Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen — Restaurant in Fairview Heights

If I could give zero stars, I would. Absolutely awful. This was hands-down one of the worst fast food experiences I’ve had in a long time—and it was at the Fairview Heights, IL location.

We ordered sweet tea at the drive-thru and were told, “We don’t have sweet tea.” When we got to the window and asked when they stopped carrying it, the employee said, “Oh, we just don’t have any made.” …Seriously? So you do have it, but just didn’t bother to make any? Isn’t that kind of the bare minimum?

Then they made us pull forward to wait on our food—despite being the only customers there, inside or in the drive-thru. And when the food finally came out? Trash. The biscuit was like chewing a kitchen sponge, the mashed potatoes were gross, and the rice was hard and dried out. They forgot our sauce, gave us no napkins, and the drinks were disgusting. The Sprite was straight carbonation, and the Coke was flat and syrupy. When we mentioned their soda machine might be out, they acted annoyed instead of apologetic.

To top it all off, we had to go inside ourselves to get the sauce they forgot—only to find the employee just standing behind the counter. Her response? “Oh, I was going to bring it to you.” …Sure. When?

$24 for food we couldn’t even eat. Total waste of time and money.

And look, I know this might sound like a total Karen moment, but I’m genuinely not that person. I always give the benefit of the doubt and almost never leave bad reviews — but this was different. It wasn’t even busy. It was 12:30 on a Friday, and we were the only customers there. Now I see why.

The only reason we even stopped here was because Chick-fil-A’s line was long… and there’s definitely a reason for that. Maybe take notes. If we had known this is how it would go, we absolutely would’ve waited in that...

They never have anything working, they never have hospitality, they never can give back change only the exact amount or card is ever accepted, their speakers are always down or hoppy with transmission, their staff are rude and disrespectful every single time. The orders are simple and every single visit to this location these people cannot get ant type of order correct even if you've just ordered a simple spicy chicken sandwich with lemonade; sometimes the sauce is not on it yet the next time you could be missing a breast in your 3 piece meal. It's absolutely astonishing that the management and corporate at this location haven't closed this place due to the sheer disrespect you receive in restaurant or drive-thru. One manager stated that these kids "employees" can't distinguish a thigh from a leg and they're working on it??? It really cannot be that we're hiring people that have no initiative to care to know the difference between meat. Each time, I expect a different outcome and it's always met with the same occurrence. The so-called "kids" , "teenagers", whatever you'd like to call them seem to look like grown adults from what I can see through the window. It's so sad that Popeyes has become this way here, but what can you do if corporate doesn't care. It's distasteful, disgraceful, and utterly sickening to think these are who we have here at this establishment. Oh, and the wait times far outweighs Chick Fil-A's line; if you...

I've been to other Popeyes, usually the same mediocre service but amazing food. However, this Popeyes (the Fairview Heights location) surpasses them all in long wait times, not so great service, out of stock (popular) items on the menu, its really just pointless. If you wait in line long enough to order, usually they don't have what you need, or some missing item-whether it's "we don't have fountain drinks" or "we're out of thighs" or "we're out the chicken sandwhich".. you know....what everyone goes to Popeyes for. Interesting you can pull up to the drive thru, no one realized you're there to take your order, then you pull up to the drive thru window and no one is there, but you pull around and see them congregated around the kitchen chatting away. Happens a lot more than not. It's honestly like they don't care about customers at all. I've never been to a fast food place that really feels like they're there to clock in and basically tap out until it's time for them to clock out. They don't care to sell food or care for customers... what's the point? The one in shiloh, that's not too far away is far superior, so we drive to that one and tell people it's worth driving to if it's out of the way bc it's great food, less wait time, and rarely (if at all) out of the specific items you ordered. You can literally expect the minimal out of that location, whereas the fairview location, you can't even...