Sonic Drive-In — Restaurant in Kansas City

I want to start by saying I worked at Sonic for 6 years while putting myself through college, so it honestly pains me to have to leave this review.

This is the closest Sonic to our house, and the staff here is always kind and positive!! ✨Unfortunately✨ the food and ice cream quality consistently bring this location down. Orders are frequently wrong, especially when it comes to ingredients we specifically ask to leave off. It is not an occasional mistake, it happens nearly every other visit. For example, when I add jalapeños, onions are automatically included even if I have said “no onions.” (Which I do every single time because I loathe them.) The same issue happens with ketchup.

A good example is the ✨Ultimate Burrito✨. This item does not come with vegetables or onions by default. Yet nearly every. single. time I add jalapeños, onions end up on it too. It is frustrating, repetitive, and feels like the order instructions are being ignored by the kitchen when the order taker is correct majority of the time!!

After countless replacements and several refunds, I have reached my breaking point. Last night sealed it for me: a friend brought back ice cream from this location, and I had paid for extra Reese’s in my Blast. I understand how busy it can get, I have been through those rushes myself. But receiving a Blast with zero Reese’s in the entire bottom half of the cup is unacceptable. The correct process is simple: fill the cup halfway, add candy and mix, then add more ice cream, more candy, and mix again. Skipping that step shows a lack of training and oversight.

That is really the issue here: management and accountability. Staff should be trained and monitored to reduce errors, and those who struggle should be placed on simpler stations until they actually improve. Ticket errors and cancellations CAN be tracked, managers SHOULD be reviewing those numbers monthly to identify problems and coach their staff. Without that, customers continue to receive disappointing product quality, and ultimately service.

I hope management and staff read this as constructive criticism, not just another pissed off customer only leaving a poor review because they are mad. I have been patient, I have accepted corrections, and I have given chance after chance. But at some point, this location needs to take training and accountability more seriously if they want to keep loyal customers...

Ordered food at the drive thru today. While preparing to pay I noticed the woman that was taking orders had her mask all the way under her chin. I assumed she had it down so she could talk on her headset better and would of course wear it properly in the kitchen. I was wrong. She then proceeded to walk around the entire kitchen and then prepare orders while unmasked. I asked to speak with a manager. It was difficult to read the managers name tag but it appeared to be Sarai. I asked Sarai if she was aware that she had unmasked employees preparing food orders. She responded "yes, we allow our employees to be unmasked because it's hot back there". Then she asked me if I would like the complaint number and I said yes. She then gave me a wrong number. Then another woman approached the window to ask what was wrong. I told her I was concerned about my food being prepared by unmasked people during a deadly pandemic. She agreed that masks are best practices but told me that she also thought if " people are worried about getting covid they should just stay home." I cancelled my order and went somewhere else. Is this sonics policy? If you are worried about covid don't come to sonic expecting safe food handling practices. This particular sonic is right next to an office building predominantly inhabited by medical professionals. This wasn't one ignorant employee. Every single employee I encountered had a dismissive attitude towards covid protocols. If you are concerned about covid transmission I would take their employees advice. Don't go to Sonic for food. They cant be bothered with...

I've come to this location before because of service and the food was "always" made to my expectations but that changed tonight. I placed my order for a pork tenderloin combo with bacon, onion rings and a cherry limeade. My reason for this combo was intentional because I knew that they had to be made to order and fresh. Received my order in a timely manner. Drove home...took my sandwich out to dress it with mayo and I found wilted brown lettuce and my bacon was a little burnt and well overcooked / crunchy 😂 (not worth the extra money I paid for) l so I called the store and was told that I could bring the order back for a full refund or get a replacement so I went ahead and took my order back. Waited for the manager to come to the window... So she finally gets to the window I showed her the bacon and the lettuce and she told me that the bacon was not burnt or overcooked (which clearly it was 😂) I asked her if she wanted to argue about this or she was going to make this right. So she gave me my refund including the tip I gave. I will not be coming back to this location anymore. I would have much rather shared my concerns with the general manager or even the owner of this store.

I would have preferred to deal with a manager at this store who would have been more open and willing to fix my concern with my order but instead I had a manager who told me that my concerns were not accurate.... overcooked crunchy...