Chick-fil-A — Restaurant in Branson

“To dip or not to dip” Not to dip. Or at least I didn’t get to dip yesterday when my carry out mobile order had not sauce😢, which is nearing the end of a rather long and dramatic tragedy in four acts.

Act one. I’ve recently (this past May) started working at a business in town and have always in the back of my mind have a deep seated affection towards Chick-fil-a and remember having very positive experience at this location in the past. However, and I’m speculating here, I believe their dedication to employing the high school youths has caused a drastic drop in quality and a lower customer experience.

My first run in was also the first time I had gone to CFA this summer and went through the drive thru on my lunch break and wanted to try the peach milkshake. After ordering a small peach milkshake (because I’m not made of enough money to support a heavy drinking habit) the girl at the screen rung up a peach tea. After a quick back and forth I saw my order change to a milkshake. However I still got the tea and, and here’s where I share some blame, in rushing to get back to work I netted out of the line with the tea without registering it wasn’t what I ordered. This type of carelessness is not what I expect from a chain that try’s to give the best service and in the past has.

Two asides about this part of the story. Firstly, you may have noted that I was rung up by “a girl”. That’s not at all surprising in and of itself. However if you’ve been to CFA you may have grown accustomed to something like “hello my name is __ how may I help you today”. And I’ve joked with some of my friends who have worked multiple summers here about the windy introductions the servers give. If it weren’t for this added emphasis I don’t think I would have minded not knowing who was serving me. The other aside is that it took a very long time to work through the drive thru line. Other reviews have praised their speed but for a fast food restaurant that boasts the capability to serve busses of people, the regular lunch rush seemed to come as a surprise, and one they weren’t ready for. On the plus side I got through a podcast on my lunch break.

Act two I mentioned a deep seated affection for CFA and I did still want to try that peach milkshake so I decided they needed the benefit of the doubt and deserved a second chance. Same basic scenario, long wait around lunch (which you would think more workers would be scheduled for but somehow the drive thru pushes the capacity apparently). This time there was no back and forth at the screen, as there was a person in a big sun hat and fashionable safety belt who helped me, and I eagerly awaited my milkshake. I went to the window, this time wairy for a tea and recurves a nice foam cup full of what looked like a milk shake. When I got back to work to enjoy my lunch I discovered it wasn’t. It was a peach frosted lemonade. I checked the receipt and it was a-okay, and while the server (again, strangely anonymous) with the iPad or whatever they use had had some trouble finding the dessert, after a wait it was punched in correctly. Who knows, maybe there’s someone out there writing a review about how they ordered a peach frosted lemon aid and got a peach milkshake.

Act three The most recent time I went to get lunch (again hoping for better experiences) I decided to be absolutely, 100% sure everything was right, so I used the app and made sure the order was correct right down to the number of sauces I wanted in the bag. And lo and behold! I have tried the peach milkshake. It is VERY good! Yet when one thing went right, another went wrong. As in the other stories the wait was egregious. I ordered then decided to grab Starbucks and then wait till I’m leaving Starbucks to hit “I’m here”. As in the thing you push when you are there to pick up the order. I took (for locals) the back way up, skipping main st to come in the back. I had to wait for an opening to cross Veterans Blvd and after 5 min the food wasn’t done and there were no sauces. Sorry to lose the narrative but who knew google reviews...

I have loved Chic-fil-a since I was a child. And in that time, I can count the number of less than stellar experiences at any store on one hand. Last night, 10/08/24, was one of them. While it was probably a fluke and this store could usually be outstanding, last night for us was less so.

While the staff was friendly and the service quick, sadly, the food was not up to standard. I ordered their chicken nuggets, which are usually wonderful. Last night, however, they were dry, over cooked, or just sat too long that they had gotten hard. They were barely warm and overly greasy. A few of the "nuggets" were more like clumps of crunchies, like you would see at the bottom of a bag, so no actual chicken, just hard, greasy breading. I ate as much as I could only because 1, we had gone through the drive thru and we're not in the store to take them back, and 2, we live about 2 hours away and by the time we would get home it works be far too late to try to cook something, (we were heading home from the airport in Springfield.) To top it all off, shorty after we got home, I started feeling nauseous. Not like food poisoning, but more like the excess grease upset my stomach.

I don't eat at fast food places often, mostly because the "food" at most of them is subpar and taste like chemicals to me. Chic-fil-a is one of only 2 that I will stop at a couple of times a year as a treat because they seem to have a higher standard of quality. Last night, this Chic-fil-a fell far short of that standard. Maybe they were short staffed or had people tired from extra long or double shifts. Regardless of the reason, it will be a long time before I risk stopping at this particular...

I do a lot of doordash pickups and postmate pickups from there. They are always fast friendly and accurate most importantly they are ready when I get there and if not very soon after unlike other places Chick-fil-A realizes that these independent delivery companies are great for their sales. and that the quickness of the order reflects the business, various other restaurants that I pick up from don't seem to understand that and they look at it as a hassle. To that I say If you don't want to own a restaurant that seeks ways to boost profits then give it to me! It just makes no sense to me. Seems like some restaurants are so afraid of change that they're willing to make themselves look bad, and not gain from the opportunity to distribute their product. Sorry there's a couple grammar errors I was just speaking this to my phone lol. This restaurant really does a great job at handling large volume sales and keeping a customer friendly attitude at all times. It's honestly comforting to know that there is still places that care because sometimes I really feel like I'm the last one that's really tries to go above and beyond and be progressive so thank you Chick-fil-A at the end of the day you may not be my favorite restaurant and that's me because I like steaks and pizza haha. I will say though you definitely have the right attitude and it really shows so thank you for setting a great example of how a restaurant should behave and operate; this extends to the customers and how you treat your staff , and at the end of the day that's really can make or break a so good job keep it up and keep selling that tender juicy chicken like you do best!

As always...