Arby's — Restaurant in Bellingham

PLEASE SEE FOLLOW-UP NOTE Entered 7/4/2018 BELOW! Depressing experience: I hope it was just this time, for I have been going to Arby's since the late '60s in Youngstown, Ohio and have loved them for years, through their reorganizations and bankruptcies! Visited this Arby's on Sunday, 3/11/2018, a beautiful day, at 5:05 pm. Store was a mess, crew looked bedraggled although inside was nearly empty. Drive up moderately busy. Order taken by friendly young man who said they had been very busy, but rest of crew was loitering, most of them rudely chatting with one another with their backs to the few customers ordering inside while manager noisily counted cash. Printer jammed, gruff manager tore out receipt, then roughly yanked cables out of printer to substitute another. Out of Shake mix (can you believe this at Arby's?), worse, out of napkins, instead they were handing out torn pieces of paper towels erratically torn from full towels. Place was DIRTY: many days' worth of crumbs between bench seat cushions, deep dust on counter surface between booths and soft drink/condiment bar, door closer on north door broken/door not shutting, south side trash receptacle with door missing, tile missing from entry way, absolutely filthy air conditioning vent above order-counter area, holes in men's room wall where a bracket was torn out, filthy corners and dirty areas near handles, locks, etc. SUCH A LETDOWN, other customers were talking about it, we were all wondering, "What happened to this place?" One employee thought it had changed hands, so sad: the original Bellingham franchisee on the South Side ran beautiful, cheerful places (he opened the north one, then the south one closed). I had a Cuban sandwich, it was good, but when ordering I asked the order-taker/cashier "how do you like the Cuban?" he said, "It's sour." "Sour?" "Yes, a lot of mustard!" he said. It did have a little too much mustard, but was good...I'm glad I ordered it, and it certainly wasn't sour. Employees should be able to quote the features of every item, an example of this place's whole slipshod operation, at least this week! That night I went on line, entered the survey, reported trouble, no follow-up from parent, and no place to get your email address for one. Three days later, tried to call customer line, got disconnected twice after waiting 12 minutes and 7 minutes, thus, dismayed, this bad review. It's a shame that here in Bellingham we had two great stores and now only one that is a mess, and an example of how NOT to run a restaurant. WENT AGAIN LATE JUNE 2018. Much Better! Place was clean, but shift manager explained General Manager was gone, they were working to improve it. WHAT WE NOTICED: Now much cleaner, nothing was out of stock, though a few fixtures still were nor as they should be. But much progress made getting it clean, and food was good and much prompter. I'll...

I have loved Arby's food since they opened, but hands down the Arby's on Meridian is probably the worst one in the United States. When I cannot ignore my cravings anymore will go and something will inadvertently go wrong (having to wait unreasonably long time at drive through, wrong items in order and yesterday I had a new one to add to the list).

I received a coupon sheet and advertisement last week. It featured "New Smokehouse Beef Short Rib Sandwich". Have you seen that advertisement? Sandwich looks smashing good and delicious. I called my son and said I was buying and asked if he could pick up two of these sandwiches which I had been drooling over for the last several days. Asking Mike to stop at Arby's was pushing my luck because he hates the Arby's on Meridian, always having some problem.

Having a flair for the dramatic Mike placed it on my fine china and presented it to me. I looked at the sandwich, looked at Mike, looked at the sandwich again and emitted a wail! What happened to the sandwich?

The advertisement photo (I admit they always look crisper, perkier, 3 inch higher than the actual product) but the product before me barely resembled the advertisement. The advertisement showed two thicker than average toasted bread with a generous portion of rare short rib beef, a slice of yellow american cheese, onion rings. My sandwich was two slices of toasted white bread and the beef. That is it....no cheese, no onion rings. I will admit the roast beef was delicious but sorely lacking in appearance. May I suggest to the person making the sandwiches have a picture of the special up over the counter so you can refer to it while building...

The ordering experience was fine; I was the only person in line and I was asked to order when I was ready, which I appreciated. When I pulled to the window, I sat there for a good 45 seconds before being acknowledged by a cashier. The cashier asked if I had paid yet. I told him I hadn't, but I wonder what would have happened if I told him I had. After paying, I was not offered a receipt and I didn't receive one in the bag. I waited for what seemed like a long time for my order (a beef n cheddar and small curly fries) to come out. I asked for extra Arby's sauce when I placed my order and then had to ask again at the window before just two packages were put in my bag. The sandwich was put in the wrapper with the foil facing out so all the juices from the beef and cheddar soaked into the paper and out of my sandwich; also with the foil facing out, the sandwich gets cold faster. Also, not to be picky but the sandwich was made with two bottom buns. Overall, I was pretty disappointed with...