Whataburger — Restaurant in Madison

So, I’ve tried to be understanding as this is a brand new location but clearly something needs to be said at this point. Out of my 5 visits, all have been abysmal. Here is my experience from my latest visit and quite possibly the most disappointing… here are several notes from it.

I checked the mobile ordering app and it’s still not available at this store. I’ve yet to see it working in the 3 or so weeks they’ve been open. Disappointing, but not the end of the world. I spoke directly with the manager about this, their response was “Oh it should be working and has been since we opened, but I can submit a ticket and it may take 24 hours to get it working again.” (It in fact has not been working since they opened and it is still not available more than 72 hours after this convo)

I walk into the store and surprise surprise both of the self order kisoks are down. Yay…

It’s 7PM-ish, there’s people inside and in the drive thru but it’s not crazy busy, just a normal steady crowd.

There are a gaggle of trainees sitting in the booths, it appears they’re taking quizzes on a laptop. In all there are atleast 6-7 Whataburger employees in the lobby and behind the counter. Keep this in mind as I describe the rest of the visit. There’s no shortage of staff on hand.

So, I go to the counter. THE MANAGER HERSELF IS TAKING MY ORDER! Different color shirt, manager on the name tag, there is no mistaking that they are in charge of this location. Surely this can’t go wrong. I place my order, which includes extra ranch pods that I pay for (important for later). Two patty melt meals, one large-one regular, with customizations to one of the burgers.. I make a point to tell her I want 3 strips of bacon on my burger because the drive thru worker on my previous visit only put 1 strip. (standard practice for any location when adding bacon to a burger is 3 strips) I check my receipt and everything is correct. So far, so good.

I go to make my drinks and it’s immediately abundantly clear that not one worker in the building has done any type of cleaning during the day. The area is a disaster, ice is piled so high I can’t even fit my cup fully under the dispenser and everything in general is disheveled.

It takes several minutes for the food to come out, not a huge deal though. A different girl brings my food out. I can tell immediately that it’s missing items simply by the size of the single bag she has. I check the bag and indeed I’m missing fries for one combo and the two ranches I ordered. I’m then informed that THEY ARE OUT OF RANCH. Now, that wouldn’t be a huge deal normally, but I placed my order WITH THE MANAGER AND PAID FOR THEM and not a word was said. It’s not as if they just ran out in that time either, they’ve been out all day….. Says a lot about how adept the manger is at their job imo….. anyways, I check both burgers.. they’re mostly correct but very sloppily put together and xtra onions usually means more than 5 little specks but I’m over it at this point and just want to leave.

Now, I don’t normally comment on fast food places but this is a very nice and new Whataburger and at the time of this visit they’ve had enough time to work out the kinks of the first few days….. idk what else to say, I love Whataburger. I’ve got a reasonable view of what to expect at them but having been to all the other locations in the area I’ve never had an experience anywhere near this bad. It’s disappointing, but I’ll be back regardless. I just hope they actually try to improve and this isn’t the standard I need to become used to...

Update: (4 Months Later) I braved to go back to Whataburger again today and the experience was night and day difference. Greeted at the drive through within a few seconds, the order repeated for accuracy, and the person working the outside (Latino Female) did an excellent job communicating and engaging.

It appears that the issues experienced previously have been addressed from a process perspective.

I still had to wait a little longer than expected for my food to arrive but acceptable.

Original: We have been through the drive through for breakfast several times now.

1. After sitting to take order for 15 minutes with no movement we left.

2. Order three items from breakfast menu, sat in line at-least 20 minutes with little to no movement, both lines not moving and no one interacting. I was blocked in or would have left. Finally got to the window, asked my name, and they asked “did you place an order?” Leader came out and food was delivered finally.

3. Today wife sat in line over 40 minutes, a couple parked in the lot, went inside, ate breakfast, and left before she got her food. It was not that busy. To make matters worse three of the four orders were wrong. Do better.

The issue so far is not food quality but the drive through is abhorrent run. Whether lack of training or what…. They have to get this fixed or 1) limited cash flow due to time per customer or 2) people will just abandon and stop going.

I rally hope it survives because I like WB breakfast a lot but please get your drive through in order. It destroys the customer...

It’s been three days and this place is already in the gutter. Firstly, we walk in and a lady at the counter is asking for a refund. Nobody seems to know what or how to achieve this. Secondly, there are employees sitting in the dining room on break (that’s fine and expected), however, these employees are LOUDLY talking about customers and how if they “don’t like it” that “they can leave”. Lastly, the employees were constantly back and forth between the front and the back. They’d run and giggle with their friends and then run and take an order on the drive thru. I don’t expect my food to be out super fast, but the employees caring about gossip and not customers food definitely doesn’t help it go any faster. I understand being a new restaurant means you have kinks to work out- but this gives no hope for any improvement. Sounds like lackluster management has trickled down to the employees and they just don’t care. This is not representative of the customer service standard I know Whataburger...