Gadzooks Enchiladas and Soup — Restaurant in Phoenix

With the reviews and the premise, I thought this would be a surefire place to get some takeout dinner on a Sunday. Maybe it was a bad day or the perfect storm, but I had one of the worst experiences a person can have ordering takeout here. Let me tell you (and the manager) about it.

We place an order at 6:40 or so using the website and some kind of "chownow" application there. That was actually an impressive interface. The order tells us the food will be ready at 7:06—on the longer side of waits, but not terrible. When I arrive at 7:06, I head to the "To Go" pickup area. I state the name on the order and the woman says "oh, we haven't made that one yet." I was a little baffled as there was nearly 30 minutes in which to get that done and, having observed the ordering format of the restaurant, it looked very feasible. Upon hearing I placed the order a while ago, she responded "I am the only one making food. I have a guy in the back and a guy on the register" and then walked away. If that wasn't strange enough, she went on to take and make three or four more orders of people in the line before I realized she would likely never make my order at all unless I stand in line too, so I go stand in line.

Standing in the restaurant and in line for nearly 30 minutes allowed me watch the poor food handling standards, which I would have completely missed if I had left with my order when I was supposed to. I got to see the person making the food and the person handling money at the register interact with the same food prep objects even though register guy had been touching his body, money/cards, and the register. Sure, they both had plastic gloves on, but they were the same plastic gloves they'd been wearing from the time I got there to the time I left (why even wear them at that point?). I watched register guy bury his hand in some kind of shredded cheese to sprinkle on an order then return to taking money. It's a thing of food horror and is an indication of other poor food handling practices we can't see.

By the time I had left with my order, I had waited longer AT the restaurant than I had between placing the order and arriving. And the slow-moving "whatever" attitude mixed with blatant OSHA violations has me questioning the management of the place. I've already recommended several friends to just avoid the place in spite of the higher score in Google Maps.

The flavors and concept are actually impressive, but those are so quickly overwritten by how the employees treat customers and how unconscious the food handling was. I just can't recommend Gadzooks at any time of day with...

What happened to this place!? When did they stop caring? I just had one of the worst service experiences that I can remember and I would have marked it down as a “one off” but this is the second and worst experience I have had at Gadzooks. It started with a bigger girl with long hair and glasses who was clearly uninterested in being there and chewed on gum the whole time (gross). I had to repeat my order twice though I was intentionally loud enough because you have to be in that place. She looked away and apparently couldn’t retain the information for more than a second. It looked and felt like no one was in charge of their service line at all (or quality). It took entirely too long to get to the end, and the poor woman ahead of me ordered an egg as did the friend dining with me. She had to ask 3 times about the egg (girl with the glasses again) and finally one of the guys responded to make it. I asked him to make one for my friend as well since the girl with the glasses failed to communicate this to him. It was a total snafu! The guy making the eggs wandered away while the lady ahead of us looked at me exasperated wondering what the heck was happening! Meanwhile, the girl with the glasses spent a few minutes shifting plates around lazily, not making eye contact and chewing her gum, while our food just sat there waiting for the rest of the toppings. Eventually a different guy took the eggs off and tried to put them on the wrong dishes, which I corrected as girl with the glasses either couldn’t remember or couldn’t be bothered. The lady that was ahead just said to put it on the enchilada and left, as she had already paid and was just painfully waiting for an egg. As it turned out, the egg was overcooked on the bottom and not set on top (pictured). The best compliment I can give about my visit at Gadzooks was that the food was adequate, not great, and the service was terrible. 6/4/19 Addendum: I am pleased to have heard from owner Aaron Pool regarding my experience at Gadzooks. He thanked me for my feedback and indicated staffing adjustments have been made to improve quality of service. As a long-time Gadzooks customer, I appreciate Aaron for reaching out to me, and will be happy to give them...

Saw this place featured on "Check Please! Arizona" and heard great stuff about the flavors, spices, service, etc. Went the same day I saw the show and was disappointed unfortunately. Upsetting because I'm a huge foodie who cooks great myself and visits a myriad of restaurants all over town and in different states - was hoping for a new enchilada place. To start, the staff wasn't helpful with explaining the options. Plus, the way the menu was set up made it unable to read the ingredients as you were looking down at what you wanted to choose in the food line. There were menus at the end of the line but they clearly should have been placed at the front so you could look at it while ordering. As mentioned, the staff didn't help much and they weren't friendly either. I don't need overly friendly but being friendly, helpful, a smile, etc is necessary at any restaurant. The food didn't look as good as displayed on the show either, but it makes sense that restaurants step up their game if they know something like that is going to happen - even though they should always have the same quality regardless of their food being shown on tv or just eaten by a random customer. Flavors were okay but not great. I love Mexican food but this was bland. Toppings, sauces and salsas were not amazing either, just decent. Also got chips and salsa but the bag wasn't even filled 1/5th of the way up (and for $2.35 I think you should get more than about 10 chips). For the quality and experience, it's also way too expensive. You can easily go elsewhere and get two, 2 enchilada plates that come WITH rice and beans, as well as FREE chips and salsa as an appetizer. Overall, just ok but won't be...