Culver’s — Restaurant in Marion

I am not normally someone who would leave negative reviews or give fast food employees a hard time. I work in fast food too and I know it’s a hard and soul crushing job, but guys…come on. Even I’ll admit that it’s not rocket science. I have been eating at this Culver’s since I was an infant, which is why I always try to give it the benefit of the doubt, but I have never encountered a staff that has failed as thoroughly as the staff of the Marion Culver’s. If you want to get the food that you ordered, don’t even waste your money. In the past several years, I’d say my order has been correct about 20% of the time, and that is being EXTREMELY generous. If you plan on eating at this Culver’s, you should also plan on having to have your food remade because I can guarantee with near certainty that it will not be right the first time. Definitely don’t order anything more complicated than chicken tenders and mashed potatoes, since that is my extremely complex order that they just can’t seem to get right.

If anyone at Culver’s is reading this, I am begging— GET A NEW HIRING MANAGER. The one you have now must be a terrible judge of character, because the staff has been awful for years. And good god, read the tickets before you send out orders. I have never had as consistently terrible of an experience with any restaurant or establishment in general as I have with this Culver’s. It’s almost impressive that this place manages to suck this much so effortlessly. All this is without even mentioning the experiences I’ve had with rude staff and insane wait times.

TL;DR if you really want Culver’s that bad, just go to the one in...

While my husband and I were in town, visiting my grandmother, we picked up dinner from Culver's because she loves the pot roast sandwich and mashed potatoes with gravy. However, the way she talks about the restaurant, we weren't expecting to walk in to basically a fast food set up. As bustling as they were, I was surprised they had only one person taking the orders at the counter. For a first visit, we felt a little rushed trying to navigate the wall menu to decide what we wanted. And having people taller than me keep standing in front of me while I was looking at the wall menu just further frustrated me.

Then, I went to get my tea, only to find that both the sweet and unsweet dispensers were empty. It took a little while for them to be refilled because the employee who came to take care of it had no idea what to do. While I stepped away to take my grandma's phone call, another employee showed him how to swap in a full one and brew a fresh batch.

After all of that, we finally got to Grandma's house and were all disappointed by the food. First of all, they forgot to put gravy on her mashed potatoes. So she ended up throwing them away, uneaten. And for some reason, the onion rings were salted to the point that they were inedible. Even though Grandma was right about the pot roast sandwich being good, the overall experience was enough to discourage my husband and me...

The food was typical of other dining experiences at Culver's. I typically order the Sourdough melt (single) and either a side of fries or onion rings. This order included onion rings.

The dining room was open for on site seating and dining. The establishment appeared to be following COVID-19 mandates. Employees wore masks, tables and available booths permitted for social distancing, and an employee was dedicated to the dining room to clean and sanitize tables following customer use.

Typical of COVID protocols, self-service condiments were not available. This was the only negative aspect of the visit, thus the 4 star rating. Some employees delivering meals to tables thought to ask customers if they wanted condiments with their meal; however, the individual who delivered my meal did not. I usually take ketchup with my fries or onion rings. The food is flavored enough I can eat it without condiments if none are available, or are offered. My advice would be to ask for additional condiments at the counter when ordering your meal.

This restaurant was quite busy, both in house dining and drive through window had steady traffic at 6 pm. The wait for my food was reasonable given the amount of traffic the store was experiencing.

I certainly would not be afraid to order from and eat here again in the future, COVID...