Chick-fil-A — Restaurant in Arden Hills

Went here for the first time because we found out they have gluten free buns (which they didn’t have a few years ago when we stopped at another location). They asked if it was preference or allergy and although I need to eat gluten-free for a condition, it’s not an “allergy” and cross contamination isn’t an issue in my case, so I replied it was a preference.

Got our food and noticed the cello bag around the bun wasn’t warm. I opened it up and it was not only cold, it was dry and stale. Gluten free bread is not usually great, but if you warm it a little it can make it edible, although this bun was hard and leathery.

I went to the counter and they refused to warm my bun stating it was policy because of food safety issues, even with a new unopened cello package. Really?

A different girl later came to our table and asked if our food was okay and my husband said no, and explained why - we paid $30 for 2 meals and they can’t even provide an edible bun? Someone we assumed was a manager came to the table after this and offered us a free brownie for the trouble. Cool. She’s offering a wheat-filled brownie to someone with a non-celiac autoimmune disease who isn’t supposed to eat gluten.

We refused and left. The next day I sent a message via online form trying to explain what happened. The form didn’t allow enough characters to explain what actually happened but I submitted it anyway assuming they’d get back to me about my concern. Nope. Got a generated response saying they will address the issue to make dining there a better experience. Really? I wasn’t even able to explain what happened.

There was a link at the bottom where I could rate their response. I gave them bad marks all the way down. An hour or two later they sent me an email thanking them for the compliment. (They’re really on the ball). I responded with another email that obviously they really could care less because they never even bothered to find out exactly what happened with the nasty bun experience.

No worries. I got the same auto-generated response I got after sending the first message to them.

What a garbage way to deal with customers who have a very simple request. Obviously, they feel like people with dietary needs aren’t worth providing quality food. It was a freaking BUN. All I wanted was for it to be slightly warmed so it didn’t have the texture of particle board. A total joke and the first and last time I’ll ever set food...

Awful service. I was the only car in line when I ordered 3 sandwiches and one kids chicken nugget meal. It took over 15 minutes for them to bring my food out and served 6 cars who all ordered after me before even checking in to explain the wait. When I stopped the team member who was delivering food to the vehicles for an explanation of the delay, I was fed an excuse about how they’re still making it, I expressed my dissatisfaction with the delay and the priority service offered to others behind me. About 5 minutes later, a white male, presumably a manager based on the attire, brought out the food. He offered no apology for the delay and began to walk away. I said excuse me, and he slowly walked back. As I began explaining the wait time and the lack of service, this over promoted, insincere manager began to chuckle and smile at my experience. It’s one thing to be in a low level position and give bad customer service, it’s a whole different thing to have a director/manager acting like that. I recommend going out of your way to another cfa if you want to be treated with kindness. Or go right across the street to Canes. The wait might have been understandable, the attitude and poor treatment aren’t. You lost my business! Hire and...

I thought I would try them since they are near to my work. BIG MISTAKE. Take out order. Returned to my office to find they left out one of the three items ordered. I consider Chick Fil A to be thieves. They weren't busy, or facing any adversity but they sure were incompetent in spite of themselves.

Do yourself a favor and don't let them short you.

Any restaurant where I have to unbag an order just to make sure they aren't cheating me or just suffering from incompetence - especially at the prices they are charging is not worth a second look.

Chick-fil-A you are on my lifetime ban list and I will share my experiences far and wide.

Don't waste your time here. The food isn't fast. The food isn't great. The service is...