Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen — Restaurant in Charlotte

NOV 2019 UPDATE TOWARD THE BOTTOM NEW FEB 2020 update below that - it’s now increased to four stars from the original two I’d started with. I’m leaving all of it here for posterity as a reminder to the management, in-store, district, regional, and otherwise, so they won’t forget how awful they once were.

AUG 2019 - Although we eat here occasionally, this store has never impressed me nor do they even seem to care to. They’re slow, they run out of stuff, and the general attitude is nobody apparently wanted to come to work today but they did but now you’re gonna be treated accordingly which means brusquely. Food is usually decent, and they’ll occasionally toss in an extra piece or two of chicken or tenders especially if they’re smaller than normal. Biscuits taste like salt.

[deleted very poor inside 90 minute experience to make room for a new update below]

I’ll return to this store in a couple months and see if anything has improved and if so will update this review accordingly.

NOV 2019 - been here a couple times since the original review. Employees aren’t any friendlier for the most part but one girl there I hadn’t seen before seems pleasant and friendly so hopefully management is adding friendlier CUSTOMER SERVICE ORIENTED employees. Before 11am today, I went in and ordered my sandwich to go and while I waited for my food to come up I witnessed the MGR get very quickly upset with a lady who simply said to him in a gentle and polite voice: “sir, me and these other folks were here waiting on our food before the gentleman you just gave food to”, to which the correct response would be, with a smile, “yes ma’am, he ordered something that was already prepared and ready to go”, end of discussion. Instead he stopped, huffed, turned away from her and said quite loudly “MA’AM!.....I know this! [long pause] I can’t give you something that isn’t here! We are working on it!”, which was a very rude and unnecessary response at far too high of a volume to someone who was merely posing an observation for clarification. She was shocked as were we all at his overreaction. The entire restaurant is now quiet and tense, which was all on him and his tone. Not a good manager, I still maintain, since he’s so easily offended by the littlest thing, and still doesn’t appear to have better control of his very slack evening employees.

Sandwich was good today, fries were better but still a bit on the greasy/old-oil side of the flavor spectrum. Store seems clean enough inside and out. Doors were covered in finger prints all over which since they’d only been open for a few minutes was unacceptable. I’ll update if I notice positive changes happening here in the future.

FEB 2020 - been here several more times since my last update and feel confident that I can now say it’s far and away significantly better compared to what it once was. Food quality has consistently gone up, not knocking my socks off quite yet but certainly can tell more much more effort is being put into the cooking and prep. The biggest and most-welcome change is in the daytime employees. Holy cow. I haven’t encountered a rude or grouchy employee in months [although I see the same mgr is still there so his demeanor is left to be discovered], and there are many pleasant voices, smiling faces, hellos, thank yous, and what even feels like genuine “Have a nice day!”s at the end so they get a big THANK YOU for those positive changes. I haven’t been back inside since the last debacle but the drivethru experience has done a complete 180 from what it was. Food is hotter and tastier now and well assembled. When I get home, all of my food is in the bag now. People here fantastic even compared to different fast food locations who also have a great staff. I won’t be taking a pass on this local store as much as I have been for the last several years. Hopefully I can ratchet this location up to a deserving five stars in time. Keep up the fantastic work y’all. I’ll update with an evening shift experience next...

I spent $18.00 at this location and was given no receipt after purchase. I called to report that nothing in my order was edible (nuggets hard, dry and crumbly, biscuit dry and hard as a brick, soda had no syrup....it was all seltzer)! The only edible thing was the apple pie and mac and cheese (that was not even a full container). I was told that I could come back the next day and my entire order would be replaced. I went back and talked to this black heavy set lady and she basically told me that I was lying. I had to call the original number that I called the day before to talk to the lady I spoke with prior. The lady behind the counter told the lady I was talking to on the phone to call her phone and she took the call around the corner. She came back and told me that I had eaten a whole order of 8 piece nugget the day prior and I did not tell anyone that. She asked me for the food and I told her that I threw that mess in the trash. She then wanted to argue back and forth with me about what I ate from the meal I previously purchased the day before as if she had been with me to know what I ate. Regardless of what the staff told me the previous day, this lady told me that she was the GENERAL MANAGER!!! To the General Manager....I am appalled that a person in your position would act the way that you did. You are a horrible representation of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen! You tried to embarrass me and was so ugly in your delivery today. WOW...I am so frustrated with this situation! I advise you if you are thinking about visiting this location...PLEASE, KEEP GOING! I wonder if all Popeyes hire people who do not know how to interact with customers and handle issues that may arise. I WILL NEVER VISIT A POPEYES AGAIN, ESPECIALLY 4050 N TRYON STREET CHARLOTTE, NC 28206!! BEWARE...YOU HAVE...

First let me say as I surveyed this place the manager had no idea. Second a little older lady came in sat a chicken sandwich down and said it was to hard and it was I saw it. Then I completed an almost $40 dollar order and I ordered the. 5 piece chicken special NOW THAT WAS WHAT I WAS SURVEYING THE CHICKEN. The chicken I saw was really dark brown and looked to been under the light as long as they had opened. I told the cashier Heather which was the only white lady in the whole crew that I wanted fresh chicken by the way Heather was a very sweet lady. I says I could wait no matter how long because the other chicken looked dry, oily and hardened from the hot light it was sitting under and after 10 min A HIGE BLACK LADY STEPS OUT AND ASK HEATHER what is she waiting on the server says fresh chicken and the black woman went on to say that you should’ve given her that chicken then Heather replied but she wanted fresh chicken the big black woman was hott then she says Not here so i commented and said that’s what I wanted was fresh chicken as the big black woman continued to argue with me she angrily threw the chicken in a box and hollers she ready. She says it’s company policy to sell the chicken that’s up in the glass first, BUT NO MAAM IM NOT BUYING IT AND WERE GOING TO SEE ABOUT COMPANY POLICY. I’m sending this report in a hurry to the Popeyes head quarters. This store is not needed and thanks for showing your true colors By the way the lady that brought the chicken sandwich back you talked to her like trash.You should be fired Big Black Lady Manager Period!!!!!!! And the chicken nuggets...