A&W Restaurant — Restaurant in Des Moines

Staff messed up on my order, that's okay we're all human! My issue is with the way it was handled. I let staff know politely they forgot one rootbeer Freeze & they forgot to replace two of my fry orders with cheese curds(1). First they wanted to charge me again for the curds because they already served me fries. Seriously? One of the gals said she would go look into it(2). 20mins later when my forgotten RB Freeze was finally done, I asked "curds?(3)" The girl replied, "I let the manager know and she hasn't done anything." I asked her to check on it. Shortly the girl comes out with OnE box of curds. I instantly remind her there were two(4). We sat a bit longer and the Manager upset comes up to us "you want another set of curds?" I explained how I ordered curds instead of fries & I just want what I ordered(5). She turned muttering about how they messed up walking toward her staff.10 mins later (40min from when we sat down) we're done eating our burgers and ready to go. Passing the front counter I asked the girl" what happened with the 2nd box of curds?(6)" The Manager keeping her back to me, reluctantly grabbed a box off the food line, handed it over her shoulder to the sweet girl (to hand to me-so manager could keep her back to me?). So yes my order was finally complete after asking for it 6 times (in parentheses), spending entirely too much time waiting on it and dealing with the rudest manager I've encountered for many years. No apologies, awareness or...

Terrible service. It took three people to take a three drink order.

First person couldn't understand that the menu lists medium drinks as "Regular" size, so she cut me off and told me to order at the window.

When I got there, she and a second person argued about who would take the order, while blaming me for ordering at the window as requested. The second person still couldn't get the order right, confusing their own regular size with regular root beer.

After a few minutes of argument behind the window and 15 second pauses, a third person stepped in and took the order almost perfectly, but charged us for a fourth drink we didn't order and didn't receive. I noticed the error after my card was charged, and they couldn't figure out how to refund me, so I finally insisted they let me drive around and come in, since the car behind me had been waiting close to ten minutes at this point.

After waiting in line inside, the manager gave me a refund without the tax I paid, and walked away. At that point, I gave up, having wasted 20 min at the restaurant.

For the life of me, I don't understand how 6-7 people standing around behind the counter couldn't get 3...

Service was great, food was good, and store was acceptably clean. I visited on a weekday afternoon, the place was steady but not busy, about half-full with a few orders in line. I was greeted and placed my order right away. I, of course, got an ice-cold frosty mug and poured a root beer out of the tap. The staff were friendly and prompt, and my food was ready within five minutes. Staff brought the food directly to my table. The double papa burger was hot, and tasted good, the fries were fresh. Staff were actively cleaning the restaurant between taking orders as they walked in. Gnats and fruit flies unfortunately seemed to be attracted to the root beer tap. Wall was lightly decorated with Americana kitsch and a big mural of a 50s sports convertible while 30s and 40s jazz and big band tunes played softly from the speakers. I was initially thought the price was maybe a couple dollars too high, but after enjoying the food and especially the root beer, felt the price was worth it. I rang the bell nice and loud on my way out to show my appreciation to the staff for this more-than-satisfactory lunch visit. Great work from...