Taco Bell — Restaurant in Redmond

I want to give credit where credit is due: Cameron did a fantastic job taking care of me and representing the brand. He didn’t know it at the time, but the way he responded was the deciding factor as to whether I would continue eating at this location and how my review would look. He did great. I hope they are successful here.

Some quick notes before I write a novel: • NEVER go through the drive through. There is no way to escape. • Treat the employees well. This is common sense, but doing anything different benefits no one.

The backstory for my review for those that like read a lot: Almost exactly a month ago there was a night I went through the drive through where they happened to be short staffed. It took an astounding 45 minutes just to get from ordering to the window. (This is why I will never go through the drive through again.) As an apology for the wait, they were handing out a ticket for a free taco; yay for $1.29 value or whatever. I was frustrated, but contained that to myself. Had a great interaction with the young man at the window, and went on my way.

Tonight, I finally took that ticket and my receipt to Taco Bell to see if they would be willing to work with me on it. The last month, I’d been pissed off that my return for being held hostage was less than two dollars. Even discounting the cost of the meal I’d ordered, it’d take at least 5 of those tickets to meet an hourly wage. So, I went into the store, and presented my ticket, receipt, and situation to Cameron. He was under no obligation to do more than give me a free taco for the ticket. But he did what I like to call DOING THE RIGHT THING. He offered some more to make it right, and in the process earned a good review and gained a repeat customer.

I know this location has issues. There CAN be issues with quality, consistency, service, etc. Such is the way with fast food and low paying, entry level jobs with high turnover. I feel for the staff that stay consistent. That struggle to train up the new employees. That strive to provide that quality, consistency, and service to the rest of us.

But interactions like the one I had with Cameron earlier this evening are the kind that will keep me coming back regardless, and stick it through until they can find the right staff and process to attain their goals and give us what we’re expecting, too.

Good luck, buddy. I’ll be back in soon for some of...

Avoid this place!

Update: still the same unreliable hours and painfully slow. One time we were going to try Redmond again, and they were closed… so we had to drive to Bend… which was probably faster driving all the way there and back than just staying in Redmond. Tonight I place my order myself (since they don’t take you order any more) and paid for my food… then waited, and WAITED. Many people just left without ordering when they saw the misery on everyone’s faces as they waited, cars drove over the curb to get out of the drive-thru line. I saw 14 cars go through the drive through and maybe 4 orders in the dining room (which seems to only be GrubHub). After waiting 45 minutes for the food I already paid for… I LEFT without my food. No one was on the line even making food. There were half-made orders just laying on the counter for several minutes.

I left and went to a locally owned restaurant in town and got my food in 7 minutes there.

Redmond Taco Bell… NOT a “fast food restaurant” but a “SLOW food waiting room”… just close your doors!

What a waste of my evening.

Update: When will I learn! We should just give up on this place. ALWAYS so inconsistent about the dining room and hours and the drive-thru is SO slow…

This time we spent a lot of time using their app (which takes a while), but in the end we could only pick-up at the drive-thru, not in-store which was locked when we got there! What is the point of ordering ahead of time on the app if I still have to park and what in their drive-thru for 30 minutes to just pick up food I ordered 15 minutes ago. I am so peeved at all the time wasted in their SLOW drive-thru line… but, I still attest that the staff are super nice… (we were laughing over the drive-thru intercom.) makes it hard to be mad at them..

Original post: Staff are so nice and food is consistent… but we just hate the slow, SLOW drive through line. It took over 50 minutes to get through the drive though line last time. I have waited up to 57...

I pulled up and was the only car in the drive-thru. I was told several times to order whenever I’m ready, I let them know I’m gonna take my time. I was then told it might be easier for me if I went inside and ordered, I felt very rushed. In my order I got one of the new cravings box and a chalupa cravings box and was informed that they are out of cinnamon twists and would be sub’ed with a Cinnabon. After completing my order of $18.49 I pulled up to the window and received a very nasty glare followed by a scowling head shake that felt insulting from who I’d assume was the manager on shift. Moving forward I paid with $20.50 to compensate change so I would get a whole 2 dollars, I was given $1.76. I was informed that the food is gonna take a second and had me pull into the handicap. As my food was brought out to me I receive a very rude attitude during this whole encounter, I let the gal know that I had received the incorrect change and she went in and got me a quarter. I looked the food over and infact actually got the cinnamon twists and was missing the nacho cheese for the chips. At this point in time they have closed the lobby and drive thru down so I had to knock on the door and inform them of their mistakes. A crew worker came and assisted me and as he went to go grab the missing contents a mixture of words where exchanged between who I would assume the manager and the crew to be a very aggressive in manner. I received the stuff missing from my order and proceeded with everything. Well as you all know in the cravings box you get a 5-layer burrito to which I ordered with no sour cream. I opened up this “5” layer burrito and it had I’d say 6 pieces of ground beef no and no shredded cheese. I was very disappointed with how my 5-layer tuned out. I rated my experience so low because I felt a range of discrimination towards me during my visit, the mistakes made, the very obvious toxic work environment, and the way my food...