Swensons Drive-In — Restaurant in Columbus

Tonight the server warned that it would be 20-25 minutes before we ordered, and I appreciated that. We decided to go ahead and wait. It was longer, but I'm not upset about that because it was just an estimate and no one knows the future.

My wife and son love the food at Swensons, except when you burn my son's grilled cheese, which has happened 5 times now counting tonight. I have mentioned this before but it seems it is not on your priority of problems to resolve. (In fact, last time it was 2 grilled cheese sandwiches that were burnt, and they tried to argue with me that only 1 was burnt!) Today it was nearly completely black. Just take it off the grill sooner, please. But that actually wasn't the worst thing that happened today.

I ordered a shrimp snacker for my wife. It was entered into the system because it was on the receipt. I paid for it. But I got home to discover that it wasn't there. I figured it was probably just left out of the bag, so I thought I would hop in the car and go back to get it. But I had to leave my food to get cold at home while I went to go get it, so I wanted it to be ready for me. We were just about to start a movie when I had to leave and go back to Swensons.

I called the store to let them know what happened, and that I was coming. But they did not answer! It rang all the way there until I pulled into the parking lot. The server wasn't around so I got the attention of one of the guys inside, and he came outside to my car. I told him what happened. He said it wasn't sitting inside. It hadn't been made at all. He said he would make it for me now, and that it would take two minutes.

So in addition to failing to answer your phone, there were TWO errors. The cook didn't even make the item, and the server didn't even check to see if it was in the bag. I can understand one or the other error, but both?

When the server brought it out to me, he didn't even apologize! Does you business know anything about customer service?! All he said was, "Thank you for the feedback." That felt very insincere. The very thing that should have come out of his mouth was, "I'm very sorry for the inconvenience." Apologies go a long way to making customers feel like someone actually feels bad that an issue occurred. Right now, I feel like they don't even care this happened.

Personally, I'm not a fan of Swenson food. I only come because my wife and son like it, but my son is tired of eating burnt grilled cheese. This has been a horrible experience all the way around.

EDIT: I emailed them per their response. Someone called and left a message. I returned that call multiple times, they stopped responding. Even their corporate managers don't care. Swensons is one of the very worst businesses I have...

Just went in for a burger. There was quite a few cars there and a young man running his ... off taking orders and delivering food..Looked like some sort of athletic event or contest. He finally made his way over to me apologizing for the wait which wasn't long at all. I didn't know how the place worked, what to order or the process for ordering. He offered me a menu to look over as he continued running orders.. I got the feeling the food was made fresh. Had to leave because I had to get to a store before they closed. The food runner invited me back and extended they close at midnight. I was hungry and curious about the food so I headed back. The same guy was still running like he never stopped, which I don't think he had. Quickly came over, explained the way the burgers were prepared, took my order and after a fairly short wait delivered my burger to me, running of course. The double cheeseburger was fresh and tasty somewhat like a home-cooked burger. As he ran by he asked how it was. Food was really good but the service and attitude of the food runner, who I believe was named on the receipt as N. Gordon, was amazing. Friendly, efficient, super energetic and hard working. I can definitely see someone coming in, noticing this hard working individual and offering him a high paying job at their business establishment or company. If I was local I know I would. These days it seems to be harder and harder to find enthusiastic hard working individuals at these...

I started out loving this place. Friendly servers served me the first two times. My food took 15 minutes the first visit. That is why I didn't put 1 star. Those two were great experiences! However, I went here a few days ago, waited 10 minutes to have my order even taken and the lady who drove up after me got her order taken in 2 minutes - before me when I was there first! Half an hour after that, a teenage employee came out to tell me that one of their employees walked out on them and didn't leave my order - supposedly. They said they didn't know my order and "couldn't look for it". I asked if they could do my order again and he said it would take too long. He suggested any place but there, which I found odd. I told him what my order was when he asked again, and he said "Nope!" then pretty much shooed me away. I was mad, and I told them that was irresponsible of them. I have worked at fast food places and I know how orders go! If you have something happen like this, you offer the customer a deal for next time, or a coupon for free food, or some other incentive to come back. Because of this, I won't be back. I felt I was treated like an annoyance, not a customer. I tipped every time, too. But, I don't want to...