Carl's Jr. — Restaurant in Irvine

This was a below average experience, not bad by any means but nothing to rave about or even have come back if I'm in the area again.

Placed my order through the drive thru and the employee was pleasant and took the order quickly. My GF is fairly picky about some things but nothing to crazy basically no sauce, pickles, or onions. She got the beyond famous star, I ordered the western thick burger it was mid afternoon and I was pretty hungry. $25 for 2 combos yikes that's a bit pricey I feel.

We get to the window and the guy asks me what I ordered (this is a single drive thru lane not one of those double lanes that combine to one so I'm a little nervous for my gf's order) get it sorted he hands me the food and then we have to wait for the drinks(a lemonade and a Dr pepper nothing special). It's not a fast experience by any means and by the time we leave there are quite a few cars behind us.

We get out of the drive thru and my GF checks her order and it's all good. We go about making our way home she's eating her fries and everything is fine. We get home (Costa Mesa) and I get my burger and it's a regular western bacon cheeseburger. GF checks the receipt and we were at least charged for what we received, however remember I ordered a western thick burger and thought it was expensive. I got charged for the regular burger, did not get what I actually ordered and it felt even more expensive after that.

Overall the food was good, the people were nice, but the rest of the experience plus the value of the food means I'll probably skip Carl's Jr as an option in the future (also no app or online ordering)

Covid-19 related info, everyone appeared to wear masks (and do so correctly) so...

4.5 star experience.

Staff is very friendly and helpful. The food after they replaced the fries with fresh ones) was tasty.

Prices are going up and with that, I expect to get value for my money. I don't expect to wait over 6 minutes for my counter ordered food when drive thru is waiting no more than 2. I also do not expect to have to request fresh fries when the ones originally placed in my bag are suffering from having sat.

Fix the menu board! If you must have digital, make sure the screen functions. Or find a different way to offer the menu while it is broken. Fix the drink machines. One was out of order and the other had a light bulb going out. Ditto for the strobe light bulb in the ladies room.

Ask your customers what size combo they would like, and be sure to greet them when they enter if you are not actively another customer's order. Small gestures make big impacts on if people spend their money with you.

Everything was clean. It felt good to eat in a...

First I would honestly say I honestly frequent McDonalds and Jack in the Box more often But at times, when I'm craving a different flavor that's wholesome, delicious and filling- I go to Carl's Jr. I ordered the Big Char Chile Burger & it was crazy delicious. Different, not the same flavor that the big chains have. Actually, I had many different burgers from Carl's Jr. and all have the unique flavor profile like just done, hot off the char- broiler. The buns are more wholesome than other places. And they have killer fries & good portions- lots of fries. I ordered the combo and it was deliciously, appetizing-filling. A great value. I paid like $8 and change for a combo. Yeah, Carl's Jr. has its place in my burger cuisine preferences. When describing Carl's Jr., the words differently delicious, unique, fresh, char-broiled, cheese, great sauce, crisp lettuce, and great buns come to mind. I tried almost all of the burger specialties they offer and each one is a...