Wendy's — Restaurant in Renton

Some of the worst service I've ever received at a Wendy's. First time I came there was somewhat of a crowd of high school students so I wasn't too put out when my food took a long time. The fact that I asked for my food to dine in and it came in bags was annoying, but again, they were busy and I didn't think it was a huge deal. My daughter also asked for no pickles on her sandwich and she got pickles, but I just told her to pick them off. Even the rest rooms were gross. All the signs of incompetence were there, if only I'd paid more attention to them.

My most recent experience, I was already a little frustrated and in a hurry because of other circumstances. I realized too late that going through the drive thru was a bad idea because the line was long. Mind you, it was Friday afternoon around 1:30-2:00 so it was not a peak meal time by any stretch. The high school kids were all tucked snugly behind desks up at Lindbergh at that point. So I sat in line and realized mobile ordering and marking myself as a drive thru pick up order might save all of us some time. I've picked up mobile orders at other Wendy's locations before and it's pretty slick, really.

So I put in my order and check myself in. I'm all ready to pull up to the speaker and pronounce that I have a mobile order, but I still have to wait several minutes because they're taking at least 2-3 minutes per car. By the time I finally did pull up to the speaker, at least 10 minutes, if not 15, have elapsed. When I get there my proud proclamation of mobile order and the genius of saving all of us time was met with, "We can only do that in the lobby." Um, what? What did they mean they could only do that in the lobby? Why can they put mobile order food on a tray and hand it across the counter but they can't put it in a bag and hand it out the window? He tried to explain that they didn't have my order or didn't know how to access it, or . . . ? Who even knows. "I can't do it in drive thru, that's not my fault," the manager tells me. I'm pretty sure that if every other Wendy's on the planet has figured it out, it is most definitely your fault.

At this point the cars ahead have cleared so I pull up to the window, at which point they start bumblingly offering to make my food. Wuuut? When you check in on the app, your order appears in their electronic order queue inside. Then at the speaker I told them the name on my electronic order. There are zero reasons my food shouldn't have been made already. Usually (at other stores) I pull up to the window, say "I have a mobile order," they say, "for Abby?" I say, "that's me" and I grab my food at the window and go on my merry way. At this point they've spent a good 2-5 minutes arguing with me about whether or not mobile orders can be given out in drive thru, and I find out THEY HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED MAKING MY FOOD. I told them never mind and drove off. I won't be back unless there is a change...

I believe this wendys location needs a bit more mobile order training. First off this isn't anyones failt and im not upset about it since its common and not everyone mobile orders so i don't blame any of the workers encountering issues with mobile order(s).

It started off by placing my mobile order around 9:12pm today [7/7/19] for drive thru pick up. As i arrived, i usually tell them i have a mobile order and let them know my name (so they can start making the food before i get to the window) but the guy taking my order seemed like hes never taken a mobile order and instructed me to go to the window without asking for my mobile order name after i told him i had one (1st problem).

Of course I expected there was gonna be a problem so when i got there the girl at the window kinda just looked at me not knowing what to do so i told her i had a mobile order, which she went to the manager since she didnt know what to do as i expected she would do and the manager came over and i told again i have a mobile order which she told me i should have told them at the order speaker so they can process and start making it (something i already know), in which she assumed i skipped it and drove straight to the window (2nd problem) when i did tell her i did tell them i had a mobile order but was instructed to go to the window without taking my mobile name anyway, she then realized it wasn't my fault and was polite about it. i didn't get an apology but i didn't really need one and understand it was just a miscommunication.

After I had to politely refuse the girl at the window handing me a different order of drinks and let her let her know my mobile order drink was a lemonade. she was prompt about it and handed me my drink along with my food right after since they had to prioritized my order (4 cars behind me) since it was not being made beforehand.

This is why i believe this Wendy's needs a bit more mobile order training since all of this could have been avoided. The purpose of this review is to acknowledge the issue and address the problem so future mobile orders won't...

Good things: The freshness of the vegetables on the burger has been improved lately at this location. But that is not saying much!

Not so good things: The french fries here are bad -- limp, oily, and have black spots on the potatoes.

And now for the terrible things. Only once in my last 4 visits has my order been somewhat correct (and that time I was informed that they could not deliver what I really wanted). Tonight I was given Diet-Coke instead of regular Coke (without informing me) and I didn't notice until I had left the facility. Two weeks ago I was informed that they were unable to deliver Coca-Cola so I ordered an Iced Tea instead. I was delivered Raspberry Iced-Tea (It was terrible and undrinkable in my opinion). Last time I was here, I ordered my meal with Coca-Cola and again was informed that they could not deliver it, so I ordered Iced-Tea again. The person taking my order asked me if I wanted brewed Iced Tea and when I said yes, they asked me if I wanted sweetened or un-sweetened tea. I at least received what I was expecting this time even if it wasn't what I wanted.

Is the problem the apathy of management? Lack of training for employees? Apathy of employees to provide a positive customer experience? Or some combination of all of them?

I will not ever be returning to this location again. And I recommend others to not visit this location.

And to top it all off, I tried to place a review on the Wendy's web site. They asked me to "BE SPECIFIC" in describing my experience, and then when I tried to submit it, they said that my review was "over 1200" characters. The site doesn't say how many characters you have typed and once I got it to meet their limits, the site informed me that my session had...