Squeeze Inn Sandwich Shop — Restaurant in Medford

As if customer service wasn't declining before covid, I'm noticing it has taken a real nosedive in the past few months. I love promoting great small businesses and giving 5 star reviews, but this kind of ridiculousness makes it difficult!

Food is generally decent here, on the healthier/made from scratch side, but I had a pretty uncomfortable experience today. I placed a $30 + order including macaroni salad, adding a tip right away. Got my food, took off to eat lunch at a local park. I've been to many delis in my life & almost always get mac salad when available. Though different places pur their own twist on ingredients, I have never experienced CURRY spice being added to a regular mac salad. Absolutely nowhere on their menu online or in the shop does the item mention this ingredient, & they don't verbalize it to you either.. you can't tell by color, as a normal ingredient like mustard can make it look yellow. They add a significant amount of curry to theirs, & not only do I have an allergy to it, but the flavor is awful. Not something I thought I had to verify when ordering macaroni salad. They should definitely list this ingredient, as people do have sensitivities to the spice in it & it's simply not a common recipe. Should be easy, "Curried Macaroni Salad".

I called the shop immediately upon figuring this out only about 10 minutes after getting the food, just to check and see if that was normal or if perhaps the person who made it made a mistake when adding seasoning. But after asking someone else, they said that was the regular recipe. I told them I was allergic & did not realize there was curry spice in it (again, NOT a normal macaroni salad ingredient). The person on the phone acted very uncertain but told me I could come back & get something else instead, though they couldn't actually take back the product that I had purchased, which I completely understand, being covid & all…so I said I'd be there within a few minutes.

Side note, any decent business with decent employees should understand the dissatisfaction of a customer who just spent money in their shop, was surprised by an unlisted ingredient & try to make it right, especially with something as major as an allergy & as miniscule as a scoop of pasta salad.

However, when I came back to ask the cashier & let them know I had already talked to someone on the phone about getting a different side comped, he treated me very awkwardly in front of other waiting customers saying he couldn't do that. There were 4 or so people working closely together, not sure how communication didn't get passed on so they would be expecting me? We had to go back & forth about it before he eventually went to ask somebody in the back If it was OK. When he finally returned after a solid minute or two of awkwardly waiting in a line with other customers staring at me, he begrudgingly said he could replace it with something else, but not after making me feel embarrassed, like I was just acting cheap or complaining when I shouldn't be. I only feel it's right as a paying customer for the business to understand my or anyone else's dissatisfaction over something like that. The way they handled this situation though, I definitely won't be going back & will be letting other locals know this story, it's not worth it to get treated so weirdly instead of empathizing & caring about a customer's feedback and just making a minor substitution for something understandably unexpected. Just bad business, especially as a small one heavily reliant on locals during hard...

I have never been treated so rudely as I was today. 11/14/14 I have been a customer for 10 + years. Today I have become a non customer.The last year I don't know who this man has hired but I have ordered the same thing for the last few years a california wrap honestly how hard is it to make a sandwich ? well they have not made it right the last few times i have gotten it and either they forget the avocado or they forgot the ranch the last time. My co-worker got a sandwich from there last week and they screwed it up too but she just dealt with it. I'm sorry to complain but at their prices I'm gonna get what I pay for unless he tells them to not put on avocado to save money. So today I call in my order and said please make sure their is avocado and I get some ranch with it. I go didn't say a word just I was there to pick up my order the OWNER comes out and says to me that this can't go on I look at him and say what?He says they have been in business over 42 years and out of a 1000 customers that no one has complained well I'm sorry but you need to train his employees better on how to make their products and he said NO HE DOSEN'T MAYBE I SHOULD GO SOMEWHERE ELSE IF THEY CAN'T GET IT RIGHT!!! I have never in my life been treated this way from a business.And I don't usually complain but after so many times I'm done They just LOST a customer plus a s few more I'm sure after this review. The owner is extremly RUDE and has bad manners. If I was everyone I wouldn't give your business to this company, ever The customer is always right. He told me to take my business else where believe me I will .The right thing to do was come out and apologize for the mistakes and tell me that they made it...

Update: They have really handled Covid well. They allow you to order ahead (as long as you can get through on their phone) and even if you go in to the counter to order they'll be happy to bring your order out to your car as soon as it is ready. Just tell them when you order this is your desire. Otherwise, you can eat inside or take out. It's the best of all worlds. Great staff! Love these guys. Food is fresh, tasty and really nicely prepared.

This is my favorite local soup and salad lunch place. Fresh and healthy ingredients, friendly staff that know what you like to order, plenty of seating with a pleasant atmosphere with plants and an electric fireplace with softer seating around it, even a private table area that adds charm and a couple of outside tables for warm weather. Great veggie sandwiches too! They're fast and friendly. Order at the counter, then they bring you your food quickly. Great place to go as a...