Sonic Drive-In — Restaurant in Florida

I worked for this store. The coworkers I had were amazing. They went above and beyond and I wish them nothing but the best.

As for the management, not only are they all family, witch is a conflict of interest, but the store itself is absolutely disgusting.

The amount of black mold that was covering the AC vents was absolutely ridiculous. One was directly over the drive through, and instead of cleaning it they literally just decided not to use the cups and slush station over there. One of the coworkers told me the slush syrup had been sitting there since he was hired.

They didn't have a mop, and almost all of the equipment they had, was also covered in black mold. I was scraping literal chunks off of the drink machine. I was told by management themselves they don't clean the ice cream machine because "they don't know how to" or "they just don't have time to deal with it."

When someone finally cleaned the container for the metal tops they put over the cups to mix blast, there were literally MAGGOTS in the bottom of the container. They served people product using equipment sitting in maggots. I cleaned so much that it became overwhelming and everyone was just okay with the way the store looks.

When it rained hard, the whole store leaked. Not just one or two leaks either. There are multiple spots in the front , kitchen, and pretty much all the doors that leaked. Most are in the kitchen right next to the grill where they cook the food. So the cooks have to work in that as well.

The way that management changes the friers is beyond crazy. They just let the grease poor out all over the floor, and let it go down the drain. There is no proper disposal of the grease. The drains have mold and clog. To be honest, I'm not sure how the store is legally allowed to be open.

The priorities that management have are completely backwards. They care more about making bags for drive through and labor than the actually condition of their store.

They are short staffed, not because no one wants to work, but because of the drama that management brings to the store because they are family and all live together. They argue and cuse at one another and add nothing but tentation to the already stressed out, and small staff they have.

The good reviews they have I'm almost 100% certain are by people who know the management or staff personally. If I could give this store -5 starts, I would do so.

I have pictures of all of this, and will be going to the...

I’ve lived in Fernandina for over ten years. I don’t write bad reviews often, if ever. I honestly only take the effort to write positive reviews for places…but, damn. Ten years. 120 months. 3,650 days, my guy. A literal DECADE of wrong orders.

Sonic has been a childhood favorite of mine. When I lived in Jax…just perfection. I mean, Sonic is generally really good. I’m not a huge fast food guy, but when I want some fast food…I dig some Sonic. But maaaaaaaan, let me teeeeeelllllll you. Since living here…I have, not once, received a proper order. Ever. And I sincerely mean that. I stopped going around 2020…after like 8 failed trips between 2015 and the end of 2019, where I ordered food and drove home to realize the order was not just wrong, but like, COMPLETELY wrong - I just stopped going. Five years later, here we are. 2025. The fam wants burgers for dinner and I decided “you know, lemme give Sonic a shot again. Maybe they got their act together”. We been a bit tired of Whataburger and Culver’s. Figured I would try Sonic again. Anywho, I roll up, it’s not busy at all mind you….so I press the red button and place my order.

My order is as follows: #10, just the sandwich (chicken sandwich for the wife), #3 meal w/Dr Pepper and tots (for me), and #1, no mayo and no cheese, add mustard (for my kid). I wait for like 15min…get my food and drive the ten minutes home (my mistake - should have checked the bag there). I open the bag…there’s two double cheese burgers and a regular cheeseburger. None of them have bacon. No tots. Normally, we just eat the jacked up meal. But, that was the first time I took the time to put the food back in the bag and drive back. Sat there in the stall for like 20min before I got my food back and the dude who gave me my food was like “Yea, man….you should probably check it before you leave just in case”. I mean, even the employee knew what was up. insert two-handed facepalm here Y'all STILL didn’t get the order right (gave me fries instead of tots, but at that point…close enough man. I took the mulligan, looked at dude and said “all good bro, take it easy” and just left.

Like…DAMN MAN. Ya’ll are legit sorry asf. Ten solid years of just gutter service. I mean…a decade? Crazy work, fam. Crazy. You almost have to STRIVE to be that consistently abhorrent at something so elementary as making fast food, ffs. My flabber is ghasted at how this particular sonic is still...

I used to love my local Sonic Drive-in. It was a great place to have a favorite treat, grab a snack, or quench a mighty thirst aquired from running errands in the heat of summer.

Slowly, over time though, it became a place to be disappointed.

We, my husband and myself, would get a hankering for an after dinner treat and our first thought was a Sonic Blast for him and a hot fudge Sundae for me. Often, we would be told the ice cream machine was down for cleaning before 9 pm or the hot fudge was out, or some other regular menu item was unavailable. (I understand that happens sometimes, and even more likely since the pandemic hit due to supply chain issues). If what we ordered was available, it felt like we had won a prize or were especially lucky that day.

The final straw for us was our last visit. We wanted to slake our mighty thirsts with a Sonic slushie. We were on our way home and made a stop in the drive thru.

We were in line for what felt like an eternity (everything feels twice as long in a drive thru, and even longer when you're tired and thirsty). We got our drinks (yay!) but... They tasted weird. I got a peach slushie (my favorite) and my husband got a Powerade slush. They both had an odd taste, like cleanser or some disinfectant. We were tired and just done and just threw the drinks away when...