Shake Shack Newbury Street — Restaurant in Boston

Complaint Regarding Poor Service at Shake Shack Newbury St. Location

Dear Shake Shack Team,

I am writing to express my disappointment with the experience I had today at your Newbury St. location in Boston. As a loyal customer who has enjoyed Shake Shack for many years, I was extremely dissatisfied with both the app functionality and the in-store service I received.

Today, I came to Shake Shack to take advantage of the promotion offering a free burger with a purchase of $10 or more, which required ordering through the app. However, the app repeatedly gave me an error stating that my phone number was invalid. I tried several numbers, but none worked. I sought help from an employee who claimed to be the manager (a Black male cashier). He attempted to assist by using different numbers, but it still didn’t work. This clearly indicated that the issue was with the Shake Shack app itself.

When I asked for a resolution, he told me, “I don’t know,” and suggested I order through the in-store kiosk, which also did not allow me to use the promo code. I asked him to escalate the issue or contact someone who could help, but he simply repeated, “I don’t know.” This response was unhelpful and unacceptable.

Frustrated, I went to sit down and leave a review. After a few minutes, the same manager brought me a burger, threw it on the table, and said, “Didn’t you order other items? You still need to pay for those.” His tone and manner felt dismissive and disrespectful. I proceeded to pay for my remaining order as I was hungry and needed to eat. However, after sitting back down, I became increasingly upset about how I was treated. Moments later, the same manager brought the rest of my order, placed it on the table without a word, and walked away.

The more I thought about the situation, the more disrespected I felt. I was so upset that I couldn’t even finish my food. My frustration escalated to the point where I threw my meal on the ground, my head throbbing from the anger and humiliation. This was not about the $10—I can afford that without any issue. What I cannot tolerate is having my dignity so blatantly disregarded.

Ultimately, this situation resulted in unnecessary losses for everyone. I lost money on the food I couldn’t bring myself to eat, Shake Shack wasted food, and most importantly, the company’s reputation suffered because of this poor handling of the issue. This was a terrible outcome for what should have been a simple and enjoyable experience.

I have several concerns regarding this experience: The app malfunction: The promotion could not be redeemed due to errors in the Shake Shack app. This is not the fault of the customer, yet I was left to deal with the inconvenience. Poor service and attitude: The manager failed to provide a solution or even offer a simple apology. His repeated "I don't know" and dismissive demeanor were unprofessional and showed a lack of training and basic customer service skills. Disrespectful handling: Bringing the burger in such a manner felt like an act of condescension, as if I was being begrudgingly given charity instead of being served as a paying customer.

It’s disappointing that a restaurant as reputable as Shake Shack, especially at a high-profile location like Newbury St., would treat customers in this way. I came in to enjoy a meal and left with a bad experience and frustration instead.

I hope Shake Shack will take this feedback seriously, address the app issue, and provide better training for staff to handle customer concerns with professionalism, empathy, and courtesy. I look forward to hearing how you plan to address...

If you were looking for a juicy, hot, and fresh burger- go back out the door you came in. You will not find that here. I warn others, you are risking food-borne illness eating here.

Myself and a friend ordered Shake Shack in via Uber Eats, as they had a BOGO deal running on the ShackBurgers. I should’ve known right then and there, there is a reason it is BOGO. It’s the only way to draw in business.

We both ordered a Shack Burger with no alterations or adjustments. We also did an order of the “cheese” fries. I awaited my order’s arrival. The store delayed my order multiple times. I figure, no big deal. They must just be busy.

Finally, my courier picks up the order and delivers it directly to me, less than 7-10 minutes away. Insulated bag and all. Driver did their job and all was well in that regard.

I open up the food and first impressions aren’t great. Everything is ice cold and congealed. The food is in the “danger zone” and truly not safe to eat. Visually, the burgers looked like they had been sitting for hours. The lettuce and such was all soggy and wilted, not fresh.

The burger is ice cold and the cheese is all congealed. It’s way overcooked and the temperature wasn’t safe to eat the food. The fries were all over the bag. The cheese sauce was rancid and had the consistency of a block of fake cheese. It was repulsive.

I made the decision to toss it all. It isn’t worth getting deathly sick over in any way. I reached out to Uber and was told to essentially pound sand.

I have reached out to Shake Shack. They have not addressed the issue with me, aside from scripted responses and pointing the finger at Uber. That said, I’d suggest folks steer clear of this place. I also filed a report with the Health Department.

For the record, Uber and Shake Shack refuse to refund my $21 and change that I am owed for this inedible meal they delivered.

For me, it isn’t about the money. It is the fact they will not own up to the mistake and correct it. They’d rather have someone write a poor review and have a...

Oh. My. Goodness. I cannot find the words to describe the sheer delight that is Shake Shack! We visited for the first time on a crazy hot day in Boston. We’d heard how great Shake Shack is but had never been. I noticed how beautifully laid out everything was, immaculately clean and very new looking. We wandered in and were standing looking at the menu when a guy came up and asked my son “are you too old to colour?” He didn’t understand at first and we didn’t know this guy actually worked there as we’d never been and the uniform is quite subdued. He repeated himself and I realised what he was asking and that he worked there. I don’t think we expected this at a burger joint. As soon as my son said no, certainly not, the guy was like “okay I got you”, and promptly returned with crayons and colouring pages for both kids! We ordered and decided to just get burgers and share a small fries. Service at the counter was just as friendly, and the food was ready really fast. We’d grabbed a seat and as we were trying to take a family selfie, the dude who’d greeted us, who later introduced himself as Calvin, brought out food to the table. He saw our selfie attempt and called another person working to come take the picture, then he jumped into the picture! It was really cool. He put down the food, made sure we had what we needed, and disappeared. We began to eat and were amazed at how delicious everything was. I ordered a vegetarian burger by mistake (I assumed there’d be a meat patty on there too) but holy moly it was so good! Deep fried crumbed mushroom stuffed with melted cheese? Yes please! Calvin materialised again and brought us three extra servings of fries, saying “I can’t watch a family of four share one serve of fries”! And the fries were absolutely awesome, best I’ve ever had, crispy crinkly cut chips, delicious! I can’t recommend Shake Shack enough! Shout out to the awesome Calvin too! What a cool dude! Please please please bring Shake...