Stopped by Krystal's in Lake Park, Ga about 2:45pm on a Saturday (07/23/2016) afternoon. Walked into a store with very dirty floors, dirty tables and quite a few flies flying around. Like an ill omen in a fantasy novel, I should have taken this warning and walked out the door and went to Zaxby's. I stood as the only customer in the store in the Queue line waiting to be acknowledged by an employee, there were 3 working. after waiting 5 minutes I was acknowledged and told "we will be with you in just a moment". I waited again for about 10 minutes more, it was now 3pm. During this time of waiting two other employees walked from in the back to continue stocking Krystal boxes above the grill, refill supplies, and to count down the register drawer that I was standing directly in front of.
I was then informed that the two front registers were "down" my order was taken on the Drive Thru register and rang up, I was given a drive through ticket and a drink and asked to wait for my order. The young girl apologized earlier by saying the Drive thru was really busy and backed up and we had to get all of those customers take care of. By this time the line behind me had built up to about 6 or more people. The registers also decided to come back up, I think they were counting it down. By this time I had seen an extra 2 people walk out of the back and then proceed back to the back again. So I know there were 5 employees working while I was there. My ticket said my order had been placed at 3:09Pm.
Waiting.. Waiting and Waiting some more.. after all the people in line behind me had placed their order we all began the long process of waiting, usually it doesn't take any more than 5-10 minutes (AT MOST) for the Krystal in Valdosta to push out orders. They are making the food fairly fresh so I am willing to wait for that. 3:20 came and went.. and two orders behind me had already gotten their food. **Again remember that I was rang up on the Drive Thru computer**
3:25 came and went. By this time all the people behind me had gotten their food, I was quite patient while waiting and didn't make a super big deal. Again I approached the counter, standing behind another gentleman who had a problem with his order. He had ordered cheese on his order and not gotten it. The lady that assisted him apologized and gave him a full refund, even though he just asked for a refund on just the extra cheese part. He walked away and their I stood in front of the counter waiting......
Finally around 3:30 I had, had enough. While waiting I could clearly see the order boards in the back and could also see the one for the Drive Thru my order number was not seen on either one. I asked the young lady to come and assist me, again she never really acknowledged me or the fact that I was standing there. I asked her to check on the status of my order? Had they run out of meat, were they slaughtering a cow? I didn't know.. She glanced at my receipt and look right back at me, without consulting the order board and said, well you have only been waiting 9 minutes and there are other people in front of you who have been waiting 12 and 14 minutes so they will get their food first. She then walked away before I could say anything else.
After this I checked the order board again to confirm that my order (#377) was not on either one, it was not. I again asked for her to come, also it should be noted that none of the employees at this location were wearing name tags or hairnets. All the ladys had their hair in messy pig tails while preparing food. Anyway..
I told her that she didn't need to lie and that I can read the order board and that my order was not on either one of them. I called out the order numbers I could read from the front counter and asked her again if I would be able to get my food. She said yes finally and actually processed a refund for me (even though I didn't ask for it) she said it was for having to wait so long.. which she now knew surprisingly. She huffed and puffed and fixed my food in a bag for me and then gave me my refund. The food was hot and delicious, so there is not problem there I don't think.
This location needs some serious management intervention, the employees need to have some sort of manager to supervise and motivate them. Nametags would be nice, I asked the girl her name and honestly can't remember it. But I don't have a nametag to look at either so she could have made one up. The overall cleanliness of the store was horrible, several tables had ketchup / food on them and weren't wiped down. Both trash cans were overflowing. The Soda dispensing area was a mess.. there was a unsweet tea dispenser, no sweet tea anywhere.. the unsweet tea one looked very nasty. I am emailing a copy of this review to Krystal's HQ and posting the review on Yelp, Tripadvisor, and facebook. I will not be visiting the Lake Park, Ga location ever again. read more