Firehouse Subs Columbia Pointe — Restaurant in Columbia

Two awful visits in a row. I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt the first time I was disappointed because they used to be so clean and friendly here. Even the best restaurants can have a bad day.Not now.Time to find a local deli that needs more business and will work to earn it. This store has gone from a fun,well-maintained hidden treasure to an unhygienic,depressing same old, same old corporate money grab. Too many problems to go into depth, but here are the most obvious things that made me so disappointed in this store:

1. Filthy Freestyle soft drink dispenser. Two straight visits a week apart and the machine had the same spots, filth and stains.It had obviously not been cleaned. It may never be cleaned again for all I know.I’m not going to risk finding out.
2. Almost empty store both times and tables had not been cleaned from previous guests.I found a couple that were clean and chose those.Wiping the table is not a competitive advantage, it’s a basic guest expectation.
3. Nose-ring employees don’t greet you or even pretend to care.They spent more time on their phones and talking to non- employees hanging around the store than doing their jobs and that would help explain why the place was in such disarray.The bathroom trash was overflowing,there were lots of used food baskets willy nilly at the trash can…The list goes on and on.The same people that own Burger King now own Firehouse and I stopped going there because of the same operational problems.Unsanitary conditions lead to bugs, rodents and other unhealthy outcomes.They charge top dollar for meals here and no way I’m going to pay that kind of $$ for what they call service.The unsanitary appearance is a deal breaker for me.

If management even bothers to read this, please don’t shuck and jive about how you’re “taking this seriously” . Talk is cheap. You don’t really care...

I went there after church today. After waiting 20 + mins for our food (which was fine) I hear who I assume is the manager tell a worker to clock out. That she is (tired of your a**) in her exact words. This same manager was propped up by the drink machine texting while I was trying to get ice. Anyways. The girl seemed to be calm and collective. I'm not sure what she did. But a few seconds later the manger came from the back and kicked what I'm assuming was a box in the floor and told her to leave and don't come back, the young girl asked if she was fired and the manager said yes. She asked if any of the other workers wanted to follow her. The girl walked out calmly. After all that commotion they yelled for our name and we awkwardly ate. Everyone in the restaurant was talking about it. I'm not sure if the girl did something warranted for a fire but it was definitely not handled professional in the slightest. I would assume a manager would take the girl to the back where customers wouldn't hear that or even the employees. How embarrassing. And people wonder why nobody wants to work in restaurant/fast...

Last Saturday, we used this FH location to cater to a local funeral home via a catering app. When the delivery driver dropped off the food, we noticed we only got 1 gallon of lemonade, not the 3 that we ordered. So the driver very graciously went back to get the other 2. While he was gone, I also noticed that we only got one tray of 20 subs when we ordered 2 trays. Since I didn't have his number, I called the headquarters of the catering company he worked for. The lady could not help me. So I then called the FH store itself. The phone rang and rang with no answer. I tried to call four times. Finally, the driver returned with the correct amount of lemonade and I told him about the missing sub tray. He was obviously frustrated, as was I, but he turned back around to retrieve the tray. There may have been some error in the catering company and myself for not noticing the missing tray sooner, but a lot of the blame falls on this store. Be sure to pay close attention to the orders...