Ivywild Kitchen — Restaurant in Colorado Springs

My husband and I recently stopped by Ivywild Kitchen for a date night. The employees working in the kitchen were not wearing gloves and were grabbing the food with their bare hands. This was concerning to us since handling cooked food with bare hands is a health code violation (not to mention additional concerns due to COVID), so after we ordered, we requested that the employees wear gloves when making our food. The gentleman making the burgers asked the lady at the register who made that request and she pointed at us, after which, he stared at us while putting on gloves and making obnoxious faces. We were very put off by his attitude and rudeness and decided to cancel our order. As we were doing so, he came over to the register and asked how we were and told us that we looked "so serious" and he was trying to lighten the mood. When we voiced our concerns about the lack of gloves, another gentleman interjected, saying that they wash their hands (which we never saw anyone do in the 15 minutes we stood there), and we were spoken to very flippantly for the rest of the time we were there, despite the fact that we simply ordered, made a reasonable request and then chose to cancel our order due to unprofessionalism and blatant rudeness. Ivywild is great and the distillery is excellent, but I would recommend avoiding...

Today [August 19, 2023 @ 11:22 am] we went to pick up our order. When ordering we were not asked if it was here or to go. We tried to order ahead online, but that service was unavailable so we ordered in person. When we got notification at 11:22 that it was ready we walked down to pick it up. When my husband stated he needed a box it was to go and apologized the employee working started making passive aggressive comments and was clearly irritated. He kept calling my husband buddy and said “thanks for letting us know ahead of time” as he walked to get boxes with an attitude. When he put the food in the boxes he did not close them passed them open to us and walked away to help someone else. We had no issue with waiting if he wanted to help the other customer first. However, super rude for just asking for a to go box and apologizing for not asking at the time of ordering (again which we weren’t asked at the time of ordering if it was for here or to go.)

Overall not really impressed with the employees...

So we got the hot chicken sandwiches and a basket of sweet potato fries. I've got nothing but love for the actual food. This was the best thing I've tasted out in a long time. However, I have some thoughts. We are several years removed from Covid and the QR code menus have got to go. They are obnoxious, tacky, and can be an accessibility barrier for older people. I don't love the counter service either, but to add insult to injury, you have your staff show a tip screen with a 20% default. It's entirely self-service-food pickup and bussing. For why are you pressuring customers to tip for a service they aren't receiving? If you want to pay your staff more, fine. I can understand that. Work it into your menu prices. This tipping trend creates unnecessary friction/awkwardness between employees and your customers. I understand why you and many others have chosen to do this as it takes the pressure off the employer- but nevertheless, it kind of sucks. I know I'm not the only person out there that...