Wendy's — Restaurant in Rainbow City

Anyone who reads my reviews knows that it is not my nature to complain, but yesterday, July 27 at around 5:00 p.m I went through the drive-through and ordered a “chicken pecan salad.” The quote marks are there because I was reading a text from my wife to be sure that I ordered her food properly. I also asked for “two packs of dressing.” My wife had asked to be sure “they put in the pack of pecans.” I asked for the extra pack of dressing, but didn’t specify to be sure to put in the pecans. I’m my mind, that would be an insult to the person working based on previous experience with someone else. I could check the bag before leaving. The total was $8.93 and I paid with a ten dollar bill and three pennies and received a dollar bill and a dime back in change. Why do I mention this? To show that I was paying attention.

The young lady who handed me the food was blonde and was wearing a blouse with horizontal stripes, apparently a manager or crew leader. This also will become important to the story. I looked in the bag to see two packs of dressing and a pack of what, at a glance, I thought were pecans.

I arrived home and as soon as my wife took out the food, she told me it was not the right food. It had chicken on it, but the bag of what I had thought were pecans were what I would describe as fried onion pieces. She asked, “Do you have the receipt?” It turns out that there is not a receipt in the bag. No problem I’m thinking, it’s obviously freshly prepared food from Wendy’s. They’ll probably recognize me when I return.

You might think that at this point I am upset. Not at all. After having managed over 10,000 people in my life, I developed a saying; the only people who don’t make mistakes are the people who do nothing. Everyone makes mistakes.

I drove back to Wendy’s (approximately 25 minute round trip), went inside and when a young man saw that I was returning food got the attention of manager who had handed me the food. I told her that I had ordered a chicken pecan salad, but had gotten this. She asked, “Do you have your receipt?” I answered no without pointing out that she had not put it in the bag. (I’m leaving out quote marks when I don’t remember the exact words.) I told her I was here about fifteen minutes ago and if you’ll back up in the register you will see the order. She goes to the register then turns around and says with an attitude that had shown itself the moment she saw that I was returning food. “You ordered the Cobb Salad.” I responded, “I ordered chicken pecan salad.” From there it went into a debate in which it never occurred to her that it was possible that the headphone on her head combined with the outside microphone do not form the best communication device known to man. How many times have we all gone back and forth trying to place an order at a drive-through? Comedians write skits about it, but this young lady was insistent that I had ordered the wrong food.

Eventually, making it clear that I would have to leave the food I had brought in in order to get the other food, she turned to the young man and told him to fix an Apple Pecan Salad. I didn’t expect to keep the food that I brought in.

In a bit, the young man brought the salad to me and was very cordial. I checked the bag and mentioned that there was supposed to be two bags of dressing. He got the other bag and the manager came back to the counter huffing with anger putting more dressing (and pecans) I would discover when I got home.

I told her, maybe not exact these words, but pretty close: Young lady, if my life, the life of my children and grandchildren counted in my ability to name ANY Wendy’s salad, we’d all be dead. Yet, you wanted to insist that I ordered the wrong salad without considering that you misunderstood. She kept interrupting me and saying “You have a blessed day” over and over. She was condescending to a high level and hypocritical when you consider the intent of “You have a blessed day.”

There was also a young dark-haired lady with braces who just last week I had complimented on her exceptional...

The restaurant kinda appeared to be closed. Parking lot was completely empty. Drive-thru including the menu was super dark. The lights inside the building were the only indication that it was open.

So i wanted ghost pepper fries, but they were out of the sauce. So i decided on queso fries which i must say were DELICIOUS. (I ate them all before i remembered to take a photo. Luckily there were 2 little ones in the corner lol). Thats where the good ended, though. The sweet tea tasted like fabuloso floor cleaner. dont ask me how I know that flavor*.. I also ordered a daves single deluxe. The lettuce was wilted and tomato was mushy, so i took them off. No big deal. But then i tasted the burgee. It was awful. Threw the entire thing into the garbage. Im not mad. I should have trusted the reviews. But i do have one question.....

How in the world can a hamburger taste so bland when there is enough ketchup and mayo on it to dip 958 french fries with some left over. In reality it was close to a 1/8 of a cup. But whatever, even with all the sauce to cover it, the burgers distinct "cardboardy" flavor seeped through. Not good.

On a side note, service was quick, maybe a little bit more unprofessional than it should have been. But it was 8pm, the drive thru worker was definitely still a teenager, and i understand lol. They were friendly enough and...

It's a Wendy's. It was much better back in the late 90s and thousands but it is largely just greasy now. The fries taste like cardboard half the time too. I used to be a big fan but since Dave died the company is no longer focused on quality and is much more focused on quantity and deals. There's better options on both ends of the quality vs quantity spectrum. I still go back hoping it has turned a corner and back to its old ways but I am usually left disappointed.

Update 09/16/2024: I waited a few months to a year before I've gone back. Maybe the restaurant has turned itself around, but no it has gotten worse. I've even had to downgrade my initial review by a star. "Quality is our recipe." is on the side of the building but is not at all followed. Poor Dave must be rolling in his grave. Drive through menu was beat up and sunbleached. My fries were only passable but the burger despite the generous condiments tasted like it'd been under a heat lamp for 2 days. Dry and pathetic it wasn't worth the $12 dollars for the combo. Save your money and go anywhere else with it. I gave Wendy's on rainbow drive another shot and frankly now my stomach literally aches from the decision. I feel...