KFC Coburg — Restaurant in Melbourne

So I popped in for a quick bite in store tonight, about 8pm. Unfortunately it was a very disappointing experience. Walking in the front door I was presented with a floor covered in a significant amount of food scraps and other miscellaneous items, which got me wondering...did I come in just after a tribe of pigmys came along and had a food fight..? Two steps inside the door was the rubbish bin...the reason I knew it was actually a rubbish bin was the amount of cups, wrappers, boxes & paper bags overflowing out the front opening, not to mention the other rubbish stacked on top. I made my way towards the counter and took my position behind one other customer who was waiting to be served. After 3 or 4 minutes standing there assuming we might be mistaken for customers, we both looked at each other wondering if we were actually invisible, but given that we could see one another, we assumed that the two girls serving at the front counter must have been blind. If that was the case, I would suggest KFC invest in some badges telling customers that their counter staff are actually visually impaired and that we might want to address them verbally to alert them of our prescence. It also became apparent to us that the miriad of deliveroo & uber eats drivers must have been wearing some futuristic sonic devices as they seemed to be noticed the moment they approached the counter. Lucky for me, the cluey gentleman in the front row worked out the system and attempted to engage the counter staff with some polite banter about placing an order. Although looking puzzled by this, the young lady did in fact manage to do her job and enter his order on the console. At this point I thought I had struck gold and was about to be able to place an order for yours truly, but my hopes were quickly dashed when she scurried off to the other side to chat with one of her friends on the chip machine. I can only assume that it was something about the lack of chicken salt on her last batch of fries. Minutes later she returned to the front and I was surprised to find that she noticed me there. Maybe I wasn't invisible after all. She proceeded to take my order in a somewahat courteous manner, which was a pleasant surprise. We'll fast forward nearly 10 minutes as the only thing that happened in that time were two more delivery riders came & went along with numerous drivethru customers. At that stage it occurred to me that I had made a rookie mistake not using the drivethru. The gentlemen who ordered before me made eye contact with me, probably wondering if at any stage in foreseeable future he might find himself tucking into some finger licking goodness, but his plans were thwarted when my order number was called. It seemed a little unfair that my order was ready first, but I wasn't going to argue the point given that 10 minutes had elapsed since I had placed my order. The next decision was going to be tough though...where was I going to sit to enjoy my zinger burger feast. My choices were very limited given that most of the tables either had rubbish or leftover food scraps on them. I guess there was always the option for me to clean the tables myself, but that would defeat the idea of the fine dining experience you'd expect when dining out. I did manage to find a stool in the corner alongside a small bench that was suitable for a human with basic cleanliness standards to eat at. I'll have to admit that I am a fast eater, but I was very surprised that I was able to finish my burger and chips before the other gentleman even received his order. I didn't stick around any longer so I can only live in hope that he one day succeeds in his quest to get his hands on some fast food. On a positive note, the food itself was of the usual tasty standard you expect when visiting KFC. I would have included some photos....but they may not really have given you a true picture of the joy that awaits you when you visit...

This particular KFC on Bell street in Coburg is very disgusting. Always dirty, not just front of house but in the kitchen too. Staff are always messing around in the back like they’re hanging out on the oval at school and they too seem to be a little grotty to match the store. Went there 2 years ago and received almost black chicken, had a lot of dark burnt crumbs sticking to it also it was extremely oily and it tasted like really filthy deep fryer oil that most likely not cleaned or changed for months. Returned the chicken and got a refund and told the manager on duty ( child ) that they need to change the oil and clean the deep fryer immediately before somebody gets sick from the filth, it is absolutely unhygienic to continue cooking in dirty burnt oil that has been in the deep fryer for god knows how many weeks. Thing is these instructions no doubt would be coming directly from the owner/owners as a way to save money and make more profit by stretching out the life of the oil for as long as they can to avoid the cost of changing it. In a not so busy cafe where the oil would be used mostly for frying chips would be changed fortnightly but in the case of KFC working over time frying messy floured chicken and crumbed side dishes pretty much everything gets fried everyday morning to night non stop, this oil should be filtered and cleaned daily and changed weekly or every 4 days of extremely busy to avoid smelly burnt dirty oil in the store and taste on the food. It is absolutely gross, now I’m not saying all KFC are bad because Thornbury KFC is spot on, bright friendly clean well spoken young people serving and golden colour chicken that’s well cooked and you can taste the the classic flavours of KFC secret spices. It seems to be only the Coburg one on Bell street that’s bad. Different owners different morals I guess. Anyway after 2 years we gave it another chance out of convenience and nothing has changed still dirty, bad service, dirty smelly dark greasy oily chicken that taste like burnt oil again, unbelievable. Through it in the bin and never again. Hey owners, stop being careless, clean up you store and your clean up act. Please Stop putting profits before the community, your store is disgusting and it’s run like a pigs pen. There is absolutely no care taken in to your food please fix it up! To the community of Coburg don’t tolerate it anymore there are other KFCs around that you should try like thornbury and Preston bell street I know it a little inconvenient but trust me once you make the effort and enjoy your chicken dinner you will understand why it’s well worth the effort. Don’t feed your kids filthy oil anymore even once a blue moon is too much filthy toxic oil soaked...

I attended KFC Coburg this evening for family meals, hoping my feedback from a few weeks ago resulted in improved service. However, despite KFC responding to me directly the service has regrettably deteriorated further. The Coburg KFC is the worst store I have attended across Australia. Firstly I waited 15 minutes to place my order. When the meal was given to me another 15 minutes later it was incomplete, the chips portion of the order was wrong. In total I was in the store for 30 minutes before I could leave with a correct order. No staff acknowledged the delays or kept me up to date with progress. Staff seemed too preoccupied with a machine that would not stop beeping. The toilets were out of order. A KFC staff member returned to the store as she could not find the car who was waiting in the car park for their drive through order. She was told to return to the car park and look again. I observed a customer waiting at the drive through for ten minutes to place their order. Absolute chaos and a disgrace to the KFC brand. I feel sorry for the junior staff who are clearly not trained, managed. There is no quality or customer service management. The external site is also a mess. It would cost very little to clean the external grounds, plant some hardy shrubs and make the site more appealing. I wished KFC head office audited sites like Coburg to see exactly how the impeccable KFC brand is being disrespected.

See below my review from 3 weeks ago:

Attended KFC hoping to receive timely service and a complete meal. Placed order and the attendant said there would be a 2 minutes wait on the wings. “25 minutes later” the order was delivered to the car. I briefly checked the order and chips were missing, despite the attendant telling me that they provided additional chips for the excessive wait. The manager of the store is clearly incompetent. Consistently this store provides a frustrating and extremely poor service. I don’t blame the staff as the staff are only as good as their manager. The KFC grounds and car park requires significant work to present KFC in the light that the founder would have expected. The KFC is a disgrace. The only reason I attend the store is relative is proximity. I’ve now given up. Never again will I...