ChowNow — Restaurant in Culver City

Hot garbage.

Not having any way of communicating between a vendor and a customer causes my orders to be canceled rather than someone asking for clarification while I’m on the way to pick them up.

The last time my order was unexpectedly canceled, I called customer service and the agent was incredibly rude. Essentially she blamed me for an unexpectedly canceled order and an order placed for pickup at the wrong time. As an application designer I understand the value of user feedback and wanted to give input to improve the service, but I was met with resistance and snark. I decided then and there I’d avoid online ordering through your service, but I softened a little today... and had the same exact issue of discovering an order was canceled, via email (that went to a spam folder), as I went to pick up the order. Awkward for everyone involved. It boils down to bad design and an inability for the store to contact a customer for clarification if they don’t understand special orders. Optionally you could explore a standardized way of modifying an order the same as the Starbucks app does. The point is there are options, but your customer service takes the stance of blaming the user. That’s two bad impressions on your platform, once with the service itself and once with the issue resolution.

I don’t want to hear any justification as to why this is or how I can better use your product. If it requires that level of justification and explanation, it’s broken. Period.

It’s a problem that’s losing customers for vendors that work with you. I’ll be sure to communicate this to Summermoon as well,

Love the coffee shop but I won’t be ordering online from them as long as they’re using your service,...

I had a choice between using ChowNow, GrubHub or UberEats for a breakfast catering delivery. I chose ChowNow and am so glad I did! The online ordering was simple and quick, and the delivery was right on time (even a little early), with the delivery status being communicated to me via text right up to the moment the driver stepped up to my door. But the most impressive thing about ChowNow is their customer service. I had forgotten to add a few items to my original order, but I didn't want to place a separate order for those items because I didn't want to pay a second delivery charge. I called the customer service # and spoke with a wonderful representative. She informed me that they were unable to add to my existing order, and since the restaurant I ordered from was closed for the day, the order couldn't be cancelled and re-done. But she told me that if I placed the second order and added a note that it should be combined with the original order # and delivered together, she would make sure I'd be refunded for the additional delivery charge. I took her suggestion and placed the second order, but honestly I never thought they'd actually issue the refund. I was wrong! The next day, I received an email notifying me that the refund was issued. I also received a follow-up email from their Customer Service Department that was NOT a form letter, but that specifically addressed the resolution of my issue. True customer service is so elusive these days, but with ChowNow, it is exceptional. Given the choice, I will always choose ChowNow for my food delivery over all other...

I’ve been ordering through the ChowNow app since I used to place pickup orders for my favorite mom and pop sandwich shop (Crossroads Deli!) back in Columbia, South Carolina. Moved to the west coast two years before covid and didn’t think much about the relationship between delivery apps and the local restaurants that rely on them. After a spirited conversation with an owner in Santa Monica about how the more popular apps really eat the margins from both ends (percentage fees to the restaurant & to the person ordering) I did a deep dive to try to educate myself and low and behold, not only was ChowNow the leader bar none but it is also based nearby!

I respect their transparency with regard to costs and fees versus other apps that bury their service charges, sell subscription services to elevate prices across the board that they then slash for subscribers and hitting these businesses with each order rather than charging a monthly flat subscription to their service.

I’m unsure why their footprint was so much better back east but I’ve been a ChowNow advocate throughout the pandemic and always will be after every apple to apple comparison boiling down in their favor.

Do I wish that restaurants had a driver to make deliveries instead of outsourcing to DoorDash? Yes. But is that sustainable for most places? Probably not.. so I think it’s been a great evolution of two companies linking up and to date it’s been a great experience.

Please support our local restaurants, diners and bars by educating yourself, family and friends about the impact our choice of delivery...