KFC — Restaurant in Toronto

I don't often frequent KFC, but what the heart wants, the heart wants, and in this case its cholestorol and sky high triglycerides.. I've been to this location a few times previously, always a good experience. Then tonight happened. Walked in, not very busy as it was pretty late. One customer in front me ordering and I heard the cashier say something like a 17 min wait for chicken. Honestly. Not the end of the world but... It's KFC on a Friday evening. You'd think chicken would be a fairly high priority item in the kitchen. I guess they were just banking on volume bread orders. I get to the register and order a game night special deal they have advertised online. Now, sometimes I can be a bit of a cynical guy, and I thought to myself... "hmm, is this going to be one of those sneaky bait and switch type situations I've had in the past where staff have no idea what deal you're talking about in hopes you figure, well I'm all the way here now so I may as well order effectively the same thing for twice the price type situations"? Lo' and behold this was one of those situations, again. The cashier said she had never heard of it and just stared back at me expecting me to pick something else. I showed her the advert on my phone which she scrutinized with the effort and care of a 4th year English Lit. professor grading a paper on the Russian Revolution befire again claiming she has never seen or heard of this before. She walks to the kitchen and a manager comes out who looks at my phone and goes "Oh Ya, I know that" before vanishing as quickly as she appeared. I think to myself... "Self, it all worked out, don't be such a cynic". And then... the cashier never returned. Period. I stood alone at the counter waiting for her to reemerge from the kitchen. Hell of a stall tactic and well played, I'll admit. But I just couldn't get past the thought of some delicious, greasy chicken so I stood my ground. Then an Uber driver approached the counter. The cashier emerged and helped her. Apparently her Uber order was MIA and no one knew anything about it (but that's a different matter altogether and none of my finger licking business). After a minute or two of the KFC Columbo attempting to solve the case of the missing combo my cashier went into the kitchen again. Now, all this time everyone in the kitchen knew I was just standing there and would often make eye contact with me, including the manager. Nothing. Then my cashier emerged once more to continue working on the grand chicken caper with the Uber driver and I finally waived her over. She walked up and asks me what I want to do, pretending we had never previously met; I said I want to order this (pointing again to the offer). She says "you have to order it online" (note that by this point I've been the only customer standing at the cash waiting to order for 10 minutes). I ask, somewhat incredulously but not rudely because I'm not a complete prick, "I'm here now, can I just order it" and she looks at me like I'm a complete moron and tells me no, there is no mechanism in the KFC universe which would allow her to execute such a paramount task. I stuttered trying to compose myself and determine my next move, all the while counting down the last 7 minutes of chicken cook time. I gave up and left, defeated. KFC Danforth, you've won this round. You ignored me and gaslit me into surrender. Alas, I'll spread the word in the neighborhood.

To the Cashier: Well played. You knew the assignment. Feign confusion about your own product line-up, get the manager, wait me out, act like we've never spoken before.

To the Manager: This is chess, not checkers. You stood your ground and didn't back down, staunchly refusing, no matter what, no matter your rigorous KFC management handbook training, to acknowledge the customer or handle yourself with poise, professionalism and a small sense of urgency often warranted in "fast" food.

To the Franchisee: You've inadvertently hired a crack team of Mensa members masquerading as fast...

Dirty establishment, workers dont wash their hand after touching literally everything including their faces which is important cause they dont wears gloves handling the food. I got sick their many times in the past and stopped going for years. Thought maybe it would be different now. Went in Wednesday evening around 7pm. My order was scheduled to be done by 7:03pm. I ordered online for pick up. Cashier came up to me and said"yes"? No hello just yes. I said hello ( cause I have manners) showed him my order ticket. Watched the woman in the kitchen rushing to START my order. Okay no big deal for me to wait. There was 2 other customers in the restaurant. She makes my sandwich then tosses it roughly across the kitchen to the counter. My sandwich was a mess when I got home btw. No fork or napkins. The guy hands me the bag and walks away without saying one single word to me. No eye contact. Goes to give another person food and gives them the same attitude. I get home and my sanwich is a mess. My poutine was cold with little gravy. The driest poutine I have ever had. This location has ALWAYS been awful. Since the pandemic its worse and very unhygenic. Not worth the health risks, like stomach poisoning or worse. Many people who live near this location thay I know usually say thy had issues and no longer order from here anymore. If management is wondering why business is suffering here, they might want to consider their staff is lazy , insufficient dirty and poorly trained? If management hasn't figured this out then perhaps stepping down and letting someone more experienced in food service could improve this location to hold the appropriate standards before this location closes down entirely. Pop machineshave broken down so many times at this location (or most time not even being filled ) that fountain drinks are no longer available. Orders often have gotten mixed up....

Not enough around anymore.. Its been a treat meal for me for years. Cousins and I used to go to another one on Gerrard Street for years after a swim at Riverdale. We mixed it up with the old hunts bakery that offered a full swing of chocolate covering the entire donut. And we deserved it after swimming all day. Hunts left on Broadview many years ago.

A fish and chip store we altered between with the KFC that was right on Broadview below Gerrard. Family owned by kids we schooled with. It left some years later to.. It was the white paper covered by newspaper and salted to perfection.. Add in a mix of vingers malt and white.. Malt won every time..

But back in the day KFC for short now as it had a name change through the years. But they had snack packs for free back when customers really were valued. You'd Buy one and get one free for something like a buck back then. I stood inline to grab those offers and I don't eat chicken.. Never have.. It was those experiences that made the memories with the people and the places and became the reasons to enjoy.

My first bank was of the man himself Colonel Sanders.. Real name, Harland David Sanders. My first store visited finally closed down.. Staff there were working there when I was a kid.. That says it all. They moved on over to Pape and it was worth the visit to see them again.. Hope you value it as much as we...