The Honey Baked Ham Company — Restaurant in Naperville

I placed an order via Grubhub for a ham to be delivered three days from now. Grubhub informed me that the order was cancelled by the restaurant due to bad weather. I called Honey Baked Ham to confirm that the store would be open three days from now. The rude sales associate, Thomas, I believe was his name, immediately said they would be open and gave me the holiday hours.

I asked why my Grubhub order was being cancelled by the store due to “weather” if the store was going to be open. He told me that, had I ordered directly from Honey Baked Ham, he could’ve tried to work with me to have it delivered today. Still doesn’t make sense. When questioned again about how the weather would impact Grubhub picking up my order, he informed me that some drivers might not be comfortable driving in the bad weather. Again, I clarified that the order was canceled by Honey Baked Ham -not Grubhub.

He proceeded to get super condescending and said “we’re cancelling orders because there’s a huge storm coming”. Then, for the first time he said the store might not be open in three days due to weather. Directly contradicting himself. If that was the case, shouldn’t that have been the simple answer to my original question? There was no need for the rudeness. I also paid upfront via Grubhub for the expensive ham. So I don’t understand why it mattered whether I ordered via Grubhub or the company. This is the first time in at least 20 years that we will not have a Honey Baked Ham for the holidays. The associate’s needlessly rude presentation will make me think twice...

This review is based solely on the oven roasted turkey breast. I just picked one up along with several sides, but won't be cooking the sides til tomorrow (more to come). After opening and sampling the turkey, I couldn't believe my taste buds! The sweet glaze they apply is sickeningly sweet and crunchy like thin toffee. It would be so even on a salty hunk of ham. It has a strange and unpleasant flavor. Thankfully, pretty much the whole glaze came off like a loose turtle shell. However, the flavor remains on the edges and is infused in to the turkey. It tastes like horribly sweet and burnt caramel. The skin is gone, so forget that delicacy. When served, the edges will have to be trimmed away. The turkey (sans the glaze (barf)) is at least tender. I hope that heating the trimmed turkey slices in the ($15!) gravy will offset/cover up the horrible burnt caramel flavor. Turkey is supposed to be savory Honey Baked Ham... It's not supposed to be coated like an ice cream Sunday.

Unless the aforementioned and yet to to be tried sides are spectacular, I will never patronize Honey Baked Ham again.

SO...

This is not a review of the product but rather the service. If everything goes well, then your experience is likely to be a good one. But if there's a problem, there is no one to call. Storm hitting Chicagoland 3 days before Christmas. Received voicemails to pick up my ham early from a contracted call center. I tried calling the store twice to arrange early pickup and was on hold each time for over a half hour. The first call was finally answered to the voice of a woman crying and using the f-word multiple times, clearly in a conversation with someone else. The second call was never answered. I don't have time for poor service. Get your act together. But Honeybaked Ham has been around as long as I can remember. If they haven't figured it out by now, then I doubt they ever will. Product is good, if you like the type of product they offer. But hope your order goes well, otherwise it'll be a bad time if my experience is...