Shake Shack Alderwood — Restaurant in Lynnwood

I had a "Ready Time" for 9:30 - 9:35pm. I walked in at 9:31 and went straight to the counter. The employee at the counter spent a good whole minute wiping the counter (which I was patient and waited for her to do for proper cleanliness) when she finally looked up and noticed me. At that time, I was the only customer waiting in line although there were other customers in the restaurant already seated. I asked if they had an order for Joshua and they checked the 7 or so orders on the shelf and told me they didn't have mine yet and it would be another 2 minutes or so. I said "OK, no problem" and I go sit down. I finally stood again at about 9:50 and asked them if my order was ready yet. By this time, they were having problems with their kiosks and were now having to take every order directly at the counter. They looked through the shelf again and still said that it wasn't ready or that someone else must've picked it up already. I told them that I had already been waiting for over 20 minutes at this point and the employee asked if I was from Door Dash and I told her no, it was for me and my family. She asked to see my order and I showed her on my phone and said she would go get a manager and look into it. She came back another 3 or 4 minutes later and showed me the receipt and said that they didn't know what happened but they would make it again immediately. So I sat down again and waited patiently. My patience finally wore out at 10:05 and I went up to the counter again, where I had to stop a different employee as they were walking away from the counter. I was again told that my order wasn't there yet and she started to walk away, but fortunately I was overheard by another employee that looked like he was already about to leave because he was no longer wearing any uniform and was wearing his backpack. He stopped and said that it was normal to wait 30 minutes but when I told him I had ordered an hour ago, he stopped and decided to look into it. He went to the shelf with all of the pickup orders and immediately found my order on the bottom shelf and it had been sitting there the entire time. I saw it when I first got there but I wasn't sure that it was mine. When he brought it to the counter I told him that I had been staring at that order for the last 30 minutes and that it was there the whole time. The first female employee told me that that wasn't true and that it had just been remade and put there. I asked her if she was sure, because I had seen the order when I first came in and it hadn't been moved but she swore that it was freshly made and was just put there. I took my food and walked out without another word at 10:08, 37 minutes after arriving! I got home to all cold food, my shake completely liquified, and no ice left in my lemonade. The worst part is that another customer came in and didn't speak any English but showed them the order on his phone and they also told him that someone had already picked up his order and it wasn't there anymore. Because he didn't speak English, he basically just got frustrated and walked away. This is unacceptable and I'm honestly surprised that this is obviously happening quite often and something needs to be done. I will personally never go to this location again and I hope some changes are made to correct these problems. These were more than mistakes, they were intentional over sights that need to be...

Update (7/31/2025):

Hey, someone must have paid attention. I came here for dinner tonight, and really craved a burger. I muttered as I looked for parking, “I don’t know why I torture myself.., but damn when it’s good it’s good.”

The kiosk ordering seems just the slightest bit more intuitive. I ordered the same as before, but noticed an option for “well done” in the kiosk. Maybe that means they’re really making an effort to not totally overcook the burgers now?

In any case, when I received my order, same as before, the person who brought my order or asked if I needed anything. As I noshed down on it, I noticed the gluten free bun was slathered with some kind of very tasty butter or oil, but not greasy. My chosen special combo of toppings was perfect. And someone, perhaps a manager, asked if my order was correct and if I needed anything. No, thanks!

Also, I got the last little paper cup at the ketchup station. When I looked over while eating, someone had refilled it.

Kudos, Alderwood Shake Shack! You have redeemed yourself. 🤘 i’ll be back.

Previous review:

Every time I come here, I know I’m going to be disappointed. Their food should be good. But somehow they manage to screw it up.

Today I grabbed a drive thru order because all of the times I’ve dined in, it’s been loud and chaotic and frustrating. Their dining room is designed to get you out as quickly as possible and is too small to be comfortable with all of the people who dine here. So I went through the drive thru. The first problem was the speaker who took my order. Full disclosure, I wear hearing aids, but with my aids I hear fine or better than most. But yeah, could barely understand the guy. Then I had to wait in line forever, which is not unexpected because they cook your food while you wait, part of the hype and popularity around this place. The drive thru worker who gave me my order was very nice, so they get an extra point for service, but in the bag there were no napkins.

As for the food, I appreciate that I can get a gluten free bun and it’s tasty. Normally, the smash burger concept is a fave. Who doesn’t like crispy edges? The Maillard reaction is our friend. But my burger patties this time were dried out beyond belief. So dry. I ended up putting an insane amount of ketchup in the burger just so I could scarf it down and not choke. Awful. The fries were excellent though a little saltier than I like.

Overall, I usually like their burgers a lot though the service is usually lacking at this location and I hate their dining room. So I’m willing to deal just to get some decent food. This time is really making me question that logic given how almost inedible the burger was.

One last complaint. I have no idea how much I paid because I didn’t get a receipt and no one told me my order total....

3/10 ‐ updated to 1 star. This location continues to disappoint over and over again. A couple weeks ago we visit an hour and a half before closing. They are out of mushroom, avacado, and all lemonade, again nowhere near closing. We decided to overlook it and again visit for a 4th and FINAL time on 3/10. The drive-through line isn't super long, so we give it a try. Get up to order and once again, out of mushroom and avacado. Since we are stuck in line we decide to order anyways, we move one car length forward and sit for nearly 20 minutes and move nowhere. Finally one car gets their food and we move forward one spot. We wait even more, and at this pace we won't get our food for another 40 minutes. Since we have some space and don't want to wait for 1 hr for a fast food burger, especially while pregnant, we decide to leave the drive through and go elsewhere. This was the cake topper: As we leave the line, the manager yells out of the window, 'we have your license plate'. This sure is a mighty fine FAST FOOD JOINT. I've had steaks served faster at a fine restaurant. We proceeded to go to Habit Burger, where we got our food in 5 minutes and enjoyed the rest of our night. Even if there is a small drive-through line, you will waste your entire night here. Do not waste your time at this location, you have been warned. The owner of this location needs to WAKE UP and actually make a change. They've been open way too long to continue to have growing pains.

Initial review: Very excited about having this new shake shack location. Have been here twice. First time visiting inside for a shake. Was ridiculously busy, huge line inside and long drive through, only 1 workimg kiosk. Took about 20 mins to get our shake inside. They were very very good. Second time we visited 11-6-23, there were only 3 cars in the drive though so we decided to drive in. Ordered 2 burgers. From the time we ordered to the time we got our food was 28 minutes, we can't imagine how long it would take with a full drive-through. Hopefully the new location can get through the growing pains and figure out efficiency. Burger was meh, overcooked. I've had shake shack at the uvillage location and it was amazing. Maybe some cross-training with those employees would be helpful. Will try again in...