Cook Out — Restaurant in Gastonia

Let me start by saying that I have been a frequent customer of this location (East Franklin Blvd, Gastonia, NC) for around 5 years now. On 09/20/2015 @ 00:12 I visited this location and ordered as follows, A cheeseburger tray, plain, nothing on it, double nugget with a huge tea. And 2 cheeseburger trays , Lettuce, tomato, mayo and ketchup , both with fries and nuggets and both with a coke. My total was $15.75. I paid and received all three drinks. I then received two trays, and a bag. I immediately recognised this as wrong as this is my family's usual order. I pulled out to a parking spot and checked the order. They got the 2 cheeseburgers with everything on them right however the bag had 2, 5 piece chicken nuggets. I pulled around, back to the window, and informed the employee. She immediately took action to correct the issue. She verified that I needed a cheeseburger tray, PLAIN, nothing on it, double nugget and I already had the tea. After a few minutes, she gave me a tray. As i pulled away my wife checked the tray. The burger was fully loaded. I pulled back around, pulled up to the same window, for the third time and informed her of the mistake. At that point I handed her the burger and pulled away. At that time I realised that there was no point trying to get what I wanted from that restaurant as the mean intelligence level was proven to be insufficient to accomplish the simplest of tasks such as, "take it off the grill and put it on the bun." Normally I would have driven off and laughed at the blissful ignorance of the staff however the night prior, I had stopped at this same location and ordered a BBQ sandwich, "plain, no slaw, no texas pete." It came back with both and had to be corrected so I am beginning to see the emergence of a pattern. Einstein once said that, "Insanity is repeating the same action, expecting a different outcome." That being said, now that I'm out the cost of the tray, my evening meal after a 14 hour shift, and the brain cells I lost dealing with this location, There is a Steak and Shake next door that...

Yes, my children were indecisive and did not tell me what they wanted. Yes, they were unfamiliar with cookout and wanted to read the menu for themselves. Yes, it might have taken us a minute and a half to order for 5 people-- I know that's an eternity in cookout time. "Cashier Shawn" was audibly irritated with us, asking repeatedly for our order, even after I explained I had to communicate with my children, who I was asking to please hurry, for Shawn's sake, because I know ordering time is tracked. Still, he displayed very little patience.

I have to wonder what kind of childish person "Cashier Shawn" is to decide that after I checked my sandwich to see if the toppings were correct-- and they weren't-- and I asked for that to be corrected, that he would decide to remove all the toppings and leave me with a bare sandwich. The generous person, who I usually am, might give him the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he thought I wanted no toppings. However, I have no idea how you get that idea when someone says both through the microphone while ordering AND at the window "Can you please add cheese and onion." I incorrectly trusted that this person would faithfully correct their understandable mistake. Fastfood is difficult. I guess I misinterpreted the seeming joviality they displayed as we left. In fact, ALL toppings had been removed from my sandwich. I suppose I am lucky that there was no spit in it.

This is a hiring problem and a management problem. You can't train a vindictive, unkind person to treat others...

I have only ever eaten at one Cook Out, and it was this one. I wish I lived in the area so I could return without having to expend a half tank of gas with a four hour drive...

I was a bit leery when I saw the low prices, and was unsure how to proceed when confronted with the vast amount of menu options. And then I saw the saw side items to choose from... which included (but was not limited to) french fries, cole slaw, chili, hush puppies, chicken nuggets(!), quesadilla(?), and so on. And then I noticed you get to choose TWO! sides if you're doing a combo tray. Awesome.

So I got the Big Double burger (two patties w/ grilled onions, cheese, ketchup), french fries, hush puppies, and a large Coke.

I sincerely hope mine was not a unique experience, but the burger was one of the best I've ever had from a fast-food establishment. I would even rate it better than my local Five Guys. The taste and texture were similar but far less greasy (I dare say it wasn't even greasy at all). The hush puppies and french fries were also suspiciously delicious while not-at-all greasy. The Coke was sweet and fizzy.

Add to this the 98 health rating and my meal being just under $5... I happily give this place 5 out of 5 stars and would gladly return should I pass its way again. I would encourage others to...