Whataburger — Restaurant in Albuquerque

Among the worst managed fast food places around.

When it isn't busy the food is good, the place is clean and the staff is attentive.

When it is busy everyone is fixated on the kitchen but no one attends to the dining area. Out of iced tea, napkins, straws, tables are filthy, and the beverage bar is a mess.

Tell the manager BOTH dispensers are out of napkins, he grumbles and walks away. 10 minutes later no napkins.

Lunchtime comes EVERYDAY and they should be well trained, well managed, and ready for it... not surprised when it happens.

There's a McDonald's right across the street.

EDIT: 9/28/22

This Whataburger is a schizophrenic business.

One day it's a 5 star fast food restaurant. clean, quick, and good food.

Another day it's the most dysfunctional business I've ever seen. Staffed by children without an adult to supervise them. 20 minutes to not get pancakes when there are no dine-in orders pending. The line cook apparently can't multicast the grill while the supervisors and staff are busy on their phones and socializing among them selves.

Repeated calls to corporate do not solve the problems so it appears the owner(s) couldn't care less. Meanwhile the McDonald's across the street is raking in the bucks. If you want your food in a timely manner do yourself a favor and walk across the street.

Bad reviews are TOO common and too often for this to continue.

Whataburger corporate should step in and send the current owner packing along with the no management management staff.

The only thing that this Whataburger accomplishes is to make the McDonalds across the...

Update 28 April 2025 2:20 am: Again coincidentally, the shake machine is BROKEN only at night. Same applies to the rest of the review. Overnight staff is lazy and losing money for this franchise. Went to Candelaria location.

Why is it that ONLY at night that the ice cream/shake machine is "BROKEN" or "DOWN"? Any other time I come in during the day it seems to be working just fine. But at about 9p-10p is when it magically breaks for the night until the next day.

Loss of profits and waste of inventory.

Update 3/14 1a: Shake machine magically down at night again, but fully functional during the day. Must be updating the shake machine wifi. 🙄

On top of that, had to wait over 20 minutes for A burger and fries. Horrible night service.

Update 3/23 4am: Shake machine magically doesn't work when it magically worked fine during the day prior.

Update 4/28 5a: Seems quite impossible to get a shake in this city overnight. I really feel bad for the company(s) contracted to supply these places with supplies. Complete waste of resources.

Update 4/29 2a: Completely messed up my order. Was given a single mess of a burger with onions when I PAID FOR a triple burger with NO ONIONS. Cashier was Vicka A. Order number 287930. Photo attached.

I honestly gave this place MULTIPLE chances to fix their sheer incompetence. The manager and owner must not care whatsoever. Multiple days and different times and all have been completely useless. I'll gladly go across town to the other location to avoid this disaster of a...

Normally Whataburger is kinda a splurge for me when it comes to fast food ... The portions are huge, but it's above average time and cost for a burger joint. I'm usually rewarded greatly though with the food once it arrives.

That is sadly no longer the case at this particular location. I was greeted warmly enough and my order was taken immediately once I arrived at the counter. Friendly staff too! Today, I order a limited-time promotional "Chili Burger" which comes with Texas-style chili, Fritos-like corn chips, onions, two large burger patties and cheese. Added fries and a coke to round it out.

14 minutes after my food arrived at the table (which isn't that long considering all the staff shortages in hospitality these days). That wasn't a particularly unexpected wait, but the burger arrived cold and dry. Patties clearly had been sitting somewhere for some time. Cheese was kinda adhered to the patties, but cool to the touch and not melted on the buns. Chile was also cool. The patties were dryer than something I'd pick out of a tinfoil bin at a Lobos tailgater BBQ after the game started and actually somehow more dry.

Needless to say, I didn't finish the burger. I was hungry so I did eat more than I should have in retrospect as I'll probably be paying for it twice: first at the register, and again when my body tries to digest it. Fries were okay but not hot. I guess on the plus side, the self-serve coca-cola was pretty good. Premium burgers are becoming fewer and far between in...