This household goes to Raising Cane's a lot. I mean A LOT. I wanted to try another chicken restaurant just to have more variety and decided to visit Crimson Coward due to the Cole slaw, potato salad and other sides.
The establishment is located right next to Lee's Sandwiches in Lake Forest off of El Toro Road. Looking in from outside, the place is nice and clean, with wide open space and an open concept kitchen. The decor right inside by the cashier is a colorful mural with a chicken, of course.
The food and service were alright. Honestly probably our first and last visit, which makes me sad. I enjoy supporting small businesses and becoming regulars when we love them. I'll talk more about our experience but will briefly go over food. The cashier, who you can see in one of the pictures in the background, doesn't greet you. I just wanted to finish ordering to get to the table because it was just such a cold exchange. Not personable, no thank you, absolutely nothing and a not so lovely flat affect. I wasn't given the total, no talking, except when I asked about spice levels. I had to look at the screen to get the amount which we obviously all do, but cashiers will typically talk to you. I didn't even want to give a tip but had to remind myself that there were cooks who would get tips too, at least I hope they got some tip.
Let's take a break from service and talk about the food real quick.
What we ordered:
1) two Mac n cheese - my kids didn't like it.
2) crimson sandwich/medium spice - 2/5 stars . This was a lot smaller than the burrito but exactly the same ingredients. Chicken, crimson sauce, cole slaw, pickles.
3) crimson burrito/medium spice -3/5 stars. This was large in size and was exactly like the sandwich version. Chicken, crimson sauce, cole slaw, pickles.
4) one chicken tender low spice - my kid who is nuts for chicken didn't like it.
5) chicken and waffles/no spice - the waffles were very dense, dry, bland. It came with syrup but it should still be tasty by itself. My other kid didn't like the chicken either and this kid is also crazy about chicken tenders and is obsessed with waffles.
6) potato salad - I liked this side 3/4 out of 5 on this.
All but the Mac n cheese, came with a small crimson sauce.
Back to the service. The two male cooks were hard working and busy. The cashier...this is where I decided I would not return. I was going to rate the whole experience a 3 out of 5, but not after what I saw.
1) cashier - sat with their bare foot up inside the back of the front counter. Sat on an office chair, sprawled out.
2) she was on her cellphone while on speakerphone. Both her and the person she was talking to were loud. She was on the phone the entire time we were eating, even while people were coming in and ordering. She eventually put her ear buds on when people came, but again, rudely stayed on her call while customers ordered.
3) as mentioned earlier, the cashier was not personable at all, did not talk to us or to other people who walked in, didn't verbalize our total, no thank you, nothing.
4) when we asked for water cups, she had her filthy saliva covered fingers on the mouth of all of the cups. Read number 5 to know what I am talking about.
5) THE LAST STRAW and THE WORST ONE OF ALL. She was separating the paper liners that go into the boxes which food is served in while LICKING HER FINGERS like some people do when sifting through paper. YES she did this. She did it at least 12-15 times when we were there. She would separate a few here and there, lick her fingers and do it again. She did this repeatedly. Can you imagine how many times a day she does this all day long???? I didn't want to freak my family out and make them vomit everything we just ate. I just told them to hurry so we could leave. I still haven't told my family...cause OMG. I'm so grossed out and I'm trying hard not to gag right now. I'm so sensitive to seeing disgusting things like this while I eat.
So 1 out of 5 stars from this foodie. I really wanted to like this place, but the food was just alright, however, it was worsened by the unprofessional cashier with really disgusting habits. Just no. read more