Penn Station East Coast Subs — Restaurant in Pierce Township

I seldom review any restaurant in a formal capacity, unless the experience was either breathtakingly incredible, or absolutely horrendous.

This was the latter.

Setting: Sunday evening, around 4:30pm. 3 other people inside, so a slow day by normal standards. 5 employees working.

Customer Service: I walked in and stood by the front register for several minutes, without being acknowledged by employees on the grill who seemed more interested in joking around than working.

I went down to the second register where you normally pay, and waited there for several minutes as well, until the employee on the wrap station noticed me. She directed me back to the first register to place my order.

After placing the order and paying, i was not given my receipt until several minutes later, when the shift leader who rung me up (skinny, brown hair, sleeve tattoos) walked back past and saw my receipt still on the machine. He then proceeded to casually toss it down on the counter, and said "Here dude."

When I was literally in the act of filling up my drink afterward, another employee who was running curb service pushed their way in front of me, forcing me to stop filling my own drink, so that they could fill one for a curb order. They also spilled soda on my 4 year old son, who was standing next to me.

Even with so few people in the restaurant, it was still 22 minutes from the time I placed my order, to when I received it. Given the goal is less than 7 minutes, this is unacceptable.

Quality:

The fries were room temperature at best, likely from sitting for the additional 20 minutes between having them called when placing my order, and the order being ready.

The sandwich I ordered was supposed to have extra onions and extra mushrooms, but had very little of either, with an amount somewhere between lite and non-existent (pic attached). It was also wildly underseasoned, bordering on bland.

Value:

Even on their best day, Penn Station isnt really worth the absurdly inflated prices they charge these days. But this was Subway quality at stadium pricing, which makes it even more jarring.

Overall:

I worked at this location for several years while in college, and have been a patron for 20 years, and it is a disappointment to see its current state. It has lost the personality and atmosphere that it once had, and has taken on a very cold, unwelcoming feel. The employees very openly do not want to be there, and even the shift managers are unprofessional. The food was poorly made and overpriced, and even the furniture itself seemed to be in disrepair.

Unfortunately, this will be our last visit. For the price, there are far better options available...

Called in an order. Snotty tenager on the phone Told me to "Wait". I then read my order off. Told me 20 minutes to pick up. Arrived at 25 minutes. Waited another ten till the line died down (what's the point of ordering in in this situation?) (in the mean time the manager walked by us without acknowledgement 5 times) When I finally got to the counter I Asked them where my order was. It had been ready since we arrived. (super cold) They also got the order wrong due to sound volume in the kitchen. Supposed to be a 12 inch, gave me a six. So I said... Don't remake the sandwich, just give me another 6 inch. Had to get a new sub. They then charged me for the 6 inch sub. Will not come back to this location again.

I put in a complaint to the local headquarters. I got a call back from this locale's manager very promptly. He started by letting me know who he was and that he was the one who walked by me multiple times. He then said that he "assumed we had already put in an order at the register and we were waiting on our food" in his mind we were supposed to stop their production to cut in line and get our order. I told him that I expected at least one person at this store to a knowledge our presence ask if they could help us with anything. He repeated over and over again that we should have butted into the line. Never once did he ask if he could make the situation better. His apologies sounded very half hearted and fake. I do not reccomend anyone to go to this location. There is a Jimmy John's right up the road that would love to have...

I waited an hour and never even received my food. I had to cancel it and be refunded. I only ordered 2 ordinary cheesesteak sandwiches and a large fry.

I understand that places get busy on a Friday night so I waited. I thought maybe they didn’t have enough steak ready or maybe it was the fries, I don’t know. So around 40 minutes into waiting I asked “if there was an ETA on my order.” To which the girl whose name I didn’t get rudely replied “I don’t know” and then walked away like I was the biggest inconvenience to ever have happened to her.

So then I sat for another 20 minutes, meanwhile other customers again are ordering and receiving their orders before me. So after I hit the 1 hour mark I politely asked “If I’m not able to get an ETA or let alone receive my $31 order, can I please cancel it and be refunded.” Which they were able to do.

If I would have known that it would take that long. I could have went to Kroger down the street buy skirt steak, banana peppers, mushrooms, provolone cheese, sub sandwich bread and potatoes. Literally prep and cook it all faster in the amount of time I waited. Quicker than a restaurant that specializes in sub sandwiches.

All and all that’s probably what I’ll do from now on. I had to go home and cook anyways. I don’t want to blame the staff, it could have been them or they are just severely understaffed/undertrained.

So finally to the owner of that store if you see this maybe help your restaurant, they obviously can’t handle the customer traffic that the store gets on a...