I strongly discourage patronizing this business, and I hate writing those words.

To its credit: Food is better than you should expect at this price point, both in quality and flavor. The facility is consistently clean, and I usually see someone running food to guests and cleaning the tables and floors and surfaces. I wish I could write a glowing review for this location -- and a few good first visits seemed to warrant it.

Service, however, is inconsistent -- and sometimes horrible. Locking the doors well in advance of closing time (without posting a staff member at the door) is a life safety concern and warrants management review to ensure it is not a fire code violation. This also warrants review by the local and state authorities.

I ordered online tonight for the first time, around 8:30, and I won't make this mistake again. Previously I was deterred by the $1.85 "service charge" for placing an online order. (Huh?? Seems excessive.) The amount of time required to fill the order also seemed unduly long.

Lesson learned: Thou shalt not order online.

When I arrived around 8:45-8:50, the door was already locked (ten to fifteen minutes BEFORE closing time). It took some effort with a game of charades through the glass door pointing at my cell phone to get someone to unlock the door to allow me in to pick up the order I had already paid for.

When an employee allow me to enter, I went to the counter gave them my name and indicated I had placed an order online -- and was given a (to put it nicely) a non-committal non-response. Fifteen to twenty minutes later, someone asked my name -- and I was horrified to learn that my order was sitting on a shelf, probably getting colder the whole time. I felt like I was burdening this location with my business tonight -- which, don't worry, I am certainly very hesitant to return. I would hate to be a burden with my dollars.

(I learned later that my order wasn't even completed correctly -- one of the two sides was wrong.)

My recommendation is simple: take your cue from the fact that they (a) lock customers in before closing time. and (b) lock out customers who already paid for their food before closing time. That speaks very loudly. Your safety and your life are not high priorities here. (Why should we trust their adherence to food prep standards if they are lax with basic fire safety rules?) Caveat emptor.