I have eaten at Twelve 24 three times now, and I'm pretty much over it.
This restaurant is close to my campus, and for a while it was nice to have a good-looking new kid on the block, especially after having eaten at most of the places around here at least once over the past two years. The food is good. Not great, and certainly not anything to write home about, but good. Unfortunately, there are a few things I haven't appreciated about this place, and because the food is just good, not stellar, these negative things can't hide behind the positives.
The first time I went, I ordered a gyro sandwich to dine-in. The gyro did not come with any sides, and since the sides were too expensive and the gyro was already pricey, I just had the gyro. The dish looked lovely when it came out of the kitchen, with parchment paper wrapped around half of it and loaded with tzatziki sauce, but when I went to eat it, quickly realized that the sauce was only on the front, unwrapped half. I had to unwrap the gyro, thus defeating the purpose of wrapping it in the first place, and spread the sauce to the back half, but there was too much sauce and the whole gyro became a total mess. It was a bear to eat and I didn't appreciate having gyro slop everywhere just so the kitchen could produce a pretty presentation.
The second time I went, having learned my lesson about the gyro sandwich, I ordered a gyro platter to go. The platters come with two sides, and the options for the sides are listed on the menu. The picture next to the platters section of the menu depicts the gyro platter specifically, and the side in the picture is clearly a Greek salad (feta, olives, banana peppers, etc), but a Greek salad is not listed in the platter side options. When I asked about it, the register person didn't know and asked a cook. The cook told me if I wanted a Greek salad side, I would have to pay extra. When I pointed out that the side in the picture was a Greek salad, he only shrugged. I ended up ordering a regular salad side (which WAS one of the options) with banana peppers and Greek vinaigrette, because I certainly wasn't about to pay extra for the already overpriced food, and especially not for a side that should be available if the place is going to use a picture of it on the menu!
The third (and now final) time I went, I placed a to-go order for the Wednesday burger special, which was advertised on their chalk-board and on a printed sign by the register as a 7 oz burger and fries for $9.99. I asked for mayo, ketchup, pickles, onion, lettuce, tomato, and cheese on the burger - the cheese was $0.75 more, but the other toppings were included in the price. As I waited for my order, I scanned the menu out of curiosity to see how much my order would have been if it were not on special. I was pretty surprised to discover that the 7 oz burger is $6.99, and the fries (sold separately) are $2.99, which means the meal normally costs $9.98 - the Wednesday burger "special" is actually a penny MORE than a regular order of the same items!!!!! I asked the register person about it, and she did the math with me and agreed, but said she didn't know why the special didn't really save any money. She was nice enough about it, but she didn't offer to get a manager, make it right, or even claim that she would at least let a manager know. I felt snookered and I didn't really appreciate it. The only consolation for me in that moment was that I had gone in with the intention of ordering a burger and fries, before I learned it was the Wednesday "special," so I would have paid pretty much the same price anyway. Shrug, I suppose.
While I let it go in the moment, I finally had the last straw when I sat down to eat my to-go meal: they missed putting ketchup on my overpriced burger. Additionally, they only included 4 ketchup packets in the bag for my fries, so I had to ration the stupid ketchup for my stupid burger and stupid fries. Yes, I realize that this is a small thing, but with the other issues I've experienced, I am over this place. I refuse to give this place any more of my pennies, whether or not they fix the "specials."
So, the take-home message here is, if you want to be treated like a rube at a carnival while Twelve24 uses misdirection to grift your money, then by all means go check out the fancy new deli on the block. But if you want value for your dollar, skip Twelve24 and instead check out their many nearby competitors. read more