Jack in the Box — Restaurant in Dallas

After I took a friend to DFW airport at 5 a.m. this morning, I did not want to drive all the back to my home in way south of Dallas because I had a business meeting to attend at 10 a m. in way north Dallas in Richardson.

The night before, I called all sorts of fast food restaurants in the area near my meeting venue looking for a place that had Wi-Fi so I could work on my computer for four hours before my meeting. Only What-a-burger answered their phone, and they told me that none of their restaurants have Wi-Fi for their customers. 😭 I called 6-7 Jack in the Box restaurants. Only ONE answered their phone, and that woman hung up as soon as I asked about Wi-Fi. I also wanted to know what exactly "open 24 hours" meant. Did that mean dine-in or only drive-through? I had to go blind. When I got there at 5:30 a.m. the front door was locked and would not open until 6 a.m. I knocked on the drive-through window while standing in front of the window. The manager looked at me from a distance and waved me off, pointing at his watch. 😭

At 6 a.m. I went in and asked about Wi-Fi. Yes, I could use it. Yes! 👍 But in the middle of my work, while eating a delicious sausage "sandwich" and drinking coffee I had purchased there, their Wi-Fi went down and never came back. 😭 I asked if they could restart their Wi-Fi hardware (in my previous life I did IT work in a library and did that periodically). They said, "No." 😭 Lastly, they had many wall plugs all through the restaurant--but ALL HAD PLATES COVERING THEM so there was no way to plug in and get power. This was done to prevent the homeless in their neighborhood from plugging in to charge phones. 😭😭

The food was delicious. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful.

Suggestions for Jack in the Box corporate:

1. Publish in the business overview result in a Google search: 1A) What "open 24 hours" means, and spell out when the front door opens. 1B) Do they have free Wi-Fi for customers? 1C) Tell prospective customers that there are or are not wall receptacles to plug into for power.
2. Provide a working phone number that WILL be answered by staff.
3. If the drive-through is really open 24-hours, don't have the manager look at his watch and wave the customer off.

It all sounds pretty critical. Sorry. I got my work done by switching to the tiny screen on my phone to look at large documents on the websites. Fortunately, the batteries in my phone and computer were fully charged. If the staff had been mean and unhelpful (fortunately, I was not homeless but looked professional and was well dressed and well-spoken), they would have gotten less than four stars in...

I LOVE Jack in the Box. While this location is clean on the surface, the general distrust leveled toward patrons, and restrictions against them is akin to what one might expect from a prison cafeteria. It sounds as though I'm exaggerating, but I'll allow the reader to decide. A sterling example illustrating my point is that in order to use the restrooms the patron has to request a staff member unlock the restroom door. Is anyone yet reminded of The Shawshank Redemption? Would you like to charge your phone while you eat the meal for which you paid? Sorry, all diningroom outlets have outlet covers over them. Still not enough? The day I visited this establishment was extremely hot, so I requested a water to accompany my meal. Perhaps I should view this as a plus to their customer service, but it felt vaguely as though I couldn't be trusted to get water and ONLY WATER as the crew member made my ice water for me. I no longer had any need to take a step toward the drink mixer. I completely understand that a number of people have apparently taken advantage of this location's prior customer service courtesies, but at what point do they alienate well-intentioned, honest customers (of which I would guesstimate the vast majority of patrons are) in order to alleviate the burden of the annoying minority? It seems to me this particular location has jumped well over the line. I will never intentionally offer my business to this Jack in the Box again - sans massive policy changes. There is just a thick air of distrust and contempt that is becoming all-too-familiar in today's society as the customer is treated more like a not-to-be-trusted, annoying problem that is tolerated as opposed to being valued. One might believe this establishment may have forgotten customers are paying for this experience, but the sign in the diningroom clearly dismisses this notion by acknowledging that even though your food has been paid for... you have 30 to vacate the premises. I couldn't make that up, and unfortunately I did not. Make no mistake, ownership and management have clearly calculated that the majority of their business is generated via the drive thru; therefore many or most of their clientele will be unaware and unaffected by their policy decisions. My truest hope is that ownership reads this review and realises what grievous mistakes have been made, and that changes are made to rectify this awful example of failure to service the customer as opposed to conveniencing ownership, management, and the staff in general. They do deserve the single star because the food was on-par with other...

Initially, I walked in to find one customer ahead of me in line. The cashier struggled to get his order correct (although it appeared to be poor communication on both sides) and took 7 minutes to take a single order. As other employees stared at the open cash registers, no one thought to come help other customers who were now waiting. I was walking out when the cashier finally offered to take my order. She struggled to understand that my son wanted mustard and not mayonnaise on his hamburger.

Food came out hot. My sourdough patty melt had a good taste to it and I enjoyed it. French fries, although lacking the crispness of McDonald's fries, were better than usual for Jack in the Box. My son enjoyed his junior bacon cheeseburger, but it truly is a junior size. I would recommend skipping the chicken nuggets, as nugget is a very apt term for the small piece that they serve. Plus, unless you're willing to drench it in sauce, it is tasteless.

One of the things my family enjoys at Jack in the Box is the drink machine and its innovative soda flavors. Unfortunately, these machines often seem to be lacking several of the key drinks and this visit was no exception. Jack in the Box has several signs promoting vanilla dr. Pepper and other Dr. Pepper combinations, but, of course, they were out of Dr Pepper.

Overall this was an average to slightly above-average visit to a fast food restaurant. I do appreciate the fact that this Jack in the Box put ketchup packets in baskets on each table, so you didn't have to go and ask counter-personnel for extra condiments while you waited until they finished what they were...