Fuddruckers — Restaurant in Mesa

Omg what has happened to this place?! I was so excited to rediscover Fuddruckers with my kids after having gone here myself as a kid.. Too bad reality didn't live up to the memory. Obviously things are different today during the covid-19 pandemic. I can appreciate that and totally understand taking precautions! But common, really fudds, we ALL are here for that CHEESE! You have to find a way to keep that melty cheese flowing during this difficult time and that's all there is to it! What had me even more blown away, and sadly not in a good way, was the price vs value that was happening! We happened to go in on a day they had BOGO 1/3 lb burgers and with 4 people still managed to spend almost $50!! If every other burger was FREE, how in the world was our bill so high you might ask? Well, the price of the burger is a flat rate for a completely plain bun and patty. EVERY item you add on top of that party is $1 more. So if you order the mushroom swiss burger for instance, you pay the base of $10-$11 (1/3lb) than $1 mushrooms $1 swiss $1 grilled onions etc and so forth. So instead of just naming their burgers and giving them a price like every other place, they are gouging you at every opportunity. OK fine. What's a $14 or $15 burger among friends right? Especially when you get to smother it in that delicious melty cheese.. So long as its packed with flavor and cooked to order I can't complain, I won't complain.. Wait, I don't get melty cheese for my burger!? That's what I came here for! (Looking at my burger-check picture) Uh, hmm... What did I order again? Was it the 1/3 lbs bun sliver patty burger or the "where's the beef" burger? All 4 of them came out like that. The biggest buns, both top and bottom, we'd ever seen and a shall we say modest meat patty hiding inside. Nowhere near the medium rare they had promised and lacking any kind of seasoning. Im sure if you've read this far into my review you've probably guessed already, but we were all so very disappointed in our dinner. So much so that unless I end up hearing somewhere that they've changed the menu, prices, vendors, or something else major that can contribute to a better dining experience I can say with confidence that my family and I will not be going back there. Its no wonder there are only a couple of Fuddruckers even left in the Valley. They have some serious catching up to do if they want to compete with burger joints like Red Robin where the burgers are decent size, can be a tiny bit pink inside, and are packed with flavor not to mention the bottom-less fries! Come on Fudds, I'm rooting for you! I'd love to see the place thriving with families and fun like it was back in the day. Time to make some changes though. Hope you're up to it. If you are, the family and I will see you soon. If not, well than its been real and hopefully we can...

Ok here we go... I want to preface with I'm 32 and have been going to this location since I was a kid. This location is where my definition of a great burger was written.

With that said, what I walked into today was a dying franchise. It is important, that I point out the customer service was wonderful, fast, and polite; they are not my issue at all.

Let's start with the first impression. We were greeted with sad hand written signs that simply listed all the things that they were out of. It's strange times, supply chain issues, higher expenses, so we shook it off. It meant I wasn't going to be getting my bison burger I came for, but hey, I can adapt.

As we approached the counter we realized the soda machines are down and they were offering cans instead. It was explained that it's a supplier issue; in my restaurant experience, that hits more as poor ordering, but ok I'll buy it. I don't really care for the customizable soda machines anyway, the flavors are always slightly off, especially with the Sprites. So once again, we adapted, and took the can soda they offered. Perhaps changing back to soda lines would be smart here.

Now, this is where our "we aren't coming back" solidification came in. First, the meat. Absolutely, not acceptable. They compromised on the one thing they shouldn't have. They now serve what can only be described as the cheapest, least flavorful, mass produced pucks. I've stopped going to places who serve this kind of patty. If these are hand pressed into this shape, then my only critique is, that was a poor choice, and the meat blend is awful. The meat used to be glorious, on display through a window, they valued it so much. Now it's had the life pressed out of it, lacks any specific flavor, and just tastes how the restaurant atmosphere feels, dead. They even went as far as getting rid of their signature wedges. What came out were knock off Red Robin steak fries. My husband got their new "thin fries" which oddly had the old wedges flavor, but were so limp and soggy, that I spit it right back out. We only got 1/3 lbs. Burgers, and didn't finish them, despite being very hungry. I don't say any of this to be hurtful, it's honest feedback from a loyal patron. This is a far fall. Maybe they are just trying to stay afloat and are buying cheaper faster items, but my feedback is GO BACK, before it's too late. Customers dont always offer feedback, they just stop coming, saying "Oh how sad, they used to be good." I don't want this to...

We placed an order online through the Fuddruckers website for this location. Everything went through successfully and got several confirmation emails and texts verifying that the order was ready for pickup. When I got there and went up to the counter to let them know I had an online order the woman that was working gave me a dirty look and said “let’s see if we even have it”. Bear in mind, the website online order guided me through all of this and confirmed that this was the pickup location. There are no other locations in the valley either.

She mentioned the online order pickup to someone working in the back, I assume a manager, and he said “we don’t do online orders”. When I showed them that I went through their site, showed the receipts and confirmation emails, as well as the texts , she says “I don’t know what to tell you”. I mean, an explanation would be preferable but alright. Keep in mind I had already paid in full for this order. She said that it was sent “nowhere” and that I should have canceled the order even though I never had the option to. The website even said to call the restaurant if we wanted to cancel, which we did not.

So essentially I got scammed out of almost $50 worth of food. The restaurant kept saying that they couldn’t help me with a refund or remake any of it even though I ordered directly from their site??? The cashier even said “there was an option to cancel and you just don’t understand it” even though I had the browser page up showing all the proof that there was no option and that their website took me through the whole checkout process.

They need to be shut down immediately and customers should be warned that if you put an order in through their site you will be scammed and you’ll never receive your food....