Papa Johns Pizza — Restaurant in El Cajon

I gave it two stars because at least the pizza was good. I ordered pizza from here on a Thursday evening about 6pm. I have to say that service wasn’t the best. It was bad enough to turn me off and never come back. I’ll get to it. I called, listened to the automated message that gave me the specials, then when the person answered my call he asked me if I could hold. I agreed to hold and thought I’d hold for just a minute or two, then he answers the phone and asks me if I could hold again. I guess maybe they were busy. I ended up waiting about 7 minutes before they finally took my order. By the time they took my order I was like 10 minutes away. Mind you, they said it would be 45 minutes for my order to be ready. I used to work at Dominos and it only took a few minutes to make the pizza and about 10 minutes to bake it. I guessed they were busy. So I get there, get off the car and go inside. They didn’t appear that busy and the phone wasn’t ringing off the hook. The manager that took my order over the phone told me there that it would be 15-25 minutes, a big change from 45 minutes. So I waited outside in my car for about 15 minutes before checking on my order. As I waited outside I noticed that they didn’t appear that busy. One driver that showed up smoked his vape pen in the car and then again right outside the door of the restaurant. The manager that took my order left the store to walk off somewhere. I guess it wasn’t so busy after all since he could just take a break and walk off in the plaza. It must have been so busy that they had to make me wait 7 minutes before they could take my order. After 15 minutes had passed I decided to walk inside and check the status of my order. Come to find out that my pizza had been sitting there under the warmer. It probably was sitting there for about 5 minutes for all I know. At least the pizza tasted fine.

Still, since customer service was so bad, making me wait 7 minutes on hold before taking my order, telling me it’s going to be 45 minutes. Waiting another 15 when I come to find out it was probably ready in 10. I’m done. When you’d think that these guys would be busy and that’s why the wait times were so high to come and find out that they’re not that busy and there’s no reason for them to be quoting those wait times and lounging around when they should be looking like their busy working instead of smoking vape pipes. Yeah, since they don’t seem to care I guess I won’t seem to care about going there again either. My last time at this Papa Johns. I’d rather go to my local Dominos where there’s hardly any wait to take my order, and they always say that carryout will be ready in about 10 minutes. Dominos has fast good service and the pizza is just as good.

Update August 2020: I think it's kinda stupid that they don't allow customers inside the store because of this whole COVID thing but that's just me. So now we have to wait as they run back and forth...

About a month ago I called to order my normal pizza order. I like the thin crust but they give you a nasty seasoning packet with this crust. For the other crusts they will give you a garlic butter sauce. I always ask them to replace the seasoning packet with the garlic sauce. They don't charge you for it sauce on regular crust but when I asked for it once with the thin crust they tried to charge me for it. The last time about a month ago the guy that answered the phone said he couldn't replace the packets with the sauce, and when I tried to explain that they always replace it for me, he hung up the phone on me. I called the main office and reported it, and was told the area manager would get a hold of me, never heard back from anyone. I was very dissatisfied. Well I decided to give them another chance today, because the pizza is pretty darn good, and seems that the customer service...

Worst experience I have ever had here!! I ordered online got the confirmation on my order... 1 hour later I called for an ETA.. they didn't even start the order. After my bank account was charged for the two boxes of pizza. They provided me with two different numbers but they didn't assist me as well! I had to drive down to the location after I paid for delivery. Mike the manager said even if the confirmation went through on my order both him and his manager reviewed in person (while she was sitting in her office playing telephone sending him back and forth) doesn't mean it went to them, so since they didn't see it they canceled my order so I would get my money back in 48 hours rather than simply making my food. Why have your experience here with these new managers..? Go else where! 🤦‍♂️ Don't wait two hours for...