McDonald's — Restaurant in Auburndale

The food was hot and fresh. And service was exceptionally quick. Unfortunately, a couple of simple mistakes escalated to a horrible experience. I was bringing dinner to the Respiratory Therapists at Winter Haven Hospital this past Saturday evening. At 12:30a on 8/18 a simple order of a Double Quarter Pounder, 6 piece with BBQ and fries. After leaving the Drive Thru I noticed they forgot the sauce and gave me a Single Quarter Pounder. So I went back through and waited behind 3 cars to get to the first window. I explained I needed BBQ sauce as they forgot it. She refused to get it and told me to wait for the next 2 cars and get it at the next window. It's still not a big issue, but a bit inconvenient. That's when it turned ugly and for myself and Mcd's. Your young, blonde overnight manager really needs additional training with her customer service and leadership skills. She happened to be presenting at the next window. I asked for BBQ sauce, and she just stayed silent and looked at me with a condescending look. I explained you forgot my sauce. She hands me the sauce then proceeds to raise her voice towards me and stated, I didn't forget your sauce, the bagger did and messed it up. I explained that I ordered my meal through Mcd's and Mcd's forgot my order. She said nothing. I then offered the suggestion to have the first window cashier not be lazy and to resolve the issue by simply getting my sauce and listen to my issue versus making me wait longer to resolve your mistake. The manager then proceeded to tell me she didn't like how I went about providing her feedback. Told me to have a nice night and abruptly closed the window ending our interaction. I never even had the opportunity to address the incorrect sandwich on my order. This manager managed to ruin the entire experience of rectifying a simple mistake and turned it into an adversarial and rude experience due to her lack of training or ability to act like a leader. Please do...

Had a 5 star experience here today. I had a birthday party planned at the park for my 3 year old and due to weather I had to find an indoor place quick to switch to and one that was affordable or cancel the party which I really did not want to do. I came in about 930 am and spoke to Bobby the supervisor and asked if it was possible to have the party there in the separate room where the play area is. He accommodated me right away and said we could have the party there for a small fee which included 10 happy meals. I was also able to purchase bulk nuggets and fries for the adults and use my app for 20% off of that. Most indoor locations that will accommodate a birthday party are very expensive and this was so affordable and convenient. The area was very clean and I was able to decorate and bring all the party stuff inside. Bobby also told me if I was to have booked ahead of time they would have had a host assisting us and would have decorated for us. The kids and adults all enjoyed the party and we got so many comments from people saying they didn't know you could have a party here. I myself didn't know either until I happen to run across a Facebook post last night where someone had mentioned they were doing one at another location and that gave me the idea to check on it. All of the employees that assisted me were very kind and open to us having the party there. It worked out great doing it around lunch time because it wasn't very busy at that time so although a couple of other restaurant guests came in the area we were to play it was no big deal and we encouraged those kids to join in on the party with us. It is a very...

Update 5/2022: Bumping my original score from two stars to four - there is still work to be done but hear me out on this one. This McDonald's is in a prime location, right in the middle of town and near most of Auburndale's shopping, meaning a longer wait and order mishaps are inevitable if you choose to go during a rush. Even with this, I have seen a noticeable improvement in wait times and wrong and/or missing food is a rare occurrence. Ice cream machine and POS (point of sale) system down time has had a very slight improvement, but it still happens, no matter the time of day. Occasionally, you'll get lucky and they can still accept cash payments even if the registers are down. The level of customer service offered is where I've seen the most improvement - shout-out to the evening crew for handling all those late night Kens & Karens in the drive thru lane. Kudos! Keep doing what you're doing!

Original 1/2022: There are three different McDonald's all within a short drive from my home - this location is the one I prefer the least. Most of the staff have the personality of a flea and can sometimes be downright rude. During rush, be prepared for the drive thru lane to be wrapped all the way around the building and to wait... and wait... and wait if you're ordering inside at the counter or picking up curbside. On their worst days, the ice cream machine will be down, the registers will be down, your fries will be cold, and I can guarantee they will forget part...