Chick-fil-A — Restaurant in Linden

Food Is always great AND consistent regardless of store. My only issue is spoiled people problems. It was July 4th. Manager had only one person, it seemed, working outake. No idea how many people expediting as I was in the take out in the car. Exceptional amount of people in line as it was after five. But moving quickly. I later found out they were closing by 6Pm, as they should. I did mention it was July 4th. The young man seemed to me to be doing an exceptional job as he was delivering to cars alone. It fact after the incident, I maintain he was.. I had a large order. I buy for lunch and dinner and a snack later. When I arrived home a salad was missing. I no longer check Chic..As they are always 100%. Had not begun to eat until about 40 minutes later, so had still not checked package. Found item missing. Called location. No answer after multiple calls. Now I'm hot. Put back on clothes AND drove all the way back. Discover they are closed. I say again AND rightfully. After 6PM on July 4th. You disagree you have higher spoiled people problems than I do. In any case, glad, as I came to disparage everyone. Went back the next day with receipt, one unopened salad and believe it or not all the garbage from food I had eaten before I found out a salad was missing. I go inside. The young lady is properly apologizetic in action if not in words. Then a no nonsense manager gets involved. I then tell same story to her. Attitude not at all apologetic . Goes through all the used items and tells me she was there at that time and there is never only one person on out take. I keep it together AND explain she should be using 'usually' as there was that day. It was late on a Holiday, 'me explains'. Then she, 'to me', begrudgingly gives me the salad after telling me again what I said is not normal. I am now upset as I was the night previous. I say 1)I drove there twice in the heat to get my order right. Which for chic never happens. But 'never' is relative as it did happen. It did of course happen, in special circumstances. 2) She showed NO empathy AND it seemed helped begrudgingly. 3) NO offer of sweetener for my trouble. I then wondered to her IF I had simply called corporate how this would have played out. At this point she went to get the GM. No I was not yelling or doing the 'talking fast thing. Yes, a bit strident in my tone. When the GM arrived, I explained how her manager had gotten me peeved. To her credit GM accessed, understood and cleared the blocked impasse. Then said 'I understand' AND did you want something extra for your trouble. I said I needed empathy and NO keep their sweetener. GM also checked to ensure I got my extra salad dressing as was stated on the original order. If 'you' are still reading. The original person doing out take was great. Even though salad was not in bag. He was fast, courteous, but it seems alone on out take. Food was delicious. Original young lady when I went back seemed as if she was gonna be fine. GM was good but her supervisor, the GM's extension, was all ice and business. GM said, AND this IS important, wouId talk to her about such attitude regarding 'time AND place. Not how she put it, but I believe what she meant. But who knows. AND how do you NOT automatically offer something for someone's trouble. AND I don't mean a 'loss leader' soda or fries.. Not the store, but some mea culpa. In any case, I 'leave' that 'right there.' They got it right...eventually. Once again I say IT is spoiled people's problems. Yes..Yes it is. There are places people worry about having ANYthing to eat or drink for the day....

EDIT 7/8/24:

Ordered breakfast via the app on 7/4. Arrive at the restaurant and they aren’t open; they’ve changed their hours for the holiday.

This is fine. I support giving their workers time with their families. That’s not the problem.

The problem is that the store was closed and I didn’t get what I paid for. I looked on the app and guess what? There’s no way to cancel an order made on the app. Says “contact the store”. Well, I can’t contact the store. Because they’re closed.

So I submitted a message to customer support, received a message that it would be forwarded to the store and I’d receive a reply in 2-3 days. Fine, ok.

Except, I didn’t receive a reply. My card was charged, they had no problem doing that. But I received no reply.

Finally on the 5th day I put in a dispute with my credit card company, so I’ve had to deal with that.

Here’s the thing: it’s trivial. It’s a $10 order. It’s not important in the grand scheme of things. But, if a business can’t handle trivial issues with simple, easily applied resolutions in a timely manner, how can they handle the big issues? It’s annoying BECAUSE it’s so trivial. This should never have been allowed to escalate.

Chik-fil-A prides itself on only allowing a franchise owner to operate a single location, so they can provide a superior customer experience without distraction. That doesn’t seem to be paying off in the case of this location, where the franchise management can’t find the time to respond in any way to a straightforward, easily resolved issue.

I’d think twice about visiting this franchise, and I’d think thrice before using the app to submit a purchase from this location. And, if you choose to do so, don’t expect much from the management if there’s any issue.

There are other, well run Chil-fil-A franchises. It’s a shame that this one tarnishes the reputation of the rest.

It’s a chik-fil-a! It’s clean, nice, and they have a special land for online orders.

PRO TIP #1: chik-fil-a sauce on hash rounds

PRO TIP #2: their biscuits can be a bit dry, add cheese and then sneak a little chik-fil-a...

I never thought I would have to give this company a bad review but I had a bad experience and this is definitely the first. We typically order through Uber or go to the route 22 location in Union, NJ but we where near this new location in Linden and decided to stop in. There was no line like a normal lunch or dinner time frame so I thought, okay this is not going to take long. The company representative, “Denice” asked what is our order, she did not say hello or even welcomed us or anything. I let that go, but was shocked because I have lived in numerous states and the one thing chick fil a is known for is excellent customer service. I proceeded with the order, and she quickly asked, will this complete my order?! I said, No. I placed the second order and I then realized she didn’t even ask us what size we wanted or anything!?? She kept her head down when I mentioned this to her, she was just looking at the tablet even when I said this to her she didn’t even correct it. I continued the order and she then said again, will that be all? She told me the amount and I gave her my card, she swiped the card, gave it back and she walked away to the car behind us. 😳 she didn’t tell me thank you or anything just had the attitude she had since we pulled in. The young man with blue shirt was nice and asked my name and gave us our food and told us thank you and have great night. This should not be, and this it is not ok to have this type of behavior in a customer service employment. I work in customer service and the way she treated us will definitely help push my business back to route...