Jack in the Box — Restaurant in Lacey

Life changing and objectively awful.

We ordered online. When I got there, the drive thru was closed and roped off. No indication that the store was open. I sat around wondering what to do for a while, because they had already charged us for the food.

I called my wife to deliberate while I was there. It was dark. Eventually an employee emerged from the bushes like some kind of stalker. He approached my car while taking a long puff on his bright red cigarette. He coiled up the rope and threw it into the hedge, then went back inside. I pulled forward, and he answered in a depressed, monotone drawl that sapped the energy out of me.

"Welcome to Jack in the Box, how's your day going so far?" He clearly didn't care about the answer. This was the sound of a man who had completely lost his will to live.

I told him I was picking up an online order. On an impulse, I decided to add a pineapple flavored shake. He told me the price (more than $6) and I pulled forward. While he was handing me the food, he started taking an order for the car behind me. "Welcome to Jack in the box, how's your day going so far?" He repeated. Those words were like a black hole -- an empty void that no light could penetrate. He was completely beyond hope.

Whatever they asked for, I don't know. He said, "no we don't have that." Loudly, with the window open, he exclaimed, "God is dead, Nietzsche, we don't sell that here."

He handed me my pineapple shake and asked for a credit card. He mumbled a few things about kids meals into his headset, and gave me back my card. No receipt.

I wondered if I should drive off. After about fifteen seconds, he said "your card was declined." He seemed to not care whether I paid, but I handed him another credit card anyway, which worked. I drove away.

The shake had crystalline bits of sugar in it and was cloyingly sweet, bordering on inedible. "Why do people like jack in the box?" I wondered.

I got home and unpacked the rest of the food. The "buttery jack" was a very ordinary, flat, single patty sandwich. $7.49. It couldn't have demanded such a high premium at other fast food places. I opened up a box. Inside was a sloppy mess of jalapenos and yellow sauce on top of some kind of starch. Probably French fries. I started questioning my life choices.

The next morning, my life lacked any sense of meaning or direction. I stopped dwelling on the consequences of my actions. They had no gravamen, they were not "mistakes." They were simply things that happened. I feel gross, but I have also never felt so much peace. Now I am a nihilist.

In the absence of any greater reason or purpose, we might as well be kind, gentle, and understanding. Live with compassion. Especially toward people with terrible jobs.

1/5 stars. I will never come back here. But since nothing matters, I am rating it 5/5 stars. Also, my life is...

The food isn't bad, but the service really had gone down. People who worked here were polite, courteous, professional, and just down right awesome! But I'm assuming they all moved on to bigger and better things. You will not receive that type of service here anymore. Yesterday my family went to get food and the woman we had at the drive thru was just not good.

When my husband was ordering food, she would cut him off by sharply asking if there was anything else. The tone she had made it seem like we were inconveniencing her with our presence. But we ignored it. Then when we rolled up and my husband showed his CAC, (military id), for military discount, she asked to see his license. My husband showed him and she went to get the food. When she handed the bags over, she told my husband that she serves too and that she knows what a fake military id looks like, but she would let us go this time.

The service here hasn't been great, but we haven't dealt with someone so unprofessional and uncourteous as her at this establishment. I recommend avoiding this particular jack in a box until they hire some quality workers again.

That being said, we got our food in a decent time, the quality was good, and the price matches the quality of the food.

I'm editing my post as of Friday, March 13th. My husband was really craving Jack in a Box. I wasn't planning on going back personally, but let's not lie, it's convenient with it being so close to home. And honestly, I'm glad we went back.

We had the same woman who I mentioned in this review previously and she was much more courteous to us than before. We didn't feel rushed either. We didn't ask for military discount this time around, (husband saw the card was already swiped before he even thought of mentioning military discount), but we weren't going to fight for it either. We just wanted to get home.

I'm happy that the woman was nicer and I'm assuming we just caught her on a bad day. I'm also happy to have received a response on my google review from the jack in a box team. I feel heard and thus, I am going to change my rating...

Worst drive through experience. Stopped after work because I was tired. Had to wait over 5 minutes before the first car in front of me was acknowledged. The guy at the drive-through wasn't rude when taking my order, though I had the sense that he didn't want me there when he tried rushing me through after I ordered one item. Drove up to the window and there was no greeting, only a repeat of my total and a hand waiting for my payment. My card came back no receipt. Guy walked away, again without a word, and stood by counter on his phone to wait for my order. When it was ready, it was shoved out the window with a glare because I wasn't immediately ready to take it. No words.

Made it home, opened up the food, and the pictures show what resulted. The sausage breakfast jack is a higher charge than the ham (2.99 according to receipt I found against a soggy burrito wrapper, 2.79 according to drive through window prices), yet I was given the cheaper item when I paid and asked for the more expensive.

My grande sausage burrito? I'm at a loss for words. I decided to go to this Jack in the box because 3 out of 3 times the other one kept giving me the triple meat one instead. Wrapper holding burrito was completely greasy, burrito wasn't even attempted to be folded into something that could be held. The tortilla was soggy, and ripped in many spots. Sausage burrito? Well, there was ONE sausage. It had so long in the warmer that it was hard as a rock! The triple meat I kept getting had more sausage.

If it had been during the day when there was manager available, and I hadn't wanted to go straight to bed after a long work day, I would have gone right back and demanded a full refund. Absolutely appalling food, and while I don't expect 5 star hospitality from fast food, I would at least expect some combination of a "hello", "thank you", or "have a good night"...