A Wendy's Disgrace My friend Pete and I had to leave the Bears game at halftime because I had to show a client a 2-flat in Oak Park. Since we arrived at 2:30 and I was starving, I pulled into Wendy's on Harlem and Madison St. I had 30 minutes to eat before my 3pm showing appointment. I am a licensed realtor, CPA, and Catering business owner. I am a Friar and I have a fondness for Oak Park. My daughter worked for Wendy's last summer. My sons would tell you Wendy's is their favorite fast food restaurant. When I saw the line for the drive thru, I parked and went in to order. Pete entered after me, approached the register and asked to use the men's room. He was told he needed a mask and was ignored. After standing there for five minutes, Pete went to a table and sat down. When it was my turn to order (about five minutes later) I ordered $14 in food. I then asked if I could use the men's room. The girl who took my order called to a coworker behind me who motioned "NO." The girl at the register then informed me the restroom was "out of order." It took over 10 minutes to get my order. They were busy. But by the time I finished eating, my blood was boiling. I watched an African-American woman enter without a mask and place an order and nothing was said to her. I also watched a foreign woman get escorted to a restroom. I didn't even realize there were separate restrooms. But the thing that really got to me was when I watched staff escort a man to the men's room! Why him and not me or my friend? I stood up and started my video camera. I just wanted to show that the men's room was functional and that I was lied to. Staff took notice that I was using my camera and approached me to talk. I explained what I was doing and why. No explanation. We didn't stick around to make a huge deal out of it. I had a 3pm appointment to keep. But the only plausible reason why Pete and I couldn't use the men's room is because we were white and I was wearing my new Trump hat. Instead of hurrying to an alley to relieve myself before my showing, I should have left a puddle in the Wendy's dining room. The Oak Park Wendy's has now managed to ruin how I view Wendy's going forward. I would not have elected to rate a single star but someone might think I just forgot to rate the place. Totally disgusted! Hope someone reads this and saves the security video. read more

I love Wendy's but this location makes a point of messing up my order EVERY single time. I'm not exaggerating. I love their caesar side salads and have tried ordering them in different ways ("caesar side salad," "side salad with CAESAR dressing") and they always give me ranch, and sometimes the wrong type of salad. I don't think that the staff know what a caesar salad is. Or they just don't care. Either way, it's really irritating. Make sure to check your order before you leave. read more

Very very poor service the past three times. Long wait, cold food and the last time which was yesterday night around 9pm something wasn't right with the food because me and my boyfriend got sick off of it. read more

Huge fan of wendys, just moved into oak park a few days ago and was very excited to get wendys for lunch when i was working from home. I ended up having the worse fast food experience i have ever had in my life. I ordered a full apple pecan salad, 10 nuggets, and a medium fry. The lady at the window told me to pull up to the parking spot to wait for my food which was interesting as the few items I ordered are pretty much the quickest and easiest items to get into a on the menu. I pulled into a parking spot and then after 9 minutes of waiting i pulled back to the window. Telling them i needed my money back if the food wasnt ready because i had to get back on a work call. The lady said it would be right out with attitude to me. Get my bag of food drive away to open it and it was the complete wrong order. Driving 10 minutes extra next time to go to a different wendys location as this one was a horriable experience read more

Sept. 14, 2016 11pm at the Oak Park Wendy drive thru. I adamantly insist on fresh off the grill HOT burgers. 5 min. later, I receive luke warm burgers and not happy. I give the bag back and again specifically telling the woman working at the window in no uncertain terms HOT, FRESH, GREASY OFF THE GRILL PLEASE..... 2 min. later I get the same luke wrm stale burgers but microwaved this time. Moral of the story, Don't waste your time and hard earned money for the garbage food n service at Wendys Oak Park IL. You'd be better off buying raw hamburger from Jewel and cooking it just right in the comfort of your own home instead of tolerating lying incompetent workers offering a fake smile and stale reheated food. read more

Where do I start. I've ordered from here a few times now, each a different way. One day through the drive thru, another time in store and most recently via the app. 100% of the time they got my order wrong. In fact the order was so wrong that it may have been someone else's. I can understand one missing item but several? On separate occasion. It's almost shameful. I will not be returning to this store because what they are doing is a form of robbery. I may not order from any wendys ever again... read more

This place is a 2 minute walk from my home, and I will not return. The owner of this locations seems to keep responding to these google reviews saying they will improve, but they've done nothing. Slowest Wendy's I've ever been to. Many times the order is wrong and the staff doesn't care. The employees must be brain-dead, that's the only explanation for this level of incompetence. read more

I waited in line for 25 mins when there wasn't even that many cars in line, just for them to tell me that they won't take card. This place is notoriously horrible amongst the surrounded neighborhoods as perhaps the WORST Wendy's on earth. read more

I'm black so I know how blacks are. All that work in their is black ghetto teenagers. Worst customer service! They were arguing in the inside and nobody's food was ready. Was waiting for over 20 minutes and still had to wait for our food. We tried to ask for the right condiments and nobody answered. Terrible service and their slow. Not worth it. read more

I would give this place a zero if I could. This is the busiest and slowest Wendy's to ever exist. Seriously it took 30 mins to get through that line. THEN they messed up my entire order. No spicy nuggets and MOLDY sandwhich which made me throw up. This place needs to be closed. Terrible all around read more

Service was really disorganized, and slow. So as much as I hated to do it, and was on a tight time schedule to catch a Metra train since I had a weekend pass, I walked out before I even got to the front of the line. The manager here should take a cue from better run Wendy's locations, such as the one by Harlem/Irving, or the Touhy Ave. location that's in Skokie not far from Lincolnwood Town Center. If you're in the Madison/Harlem area around Oak Park, Forest Park, etc, and you need a late night bite after 10pm, go to J&J Fish instead in the strip mall across the street. Or Submarine Tender at Randolph/Desplaines would I'd bet from reviews, probably be better. Heck, for all I know(never visited this particular location), the Oak Park Denny's north of here may even be better, providing you can get there before it closes at midnight(or 1am on some nights, allegedly from looking at its hours)! Never have been able to figure out why it's the ONLY Denny's on earth it seems, that isn't 24/7. read more

This location is always filthy, even at 9:30am like they never cleaned from the night before. Crumbs all over and in the booth coushins. They were out of straws. The food is never hot and fresh. And the staff is not friendly at all! I keep giving this location a try because I love Wendy's and it's close but I think I won't be coming back. read more

How do you consistently get simple orders wrong. I ask for no tamato and extra pickles it even was on the receipt. I got a rubbery single with cheese. read more

This place doesn't want your money. They just don't. Let's be honest: Fast food places are never going to be models of great service and fancy food. No one going there expects that. But nor do we expect to stand in line at the counters while artfully busy-looking non-working employees walk back and forth completely ignoring us. Nor do we expect chronically wrong orders-- I used to make it a game to say, at least three times, "It's for here," only to watch them dully put it in a bag instead of on a tray. Nor do we expect to walk over to the condiment area to find it ever empty. I don't think those ketchup dispensers have seen any ketchup this year. Nor do we expect to see the drinks machines perennially empty. I used to go to this location because it was convenient to my schedule, but no more. I walked out in disgust the last two times I was there after being ignored. There are plenty of places that actually want my money. read more

It was better than I expected. I tried the breakfast combo: egg, tomato, cheddar and bacon panini, green tea and oatmeal bar. She gave me the home fries anyway. The potatoes were seasoned sliced fries but they are deep fried like fries. I didn't eat those but everything else was cool. The panini had a fried egg, crisp bacon, cheese and tomato grilled on Italian bread. Tip: Have them make the sandwich fresh. If you want something different than EggMcMuffins and donuts/bagels in the morning give Wendys a try. read more

They seem to consistently get orders wrong. It only takes an additional few seconds to double check an order. I usually just order a junior bacon cheese burger without cheese because I'm usually craving bacon when I go to Wendy's. EVERY single time it's wrong. Usually they include the cheese instead of taking it out. I used to be incredibly lactose intolerant, so this would involve me trying to pick out the cheese while desperately hungry and without time to figure out an alternative meal. Unfortunately, either within half an hour and/or the next day I would have severe abdominal pain and malabsorption. This last time I got no BACON. The entire purpose of the fast food run defeated. I'll give Wendy's credit in that after I called, they offered me to exchange my order if I came back but just going to Wendy's again after a long days work and waiting in traffic was just too sad for me. Especially when by going back, I would be expending more in gas money then the actual burger was worth. I'm so sad.... I really wanted bacon, really. It kind of baffles me that they haven't figured out a system to make sure that the orders are correct 90% of the time. Getting it wrong once in a while with large orders is understandable but this is ridiculous. read more

This Wendy's is on my way home from work so I used to go here often. It is consistently the worst Wendy's I've ever been to. The drive through takes forever. I don't understand how they take so long when every other fast food restaurant can do it. Don't go here unless you have an extra 40 minutes read more

This is constantly one of the slowest wendys I have ever been too. I work across the street, and even if I wait till after the lunch rush, it always takes a 15-20 min commitment to get your food. read more

Literally the worst fast food restaurant I have ever been to. It's 530 and dead... Took 15 minutes to take my order... When I finally got it, it was wrong... The chicken nuggets were stale and the fries were old. What the hell took so long then? Unbelievable. read more

Whoa, the positive reviews all happen to mention the excellent staff and service? For a fast food place? And the 3-4 times I've been here, the staff has been apathetic and dismissive of life at best? Surely a coincidence, Watson! Food is mediocre, service is more likely to have an eye roll than a smile, but the location is good and its the only way to get Wendy's in these parts. read more

Still trying to get a resolution to my complaint I did get an initial response two business days later. I have talked to a Kermit Craig (district manager) at Wendy's corporate earlier in the week apologizing about the incident and sent him a response, saying that to get things "right" as he stated would take more than a $5 gift card because the next Wendy's is like two miles (in a heavily traffic area) and it will probably cost me that in gas. But now I think I scared him and I am have not received a response since. Great customer service. No one I know goes to this Wendy's because of it. here is my email response: Good morning Mr. Craig, Thank you for your response, unfortunately it took an entire month to get to this stage. As I called in posted on Yelp!, the Wendy's facebook page, my personal facebook accounts, tumblr and web pages regarding this experience because of your manager Bob's outrageous and simply embarrassing behavior. I am sincerely happy you answered. Concerning the matter regarding your manager "Bob" he should be glad I did not file charges against him for his aggressive behavior and I hope your "talk" with him had this in mind plus included a review of the drive-thru video of that experience to be included in his coaching. Considering the next Wendy's is actual 2.5 miles away in the opposite direction in a high traffic area, adding 15 minutes upon my driving time to the next location; that is now my only choice to use the $5 gift card offered. Thanks I just want you to know I was in the car with my wife at the time with my altercation with Bob and we have not gone to Wendy's since. And it is only 1.4 miles 4 minutes away! We did mention this experience to family members who live in the area, and co-workers as well, so no one we know will suffer the public embarrassing that we received. I really feel bad that you have to apologize for this manager's actions because if he did this to me, he will definitely have a re occurrence of this behavior if not with another customer but with one of the other employees there. Therefore, you will probably will be apologizing a lot for this individual. Is the gift card at least gas money spent? I know that sounds sarcastic but your manager was went above and beyond being a jerk, again please look at the video of the drive thru that night to see my point I now have to physically be inconvenienced because of him I just want to know if its worth it or I have more web pages to create and update. Again, Thank you for responding. Martin Prosser read more

The fact Wendy's still open is beyond me they are horrible. Dining area was disgusting, pop machine was disgusting, and employees horrible. My fries were old/cold and my nuggets hard/cold. Took my order right back to them and requested my money back. read more

Extremely slow service, and very poor customer service. I ordered a taco salad and they come out with half of the ingredients missing. And then try to explain that they are out of the Dorito chips. What is a salad without chips? So they expect me to pay for a full meal with half of the ingredients missing. This is my last time visiting disestablishment very poor service every time I have come here! read more

The natural cut fries with sea salt is taste bud nirvana! They taste even better than the old Wendy's fries. There was a big debate with some co-workers about these fries and they do not like them and think McDonalds beat them - no way pal! Way to go Wendy in stepping up your game with the fries! read more

Terrible customer service, drive through messed up the order twice. My friend order a junior bacon cheeseburger and they never put it in the bag. The manager did not listen to anything we said and was confused. read more

Worst Wendy's EVER!!! waited in line for 10min to buy a drink and when I get to the machine everything is sold out. Would have been nice to be told about that.... read more

I would rate this Wendy's no stars if I could. To start off our horrendous experience at this wendy's, we were denied from the drive-thru due to a "shift-change," we then came back 5 minutes later as told, but once again we were denied. After calling the store, we were finally able to give our order in the drive-thru. However, the person who took our order was extremely rude, and the store did not have baked potatoes OR ketchup! We were thankful to finally order and pay, but our bad experience didn't end there. We had to wait for fifteen minutes in our car for two hamburgers, nuggets, and fries. When the food came out it was ICE COLD! In addition, they only gave us 5 nuggets when we payed for 6, and all of the food was weirdly spicy, it was very strange, even the cheeseburgers and fries. Also, the fries looked like it had some sort of weird mold on them. After wasting 16$, we called the store to express our concerns with the 9pm shift and costumer service. The manager allowed me to speak, then when i was finished he did not say ONE WORD, and instead put me on hold and never answered the phone again. After waiting for about 15 minutes, I hung up to recall, and they completely disconnected their store phones. Never go to this location, it was horrible! read more

Wendy's - Mold on the french fry - Fast Food Near Me - Oak Park, Illinois

Worst place to eat. The staff is the most apathetic I have ever seen. People from a gang harassed me and I asked for a manager FOUR TIMES. And they didn't care. This was on Christmas too. Aren't people supposed to be compassionate and actually care about people on Christmas? I ended up having to go to the ER afterward as they refused to ask if I was okay, give me first aid, call the hospital, or call the police. This is just an overall deplorably managed and unsafe place. I guess the customer isn't right at all when it comes to Wendys. All they did was tell me to leave after the assault. I had a black eye, my left arm had major swelling, I had a concussion, I was bleeding from my face, and they broke my prescription glasses that were $200. I was in the middle of getting beat up by these mono-synaptic gang member apes and the cashiers just rolled their eyes with a sigh. Yeah, a customer is getting jacked, and they're just going to brush it off their shoulders. Lowest quality of service you could imagine. After the animals who brutalized me left, I went up and asked for the police or a manager and the person at the POS just told me to leave because she had to take an order. I think someone's health is more important than a greasy burger. Also, it's ILLEGAL to record a fight but not report it. Wendy's has security cameras. They recorded and didn't notify a single person. So not only do they only care about your money and you as a person, but they try to sweep things under the rug. Do not go to this Wendy's unless you want to be around high gang activity and you don't want a safe place to eat. Nobody in the staff will care. I am never going to any Wendy's location ever again. read more

I visited Wendy's (11 N. Harlem, 60302) Sunday 11/5/17 around 6pm and, after making purchases, found that my order was wrong and realized I had not received a receipt. When I attempted to resolve the issue, they admitted that there was a problem with their machines preventing them from generating receipts. They said they had to wait for someone else to fix the issue. I was never offered the option to pay differently or any way to get a copy of my order receipt. The amount I authorized at that time was NOT $12.33 and I did not authorize them to make multiple withdrawals from my account.  When I looked at my account 11/09/17, I found two separate charges of  $12.23 And  $12.33, both of which were run at aroun 9:30am at Wendy's #9420. I immediately visited the restaurant to request a receipt and straighten out the improper transaction. I was first told by an employee that they were not able to do anything because I had not called back that same night. Finally, after I insisted, the employee spoke to a woman she claimed to be their district manager. That person apparently was also powerless to resolve the matter, so the employee took my name and number and said that "her boss' would call me to resolve the matter. After 72 hours, I have not received any further contact from any Wendy's employee. I am concerned that, first, I was not informed of the problems with the machines/payment before ordering, and would never have known if I hadn't entered the store to ask; secondly, I believe my payment information was saved, without my permission, and used at a later date, meaning that it could very well still be saved somewhere for someone to use again; finally, I believe I was not charged the proper amount for my purchase as I am absolutely certain that no one presented a charge for $12.23/$12.33 for me to pay, so there is no way I could have agreed to that, and I would not have agreed to have them run two payments for one transaction. After further research, I discovered that the store number listed in my account is for a completely different store. I have not visited this Wendy's location within the past 2 weeks, so there is no excuse for a charge from them on my account. I have encountered nothing but poor customer service in attempting to resolve this matter with Wendy's directly, so I am asking my bank to handle the matter, however that require them to disable my card for the time being, leaving me severely inconvenienced. All of this could have been avoided if the Wendy's employees had informed customers of the problems with their payment system before taking orders. This entire situation is unacceptable and I will no longer patronize any Wendy's restaraunt. Shaina Williams read more

My husband and I (seniors) recently visited Wendy's for lunch. We ordered our lunches and requested 2 cups for water. In review of my receipt, I saw we had been charged $1.59 x 2 for drinks. I was able to catch the order takers attention and pointed out the error. He advised that $1.59 is the drink price for a cup. I replied that I didn't order drinks but water. The employee advised I needed to order a complimentary cup. I replied that I had not been informed of that; the assumption is that water is free. I requested to speak to a manager but the manager was busy as it was lunch time. Warning, if you are ONLY drinking water, order the right cup or pay for some very expensive water. We won't return. read more

In my opinion, this is probably one of the, if not the worst, Wendy's I have ever been to. The service is horrible - slow, rude, no one seems to want to be there - the food is mediocre (when it's actually correct), and nothing is ever clean or stocked. If I could give less than one star I would. Save your time and money and go somewhere else. read more

I love Wendy's burgers , but although the service has gotten better at this store I'm mad about double cheeseburger with bacon or the Baconator I bought today with no bun.. it didn't mean no lettuce ,no tomatoes no condiments sometimes slower is better quality shame on you Wendy really dissatisfied today :-( read more

Friendly service? Wha wha whaaaaa? Clearly the service on Wednesday nights is not the same that these fine yelpers have experienced during the day. Went to this Wendy's on three different Wednesday nights (hey, what can I say - I get home late on Wednesdays and just wanted a damned burger), and every single time we ordered two double cheeseburgers--I do believe that would have been 2/3 times--we received 1 double cheeseburger and 1 single. We called about it, and they told us that we only ordered a single. Yeah, that's why they charged us for a double. The staff is unfriendly and beyond a mere apathetic; they really seem to dislike their jobs. That being said, maybe the staff during other times is much nicer than what I've experienced, but I'd rather not go back and waste my money yet again to find out. read more

Please shut down immediately, this place is horrible, the service.. the food... they don't wear hair nets, they're ghetto as hell...and every freaking time I order my food is half cooked,after waiting in a long line I expect my food to be freshly cooked... how do you half cook four patties... HORRIBLE.. read more

Dirty. One soda machine wasn't working and the other didn't have ice, and there are fruit flies around the ketchup.

This Wendy's is God awful. The service is horrible. I had to wait for the cashier to come while there was a line behind me. She didn't know how to count change, they kept 2 dollars. They didn't hear my order right, but moved so fast they didn't care. I guess chocolate chip cookie sundae sounds like small frosty? They also didn't get my name right. My name is Jake. Very easy, but not too surprised. The food was ok I guess. The burger was a little funky. They are too busy messing around in the back to care about anything having to do with the restaurant. Absolutely disgraceful. It's also very sketchy at night, with panhandlers waiting at the end of the drive though and walking all around the outside of the restaurant. It is actually amusing how bogus this place really is. Wendy's should close this location and a new, better run food chain should take its place. Cmon Wendy's, so high and mighty on Twitter...this is the worst fast food restaurant I've ever been to. read more

This is the absolute worst Wendys I have ever been in. The place is filthy! It took 20 minutes to get our order and the burgers were cold. Workers are not nice. Terrible! read more

I think it's kind of tacky and probably futile to even review fast food. Because you should know what you're getting into. I went in at 9:30 and just wanted a large pop. That was it. There was one person ahead of me in line. I waited five minutes without even being acknowledged. There were people working on drive thru orders and people cleaning. No one even looked up to greet me. So I walked out. If you can't even fulfill the bare minimum requirements of food/customer service then you should probably be working elsewhere. read more

This Wendy's gets kudos for being extremely organized at lunch - they get a BIG crowd - but they are ready for it and run like a well-oiled machine. Since we all know we have time limits for weekday lunch, that means a lot. read more

The renovations to this Wendy's have done wonders. The staff was really great. I would like to especially thank the dining area attending. We unfortunately did not get her name, but she was a senior with long white hair. She was extremely friendly and really took pride in doing a great job. She was very attentive, asked if our order was correct, followed up to make sure we were enjoying our meal, and even offered to clear our table. We tried to tip, but she would not accept. This just goes to show you how great she is. Thank you to her and to Wendy's for employing people who may be past their prime, but are still able to contribute to society. Wonderful Job!!! read more