Dunkin' — Restaurant in Front Royal

October 2022: This place is a disaster, and I'm not even sure there's a manager to be fired -- I think the place is run by whatever teenager with a key decided to show up that day. Their hours are uneven (yes, yes; we all know about the worker shortage, but other restaurants manage to have consistent hours, even if they're less hours than usual). They sometimes close as early as 3PM, with only a piece of paper taped to the drive-thru speaker to let you know. Some days they serve food, others day not, and there doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason as to why. I've had food orders taken when there were only three employees there, and had them refuse to take food orders when there were five or six.

We live locally and are often at this Dunkin (the other one in the area doesn't serve food at all most days), and the turnover of employees is very high. That means they have to train new people all the time, and it shows. The donuts are left out where the flies can get to them, food orders (when they take them) are often not started for minutes after you place them, and a high number of employees appear not to know how to make basic drinks, like their signature caramel macchiato.

Today was the last straw for us. It's tourist season as I write this and the drive-thru line was out into the street, so of course it's expected that there would be more than usual confusion inside. But oh man. Rather than risk a long drive thru wait, we parked and went in. After 20 minutes they'd managed to a) make our order wrong, b) give it to someone else, c) lose that person's order and not have any idea how to fix their mistake, d) make our order -- just basic stuff -- wrong again, and then give us the wrong amount back in refund when we told them we couldn't afford to wait any longer. And of course the parking lot is so small that it's nearly impossible to pull out without making people in the drive-thru line have to wait for you, or get out of your way.

I don't blame these kids; it's clear they're being paid to simply show up and take all the blame for the owner's or Dunkin corporate's piss poor training and staffing policies, but we're done with this place. But we took our business two minutes away to the Starbucks, which has plenty of employees who knew what they were about, got our order right the first time, and did it in about five minutes. We're never going to that...

Servers are always friendly, even when slammed. Typically a great selection of goods. There have been a few times that they've run out of a few things, but that's pretty typical for the later in the day trips.

You can expect to sit in the drive thru for a longer than average time (I'm typically sitting in line for about 15-20 minutes in the before school line).

I did a mobile order recently and some of my food was cold (Hashbrowns and loaded Hashbrowns) from the long drive thru wait. I'm sure they would have fixed it, but I didn't have time to try on the day I had gone. In the past I've ordered bagel bites and the cream cheese in the middle was still ice cold. I've gotten matcha drinks that weren't all the way full.

But, I've also been here on days and it was spot on!

Dining in or counter service isn't much faster than the drive thru at this location, unfortunately. If you love Dunkin, though, it's worth the wait. :)

It all depends on who is on the shift and if they have enough staff to cover every position needed. It seems that many staff members are having to do double the work because they're lacking ample people each shift. I think this is pretty typical now with a lot of fast food...

I want to love this Dunkin — I stop here 3+ times a week and usually just roll with it when my order’s off. But after daily mistakes (wrong cheese, incomplete pumps, missing items), today pushed me over the edge.

My mobile order (2 donuts, 2 wraps, coffee) took 30 minutes. They didn’t have the wraps or the donuts I paid for, still didn’t offer compensation, and my coffee was wrong — again. When I went back, the manager rolled her eyes, got defensive instead of apologizing, and flat-out lied about who made my drink.

I’ve worked retail and run a store solo; I know food service is hard. But there’s a difference between “busy” and “doesn’t care.” Slow down enough to follow the ticket and check subs. Customer service 101: validate, apologize, fix. Instead, I was treated like the problem.

If the unofficial policy is “accept whatever we hand you or go somewhere else,” say that. Otherwise, please train your team and hold leadership accountable — your customers shouldn’t have to beg for basic accuracy...