A&W Canada — Restaurant in St. Catharines

A LONG REVIEW, BUT WORTH THE READ:

My specific experience with this Glendale joint & why after 2 years of patronage, I give them a 1 star (I urge you to go to Lake Street when you can).

Mainly drive thru, I was used to them always screwing up my order, putting pickles on burgers when I've specifically requested them not to, & even asked they read it back as to make sure they've gotten it correct. It basically it means I have to wait longer, & it's a pity that they keep wasting food. They mess up the order 2 out of 5 times probably, & before we pull away, I check through the bags to ensure they're correct.

Last night, I decided to go in with my mother in law & two children for a sit down meal. I ordered: Two chicken buddy burger meals (no pickles on both burgers, just mayo on ONE burger), both with fries & chocolate milk. A teen burger combo (onion rings, coffee with 3 milks) And just a beyond meat burger (which I always order as a veggie burger) with no onion.

I've ordered these orders so many times I can do it with my eyes closed & by heart. When I got my order for sit down, it was the chicken buddy burgers with mayo and pickle on both. I tried to scrape it off but my 5 year old was so upset that my mother in law requested a new one. They reluctantly obliged.

When my mother in law and I got our burgers, they were both teen burgers, with cheese, bacon, etc... And not the "veggie" burger I ordered. When I went to the counter & explained the issue, I was met with incredible rudeness. The girl said "Go back to the table, she's probably eating yours." Confused I went back, double checked, but no, they were as I thought, both meat, cheese, etc. I once again go back to the counter, and I said my order was wrong, starting with the mayo and pickles on the chicken buddy's, and now not even giving me a veggie burger.

She STILL won't fix my order. She's literally the rudest, lack of understanding Canadian culture & manners, but I was disgusted & baffled. Finally the manager comes up, finds the receipt & shows me "this is what you paid for." I said "Yes, but it's not what I ordered, there's no screen on the register showing me what I ordered." He literally argues with me. Then he says "We didn't give you a veggie burger because that's a different thing from a beyond meat burger." Again, baffled. It still didn't explain why I was given a teen burger, which I said to him. He continued to say that they didn't make a mistake. Again, maybe it's cultural difference, but I'm sorry, if you don't understand the Canadian mentality of social conduct, you shouldn't be running a business in Canada & dealing with Canadian citizens.

Finally I am feeling upset & embarrassed because he's preaching to me about how I ordered the wrong thing in front of the whole place, everyone is looking. I say "just give me a beyond meat burger, I'll pay again, I don't care, I just want dinner." They finally make me one for free after being extreme rude, saying "if you don't like the burger we'll fix it." well, why didn't you just say that to begin with!? He finally comes back to the table and says "Here is your veggie burger." And I felt the steam come out of my ears. I say "I thought you said a veggie burger is a different thing from beyond meat, now why are YOU calling it a veggie burger if I was so wrong?" He says "yes, the beyond meat is a veggie burger." I can't even eat, I'm so upset, mortified, humiliated, my children are upset and distressed. I can feel the tears welling in my eyes, after my children witnessed me being a verbally accosted by this man. I walk up and I tell him he's lost a good paying customer. I tell the girl who rung me in that if she can't take responsibility for her mistakes, she shouldn't be dealing with people. They literally shrug.

Being talked down to by this man in the way I was, how his employee wouldn't take responsibility, all felt super personal. I think it's an issue of this male manager not caring about Canadian ideals or having any cultural respect for women. Honestly, worst retail...

Absolutely disgusted with the customer service at A&W Canada — especially from a so-called “manager” named Amanpreet. I placed an Uber Eats order for three Piri Piri Buddy Burgers, fully thinking they were the Potato ones. The item name didn’t even mention “beef,” so I had no clue I was ordering something I can’t eat due to religious reasons. It was a genuine, unintentional mistake.

I immediately called the restaurant to explain and asked if they could simply swap the beef patties for the potato ones — same price, same order, just a basic substitution. But instead of helping, the manager chose to argue with me, dismiss my concern, and mock me by saying “I keep my eyes open when I order” — seriously? That’s how you speak to customers now?

And when I asked for her name to include in my feedback, she outright refused to tell me — incredibly unprofessional and shady. (By the way, I later found out her name is Amanpreet — not because she told me, but because I had to dig around to figure it out myself. If you’re going to act bold, at least stand behind your behavior.)

I even attempted to cancel the order through Uber Eats, but of course, I would still be charged in full — so either way, I was stuck paying for food that’s going straight into the garbage. Total waste. No care whatsoever that it was a religious dietary restriction. No effort to accommodate a minor, reasonable request.

I work in the food industry too, and let me be clear: this was pure laziness and ego. Any decent restaurant would’ve swapped the patty without turning it into a whole scene. It’s not that complicated.

Pathetic service. Disrespectful attitude. No accountability. Never ordering from this A&W...

I ordered 2 Beyond meat combos through Skip the Dishes. At around 1:15 am, I received my order and the burgers were missing. We called the store and the employees were literally lying over the call. We heard one girl in the back saying the she forgot to give the driver the second bag, and the lady on the call was lying and trying to convey that she did give both of the bags to driver and it’s his mistake that he forgot. They were so rude and talking inappropriately. The girl said it’s not their policy to give the patties on the side? Oh really? So you guys have the policies to not to provide what customers wants!!!! Hahaha so funny! That’s the very first time I heard that A&W has such policies, nice to know that! Well the interesting part starts here…. They hung up on me 3 times (Wow! Such a great customer service and management)! As they asked, that if I can go to the store they can make me some new burgers, so I did go there and guess what… they didn’t open the door. Hence, I wasted the money on cab + food items that I didn’t receive at all. One thing that I would like to ask management team of the A&W, is this how you train your employees to treat customers? Overall, worst experience I have ever had throughout my 22 years of life. Worst staff and worst customer service ever!!!!!! And Guys please be grown enough to talk to customers instead of hanging up on them! Being a Customer Service Manger myself, I know the importance of...