Jack's Family Restaurant — Restaurant in Albany

Fairly long review here, and google has limits, so I end abrupt. TLDR: 50 minutes for FF. Owner should seriously change management if he wants to stay in business.

I arrived at the store at 6:15PM yesterday. I needed to know what my wife and kids wanted, but they couldn't make up their mind. When I get to the speaker, I hear, "What do you want?" Nothing else and that is the first thing said. I apologize and say that I will pull forward and put in a mobile order so I don't block anyone while my kids decide. At that time, there was no one behind me and the person in the other order line had just finished, so I wasn't blocking anyone. I pull into a parking spot and of course, everyone immediately decides what they want. I put in the mobile order at 6:21PM. App tells me it will be 15 minutes and the order will be ready at 6:36PM. Well, my fault for not being able to get the order together before getting to the order screen in the drive-through. It's now 6:37PM. Awesome! Food should be ready. I head inside the store to pick it up. This is where I can only describe things as a bad SNL skit about customer service. There is 5 visible workers behind the counter, and a 6th on the customer side of the counter. No one acknowledges there is a customer inside the building for a good 4-5 minutes as they continue talking to each other. What is worse is, I was not alone. Someone was in front of me waiting to take an order. Finally, another employee appears out of the back, Vikki. To be clear for the rest of this review, Vikki is the only one I would keep on that entire staff. Vikki takes the person in front of me order and proceeds to box up their order. While she is making the order, she looks over and says, "Wow that's a lot of mobile orders." She yells, "I am going to need chicken strips dropped." I am up. I tell her I am one of those mobile orders, so she checks and tells me it will be 5 minutes on the chicken. I still blame myself here because no one apparently pays attention to those mobile orders. They just print them, hang them, and move on. Ok, 5 more minutes wont kill me. Vikki continues to make the other mobile orders that she can and I hear her call for more biscuits. I then hear the manager getting onto the cook for "drying out those burgers. It only takes 2 minutes and you have had them on there for 10." Vikki makes another order and I hear her call for fries. She then looks over and notices no chicken still. The cook who was working on taking off the extremely overcooked burgers acknowledges her 2nd call for chicken. At this point, we are now at 6:44PM. I have seen Dustin, who appears to be working the drive through play on his phone for 10 minutes, Shav(not the full name) flirting with the cook without acknowledging anyone in the room, and that cook do absolutely nothing while the other burns the burgers. I have been inside for more than 10 minutes, and I haven't seen them even start cooking the chicken yet. I give it until 6:49PM I ask when my order will be ready. Vikki, who again is doing it all, yells out, "Have you started that chicken yet? I still need fries and biscuits too." The cook turns on the frier and says he is working it. A lady in line ask when she can get her order because there are now 4 people in line who haven't ordered and no one has been taking the orders. At 6:54, I finally see him drop my chicken in the fryer. Shav gives 3 kids that walk up to the counter a chicken breast. It appears they are her kids. While I have no problem with someone bringing their kids to work, the only work I have seen this woman do since being there was to give her own kids free food. At 7:02PM I get my food and still need shakes. A Maurita was making shakes, so I told her what I needed. She looks directly at me and says, "That's not my problem. I work drive through. I don't know what their issue is." Vikki proceeds to make my shakes, and I leave at 7:10PM. Fries are cold and bags are soggy and tenders are the size of an actual finger....

Tonight, I went in and used the app to purchase my meal. My card was charged, but the employee told me they were having an issue with them not receiving the order. I told her I could show her the charge on my card and all I wanted was my $5 meal. Yes…just a $5 meal. The lady told me she couldn’t do anything and that I would have to call my bank. No sort of resolution. So I asked to speak to the GM. She walked back to the GM’s office and began telling him what happened. I could hear the whole conversation. He said, “I already clocked out so I’m not coming out.” And the lady told me that that’s exactly what he said. This made me furious, but I still remained calm and told her they could still fix my order and I could show her what I ordered. She straight up said no. And I said, “You took my money so I need my food.” She walks off and is yelling across the restaurant to anyone who will listen that she is tired of dealing with “rude a_ _” customers. She was causing a big scene and then another employee came up and wanted to hear what had happened. I told her the lady named Todra had no right to yell and cuss. She told me I needed to calm down as if I were the problem. By the way, I STILL wasn’t yelling. So then Todra referred to me as the “white boy” and continued to tell everyone in the restaurant about rude customers and how she “don’t have time for that”. I ended up leaving because she was trying to come up with a plan to say I was a problem instead of her. I could literally hear her do this all in front of me. I have never felt so threatened for my life at a restaurant all because I had a complaint. They took my money without giving me food, but they also tried to take my character, my...

Today was my first visit ever to a Jack's restaurant. I honestly hadn't heard of the restaurant and I don't recall seeing them out of town either. I researched the restaurant and their food selections on YouTube to determine what was popular at this restaurant. Also, I wanted to know other people's opinions regarding Jack's food and service. I downloaded the app to get more info on Jack's and sign-up for deals and promotions. I enjoy getting rewards, so the app offered bonus 150pts for joining the Jack's rewards and I received a freebie option of either a Big Jack burger or a breakfast biscuit. The current promos were a Big Jack and fries $4.99 or $5 off a $25 online order. I decided I wanted fried chicken 🍗 and ordered a 3pc fried chicken dinner white meat w/biscuit, mash potatoes & gravy, and cole slaw as my 2 sides. The fried chicken breast was so hot, juicy, and fresh, not dry like some places. My biscuit was light and fluffy, which reminded me of my grandmother's homemade biscuits. The sides were okay, but the fried chicken and biscuit were the absolute highlight of my meal. The customer service was good and the cashier at the drive-thru window named Shobbie or Sholby (not sure about the spelling of her name) was an absolute angel. She was very engaging and was a terrific representation for the Jack's brand. Kudos to Sholby!!! I'll definitely return to try the Big Jack, salad, and a breakfast biscuit or entree. I look forward to my next visit and I sincerely hope the food quality and customer service remain consistent with high standards...