Firehouse Subs Saratoga Town Center — Restaurant in Corpus Christi

I had a deeply disappointing experience at this Firehouse Subs location in Corpus Christi. I placed an online order at 7:11 PM with a promised ready time of 7:25 PM. I arrived at 7:29 PM. When I walked in, an employee named Laura asked if I was picking up or placing an order. I told her I had placed one online. She asked for my name twice (I have a unique name), located the ticket, and said it would be ready shortly. That was fine, so I sat down directly in front of the register to wait. While waiting, I overheard Laura speaking to what appeared to be teenage employees in an extremely unprofessional and concerning manner. Phrases like “shut up,” “you don’t matter,” and “that doesn’t matter and neither do you” were said loudly and with aggression. As an HR professional, I found this incredibly alarming. No employee should be subjected to that kind of verbal treatment, especially not young and likely inexperienced staff. Despite sitting directly in front of the register, my name was never called. I eventually checked the online order rack and found nothing. Meanwhile, customers who ordered after me in person were receiving their food. I asked for an update and heard an employee say, “uh oh, guys you’re supposed to call out online orders.” My food had been sitting out for 20 minutes and was never placed on the rack. When I asked what could be done to fix this, one employee who found the order ran away and another just looked down, clearly unsure how to respond. I asked who the manager was and was told it was Laura. I called her over and explained I had given her my name and had been waiting. Her response was, “Well if you walk off and hide, I’m not going to chase you down.” I had been sitting right in front of the register the entire time. I asked, “I was hiding?” and she shrugged and said “Yup.” I asked if they could remake my order, since it had been sitting out and was cold. Laura said, “I’m not going to remake your order. I have other orders to take care of and I don’t have time to remake it.” Rather than take accountability, she yelled at her staff to start calling out online orders, as if the breakdown was entirely their fault and not hers as the manager. This was shocking behavior from someone who is clearly supposed to be the adult and leader on shift. Her attitude was dismissive, condescending, and outright hostile — not just to me, but to the employees. When I asked how to contact someone above her, she said the owner had 28 stores and would reach out to me “if she can.” She offered to take my information but made it clear there would likely be no follow-up. This is unacceptable. As a customer, I should not be treated this way. And I can only imagine how these young employees feel having to work under someone who speaks to them with such blatant disrespect. If I were in HR for this company, I would have had serious concerns about this manager’s behavior. This isn’t a one-off bad moment — it reflects a complete disregard for both customer service and employee dignity. Avoid this location. There are plenty of other places to get a sandwich without being treated like an...

I've been here twice. The food was just fine both times. The store is clean. Here's my qualms:

I was all but dismissed by the OWNER of all people when she happened to be in the store one day. I had a question regarding the receipt survey. (I was trying to get the free cookie by filling out the survey, and my internet was giving me an error message). I figured the owner might find value spending time with a paying customer to find a solution. When she responded with something along the lines of "I don't have time for this right now because I have to be somewhere," I was really caught off guard. After 20 years in the hospitality industry myself, I know how much impulse-buy items at the register cost, and those cookies couldn't cost more than around $1 each. So I was really surprised that she didn't offer me SOMETHING. I'd already spent over $15 on one sandwich. After she left, just to see if anyone else in leadership might know how to treat a customer, I asked one of the managers, who responded exactly as I would have. She offered me a cookie for free.

When I found myself unintentionally at the same location this afternoon, I figured it couldn't be a bad experience. Because it was unlikely I'd have another one like that. The ironic thing is that I ordered a sandwich as part of my family's order, and there wasn't anything wrong with it. But each of the other sandwiches were made incorrectly, and all had to be remade. I sat back and watched how they handled the situation and the two things I observed were: even one of the remakes was made wrong, and they didn't let any of them keep their incorrectly made sandwiches. In my mind, it's like, we had kids at the table, maybe they might want to eat SOMETHING while you remake the order you messed up....but no, in the trash it went (I mean, I didn't see it, but they already had bites out of them, so it's unlikely the staff stashed it away to eat it.

Anyway, it seems like most of the crew here is suffering under poor leadership, which always creates a ripple effect. It's unfortunate, but I'm going to try to avoid this Firehouse...

I recently made an online order and didn't pay attention that after 8,30 pm it will schedule the order for pickup the following day. Upon noticing I messed up I went to the restaurant and told the manager of my mistake and he assured me the online order wouldn't be completed and made my same order promptly and the sub was delicious as always at this location. I called the next morning and talked to the same manager (wish I could remember his name but he was so nice and professional, something very few businesses practice these days) he again assured me that my online order wouldn't be completed and gave me information on how to get refunded for my online order. I was promptly contacted by Vicki the owner to arrange my refund. I opted to just have order made the next time I was in Corpus which I recently did as I want to give this store as much of my business as possible. I've been so disappointed with the service of so many restaurants lately that I've almost give up on eating out and glad there is still a place that believes in quality and customer service. I live about 40 miles from this location and will continue to drive over when I'm hungry for a well made sub. My hats off to the owner, manager and crew of this Saratoga FH...