Schlotzsky's — Restaurant in Gastonia

We like Schlotzky's, but have none around where we live in Charlotte, NC so we seek one out when we are on the road. We ended up at this one and had a bad experience. My son loves their kids cheese pizza - so much he always orders 2 kids meals. When we got the pizzas, to say they had cheese on them was somewhat of a stretch. I took them back and kindly asked to have them put some more cheese on the pizza.

Soon, the manager came out to my table and engaged me in a discussion (in front of all the other customers) and informed me that their menu card called for only so much cheese, so that's what I got (and I should be thankful for that too, I suppose).

This is 2017 and every food service manager should now know that the customer is always right. Not this one. So for 5 to 10 cents worth of cheese, she has not only been offensive to me in front of the other customers, but has created substantial bad will for Schlotzky's.

Compare this to Mission BBQ (a few blocks away, where we had dinner). I mentioned to the cashier that I hoped I liked my meal selection and she responded by telling me that if I wasn't satisfied to let them know and they would find something that did satisfy me. Night and day!

Finally, I note that this Schlotzky's is a dump. I've been to cleaner outhouses than the men's bathroom and their cooler (with salads in it) has the front panel hanging off and exposing the very dirty inner workings.

Somebody needs to send the manager of this place...

Do NOT eat here if you’re Gluten Free!! I asked and confirmed again that they had gluten free bread, I ordered my sandwich ON the gluten free bread. I hadn’t been here before so I didn’t know what the any of the bread looked like, but I assumed that I had been served the GF since my husbands bread looked different. I ate half the sandwich before I noticed the table next to us had the same bread that I did.

When I asked at the counter if I had the gluten free bread, the girl (who had taken my order and should have known) answered “Oh I don’t know I’m not the cook”. I had to ask her to go get the cook. He said “no that’s not gluten free. Is that what you ordered? Do you want me to remake it for you?” Very clearly no! I told them I had to leave immediately as I was about to get sick.

No one offered a refund until I went back up on our way out and asked for it. I then proceeded to throw up in their bathroom. I will never ever ever be back here. Neither the girl who took the order, or the man making the sandwiches seemed to have any remorse. The manager just remarked he was sorry and someone in his family if gluten free too.

They were hanging out in the kitchen joking about something as I left the bathroom with a popped blood vessel in my eye from being so sick.

AVOID IF YOU’RE...

I travel 20 miles from charlotte just to go here. There are none in charlotte any longer. We stop by nearly every time we travel this direction. The regular Schlotzsky sandwich is a fav.

There is a cinnibon here as well but I have never sampled their product.

*Update" Latest visit was a little off. One requested no aoli but got it anyway (fixed promptly) The lettuce was subpar had the strong odor and flavor of bagged lettuce. If it's not coming from a bag then something even more serious is involved.

Update again And now I'm done ... Another visit 5 months ago (Feb 2024). A favorite that has since fallen. Made a special trip just for this. Walked in and barely made it past the entrance doors. The strong pungent odor couldn't be disguised by the aroma of cinnamon and a quick glance at the sanitation grade (well below my minimum acceptable rating) prompted a quick exit. Went down the road to Viva Chicken, a new store with a 100 rating and great service.

No more special trips for Schlotzski's. Might stop by if passing by just to see if anything...