Grounded — Restaurant in Missouri

For some background information, I work as flight crew so I go to a fair share of airport restaurants. I found myself with a layover in STL so I decided to give this burger place a shot. Overall the food was good, the customer service was weird and lacking. I walked up and there was no one behind the counter for a minute or so, but also no line so I get it. Then a lady came through a door from the kitchen and stood at the cash register. Now I’m gen Z, and I’ve heard about the gen z stare, but I brushed it off at people misinterpreting. However, this girl said absolutely nothing and stared at me. I stared back and considered just waiting to see who would break first. But then I decided against that and went the route of “maybe I can get her to warm up to me by being nice!” So I said “hello how are you doing today?” She replied “good” and then continued to stare. I gave up and then just started my order. Felt rude but at least I tried. I asked if I could get tater tots instead of fries, and she silently pressed buttons on the register so I assumed that meant yes. I ordered a specialty burger and my tots and a drink and it came up to about $25. Also I got a 10% airport worker discount. Expensive, but not unheard of I suppose. I was silently given my drink and receipt and then waited about 7 minutes and then I was silently handed my food. I sat down and looked at my receipt and saw that instead of substituting total for fries, they just said “no fries” and then charged me for a side of tots. Would’ve kinda been nice to know they would do that. I went up and inquired about the charge and then she said “we can’t substitute” so then I asked “ok so did I pay for fries and then not receive them?” And then she said “no the fries come free with the burger” so then I asked “oh can I get the free fries?” And she said “sure” so I mean now I have an extra container of fries. So two stars for customer service because at least there was someone there and they didn’t throw the food in my face? Bar is low. The burger was yummy and the sides of tots and friend were generous! Just maybe don’t expect more customer service from the workers than you would get from a McDonald’s self-order kiosk. Well actually, at least those...

I try not to leave online reviews because they last forever; but I tried to call with no luck. Yesterday, I travelled through STL airport and this was near my gate. The person at the register walked up and asked “What do (I) want?” while picking her teeth. I thought, “oh wow that’s gross”, but maybe she only works the front. She surely won’t handle my food. Wrong! She went to the back and proceeded to put fries in the fryer. Handling them with her bare hands. Then, she continued to pick at and dig in her teeth. She coughed into her hands as well. Never ONCE washing her BARE hands. She should have worn gloves to begin with. I stood there in disbelief for a moment. Then, I walked away. I consciously forfeited the $18.40 I paid. I did not even want to pretend to take food riddled with bacteria from someone else’s mouth. There needs to be a manager on duty there. Gloves should always be worn in the kitchen. Hands should be washed; and some customer service training could go a long way. The women tried be somewhat nice, but the experience was completely disturbing. I hope that ownership/management take...

Decent food. But the service is very slow. They don't listen well to the orders, so it takes three times longer to order when they are finally ready. They think they are understaffed, but this is wrong. They just need a more competent and efficient person up front, who knows the menu well. They need to be aware that this is a busy airport, and unlike a sit-down restaurant, customers are on a short and absolute schedule. Needs an excellent manager to reform the service, possibly firing and hiring a better front person. Why is she asking customers which buttons to press? Why such low demonstrated intelligence in a paid job? Even accounting for the obvious affmirmative-action based hiring, you can still find an efficient and attentive front person. When I left, the line had 15 people in it. The food was prepared adequately and came up in a reasonable time. Just GISL needs to hire a more expert...