Firehouse Subs Apex — Restaurant in Apex

I stopped by FireHouse Subs in Apex on my way home just the other evening. It was about 8:10pm so there was roughly 50 min left of the nights business hours. When I walked in, there was quite a long line of people standing there waiting for their subs / online orders to be done. I got inline and waited and then someone behind the counter yelled over pretty rudely to ask if I was picking up and order. I said no, walking in to eat and then rudely said to come over to the front of the line where those people where just standing but not ordering. Rude but whatever. So I walked up to the young guy at the counter and he says right off the bat, just so you know, we are only doing take out now... There was 50 min left to sit and eat in.. they just didn't want to have to clean another table. Ridiculous.. I said okay and I'll take my sub to go then. I was hungry..

My demeanor is naturally friendly and warm towards people so there's just no excuse for his attitude. The guy at the counter not only rudely says all that about having to take it out but then says to me, what are you getting.. I ordered my sub and he asked if I'm getting drink or chips, I said no thanks, and he tells me the price. He's being short, lifeless, rude, and literally staring at me hard the whole time. Eyeing me down without any effort to come across as a normal decent human being who's experienced in meeting other human beings.

I paid and then he just basically turns around and says what my order is to the other employees. All of them look bored out of their minds and like they could care less about basic customer service. Or keeping their jobs.. I waited for about 10 min for my sandwich and there was no one else having a sandwich made at this point. The employees are talking and loudly talking at some other employee who went into some back area behind the counter. When my sandwich was finally done, I went to grab it after he rudely called my name and once again, just literally eyeing me down, same guy, same ridiculous lack of social skills or basic customer service skills.

I grabbed it, said thanks, and got out of there and ate in my car since I was literally told they aren't letting people eat inside. Nevermind the fact that when I first walked in there were two guys eating their sandwiches over in the dining area so they already had a table to clean off anyways. And regardless, it's roughly 45 minutes till close. They just clearly didn't care about anything other than getting home as soon as they could and perhaps no manager was around and it the manager was one of the young unprofessional staff members who also didn't care.

I'm so simple and easy going and easy to please when it comes to being out in the world and or when being a customer. I don't complain much at all, I'm not bothered by much, I don't even expect much from average staff these days because that sort of customer service is sadly becoming more common, if not to me, to someone else ahead of or behind me. The lack of professionalism and customer service here was really ridiculous and totally unnecessary. This guy behind the counter clearly hated his job and didn't want to have to lift a finger beyond the bare minimum and I didn't even ask for anything more than a sandwich which is literally what this business sells. I hate how they made me feel and they likely did the same to everyone else.

Needless to say, I will never go back to this store. That guy and the staff member sitting right outside of the main entrance door smoking a cigarette or vape upon me walking really ruined what should have been a simple, basic, but pleasant experience grabbing a sandwich from Firehouse Subs. Almost went out of their way to ruin it for me. I didn't have a political shirt on or offensive thing and I never said or did anything to prompt that attitude so it wasn't personal but it sure felt like it was. The guy smoking was an employee who came in behind me and started working behind the counter without cleaning his hands. All of this was so Ridiculous. Not coming...

Updated review: September 2020 the restaurant seems to have come a long way from when I wrote my initial review. the cup situation is still something that bothers me and still happens. I mean I have gone to this location now for in excess of 8 monthsand just this week after 8 months I find out they have large plastic cups they could have offered for 8 months of getting a large combo and getting that paper wax cup. The covid shield at the register makes it a little more difficult to order but that is everywhere.

My food this trip which was a meatball sub was okay. Ans my bowl of potato soup was good to say the least. I would have taken this up to four or five for the shear improvement over how it wasbut that comes situation bothers me that bad it will move up to three stars from one. the cup has nothing to do with it but the principle of not giving the customer what they are paying you money for is everything. It's called stealing, it's called robbing and it's called wrong.

The food is ok but I get really tired of ordering a large combo and the staff always handing me a medium cup. One employee told me the management encourages that which I find wrong and dishonest. If you pay for an item you should get the said item. I am inclined to believethat employee based on the fact employee retention is some of the lowest I've ever seen in my life. Every week........

Update. They ask for customer input so I provided the info below. They sent an email that the store management would contact me. They didn’t so I replied that I never heard from anyone. Got a reply “we sorry”. Wow great customer service 😂

First time customer today, ordered online since was in a rush. The app says and there is a basket area near the entrance for online order pickup. I waited 15mins since the app said order would be ready at that time but it wasn't. I asked an employee if they received my order - yes! It seems due to theft, they now place to-go orders in a different place. Wasted 15mins and then my sub was barely warm (meatball). More importantly, ordered with no pickle - the smell disgusts me :-), but sure enough, I smelled pickle when I opened to sandwich container. Other customer came to the counter and said they didn’t get their pickle. Seems they need to triple check orders. And no napkins really didn't help when trying to eat a saucy sub. Not a...