Jack in the Box — Restaurant in Avondale

There appears to be a lot of patrons that have not had a good experience at this Jack in the Box (250 N Avondale Blvd, Avondale, AZ 85323), but that isn't my experience. I've been going to this restaurant for several years as it very close to my office. I typically get a breakfast item, but sometimes a lunch item. The food I receive is typically hot, not warm, but nicely hot, like it was just prepared. The Hispanic (my apologies if I'm incorrect) woman that always works the window (Manager, I believe) is quick, attentive and professional. She's not bubbly, not rude, and doesn't hang out the window talking to patrons making me wait. She's friendly in a professional way, attentive, and accurate. If she is the manager, she runs a well managed fast food business, in my opinion. When nearly all other fast food businesses can no longer be considered "fast" food, this location is. That I appreciate more than anything else. I know I can go there, my order is accurate, its hot, and above all it is promptly provided. If there's a line in the drive-thru I know it will progress quickly. I normally wait 6 - 9 minutes at Whataburger (but I like them), typically 3 -4 minutes at BK, and nearly always 5+ minutes at McD's. Tell me why it takes so long at these other locations? Poor management...maybe. Lazy, don't care employees? I get that vibe most of the time, which to me is a sign of bad management and/or young people that are over-exposed to the commercialism of social media, and the social degradation it is creating. I personally, applaud the management at this location. Keep it up. Maybe a tiny smile every so often would be cool, but hey, I'm very happy with what they do and with the woman's (manager?) professional mannerisms. All in all, the food is served promptly and hot. For me, that's what I'm wanting in a stop at a fast food restaurant. (The 4 star rating for the food is simply due to it being fast food. I can't give a high quality sit down restaurant a five and also give a fast food place a five. Degrades the high quality restaurant rating. There isn't anything poor about this restaurants food, but it is still fast food (lots of sodium, sugar, and fats). The 5 star rating for atmosphere is simply that the drive thru is all I ever use and for a drive thru, it's clean, the ledge area by the window is kept clean and in good repair. It doesn't gross me out to reach over the ledge to accept my food, and there are places that I won't go to again just for that reason. If that area of high use, high contact with the patrons, isn't kept clean and nice, then it makes me question whether other internal areas are kept any better. This is food folks, and clean and sanitary is part of the expectation.

Update 5/14/24, I had my first not so enjoyed breakfast here today. Same professional, courteous manager working the window. It was the breakfast burrito and small coffee I received that was lacking. Both were only warm, and I had requested jalapenos and onions to be included. Didn't have the jalapenos and onions, but it did have a stray piece of very, very hard bacon in it. When I bit this very hard object, my initial thoughts was a piece of hard plastic, long and triangular. My bite didn't break it, cut it, or crumble it. I had eaten about a quarter of the burrito before finding the bacon piece. I tried one more bite but realized I wasn't comfortable continuing to eat the burrito. Besides the bacon piece, the burrito contents didn't have the same fresh made look or feel. They felt like they may have been warming for some time, somewhat overly dry.

The most surprising or disappointing aspect was the failure of the burrito not having the additions I requested, and it being just luke-warm. They have always gotten my food right. It was something I could count on, that also set them apart from most other fast-food restaurants, which seem to always fail to get orders correct.

Does this discourage me from continuing to frequent the restaurant, no. Everyone has an off day. They are still way better than other...

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE. Do not come here. I came here at 1am. The drive thru was backed up for 30 minutes yet I saw four people in there working. I finally get the the speaker and she tells through the speaker “Can you turn your car off, I can’t hear you”. My car is not even loud. It’s 109 degrees outside, I’m not turning my car and ac off, that’s ridiculous, especially after I waited thirty minutes. So I talk louder and she yells “you’re yelling and I can’t hear you”. I said “so you can’t hear me”, she goes “no”. Everytime I said something, she responded so you CAN hear me, you’re just upset I won’t turn my car off for you. Finally after going back and forth for 5 minutes, she takes me order. I pull to the drive window, she opens and tells me my amount, I said “where is your apple pay scanner” and she goes “if you’ll wait a second, I’ll get it”. You told me my amount due for payment, why are you having an attitude because I asked for the payment scanner?? So I said “Great thank you”, she responds with an attitude “YOURE WELCOME” and so I said again “Ok THANK YOU”. Then she said “I’m not serving you” and closed the window. So I sat there, she never came back to the window and then called the police on me and had me trespassed for 30 days. I’ll be calling...

In late January my husband and I went to this location (it’s around the corner from our house), we order: 4 tacos, 1 Chicken sandwich, and 1 Jumbo jack....everything was cold like frozen cold, so we went back down there and some girl claiming to be the manager (about 18, petite, red hair, pale skin) said it’s all ‘fresh’ I said really? Then why’s it all frozen, she rolled her eyes without even looking at the food that I was trying to show her and that’s were I got upset...it’s late there was literally no body in line and she was to busy on her cell phone to care. I would have been cool if she owned it or said she’d actually cook it, but she was too busy letting her eyes roll back. She gave me more lip and I just left...I thought I guess ya can’t expect a lot from them at 1am. But this is why I came back to leave a comment...

I decided to try Jack again, so I went to the location out of the way on Dysart and Rancho Santa Fe, 2 tacos and 1 chicken sandwich...food was hot, ya know like cooked when I ordered it! I was blown away. My once a month hankering for hot grease, I’ll def. visit that location. It’s driving the 5mins out of the way...