Fuddruckers — Restaurant in Ashland

First I realize I went on the Fourth of July holiday and this is a truckstop restaurant. It is a restaurant though and there should be some basic standards that it meets. The food was good, the burger was juicy and well cooked. The bun was toast toasted just right, and the Fixin’s bar with vegetables was well stocked in fresh. Potato wedges/fries were seasoned well and good also. But for the amount that I paid and the criticisms I have you would do just as good (better actually) to go down the street to cookout or five guys. At cookout you would get a good amount of food for a cheaper price that tastes fresh. At five guys you would be spending about the same amount for the meal but you would get a lot more food.

The criticisms- walking in it looks very dark and depressed, not very welcoming. The cashier seemed disinterested in serving and had her back to me for quite a bit of time before she took my order. Not very engaging and seemed like she didn’t want to be there. Despite asking how to spell my name several times she still managed to spell it wrong, quite wrong. The lids for the drink cups don’t fit very well and you can tell that I was not the only one who spilled or crushed a cup trying to get the lid fitted. Next to the Fixin’s bar where the condiments are - out of ketchup in the pumping unit. The pot of melted cheese did not pump, you had to take the lid off with the pump handle attached and use a spoon to stir the congealed melted cheese, replacing the spoon on a little plate in front of the unit. Did not seem very hygienic leaving the spoon exposed like that and was not very appetizing. In some places as the floor was slippery. Despite there being very few customers the food took longer than expected to prepare, the saving grace was the quality of the burger though. There was a family with a few small kids, the parents had questions and the cashier also seemed disinterested or offputting responding to their needs. The children were not problematic and the parents were doing a good job keeping them occupied while they were waiting for their food. One child did spill a drink as they were moving to another table, the mother was quick and attentive to trying to clean it up but the cashier just looked at her and didn't even offer to help.

I may go back on a non-holiday to see what it looks like but I’m going to take a wager here that this is probably about par for the course. save some money or time and just go to cookout or five guys. This is not worth it and probably is just a last resort if you’re traveling or have some nostalgia for Fuddruckers...hint, it ain't what...

See below first paragraph. I went back on 1/29/24. It was not good.

Buried inside a truck stop, and it's managed this way. Tomatoes always seem just a little past fresh. The soda freestyle machines have about a million flavors, though many are normally out. The burgers are solid though and almost always come out as ordered. They just need to keep up on managing the fixings bar and freestyle machines a bit better.

Edit: Went back 1/29/24. Instantly regretted that decision.

Burgers are worse than before. Now they are doing what appears to be pre made patties (possibly frozen). If you order a large you get two thin patties now instead of the nice big burger you got in the past. Buns are thinner, and can't hold up under the onslaught of grease from the cheap patties. I went to get some silverware to just knife and fork the thing. The silverware is long gone. It has been replaced by flimsy plastic packs similar to what you would find in a KFC.

I have personally never seen a freestyle machine out of so many flavors. It was a challenge to find something that was diet. I ended up with vitamin water.

Guy behind the counter was just barely polite enough to prevent someone from snapping on him. If you are wondering what that means, that means he was surly, but still barely holding it together.

Seems obvious to me, that management has thrown in the towel on this place. You can see all the cost cutting measures, and labor saving measures, that usually indicate the business is circling the drain. It seemed to me, that no one there cared anymore. They were just holding on to the end of the shift.

I won't...

We came into this location as it was at a TA truck stop on our way home from Pa to Florida. We walked in and the restaurant was empty. We did have to wait a minute for the employee to finish up at the salad bar, which was a non issue. We ordered our food on separate orders, and mine came out first, as I ordered first. I did the half and half which was half onion rings and half French fries. For that they charged, they only gave me 4 onion rings. The burger itself was pretty good, nothing to write home about, but it was still a good burger. My partner ordered his burger and was given just the burger. The lady told him she owed him French fries and onion rings. This never came. I went up front to ask for them and the lady dumps 4 onion rings into a to go box and sends us on our way. Totally didn’t give us the fries that were supposed to go with the onion rings. It was some pretty subpar service. The restaurant itself was clean and plenty of parking in back, behind the gas pumps. The parking is really tight if you’re pulling a larger travel trailer behind you, but we did manage. If it’s raining, this parking lot holds tons of water and you will have to navigate around pools of water in the parking lot. My sneakers are still drenched 2 days later. Something needs to be done to drain all the water in the parking lot. I hope not all Fuddruckers locations are like this, because the service we received is...