Firehouse Subs South C Street — Restaurant in Alaska

I love Firehouse Subs and haven't found a better sub sandwich place. However, I have had a few problems with this specific location.

-Instead of giving you pickles by default, they ask you every time, "Do you want the pickle?" It happened several times when I said, "Yes, please, I want the pickles on the side," they forgot the pickle... 85% of customers want the pickle spear with their sub. The customer will tell you if they don't want a pickle.

-The bathroom was gross, and the soap dispenser was empty.

-All the hand sanitizer dispensers were empty, and when I told them, they said they would do it in just a second but after 30 minutes and kindly reminding them a few times, it still never got fixed.

-They often don't clean the tables before a customer gets tired of waiting and just sits down and wipes it off with a napkin.

-The employees don't check or watch the fountain drink/soda machines, and it runs out of syrup, and then it takes hours before they fix it after someone tells them.

-The drive-through is such a great option, but half of the time or more, the employees put two traffic cones at the entrance to close it because "it gets too busy." one time, the comes weren't there, and I drove up and was looked at and ignored for five minutes until I just left.

-I remember the cookies used to be so good, but every time I look at them, they are baked too long and start shriveling up and getting hard.

-Lastly, it's super hot inside. The employees said the A/C is broken and has been for months now. One employee was so hot and was sweating so much that he kept having to wipe his super beaded dripping forehead... There could be sweat in people's food because the franchise owner doesn't want to...

Firehouse has food I would rate at 5 stars, but the service is so consistently and shockingly bad, that we won't be going back. These are issues we have had on many, many occasions:

-LONG times to fulfill an order. Yesterday we were the only people in line and it took 20 minutes to get our two sandwiches. If there's a car or two in front of you, the wait could easily be 45 minutes. This has happened to us more than a few times.

-Completely disorganized. We have had employees try to hand us drinks when we ordered none (on multiple occasions), they do not know what we ordered when we arrive at the window, and we have to explain several times what our order was (on multiple occasions). They've handed us orders that were not ours, again, with regularity.

-Once we finally have our order, they've never gotten the sandwiches wrong, but regularly get the sides or drinks wrong. Check everything before leaving the window.

If they don't change the way they do business, we won't be the last customers they will lose, and we're likely already not the first. I finally called and talked to a manager who apologized, but blamed it on a "shift change." I doubt they've been in the middle of a shift change every time we've visited, and I'm sure other businesses have shift changes where all hell does not break loose, so it's a garbage excuse.

I'll miss the sandwiches, but it's just...

So! I come here every chance I find myself on the far side of Anchorage, and I’m always leaving unsure of how I feel (outside of loving their food and cause).

Today I decided to eat inside, as I wanted to work on a few things and enjoy a break- I ordered my food and the first guy was amazing (excellent customer service and very friendly)!

I sit down, eat my sandwich and begin working on my things as I munched on my chips. One of the employees began sweeping near my table and walked up and asked me to move my feet, so they could sweep under my table- I was a little taken aback, as my area was mostly clean and I was still eating. I felt as though it was inconsiderate and a little unhygienic, however I understood their need/want to leave as soon as they could. Shortly afterwards, I decided it was about time for me to head out as I felt less welcomed, so I ordered a sandwich for my Husband (to go)- the same guy who swept under my feet, stood at the register staring before calling someone else to help me after mumbling something himself.

I was helped the second time (by a third person) returned to my seat to wait, and they politely brought my sandwich to me versus calling my name like they did prior.

It was a pleasant experience overall, and I may return as I appreciated the original guys friendliness- however, the cleaning while I was still eating felt a little...