Dairy Queen Grill & Chill — Restaurant in Ottawa

I have visit this location many times and is my usual location. I understand due to covid and warm weather it would get busier... but my visit to this location was appalling... there were customers wait no less then 20 minutes waiting for 20 minutes for a blizzard... my friend and I thought it would be nice to bring some ice cream treats for our family's... we went in to order due to we were making two orders... what a mistake.. 3 people inside... 5 including us... fine... gave our order in and paid... ok.. we watched and waited... well as we watched the orders being made....most going to drive thru... 6 go to skip the dishes or uber... no idea which they were... waiting... well still the same five inside all this time... 5 is maximum in the store at once but uber or skip dishes come in so 6 in the store... we stand there watching... gets his order 5 minutes later... out he goes... okay... two young guys come in... talks to one of the employees... so there was 7 in the store... the employees take their order... the employee says I'll fix those up for you... away he goes and makes them and hands the order to them... out they go... my friend and I look at each other... so we stand there and watch... the two gentlemen who the two orders ahead of us... finally received their orders... wow... I watched out the window to see if the car in which we would have behind in the drive thru... no one was in drive thru... we surmised all drive served first... customers inside get their orders whenever... well orders being made... well between me and my friend she had ordered first... both of us one thing in common... so the first blizzard should have been hers... ok... the employee put it in the care out tray... no upside turn as told must be done... she asked for a lid... so the employee skished the lid on... next a peanut buster parfait came out... put into my tray... thinking no that was my friends order but by that time i so frustrated... I should have them make me a new one because i did not want a lid on it, it had been sitting there and melted and no upside down turn.. the lead of the crew said oh well and went to the back... i went to the car... take the lid off , put spoon in and of course... only mixed at top... so 3/4 of the blizzard was just ice cream... after that visit I will not return to that DQ... even if I have to go to the other side of the city to find another DQ to make a usual... due to the service and no apology give... the blizzard machines the plastic guard on the front were filthy with splatter... could not even see thru them... blades not cleaned after each use... so any nuts used in them got cross contaminated... a big food infraction... food handler cards should be given back... employee going outside... came back in with gloves on but never changed them... maybe I need to return there and take pictures... the owner and managers needs a awaking of his/her staff... i am very tempted to return and take pictures or video them... if the front where customers see is like this... imagine what customers don't see... so two of us observed this... would food inspectors love this for infractions... delete if you want but word travels... New DND building on Moodie/Carling is close... and my friend is Armed Forces... imagine it going through that...

This review isn't about food that I ordered, but still about this location. I'd still give DQ food a 4 star, nothing more.

I did an uber delivery where I drove from inner Stittsville all the way to this location, to pick up 2 deliveries, deliver one close by and one all the way back in Stittsville.

Didn't realize the guy put a fountain drink Coke inside a fry bag with the lid not fully attached. I delivered the first guys fully intact, great. Head for a long drive to the other guys place. He's waiting out front, I carry my bag to him, say "how's it going?". Its about 1am so this guy was waiting for his DQ fix, and I opened my bag to find the entire delivery and the inside of my bag is drenched with coke. I'm not much of a people person, nor do I look looking like a fool infront of someone, so I really didn't like that my final delivery had to go down like that. I spent 15 minutes driving from Stitty to DQ just to pick up the orders, and another 30 minutes dropping them off, only to get paid $2.79 for the short delivery and then nothing for the long delivery since it had to be cancelled. NO ONE likes earning $2.79 in 45 minutes.

So I'm cleaning out my bag rn, but I'm also thinking about the kid who was waiting a while for his 1am food and had to wait another hour most likely to get something new. Why would the guy put a fountain drink in a fry bag? Just put the fountain drink in the fountain drink holders that all fast food restaurants have. And if they ran out of those....Sheesh, you should always have drink containers, drinks are always a part of the combos.

So anyways, wasn't happy with the turn out. I realize it was a simple mistake, but I feel kind of like it was avoidable. Maybe the guy should've said, "here's the drink on the side for the 2nd order, can you put it in your cupholder in your car so it doesn't spill?". Or maybe he can give it to me in the fry bag, but say "Oh btw, there's a fountain drink in hear, can you double check if the lid is on? Also, maybe carry it separately so you can see that it doesn't spill". Lastly, to re-iterate, if they infact had cup trays the entire time, he should've just put it in a cup tray, or he should know to do that atleast. Still just a small mess up, it just seems worse then that for me whenever I have a disappointed customer looking at me from his front porch, a bag soaked with coke, and order drenched in coke, and $2.79 to show for 45 minutes of my time.

Still 4 star rating, maybe this review is here to tell you guys to order some cup holders if that's what...

Over the course of the 2017 year, I've visited this location numerous times. As of August, I have ceased my dining at this establishment, due to a number of reasons.

I would highly recommend staying away from this location, as it appears to have a 'less than adequate' respect for its customers, almost a disdain.

For my final visit, it was the last straw.

To begin, more often than not, the service is exceedingly slow to get through the line. If there are more than 3 people in line, you are presented with at least a 10 to 15 minute wait, more often than not, as they are slow to register an order. Upon reaching the representative, you are presented with a person who clearly doesn't want to work, or has already emotionally checked out for the day. They listlessly take your order, and often forget to provide you with a drink cup, or any other accessories, prior to simply walking away when you transaction is still processing. Often, they have forgotten to activate the keypad for debit and credit transactions, leaving me to wait for them to return, before I can pay for my order.

When you finally have your order registered, the processing time takes an abysmally long time. As many in this area take roughly 30 minutes for break, to lose 20 minutes, simply waiting for your order not to be ready yet, is atrocious. More often than not, I have been forced to refund my order, simply because, and I suspect, they have forgotten they took an order.

They have a very misunderstood concept of how orders are meant to work, often not working on or delivering an eat in, or take out order, prior to a drive through order, even if you arrived first, you will often take a back seat, no pun intended, to the drive through customer, receiving your order after them.

Upon refunds, there is no apology for the wait, regardless of how kind you are to them, even without a fuss on your end, you receive the most distasteful of looks, as if it is your fault the order was not ready, and simply no acknowledgement of their error.

So, here I sit, informing you, that there are many other better and customer oriented establishments that would gladly take your business, and serve you as if they want to keep you there.

My recommendation: Shut this...