QDOBA Mexican Eats — Restaurant in O’Fallon

I've previously had a good experience at this location, so I'm giving it 2 stars. That said, today's experience at lunch today (November 23, 2018) was much less than satisfactory:

My wife, toddler, and I came in and ordered a meal for my son. We were meeting up with some friends shortly at that location, but we wanted to give the toddler a head-start on his meal. The receipt we received included a survey that, if completed, would earn you free chips and salsa with purchase of an entree. Simple enough. I was planning on getting a smaller dish, but changed my order to the larger entree to accommodate the coupon.

Shortly after, our friends arrived and me and the other husband got in line to order for our families. I then told the employees that my wife was currently working on the survey from our previous transaction, and asked if I could receive the chips and salsa early and submit the receipt retroactively. The manager (whose name I can't remember) declined, citing her need to input the code my wife would receive upon completing the survey, which was fine. I said that I would just come by in a bit once she had finished and retrieve the salsa then. They said that was fine, so we went back to our table after receiving our food.

Once the survey was complete, I went back and waited in line to redeem my code from the survey. Once I got to the counter, the manager refused to honor the completed survey coupon, insisting that 1) The system would not allow her to input the code without purchasing yet another entree, and 2) That she wasn't going to "just give out free food," claiming we needed to "read the directions, gentlemen."

I tried to be courteous throughout the exchange despite the increasingly rude speech/tone of the manager. That said, I have worked for almost 10 years in the food/fast food industry and know for a fact that there was no system requirement keeping a manager from fulfilling a legitimate coupon request. Every manager can override any promotional content for a customer. I stood there for a moment at a loss for words, not fully understanding why I (and my friend who was standing with me) was receiving such rude treatment in a situation where (from my perspective anyway) all the rules have been followed - a previous purchase made to receive a receipt, with a second purchase made with an order of an entree.

I want to be clear about one thing: I am not upset about not receiving free chips and salsa. But in this experience I was lied to and spoken to in a rude and condescending manner in front of the employees and other customers. It is extremely unlikely that either myself, my family, or my friends will be back to this location after this treatment.

Thank you for reading, hopefully this review will lead to improved treatment of customers from management positions.

Edit: The manager's name was Kelly. My...

I went to this location with my husband. While looking at the menu, which is divided by type of item, and in another list by main food category (type of meat or veggies, etc). By the second list, it listed “regular” or “mini” with prices next to them. New to me, but my husband and I asked for mini burritos, figuring they would fill it less or something. We do this, get down the line, and the manager, Kelly, was there to ask if we want drinks, ring up our order, etc. We ask (very respectfully..) about the price, explaining that we asked for the “mini” size. She gave us a rude look and insisted, with a demeaning tone that there was “no such thing.” My husband was (about) to ask about how it was displayed on the menu, and how it worked since it appeared that it applied to all items and that was the only reason we had gotten too. However, he didn’t get the chance to, because Kelly cut him off, saying that there’s no such thing and that we should read the menu; she’s not sure how we possibly could have thought that there was such thing as a mini burrito, all with an extremely berating and demeaning tone and dirty looks. We didn’t get a chance to say otherwise. Not a big deal that we didn’t get the mini price, just wish she had talked to us like human beings. Later on, my husband and our friend that had previously bought an entree for his son went up and spoke with the first person in the line about redeeming a free chips and salsa coupon. After coming down the line with the chips right in front of them, Kelly accused them, loudly, of asked for handouts, along with some other words. After they gave up on their coupon and talking with her altogether, she huffed, sighed, and loudly proclaimed to another employee, “I need to go outside.” I hope she got the break she needed, because I’ve worked in retail for years and it is hard. But I also don’t appreciate being treated badly while being completely respectful. A restaurant could have mediocre food but excellent staff that treat you with respect and we’d come back weekly. But with excellent food and staff that talk to you like second class citizens? We...

I was ordering food from here and the woman behind the counter kept making passive aggressive comments throughout (in that she sounded “bubbly” but what she said was clearly being aggressive). She kept accusing me of being mean to her “every time I come in” which confused me because I never eat out with exception of the week prior when I popped in for lunch. Point being, she thought I was being “mean” because I was clarifying what I ordered. The week prior a kid put tortillas on my meal when I said cotija and she asked if I wanted the whole order remade to which I said no. I didn’t think anything of it but apparently she took the interaction PERSONAL and decided to let me have it while I was trying to pick up dinner for my family. I ordered a veggie burrito bowl and she kept asking what my protein was but I thought she was asking which beans I wanted. Not a problem, but it resorted in her tirade on “why am I so mean to her?”. This kepted on until she was halfway through my order at which point I decided it was not worth following through because I didn’t want her to f*ck with my food (this is not an outrageous thought judging by the way she was interacting with me). I have never been more confused my entire life. As I left she said, “I guess you don’t like being pointed out that you are mean.” Again, this was bizarre and I have no idea why she behaved the way she did. I asked another employee who the manager was that night and lo and behold it was the woman who flipped out on me 😑

I like qdoba, but I’m not going to eat there if I am getting berated because an employee can’t handle a small communication problem.

The manager’s name was Kelly and judging by the reviews below mine it’s a reoccurring problem at...