Taco Bell — Restaurant in Columbus

Team member tried to close on me after I had already ordered.

So I pull into the drive through line that's wrapped around the building at around 8:30pm on Sunday. The store lists its closing time as 10:00pm Sun on maps. The line is moving slow, but no big deal, people have large orders and it takes a minute. I had nowhere to be, and a few cars even gave up and pulled out of the line before it started moving again.

I finally get to the menu and I'm greeted by a team member, "Thank you for coming to Taco Bell, go ahead with your order" (not verbatim). I proceed to list off items in my order, and about two thirds of the way through I get another "Thank you for coming to Taco Bell, go ahead with your order". I ask, "Okay, should I just start from the top then?". The team member says, "Yes sorry". I again list off my order, slower this time, and again about halfway through they have me start over a third time. This in itself is no big deal, and I don't fault this team member for taking time to get my order right, and they were getting slammed at the time, so I'm sure they had people in their ear in the background.

I complete my order and pull forward. The car behind me orders, and as they complete, a different team member of the Taco Bell staff comes out and talks to the car behind me. He walks over to my car and motions for me to roll down my window. It's about 8:50pm at this point.

"Are you picking up for Grubhub or Postmates?" He asks. "No, but you already took my order at the menu." I say motioning behind me. "Okay, well uh, we're CLOSED and we're only accepting Grubhub or Postmates." He says. I restate what I said and he gives up and walks back into the Taco Bell.

I pull up to the window and the transactions goes normally. I hand over money and receive my order as I had ordered it. I look inside and see this team member glaring at me as he eats his own food from the restaurant. I was upset that this situation was handled in such a manner, and it felt as though it was a disorganized and unofficial attempt by a lone staff member to cull the non food app patrons from the line which felt to me as impersonal and inconsiderate. I'm upset to see one of the best TBell locations in the area fall short of what I've experienced in the past.

I seek no retribution, only for my tale to be heard.

Go elseware for now, maybe they can get things back...

What is now a Taco Bell at 1312 W. Fifth Ave. had previously been a Zantigo restaurant that had been built in 1978 on the site of a former movie theater. My partner and I, who had lived in that neighborhood about forty years ago, had eaten at that Zantigo restaurant many times between 1979 and 1981.

Taco Bell took over all Zantigo restaurants in 1987; the old Zantigo building at 1312 W. Fifth Ave., with its familiar architecture that includes archways as a part of the design, was replaced with a brand-new "Taco Bell" building in 2013.

Over the years, the service at this Taco Bell has been friendly and helpful.

I ate there yesterday [7-31-2019] after an absence of several months. My server had been particularly helpful and also had been interested in the history of that neighborhood in terms of buildings that have changed their ownerships and/or their occupants over the years.

I stopped driving a car in 2007. I remember, I presume sometime after that date, attempting to order food at that Taco Bell, late at night when only their drive-through had been open, by walking through their drive-through lane as a pedestrian and being refused service.

I cannot tell you if that would happen now but I definitely can tell you that that had happened to me...

I was stuck in the drive thru line for 41 minutes. Unfortunately, when you realize there is a problem with this drive thru, you are trapped in line and might as well order when you finally get to the speaker. It is ridiculous. Every other Sunday, this Taco Bell is like this. They don't know orders, they can't get orders made in a timely way, and during this trip there were 4 people working but 2 girls were standing around most of the time drinking and refilling their cups. From the time i finally paid, 30 minutes after first being trapped in the drive thru line, I had to wait 12 minutes at the window. Twice, a kitchen person yelled up to ask what was needed at the window and the girl first made up my order, then the second time she said she didn't know what she needed. She asked me if I ever paid so I showed my receipt. Then a man came to the window to ask what i needed and i told him reading right from the receipt. I finally got my order and the man said sorry. At home, my food looked thrown together and was messy. I typically eat here twice a week, and have problems similar to this frequently on Sunday morning. Maybe I need to find a new breakfast and lunch place to eat 2 or more...