy burger, and 2 chicken buddy burgers.
First we paid, and one of us paid in cash. Then we were handed 'the first order', and we waited for our second. The server came to the window after a few minutes and asked us what they could help us with, and this shouldve been the red flag. We then explained that we placed two orders, which made her look very confused, which is odd as she took the orders. Then, we checked in the first bag....a mozza burger w fries with mayo and no grilled onions, not even remotely close to the spicy chicken habenaro w no mayo. So we told them, she took the bag back, which is unacceptable in COVID times, and then riffles through the contents, touching everything without ever washing her hands once.
Then she handed it back. Then the confusion in the kitchen began with the server and kitchen staff yelling back and forth at each other, as we watched the server look through every burger and side that was up touching every part with their fingers that hand just handled money (repulsive).
They then handed us another bag...this one had the right chicken burgers but yet again another mozza with no grilled onions. So we told them that, and they handed us another bag, as I realized they forgot the truffle buddy and requested that. At that point the server actually paused and stared at us like we were asking them to solve world hunger not just to do the job they are paid for. And huffed at going to get the right items. Finally they handed us the buddy and shut the window on us, as we waited there for the other root beer. The server returned to the window and we asked for the root beer and they laughed sating 'oops i had then all poured.'. smh.
We returned home after over 15 minutes of waiting for food, with our cold food we no longer wanted after watching it be fingered by a stranger with dirty hands. But were starving, so we took the risk and tried to eat it. The root beer was flat, the fries were ice, the onion rings were cold and had obviously been in the warmer for far too long. As for the burgers, iunno if these people were new or what but it was the worst mozza burger Ive ever had and the truffle buddy was volitile and even our dog refused to eat it. We then saw the reviews on here telling people how that staff at this location talked about spitting in peoples food, which should be grounds for immediate dismissal quite frankly, and caused us to be so repulsed we couldnt eat any of the food we ordered (that was even edible) after that.
This was hands down the worst experience I have ever had at any A&W as the service, speed and quality of food was disgusting. As someone who has worked in every area of food service and was a food service manager for several years, this is all unacceptable and broke several customer service rules (yelled at each other, huffed at us, appeared to be inconvenienced at having to do their job) as well as health and safety LAWS (didnt wash hands, touched money and food, food sitting out too long) and COVID rules by accepting food or waste passed back through the drive thru window after we had touched it.
Ive done fast food, while stressful at times, we were behind only one car when we ordered and no one was behind us initially. This should not be that hard, and we saw the ord5dr had been rung in correctly, so they literally just had to read the screen and know how to do their jobs. Not sure if the employees are illiterate, lazy, unintelligent or just hate their jobs but there really is no excuse. Get new staff or shut down.
Absolutely disgusted with this experience and A&W, and that we threw away about $35 of food because it was inedible and we were grossed out.
I will be forwarding my concerns to their corporate office and to the food safety administration of Nova Scotia. read more
