Sonic Drive-In — Restaurant in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

Close this place asap. Showed up around an hour to close and they had every light off except for the ones inside. We parked in a stall and waited for about 10 minutes before an exasperated "drive thru only" came across the speaker. We then waited 15 minutes at the drive thru for someone to take the order. Once we ordered, we then waited another 10 minutes for the food. How was it? Cold. I knocked on the locked door (still before close, mind you) and asked for new fries, to which the employee walked inside for about 15 seconds and then walked back out with the same fries, just in a paper bag. Best part? The whole time we waited, employees were in and out of the restaurant to smoke and talk on the phone. Also, would it be that big of an issue for people to wear something other than a dingy, stained white tee while operating the window? Uniforms aren't super important I guess, but it would have been nice to know that he even worked there? Last thought - the car behind us knew some workers personally (evidenced by the other, female cashier leaving her station to go talk to them in the drive thru line, as well as bringing them their food first), so I'm pretty sure they chose to whip up their friends food and let ours get cold for no good reason? Idk, if I owned the place I'd fire every last person on night shift. And to the owner: don't reply with that BS "we're sorry, we strive to do better". Just make some meaningful changes you lazy bums. Your poor managment of a franchise made sure I'll never be back. I kind of hope corporate sends a secret shopper and y'all close for good if I'm being honest. Without a doubt the worst "fast" food experience I've ever had. (I'd leave half a star if I were allowed)

Edit: can you all believe this location has been open 60 years with this kind of service?! I wonder if the original owner ever checks back in just to shake their head at how...

All the negative reviews are true and it seems like a large amount of people are having the same problem. So at this point, I really do think the workers are the problem.

I understand being short staffed and being super busy. But every time we’ve come in, the place would look dead or there’d be like one car in drive thru. But somehow you end up waiting upwards to over 30 minutes to even order. Today we came in for a quick bite. We got here at 1:00pm. There was only one car in drive thru and about two cars at the stalls. Once it was our turn to order, we were told to hold on a second. Well that second ended up being 20 minutes. At the point, there was at least 10 cars behind us. Some cars ended up leaving cuz the wait was too long. That’s when I decided to look up reviews. I ended up telling my husband to let’s go. I wasn’t gonna wait 30 minutes to order and then wait another 30 minutes for my food. That’s ridiculous. So when we drove by the window, there was 3 employees by the window just talking to each other and laughing. When we drove by, they stared us down and then started laughing. So I guess they were waiting to see how long It’d take us drive away? Idk. This Sonic used to be nice but idk what’s going on. At this point, the employees are committing time theft cuz they’re not even working. I guess if that’s how you wanna run a business, be my guest. Don’t waste your time at this location. I rather drive across town for the...

AVOID THIS PLACE

I have had disappointing experiences here for far too long and finally decided to write a review. The service is ridiculously slow and their machines are constantly down. Went by today and waited for over 10 minutes in the drive thru line just to be told that they could not make slushies, blasts, or shakes. If y'all can't make popular items, have it announced on your signage so folks don't waste their time and disappoint their kids.

There have also been times when I have ordered ahead in the app only to show up to pick up my order and be told that their machines were down. Or they take forever to bring out your blast because they are bumping orders and you end up enjoying a melted blast 20 minutes after the screen told you that your order was on its way.

There was a period of months last year when I could not get a blast because they kept saying their machine was down.

Honestly, either their machine is really always down and they need a serious replacement/repair or they're lying and just don't wanna make orders. I find it hard to believe that a place can function when several of their top items can never be made.

Save yourself the time and frustration and don't bother with this place. Also, don't trust the app for orders because the app won't tell you that the machines are down. Then you are stuck trying to figure out how to get refund...