Farmer Boys — Restaurant in Fontana

Based on the law of averages, I try to refrain from making a judgement on an establishment from one or two visits as there are many factors that come into play in to an overall experience. I have been a patron of this Farmers Boys location for several years due to it's proximity and based on my most recent experience, have lost the patience to ever return.

Customer Service: Overall I'd say about 75% of my visits at this location have had subpar to downright atrocious customer service. Even prior to the challenges food businesses faced with COVID, this Farmer Boys would frequently present issues in the following areas; annoyance with customers in general but specifically when taking their orders, being rude with customers at the pickup window, asking customers to pull around and wait on their orders for unreasonable amount of time, giving improper change and handing out incorrect orders.

Food Quality: There have been several instances of orders being given out incorrectly. I wouldn't necessarily pin this on the kitchen as most cooks make what is on a cook slip and the orders I've been given wrong go beyond customization errors, but downright different items altogether. When the orders do come out right, the food has an above average to great quality to it, kudos to the cooks on doing the best they can.

Final Comments: My final visit was on 11/13 for the breakfast menu prior to the lunch rush. I was greeted by an employee whose tone implied they were annoyed to have to take the order. I looked past this initially, as tone / voice can mean different things. The employee proceeded to cut me off mid order several times with the dreaded, "ANYTHING ELSE?!?"

Upon getting to the window the employee opened and slammed the pickup window several times as they navigated taking other orders while trying to collect charges for my order.

After waiting what seemed like a reasonable amount of time for 1 breakfast sandwich and 1 breakfast burrito, 5 minutes, the employee annoyingly asked me to pull out of the drive thru and park and she would bring me my order. I asked if there was anywhere in particular she would like me to park to which she responded, "You know, like where you park!!!"

I puled around to the side of the parking lot reserved for pick up / drive thru orders and waited quite a bit of more time, 10 minutes, until the employee came out and "dropped" the bag in my lap as I extended my arms out to grab the bag from her. I will not accuse the employee of "throwing" the bag at me because it lacked the force for which I would constitute a throw, but you could clearly tell she was in a foul mood and wanted to be done with the order or day altogether.

As I said in my opening comments, normally I won't hold a bad day / visit against an establishment, but the management and tone at this location needs a rehaul when so many visits are bad it becomes a trend or par for the course. I truly hope this location gets their act together, as Farmers Boys and other food establishment that are niche to the Inland Empire are something to be proud of in having something different to offer. Don't take your customer base for granted just because they've supported you for...

Look I don't normally complain. I count myself as an understanding person. I know we all got jobs to do and we all got important things going on. I would never hassle a person in the food service industry; I have never done that kind of work. I know I don't have the understanding or wherewithal in knowing why it is, every single time I go to this particular Farmer Boys I get screwed! Once is understandable, twice is unfortunate, three times is coincidence, four times is unbelievable and five times is outrageous! You might ask, "well how often do you go?" and I reply, "That is the fifth time I been to this Farmer Boys this year." I can't do it any longer! I can't! I will go to other Farmer Boys no problems. This one restaurant has a literal 100% failure rating for me this year.

Now, you want to know what the problem is? Once I was given a completely different order. Once they charged my card twice to two different orders. Once I waited 30 mins in the driver-through and couldn't leave. But every time it is the same thing... I ask for a Farmer Burger, no pickles.... guess what. Pickles every damn time. It's so annoying.

My favorite day was when I had this exchange... I pull up to the drive through. No one says anything for a few minutes. I wait patiently for announcement acknowledging me at the drive through. A few more minutes pass. The car behind me has now had enough... 5 minutes of waiting is too long for him. So he drives around me and skips the speaker. I was a bit annoyed so I look over to the speaker and I say, "Hello?"... Silence... "I'm ready to order." ... Silence.... Now I'm thinking, maybe the speaker is dead. I drive up and turn the corner and see the lady helping the car that went around me. Now I'm upset but maybe I was right and the speaker wasn't working. The car gets their food and drives away 10 minutes later. I pull up the window and the lady says, "12(something dollars- I don't recall all the details)". I say "Sorry but you didn't take my order at the speaker. I don't think it's working?" She then repeats the last order, I guess from the person now behind me. I said "No I didn't order yet, I waited over 5 mins at the speaker but nobody said anything and this car drove around me so I thought maybe the speaker was broken."

Annoyed she said "ohh, what do you want to order?"

I replied "Farmer Burger, no pickles and a large Sierra Mist."

She looks at me sadden and says "We don't have large."

"What sizes do you have?" I ask.

"Small and Medium." she replies

Medium to what, I thought to myself. I just mutter back to her "I will just take the larger one then."

I wait 10 more minutes for my food and get home to my Pickle filled Cheeseburger and my largest medium...

I come to this location frequently to pick up dinner for take-out. I have noticed lately the staff has changed. When I checked my order before I left, I noticed that I'm missing small things like napkins, condiments. This most recent visit was awful. I walked in to order two separate meals for take-out. I ordered a 4 piece fish meal with zucchini sticks and fries. And I ordered a patty melt with fries. I also ordered a large ice tea and a large fountain drink. They had no lemon for the tea. When they young lady brought up my order, I checked the bag and my patty melt and fries were not there. I called the young lady over to see, she checked my receipt. They forgot to make my patty melt sandwich! So I wait some more time. Now the young lady hands the bag to me and my patty melt is in the bag but, no fries! Really! So I call the young lady over to check the bag. And the young man that took my order came over. He looked in my first bag with the fish dinner. He say here are you fries! They are in the platter with the zucchini! I told this young man, that was a separate meal. I don't want to dig into the other persons plate to get my fries. The young man politely asked, do you want your fries in a separate bag? Yes! Of course I do, I replied! Holey smokes! Something has gone very wrong here. Management has lost control of this location! This is NOT the norm for Farmer Boys. Save yourself the disappointment if you are very hungry, like I...