A&W Canada — Restaurant in Ottawa

Had a horrible experience at this restaurant on Saturday, December 9, 2017 around 2:30 PM. Hadn't been to A & W in a few years and saw the one on March Road when we were filling up with gas at Ultramar. Went in and I ordered the Spicy Chicken Habenero burger with fries and my wife ordered 2 buddy burgers with no mustard and with onion rings. While waiting for food, we could hear one of the staff members on the line yelling at the other employees and belittling one of the newbies, Shon (not sure of spelling) which we later found out was Emery.

Food came out and was warm for me but onion rings were cold and the buddy burgers came back with mustard but no grilled onions which was surprising as the restaurant only had a few people in it (only 1 or two people ordered after my wife) and probably had about 10 drive through take out orders so it was rather quiet. My wife took it back to get it remade and repeated what she ordered and Emery told her that there were no onions on the line so she asked him if he could get some from the fridge. He told her that he was too busy to go look and he didn't know if any were prepared. When my wife said she didn't mind waiting for him to see if there were any prepped in the fridge as she wanted the grilled onions, he said no that he was too busy. So she had the order remade without mustard. When she asked to speak with a manager, she was told that there were no managers on duty on the weekends as they only worked during the week (saves on labour costs I guess).

While waiting for her food, Emery continued to verbally abuse the staff so much that Amanda was in tears at the cash speaking with my wife.

After getting her food, my wife was eating and then we started hearing yelling and cursing using F-bombs in the back of the kitchen. When my wife got up to look to see if there was a fight occurring, the yelling stopped and she could see Emery looking through the shelves to see if we were watching.

As we were leaving shortly after a shift change at 3 PM and were putting our mugs and garbage over by the dish area, one of the staff who had just come on shift asked us how things were. When we told him that it was a horrible experience and how toxic the atmosphere was, he replied that one of the staff members doesn't get along with the rest of the staff!! He knew exactly what we were talking about!!

YOU NEED A MANAGER ON SHIFT ON THE WEEKENDS WHEN IT IS OPEN AND GET...

Unfortunately, the quality at this location has declined significantly. During this mornings visit, the sausages were undercooked and overly greasy while the scrambled eggs were served lukewarm rather than hot. The bacon which was previously a highlight, was served in much smaller strips and arrived cold. The hash browns were passable but far too greasy. Even the coffee, though freshly brewed, was bitter. It was so hot that it could not be enjoyed for several minutes. The only positive note were the tomatoes. Fresh.

The dining environment was also uncomfortable. The A/C was set unreasonably high, making it unpleasant to sit and eat. I actually had to step outside to warm up.

Given today's menu prices, we reasonably expect a properly prepared and enjoyable meal. This experience did not meet that standard. I also attempted to share my concerns with A&W's head office in Vancouver. Unfortunately their phone system directed me to an online survey link that repeatedly looped without allowing me to connect with anyone directly. This lack of customer service was discouraging. Overall, the combination of poor food quality, uncomfortable atmosphere & unresponsive support made this a disappointing visit. I hope management takes these concerns seriously, but...

VERY SLOW SERVICE , HARD COOKED EGGS INSTEAD OF EASY OVER, After arriving at 8:15am I ordered, The Canadian, 3 eggs (extra egg), easy over but not slimy, with an extra order of toast, the Male attendant, says, "Medium", I said, no, easy over, just not runny. After getting my Breakfast, I left to get to my destination, only to need to go all the way back, the eggs were hard cooked. The attendant, to his credit, offered me a refund but that would have been worse, go hungry, until lunch, after paying, $11,87 to get some food???, I replied with, "I want my Breakfast", this time they were medium or half hard cooked. By far, the worst experience, in a very long time, by the time, I got back, extremely late, at 9:20 am "INSULT TO INJURY", that started my day off right, what a domino effect, screw up, of my morning and no offer to ask, if anything, could be done, to try and make it right. BAD EXPERIENCE, VERY SLOW SERVICE, POORLY PREPARED...