Braum's Ice Cream & Dairy Store — Restaurant in Garland

EDIT: This occurred last year. I had originally written a review and posted it, but it appears that there was an issue with the upload. So, I am reposting my review. I have not been to this location since this occurred. Service was horrible, the place was dirty, and the employees were a joke. Out of the 5 employees I saw, the Manager/Shift Lead was maybe 23-25. The rest were probably between 17-19.

My roommate wanted to give me a going away present before I left for vacation, and knowing I hadn't been to Braum's in about 25 years, and it was on my list of places to go since moving back to TX a year prior, it was the perfect gift.

When we arrived, the front doors were propped open, and the floor was slick with water from customers' shoes as they came in. One young man was running the ice cream line and checking out customers. Three other employees were standing together behind the counter, laughing and joking with each other, apparently not noticing or caring about the customers. There were approximately 4 people ahead of us, and 3 more followed us in.

While waiting in line, an elderly woman coming into the store slipped and fell on the wet floor. The young man behind the counter ran out to check on her, eventually walking her to her car as she chose to just go home. The other employees paused to look before resuming their conversation.

Wait time was approx' 10 minutes, not including the employee helping the woman who fell. At the counter, my friend placed her order (I don't remember what it was) and had no issues, but my Root Beer float was apparently impossible to make.

The young man had no idea what a Root Beer float was, So I explained it was just vanilla ice cream in a cup, with root beer poured on top, but he seemed confused and didn't understand.

He went to ask the 3 friends, and they said they'd never heard of it either, so he took off the find whoever was in charge. After waiting a few minutes and me apologizing repeatedly to the customers behind us, the young man comes back with his supervisor. (Shoutout to those customers, btw! Everyone was extremely understanding, and as shocked as I was that no one there had heard of a root beer or coke float before. And extra points to the family with the 2 young kids!)

The Manager/Shift Lead (who honestly couldn't have been more than 25 himself) also didn't know what a Root Beer or a Coke Float was. I again explained how to make one, resulting in more confused looks.

By now, we'd been at the store close to 20 minutes. One of the customers behind us had walked out and 2 more joined the line. I finally just asked for a cup of vanilla ice cream and a cup of Root Beer, since I wanted to just get this over with and stop holding up the line. They agreed and rushed to ring us up.

After receiving my "Ikea brand Root Beer Float", (ie: a cup packed so full of ice cream, I had to ask for a second cup so I could split it in two and make room for the Root beer. A request that took an additional 3-4 minutes, btw..) we just wanted to sit down and enjoy our ice cream.

In the dining area though, the tables were sticky, dirty, and obviously had not been cleaned in a while. Each table had at least 1 empty or partially empty cup as well as general trash/waste on it. A few customers had stacked the trash on the side of the table they chose, while others moved it to an unoccupied table. There was more trash on the floor under the tables and chairs. The trash cans next to the service station were overflowing, and customers had started leaving trash on the counters where you're supposed to fix up your drinks and grab whatever napkins or other bits needed.

Picking a table, we cleaned it off a bit ourselves and ate our ice cream for about 5 minutes before deciding to just head home.

Overall, we were at Braum's for around 40 minutes, from arriving there to walking out. Approximately 30 minutes were spent in line before checking out.

I wouldn't recommend this location to anyone. Not unless they have made some...

My orders are normally correct, however, I have been handed the wrong order before and I always check before leaving the second window, even if they ask me to park, I wait because mistakes happen. What I have seen is that the new workers here are rushing too fast. They need to slow down. Management, let them take their time. Stop worrying about clearing the screen when you have no receipts printed and put on bags. I recommend this strategy like at Chick-fil-A. It saves time and money. Print the receipts for yourselves so you can clear the screen.

Also, why do you advertise 6 new flavors on your order screen but never have any new flavors? Why are you always out of what you advertise at this location? This is the same at another location. It's misleading. It's lame.

My biggest issue with this location and other locations is the customer service factor. I don't get a "Hello!" Or a "I hope your day is going well, here are your drinks while you wait. Can I get you anything else like sauce or napkins?"

The majority of the time they say nothing to me at 2nd window. It makes me feel very unwanted. I know these may be people a bit younger than me as I am under 25, too, but really? Not even a hi how are you? Not even a have a great day? Nothing? They hand me my ice cream or drinks and don't let me even ask them for sauce or extra napkins. They do it so fast and shut the window in my face. And, I don't want to ask as they are doing something like handing me things because I want their hands to be empty first to prevent confusion. Then, when they do come back to the window to ask me to pull forward (i normally order $30 worth of food, not anymore due to the service.) They don't even let me do more than draw a breath in before the window is closed in my face again.

I recommend that management goes through the drive thru when it is busy and seeing how the service feels vs when there are no cars. Go undercover. Go on a day off. Maybe it is the crew? Idk. Not my job to figure it out. But, see from the outside perspective what it feels like for your customers.

Overall, I give this location 3 stars because of how long it takes, because of the misadvertising, because of the rush to clear the lane, and because of the lack of customer service.

(This is the only fast food place I haven't had a short friendly conversation with the window worker when waiting on my order to come out. You'd think that a place that prides itself on family first would also train employees to have friendly conversations with other human beings, but I guess being in a uniform somehow separates you from us humans.)

Take your time. Stop rushing the employees. You can't cook food fast enough so why rush it? It's on a timer let it sit. Fix your menu. Tell your employees you value their hard work and give...

Ok so I'm a Favor driver...My customer from Southlake wanted two ice cream cones and a couple shakes...The drive thru kid hands me the cones and I was like .."hey can I get a couple of cups big enough to set these in so I can travel with them.." ( not my fault the customer wanted cones lol and I've NEVER had an issue asking for a couple of cups before) he asked some guy and the guy just goes.."no gotta pay for 'em"..The kid said he was sorry and I ask him to ask the guy why not? Kid never comes back then this chick hands me the rest of my stuff..I asked her for the cups...she says she can't but instead is willing to give me four small plastic cups and two cups holders to try and make a makeshift cage for these ice cream cones.. I'm thinking...This is way more paper product than two cups.lol.. I try to make it work but as I'm checking for the spoons in the parking lot I need for the shakes I see she only gave me one...plus the weird stuff she gave me to secure the cones just isn't working...So I go back inside..Im pretty irritated..Got my kid with me..Ask the guy at the counter for the two cups and I grab my spoon...He says no too..I'm like why man? This is for a customer not for me..The chick from the drive thru walks up and goes..."just give her the cups,but ma'am next time you're getting charged.." then she slaps two tiny cups on the counter..lol I was like lady how does this help me? Can't I get those two teal 22 oz cups right there..and I'll be sure and let me customer know how weird you guys are being about this...She goes "ma'am if you have a problem you can call corporate".. but she did give me the cups...Then the customer next to me looks at me and goes " you're terrible!" I thought she meant the staff but she was talking about me.... It was two cups.. I don't know if y'all manage y'all's paper product crazy close or something but it seems like four plastic cups and two cup holders cost more than two 22 oz drink cups.. anyway...Rant but the whole thing was kinda nuts... Guessing they were just having a bad night but based on some of the other reviews your staff has some pretty bad customer service.. Only gave it 3 stars instead of one because the kid in the drive thru was super nice...Maybe give the female manager a lesson in customer service or give her some more money for working there cuz chick is not happy....Hope whomever reads this gets a laugh at my weird...