Try to come here after a softball game it was barely 1015 not even, try to get the new dill burger and of course they were out of them just because I didn't wanna sit there and make it when they're in reality could've probably made an extra hundred bucks because there's about five people who wanted that so instead we went to Jack-in-the-Box and gave them our money they need to get rid of the sonic already the only thing they're good for is their lemonades read more

Worst Somic EVER. Only when they first opened did I have a good experience here..after that idk what happened but nothing ever works! I just waiting 20 minutes in the drive thru to order just to find out they are only taking cash. And guess who doesnt have cash and just wasted her lunch break for no food. read more

How is sonic out of lemonade at 4:00pm?! A sonic out of lemonade slush is like an In-n-out out of burgers. Apparently nothing was working. When I mean nothing I include the workers. Fries where cold probably where there for hours. The only item that was edible was the soda. Forgot to mention the grill wasn't working, nor the drive thru speaker. read more

Absolutely terrible!!!!! Took 40 mins for 2 slushees! Both slushees tasted like tap water! WILL NOT BE RETURNING

1.5 stars didn't scare us. Maybe because of new management, but we think the service and food quality wasn't as bad as the reviews we read. Service was friendly and they got our order right. We had burgers and hot dogs and they were pretty good. Our caramel and strawberry shakes were made well, and the cherry limeades were good. Will be back the next time we're in Salinas read more

Every time we have come here it has been a terrible experience. We have stopped for a quick burger and it has taken 20-30 min to get our food more than once. We decided to try again through the drive thru because we have seen the food come much quicker that way while waiting parked outside. We sat in line for 20 min only to find out it was cash only. DO NOT COME HERE! unless you like waiting a long time only to not get food. Will not come back. read more

So I pulled in the drive-through which I was already waiting 25 minutes. which is lonh but as soon as I pull up to the speaker nobody says anything for a good while so I said hello they said they'll be right with me 15 minutes go by then I'm thinking to myself why am I still here so I said hello again she said the same thing I'll be right with you so after waiting another long time I just drove off but one thing I do know I would not be going back to sonic!! #JustSad read more

The food at this Sonic in Salinas is awful. The tots were mushy and cold and the burger was cold. I will never go here again. Sonic should shut this place down because if this was someone's first time ever trying Sonic, then I guarantee they would never try another one again. read more

Says it's open at 8am been here for 15 minutes and its still not open. I don't even see anyone inside! There are a couple of people waiting behind me aswell. Heading to the Carl's Jr across the street they have better breakfast anyways. read more

My experience was nice. I got a burger, popcorn chicken, fries, a drink, and a Oreo blast. Other than the fries and chicken not being hot the food was delicious. Probably one of the better drive thru burger joints here. The business isn't doing too great I think since people are complaining about waiting for someone to come up to them. I went through the drive thru and was helped instantly and courteously. I'll definitely be back because there's in shape down the across the lot and I feel it's my duties to show those gym rats how good I am at eating myself silly. I suggest you try it out. If you hate it you can call me fat read more

Terrible location! None of the stalls are working and I sat there for 20 minutes until I drove around to hear that only the drive thru was available. After staying in the line for 30 mins, we were told they only take cash! No signs anywhere of this! Beyond frustrated with this location! I have had nothing but terrible experiences for the past few months! The owners need to do something about who they have running this establishment! read more

Tried to order at a drive in stall, and after waiting 20 minutes, decided to use the app. After ordering and confirming I was on location, here I am 30 minutes later and no food. The on screen display says its "in the kitchen" now for 25 minutes. Apparently the drive throu is all that matters here :(. Edit: called the store and food was brought out, but it was cold, called store again and now waiting 20 minutes for fresh food. Do I dare eat what is brought out? read more

Omg worst service I ordered a slushy online went to pick it up. Checked it and I waited over 25 min. If I could cancel my order from the app I would've if I could get a refund. Don't use the app better yet go to another place to get your sweats. I only gave 1 star because I had to go write a review the deserve - stars read more

Food was great, everything was freshly made. My order was given correct. Service was great. I was given sauces without asking for any & employee was very polite. I was skeptical at first due to negative ratings I saw since I absolutely love Sonic. I will definitely be coming back when I'm in town. read more

Don't understand why the reviews are low- they were quick, kind, and efficient. My food was very good, could have used more ice in my drink but that's something I should have specified- they were not very busy on my visit, which could attribute to my food being done so fast, but they still gave me great service and food! read more

Bad costumer service, no need to explain my review others say it all. It hasn't changed. Poor management.

I went to this Sonic a lot as a kid and was excited to try it out again with my girlfriend. Unfortunately, today's experience did not live up to memory. It took five minutes after pressing the intercom button for anyone to take our order, but we remained optimistic. We ordered a grilled cheese and a large tater tots. When the food came, our server Daniel (who was very nice and apologetic. the only highlight of the visit), only had tots and told us that they were out of bread. I regarded it as bad luck, and wasn't going to leave a bad review based on this. BUT! As we ate the tots, we found SO! MUCH! HAIR! in them. I constantly had to pick our stands of both light and dark hair. Definitely won't be returning soon. read more

this place is garbage.. THIS was the second time I placed a oder to pick up...get there check in on the app. .charged me for the friggin food that 20 minutes later after going to the door they didn't even have my order...I went home with no friggin food... I hate this place....don't go here...I am disabled had to get out of car and hunt someone down to have them look at the order on my phone like ....what???? I was going to splrug and treat myself to a Hambuger, and fries....instead I am so Angry. And HUNGRY...AND AT HOME WITH NO FOOD!!!! read more

Will never be back here again!!! Worst customer service ever!! After having my entire order (dinner for 4 people) shoved in to one tiny bag, I get out of my car and the bag rips sending our dinner all over the lawn. I drove back over there to tell them, and the young man at the window said the manager told him I should have brought back the food and bag to prove it ripped. Really?!? I wasn't looking for my entire order to be replaced, just what had been completely lost or forgotten to begin with. Then he had the nerve to ask if I wanted to order the food again. Needless to say, they got no more money from me that night or ever again. read more

For being a fast food joint, this place is the slowest Sonics I've been too. The only thing that keeps me coming back is the chili cheese tater tots. They need to work on their speed. read more

I'm from Tennessee so when I finally was able to come to sonic after 2 years of not going. I was very disappointed I ordered a double bacon cheeseburger. The lettuce was old the bottom patty was burnt to a crisp, but best of all my bacon wasn't even cooked it was still oinking on my burger. Pure laziness at its finest! I will not go back read more

See all

I want to tell you about my Sonic experiences. First, do not come to this place at night. I have tried ordering ice cream at night and either they are out of ice cream, or the ice cream tastes like the bottom of the barrel. Like it has sand in it, along with chewy bits of dried ice cream. Also, I made a trip there for a hamburger, I used the drive thru. Nobody answered me at the speaker, so I pulled up to the window and caught one of the boys getting busy with a girl in the kitchen. He had her pushed up against a refrigerator and they both were enjoying them selves. I honked my horn and the boy tried to come to the window, with the girl hanging on to his belt and him dragging her across the kitchen. Needless to say I did not order anything. I did not want their hands touching my food. I don't think there is a manager at this place. All you have are a bunch of horny teenagers having fun. read more

We went to this location yesterday for lunch and were very unhappy with the ridiculous way they responded to fixing a mistake THEY made. One of our orders was a number 4 because my wife wanted something with bacon and it is made with bacon strips in it. After her second bite she noticed it didn't taste like bacon so she opened the burger/toaster and realized they didn't put any bacon in it. I pressed the call button and when the person on the intercom answered I responded that we ordered a number 4 but that there is no bacon in it. She said "I'll send someone over". Ten minutes later we're still waiting, the burger has gotten cold and I'm upset. I press the button again and when the person answers I tell her "I let you know 10 minutes ago about our order that was made wrong, you made a bacon burger with no bacon and were still waiting for you to send someone over". She replied "they'll be rite there" I figured that since it was they're mistake and more since it had been so long that the burger was no longer warm to eat, that they would take the burger back and make a new one (also it only had 2 bites so it was practically whole). When the call girl came to our vehicle with a small bag I try to hand her the cold burger and she says "no, i brought you some bacon" To my surprise and extreme disappointment the call girl came to us with a little bag with some strips of bacon in it and they expected us to just put them in the cold burger and be satisfied. I got mad and told her that the burger was cold from sitting there all that time and that we had to press the call button twice because no one came. She replied, "oh yeah, they told me to come 10 minutes ago but I forgot because I was with other customers". I understand there are many customers but if they knew we had been waiting all that time how in the world would they simply try to give us some bacon strips and expect us to put them in a cold burger. This type of service is not acceptable at all!!! This is bullshit!! I don't know how they allow a drive in to be run like this. Might as well have told me to fuck off or to go inside and make my own burger!! read more

Well let's be honest, Sonic is Great if you visit any other location. It just seems like the high turnover rate of employees is the real problem. My last visit to this location is due to working in the area and I parked and walked up to find three employees sitting down with there feet up on the tables. Then one employee comes outside to let us know that it was drive thru only, so we get back in the work truck and pulled up to the menu and that is when he told us that they had no drinks and cash only. Now the cash only was ok for me as I had some cash but no drinks with my lunch at 1:00 pm, not happening. This will be the last visit to this location until this place gets seriously upgraded. read more

Food was decent. Shake and drinks were very good. They were out of a lot of foods and cutlery. Service was decent and they got our order right. read more

If there was zeros stars that would be my option. This store is so unorganized, never excepts card and the stalls Are never available. The workers are never in uniform, Always see them dressed in baggy ass 501 jeans and black tees. Idk if it's just salinas or me but this whole place is ghetto. It's gotta go. Highly recommend the one in gilroy tho. read more

**************WARNING *************** Eat here at your own risk! For starters the stalls close at 9:30pm regardless of the sign posted stating that they close the stalls at 10pm. Then you pull into the longest and slowest drive thru line to waiting for food that will be mediocre at best and usually cold. If you order a shake it will probably taste like ass or soap. Maybe even a combination of the two. Don't even bother trying to get a refund or even a substitute. Been to many of Sonics in my life and this is by far the worst. Usually Sonic serves up hot food and delicious drinks but for some reason this location fails to deliver. I'm assuming it has to do with management. Tonight was my first and last visit at this Sonic. read more

I wish they had better service. Definitely not like the Sonic in Gilroy or in Oklahoma. They are always out of something! Today no Shakes and no strawberries for Sundaes on SUNDAY!!! Corporate should know what is going on here in Salinas...... read more

Honestly the only good things on the menu are the desserts, drinks, and tater-tots. Plus the pull up and park option is convenient.

I normally come here a lot to get the slushies and well tonight I was very disappointed !!! Reason 1 as we're waiting in line to get our order you could see the employee's horse playing and yelling at each other through the window!! And reason two when we got our order my drink was super super sweet sweeter than normal !! and when I got my jalapeno poppers there was a legit long hair cooked with one of the jalapeno popper's !! and I normally don't like to write a bad review but I was disappointed in my order and well maybe the employees should stop horse playing and do their job right!! read more

We have come here three times in the last 4 months. Every single time we have come, the ice cream and shake machine is broken. Very odd. Do not recommend. read more

Ordered a cheeseburger, got them without meat. Got some wings, half of them didn't have sauce. Food smashed. Overall worst experience everrr read more

Sonic Drive-In - Burgers Near Me - Salinas, California

Was given the advise not to go until they have worked out the grand opening kinks- should have listened! Went on Sunday late afternoon craving some ice cream. There is a staging area, one line for DT and one for stalls. Thinking that the DT should move along steady I opted for that line.. BIG MISTAKE!! Waited in a line to get in the DT for almost 20 minutes. They do a great job of directing and staging customers however once they move cars along no one ensures that the cars waiting for a stall actually goes to the stalls. This results in those cars getting into the DT line which is what had us waiting so long. The ordering process was fast and we received our order at a decent pace. All of the tots and popcorn chicken were dumped into the bag not placed properly as they should have been. When we asked for a cup carrier we were given attitude as though she needed authorization from a manager. We will give it some time after they have worked out the kinks and see what happens. I hope they can get it together or we will not return and just give our business to the Gilroy location since they are more put together. read more

This 1 star rating is me being polite (and because Yelp doesn't let you give a 0). What is going on with this Sonic location? I only go here because it's the location closest to me within 25 miles or so (and anywhere else is too far to drive for a fast food craving). The employees are rude and incompetent. Can't get the order right. Every visit is worse than the last. You are in the customer service business, please act like it. Hire better people and train them properly. You're giving Sonic's a bad rep... Still love the strawberry limeade, though! read more

I don't know what's wrong with this sonics. They should just name this bitch can't get right. I order a number 3 you know what that is. Double cheeseburger with bacon. They forget bacon. A few times. My burger has been under cooked. They can't mix a slushy correctly. Order one thing and whatever you said first is more like what you gone get. Ex. Mango strawberry slushy. Got you mango slushy. Tater tots. We all go there for tater tots why are they never on point. Why. I've even gotten a hot dog. Ordered Chicago dog. Bitch wasn't cooked. I don't know. I don't know. I only keep going cuz it's sonics. Of a lot of fast food places it's still better. But that's like saying it's less shitty than the one before. It's not that's it's good it's just better. And I used to love sonics. I've ordered there whole menu. Damn Salinas sonics. You are killing the dream. read more

First time i ever tried Sonics was the gilroy location. I think if I'm ever craving some sonics i rather drive to the gilroy location & get better service & a decent serving. The salinas location is horrible, i rarely eat out so the 3-4 time's we gave sonics a try and the same things happened that means 1: their employees during the night shifts don't care 2: you get half ass orders When it gets busy with the drive thru full you'll never get serviced at the stalls. You'll litterly be waiting for a response for more than 20min to no response. That happened more than twice so that means either they're under staff, employee's at that point don't care to answer parkside orders or employees they've hired aren't capable of handling rush hour's if so that owner needs to rehire a more competent staff. When drive thru is full the line never advances (IN&OUT gets as busy or more & they are capable of managing better) once you do receive your order your hotdog looks nothing like the menu, half prepared. I've seen so many just leave to go else where. Gilroy sonics i have no issues. They probably have the best working staff and service, which is how i remember the first time's i ever tried it. Go to the Gilroy one instead. read more

Bad bad BAD!!! No no and more noooooo!!!!!!!. This is a horrible sonics can't even believe this place exists! After a late movie at the theater the wife and I were hungry and had the hankering for some wingstop. She called but they had her wait(we should of waited) and then I remembered sonics had their new boneless wings flavors and told her "hey lets go try the new wings from sonics" bad move! We went and all the park locations were on so I parked and looked at their menu to see what else looked good. When we were ready to order I pressed the button and the answer was "oh were close,only drive thru is open" well FML!!!! Turned the signs off dang it!!! Anyways I went trough the drive thru and was greeted with the rudest person I have ever had the "joy" to speak to. "What do you want?" Was what I got. So I ordered a classic chicken sandwich and before I finished saying my order she said anything else. Then I ordered 6 pc garlic parmesan wings and again she Interrupted me with the anything else line. I ordered another 6 pc buffalo sauce wings and another classic chicken sandwich. When I pulled up the window the girls inside just were standing there talking there mouth off with the window closed. After they decided to charge me and hand me the food they looked like they had no idea what they were doing. They gave me half of my order only and then the girl closed the window. I did not move, the girl who handed me the food looked confused and was asking the other girls something. After a minute or so she gets more food and says sorry I forgot the other sandwich. So I parked in a parking space to eat and the first thing I grabbed was the sandwich. BLAAAH!!!! The burger buns tasted like old bread that's been heat up in the microwave. The chicken was cold. The boneless wings were a joke. After seeing a review of them on youtube, shout out to daym drops, in his review the wings were covered in sauce. Mine? Well lets just say they got some chicken nuggets, got a bottle of ketchup, cleaned it out, put the garlic or buffalo sauce in there and squeezed a drop of sauce on the wings. I was eating chicken nuggets with a hint of their new sauces. Hope this place closes down cus its just a waste of space. Pretty soon this place is going to be the next Chipotle with its E. Coli situation if they don't find people that take their job serious no matter where one works at. Save your money Carl's Jr across the street is a better spot. Two thumbs down,0 stars out of 10,0.5 out of 5 the lowest of the lowest. read more

See all

First and last time! 45 min drink be thru wait handed the wrong food and wrong change.. aweful

To the owners please get this location under control. It seems like I am bothering them. They have to check if they have ketchup and mustard. Not sure if they ever heard of napkins. The food is barely warm. Drive through is the only thing open. Its very sad. read more

I'd give it less than 1 star if given the chance. They messed up our order TWICE even after we sent it back. Fries were cold. Order 6 wings and got 5. Burger was soggy and disgusting. NEVER COMING BACK. read more

Sonic Drive-In - Burgers Near Me - Salinas, California