Habit Burger & Grill — Restaurant in Phoenix

I haven't been to Habit in quite some time, so I was expecting a better experience than what I received yesterday.

Arrived to the restaurant, first thing I noticed was dirty windows and dirty tables. Then, I stood their waiting for someone to greet me, a male employee, possible manager, black shirt, was taking inventory, he saw me but continued his inventory task. I actually had to raise my voice and greet the manager, then he acknowledged me and said, 'Sorry, I didn't see you' - Yeah Right - You made the decision prioritize your inventory over helpings guests to your restaurant.

Ordered a #2 Double Meal with No Tomato, add Cheese, manager offered other sides other than fries, so of course I chose onion rings and a drink. Manager couldn't explain to me why when the menu says $12.99 for a #2, why my total was $16.92. He couldn't explain to me why such a significant amount more - making note that I ordered cheese. He struggled to resolve the issue, then I said to just give me fries, the total was still incorrect. My final total was $15.63.

Manager wasn't very engaging, seemed preoccupied with inventory. Female employee - dirty blonde hair, calls the order #68, and tosses the bag on the counter. I informed her that it was for here and she asked me - so you want a tray? Well yes, if it's for the dinning room, I expect a tray, not a paper bag. She pulls the burger and fries out, just places the tray on the counter in front of me - No Thank You, Have a Nice Day, Enjoy your meal - Nothing but Silence as she walks away. I said excuse me, do you have fresh lemon for the tea - she point to the condiment stand. I was thinking, what horrible guest service she provides to guests. It took an excessive amount of time to receive my meal and their was absolutely nobody else in the restaurant and three cars in the drive thru when I arrived.

Get to the table, open my burger and it looks like no effort was made in assembling this burger - More cheese was on the wrapper than on the sandwich. The burger was OK, reminded me of In-N-Out burger - nothing special, nothing that would make me say - I'm coming back for another burger. I know what fresh fries are and the fries I received were warm but definitely not fresh.

As I was finishing my meal, finally someone came out into the dinning room to clean - why not keep the dinning room clean so guests have a positive impression of cleanliness? Of the two employees, nobody came over to ask how my meal was, no interaction at all and one of them even made eye contact with me when I was disposing of my trash.

If you wanna know why nobody was inside the restaurant, you don't have to look far - Guest Service is totally non-existent at this location, the restaurant entry windows are dirty and dirty tables too. I don't mind paying my hard earned $$$ for a good lunch, but almost $16 for a horrible experience and the manager was partly the cause.

Definitely not gonna rush back to Habit Burger anytime soon. I can pay the same $$$ and go to Burger King or Jack in the Box. Poor Experience and I was expecting so...

We can't seem to figure this place out and find it hard to give the place a decent rating? It's near our home and for every good meal & service that we get it seems we get a bad one right afterwards making us leery of the place with it's inconsistency's. Today after they opened one table was dirty with the dining room ice cold and no thermostat on the wall to be found so I'm going to say it was set in the high 60's on a 75 degree morning? With a floor mat thrown in a booth and not too big a deal when looking for clean table to eat at. After ordering with the manager though I received a rock hard black/burned bun on the burger and the 50/50 fry/onion ring that had needed the oil changed yesterday or the day before with the same problem as my bun, dark with charcoal taste. I also never had onion rings shatter in my mouth like broken glass from being over cooked. A good onion ring is steamy like a good fry with the ring pulling through the breading. Worth knowing we primarily eat at the Arrowhead location who does not extend their cooking times or avoid the fryer oil changes, almost like there's a real cook or immediate management/owner involved and tending to everything of concern. What I did find sad though and with absolutely no hostility towards them that when trying to bring these simple issues to their attention (since I am a frequent Habit consumer) is that the two employees that I spoke with (which did include the manager) at two different times found it beneath them to get on my level of conversation even when it benefited them. I too am a business owner and actually do care about what peoples opinions are of me, what I'm broadcasting and what goes out my door not to mention what I spend my money on, Shouldn't they too?

To help save the deal and avoid throwing the rest of their product in the trash, I simply asked for a new bun to do a burger rebuild at the table but after the 2 different attempts though to get the 50/50 fry & onion ring right with and their lack of concern, I found it beyond their comprehension so I just had to just asked for my money back on those two particular items.

My advice to them...... If retail is your chosen business, then hire a good team, pay them well and pay close attention to the details including listening to the consumer or end user of what your putting out the door with the utmost concern and involvement to act on or rectify issues as they arise daily. Also, if there are ANY bonus's to managers who think that they can extend frier oil change intervals or any other money saving area's that reduce food quality, then they need to be rolled out to the launch pad...

Building was freezing cold, food was made wrong but could not be remade to match what I ordered because they ran out of a main ingredient. They offered to refund my money instead. I agreed but then no refund ever happened! They stole $36 from me. I tried to contact the company HQ and the local franchise owner about this issue. The local franchise owner told me to take it up with HQ and HQ just offered me some coupons for future visits! Did I just get literally scammed? These aren't gift cards!

I called the bank about the charge and they told me I would have to file a police report otherwise there was nothing they could do.

So, I file a police report, send it to the bank and finally, 3 weeks after all this, I got my money back. Like I have nothing better to do than fight for what was taken from me to be rightfully returned and spend hours for days after this incident because I was hungry and made a bad decision who to give my business to. And still, after all this time, the HQ and local franchise owner remain silent as though I did something to deserve this silent treatment.

Just look at the boiler-plate, cut-and-paste response you get when you post a critical review here. Its always the same, automated 'We are so sorry to hear about your recent experience. Could you please reach out to us..."

If you see that cut-and-paste response, its a way to infer any further discussion will happen privately so no one reading these reviews can see what happens next. Keep this in mind how the issue is never resolved in the companies public responses and there is no reassurance that issue won't happen again.

Would you eat here if this...