Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers — Restaurant in Champaign

I rarely go out to eat anymore and when I do I vow to never do it again. But I do. I had never been to Freddy's before. Today I drove past and noticed "Chicago Dogs" on the side of the building. Okay, sounds good, I'll try it. Walking in I noticed everything was grungy. Not filthy - I've seen worse - but every surface had that "wiped with a well-used rag" film on it. The young woman taking my order spoke barely above a whisper and probably was annoyed with me for asking her to repeat everything she asked. I ordered a hot dog with fried cheese curds instead of fries. When she asked me what I wanted on my hot dog I asked her what the options were. (Yes, it's on the menu, but the menu is so cramped I couldn't find the them.) She could have politely pointed to the location on the menu for me but, instead, did this: she adjusted the register screen so it was flat, pointed at it and said I could read it. First of all, it was upside-down. Sorry, I can't read upside-down. Secondly, I don't care how annoying it is, if a customer asks a question, answer it to the best of your ability. I should point out that I was the only customer in the restaurant and there was no one in the drive-through. It's not like she was overwhelmed and pressed for time. To make things easy I asked for mustard and relish (already ruining the ingredients for a "Chicago" dog). The cost was almost $15. Pricey for a hot dog and side. Almost twenty minutes after ordering, no food. There were at least 10 employees. Only two of them were doing anything. The rest were bumbling around like zombies. Just when I was going to say something my order was ready. The food looked good. However, I'll nit-pick. Not precisely Chicago-style. The hot dog is, as it should be, all beef. But the bun was not poppy seed. The peppers on the menu are jalapeno not "sport peppers", and there is no celery salt. As for the taste: exactly like a higher-end grocery store dog. The cheese curds. After a eating few I thought they were the best fried curds ever. After a few more my taste buds caught up and the amount of salt became far too much. Freddy's is the only chain I know of that has it's own "fry sauce". Two varieties. Standard and Jalapeno. I'll take almost any condiment over ketchup. They both tasted odd. Not bad. Just odd. However, if you like it, they sell bottles of it...as well as their specialty spice. I ate almost everything but just couldn't finish. As I was walking out I went "Blegh!" and looked up to see two employees sitting at an outdoor table. Oh well, just being honest. So, I won't vow to never eat out again, but I will vow to never eat at Freddy's again. That vow will be easy to keep. Covid really messed up the restaurant business. Nobody wants to work in it anymore and many of it's current employees are from the bottom...

I'll start by saying I've had Freddy's many times over the years, so I am comparing my experience to previous visits to Freddy's, but probably not bothering to go again. Between price and food quality, it is no longer worth it.

First, if you are planning on getting Freddy's, just go inside and order. Ordered for pickup, was charged "digital fee" of an extra 5% for using their OFFICIAL website to order (not Doordash or other 3rd party). Strange to discourage customers to order ahead in this day and age (literally no other restaurant will do this). After waiting in drive-thru to pickup, was told "you guys" must come inside. I think they assumed I was a dasher, although I told them it was my personal order. No big deal I guess, although not sure why they couldn't hand it to me at the window or curbside. it's 2024, literally every place accommodates customers in this way. Picked it up inside after a short wait.

Got home, order was incorrect, missing items on burger (lettuce and tomato I added were missing), missing sauces for fries (that were added to order), and "large" $5.40 fries has been hit with shrink-flation. Easily what I'd say is a small at any other place that serves french fries. Maybe they got that wrong too, and gave me a small, no idea. The seasoning was still top notch, but I didn't have my fry sauces to go with it. The burger patties were dried out, and fairly small/thinner (compared to my previous experiences with Freddy's over the years). The custard was still quite good, but not even remotely close to the quality of something like Culver's.

Again, if you really want Freddy's, just plan to order and eat inside and make sure everything is correct. I won't bother going back - the prices were much higher than competitors (Culver's, Portillos) and the portion sizes were less per buck. Portillos is right across the street, or Culver's is 2 minutes down the road, and is superior in every way (price, portion, taste, value, friendliness). Freddy's used to be a "cheap" option, surely it is not anymore. In a time where everything is costing us too much, just save your money and avoid. For fast food, it's easy to vote with your dollar (take a look at how McDonald's is doing right now since they started charging absurd prices). Lifelong Freddy's customer no longer. $12 burger and $5.50 fries is SILLY for the portion sizes here. You can get better prices at a sit down restaurant. Fortunately there are plenty of better fast food...

Worst experience I’ve had anywhere ever. The cashier waited on the customers in front of us and then stood there looking at us while talking another employee and eventually walked away. The other employee looked at us and then asked the first cashier if we had been waited on and he said no like it wasn’t a thing. I ordered a Chicago dog without onions amongst other things. While we were waiting for our food we could see multiple people coming and going one person entered the kitchen area reeking of marijuana and not wearing a uniform and soon walked back out. As we were watching our food being prepared the guy kept wearing the same gloves as he put the burgers and dogs together then grabbing other things like trays and the microphone to call out orders and then back into the lettuce bin, etc. I let this go until I saw who I later found out was the manager pick up my Chicago dog that had been sitting on the tray alone for quite awhile, turn around and begin to pick off the onions. I got up and asked for another totally frustrated at this point and then after the reaction I got (which was that the guy just walked off), I asked for a refund. We went and waited at the counter for our refund for a few minutes. Finally the manager appears (onion picker) says nothing and spends a lengthy amount of time trying to figure out how to find my order in the system. Finally I asked just to get my cash money and for him to sort the rest out on his own. He refused this and eventually found another employee who was able to fix it. We tried to explain our complaints and why they were an issue and the manager didn’t seem to get it. I think it was all too much for his skill level. I said some people are allergic and that you can’t just pick them off. His excuse was that the Chicago dogs come with onion. I told him I ordered without and he just said again that it was the reason he...