Arby's — Restaurant in Kinston

I come here anytime I am in the area. My experience varies from great to fair, depending on the visit.

Most of the time the cashier acts like they hate their job. It ruins the atmosphere. I have had to wait a few minutes while they joked around in the office or weren't attending to the front counter. A smile would be appreciated on occasion.

Sometimes the food is the best and other times the fries are overcooked or the tea is either both unsweetened or both heavily sweetened. Almost like someone isn't stirring the sugar and the first few people are getting syrup tea and the later people are getting diluted tea.

They are often out of sauce cups or pumpable sauce to put in the cups. Asking for a packet is often met with rolled eyes and a handful of packets. I have been there multiple times in the same day and don't get polite banter about my day. It's very impersonal.

Tables are wiped off with dirty sanitizer water. They will occasionally leave it setting on the trash can or a table. Not only is that a safety hazard, but it is not the correct procedure for a restaurant. It needs to be changed after each use. And chemicals are never to be left unattended with the public. The tables and chairs are missing feet.

Their menu is different from others. They are missing items like potato cakes and sandwiches found at other Arby's. If you ask for these items without checking the menu, you get an abrupt "a what" or "what are you talking about" instead of politely replying with, "I am sorry. We don't carry that at this location."

The lady making the sandwiches wraps them and tosses them in the window. It's fortunate the guy bagging them was right there, because a few missed the metal slide and nearly were thrown onto the floor. I believe she was the manager on duty. She was yelling at the staff to do stuff.

I worked in restaurants for nearly twenty years. I know the difference between asking people to do a task and scolding them constantly. This was the latter. I never feel like I am welcomed there. But the food tastes great and I often take it to go.

The sidewalks are not very handicap accessible. There is one spot by the door that allows a wheelchair access. The rest of the sidewalk is about six to eight inch high curbs. Which makes it difficult for canes or elderly people who have have difficulty stepping up. They are higher than the average steps on a staircase. And the parking lot is...

We went to the drive thru at 5:20. Ordered a classic and a bbq hamburger. Paid and asked to pull up. The order was wrong. It is 5:50 and we are leaving with the correct food. I went inside and asked to speak to the manager. Her name started with a T. She could not have cared any less.

Someone came over and said she heard crispy chicken, I told her no - it was a hamburger.

Still the manager did nothing. I said can we get a refund? She turned to look at the 4 other employees that were standing around to watch. She said, we had to cook the potato cakes and someone ordered 13 sandwiches before you.

I told the 3-4 employees staring at me that all of that needed to be communicated, we could have chosen another restaurant. All this time there was a gentleman waiting on a milkshake for 10 mins.

Never even an apology. Just excuses. I was not yelling and just wanted someone to acknowledge. These folks must truly hate their job. Maybe pay a little more and higher staff that cares.

We stop here at least twice a month but will cross the street to Wendy’s from now on.

We were not given a receipt but spent $22 + on poor service even after given the opportunity to make it right. I would love my money back.

Update 3/11/25: I have submitted this same message on the website that the autoreply bot gave here. I received an email "sorry, we will send you a coupon".

Clearly NO ONE cares about this particular franchise building

Update 3/13/25: I received an autoreply message that they were processing my...

I walk in to the manager (in grey) complaining about how much they get paid. There was one car in the drive through and two people inside placing orders.

It took almost 20 minutes for a large fry and a drink. Nothing else.

Team was taking their time, literally walking between stations, then when I finally get impatient they interrupted me and acted exasperated and out of breath. It was such an akward experience.

Then when I finally got my fries, they were fries that had been sitting on a counter pre-scooped for 5+ minutes minimum. I watched them come out of the oil. I watched them get scooped. All they had to do was hand them to me. It took them 5-10 minutes to just.... hand me the fries.

The worst experience I've ever had at an Arbys. It wasn't even a "bad" experience, just... I felt like I was an inconvenience to their day as a customer.

I was just craving some fries and now this made me not as fond of visiting Arby's other than my local spot from how poorly ran this one was.

Also, literally every sauce out front was out. The pumps didnt work. And when someone else asked for the Spicy Three Pepper sauce someone said it wasnt available anymore, despite being a flavor pump out front. Just another weird bit...