Twisted Root Burger Co. — Restaurant in Athens

My girlfriend and I both work in the service industry and I HATE writing bad reviews but this was just ridiculous.

My girlfriend and I came to grab some food here, it was clear they were busy and we were aware of it knowing we should be patient. The woman at the front who greeted us was kind and helpful, had our order taken quickly and we sat to wait. We got our food to go.

We watch the window as we talked and notice the employees putting boxes in the window after about 10 minutes. We have a buzzer that will let us know when our food is done that didn’t go off so we figured it was someone else’s.

Another 15 minutes go by and nothing. What I assume was the manager on duty managed to have time to stuff her face with chips and queso and berate the kind lady who greeted us for “not having the music on”. The lady who had greeted us was running around like a madwoman working her butt off but yes, let’s get onto her for something YOU could’ve done.

This entire time, those boxes in the window? That was our food. They ask us what our buzzer was, 2 minutes later we’re handed our food. It’s lukewarm and soggy.

I’m over it at this point and just ask for a refund. Not an apology, not a question, not a single attempt at trying to fix the situation. I just sat in silence while the manager rang the refund up and then proceeds to tell me she will “have to wait for her boss to get there” to refund me the tip I had given as well. I wasn’t about to wait around for $3.

The manager on duty who apparently couldn’t manage anything, berating her employees, not processing a full refund, letting our food sit in the window for 15 minutes… still had time to chow down on her chips while we sat and waited.

I’ve been in the restaurant industry for 10 years and seeing that was just pathetic. This is a great spot with great food. This was just not a...

I need to report a terrible and very intense experience with manager Nelda at the Athens, TX, location. My mom and I came into that location around noon on May 10. Nelda was rude when we asked to be helped with a clean table saying we needed to wait until food came out until we could get a table cleaned for us, so we asked somebody else and she got mad at us for asking somebody else. When our food came out my mom asked about her chicken and why it was so dark and Nelda was rude to her and speaking over my mom giving excuses. Then I walked up to the counter to see what was going on. Because my mom was holding onto the plates and Nelda was trying to pull it away from her. She was going to take the food away completely but remembered we paid already, so she couldn’t do that. She then called the cops on us and said we were white and she is Mexican and that we were threatening her and being racist. She lied and told the cops my mom threatened her, but didn’t press charges. I did call her a b word after that. Just being honest. We talked to the cops and we left. We aren’t allowed to come back, but we don’t want to ever come back, honestly. Nothing like this has ever happened to us. Nelda was also being rude to her staff while we were there. She’s not a good example for your franchise. She was yelling at us and telling the dispatcher on the phone that she felt threatened, but we were just standing there at the counter in disbelief that this was happening. It was extremely overwhelming. We did not...

We won't be back. We were excited about a new fast casual trendy spot in Athens. First, sticker shock. I don't mind paying for quality hamburgers. my favorite restaurant is around 20 bucks a person. That, however includes a beer. Paying, tips were requested. 15, 20, or 25% was suggested. Having never been there I tipped. For what??? We got our own drinks (totally undrinkable by the way, my husband poured out nasty tea, tasteless tea, and nastier cola), we had to bus our own table, it was dirty, we had to go get our own food, refill (or not) our own drinks, and retrieve our own condiments. They should have tipped me for eating there. I ordered a rare burger, it was gray. You could see through the cheese slice. The tomato slice was paper thin, green (the only way you could slice it that thin) and small. Why bother? Someone HEAVILY salted the burger, but only on one edge. My husband never picks up a salt shaker and one edge of his burger was inedible. Also, the wait was extensive. I'd forgive that because there was a large party right before us. So, what did I learn? I am tipping for no service, the burgers are sub-par and dry. The only high point was the fries. Fresh, fresh cut, and flavorful. Get rid of the gimmicky menu, gimmicky condiments, gimmicky atmosphere,and produce a decent burger that has flavor othet than salt and is cooked to order. Don't ask (demand) tips for a self-serve restaurant. And if you are going to charge for...