QDOBA Mexican Eats — Restaurant in Fort Collins

I used to come to this location about once per week, and as of my visit today 3/2/2023 I will probably never return.

To start with a positive the food historically has been pretty good and fresh here. Most of the employees are friendly and helpful, although I've had deviations from this here including one time I was charged extra, and kind of made fun at for ordering lots of extra Jalapenos (never had been charged before).

Today I walked in and was not greeted for awhile even though I was standing right at the counter in front of two employees talking to each other.

Today the restaurant is not very clean, there is food, debris, napkins on the floor and window sills. Windows have not been cleaning in awhile. The temperature is quite cold in here, I would guess low 60s. People dining in have their coats on.

Today I also found out the restaurant is no longer carrying Impossible Meat. There are conflicting reports online if Qdoba as a whole discontinued Impossible, but it seems like a location decision. I and others I knew really enjoyed the Impossible option and it is disappointing to see it discontinued (employees did not know, other than one has been here several months and hasn't seen it).

Also, last year the bathrooms had locks put on them and customers need to get a code to use the restroom. I asked an employee why and she mentioned some kids from across the street were coming in and using drugs in the restrooms so they locked them. IF this is true, I would think not allowing the people using the drugs to enter the restaurant vs inconveniencing the other patrons.

Aside from my paltry jalapeno issue, there are bigger issues here at play. This company serves its food in store in what appears to be cardboard containers and plastic tops. There is no recycling containers. Why in this day and age would a company that has any commitment to planetary health not have a recycling option? There is a lot of volume that comes through here and recycling at this and all locations would make a huge difference.

In any case sharing my honest feedback in hopes the owner can use the feedback to better improve for others who might feel like me in some of...

DO NOT ORDER ONLINE AT THIS LOCATION. In person, this location is great, staff are friendly, etc. No complaints there and would have given five stars solely on those experiences. However, recently, as soon as the staff are not preparing my orders in front of my face, I have been repeatedly cheaped out on. The latest thing I ordered online was supposed to be a regular sized steak and shrimp bowl, and when I opened it up, there was no steak, only six pieces of shrimp, and the shrimp wasn't quite at its usual quality either. With how extra friendly the staff are in person, it's really hard to believe they would do this on purpose to their online-ordering customers. This is the third time in a row something like this has happened lately from my online orders, but this last one was, by a significant margin, the worst of the three: I absolutely did not get what was paid for. I do not seek compensation, I seek change. I will make an attempt to edit my review if I ever find that this situation improves, but I will likely be avoiding online orders...

Online pickup window, maybe 6th in line to pick up food when I got here. Now 20 minutes have passed and only one person has been served. Why are you letting people just sit in front of the window if their food isn't ready? It's meant to just be a pickup window. I can't get out now, because there are cars behind me. And no movement at all for over 15 minutes at this point. I just called to see what was happening and was told they are making people continue through if their food isn't ready, but that's obviously untrue. I might be here another hour. How is the service this bad? It seems impossible. 5 cars ahead of me now. Should be another hour then?

Pure incompetence from management. How do you run a promotion to get more business, and then be so utterly surprised when you get more business?? Should have turned orders off or closed the store. Even publish longer times for prep on online orders. I'll be trying to back out after the others do and cancel the order....