Farmer Boys — Restaurant in Riverside

This review is primarily regarding my experience with "Guest Relations" at Farmer Boys Franchising Co., which is next door to this location. "Guest Relations'" communication is abysmal, as they do not bother to acknowledge their guests by giving them the courtesy of providing a response, especially when it pertains to a negative experience at a Farmer Boys location (if they do respond, they make the resolution process difficult and convoluted by asking questions they already have the answers to). Given that "Guest Relations" did not deny Farmer Boys locations close early on Halloween night, it appears that Farmer Boys locations do in fact close early on Halloween night, which means Farmer Boys cares more about allowing employees to party than they care about serving hungry paying customers. Given my experience with Farmer Boys' "Guest Relations", I would highly not recommend Farmer Boys, especially this location, as it is most likely a model of Farmer Boys Franchising Co., since it is located next door. [The following is regarding an experience at the restaurant location itself on June 6, 2024.] I visited this location this afternoon. I could not locate a speaker for the drive-through, and, therefore, decided I need to go inside. I asked the person taking my order if they could dispense the drinks from behind the counter, as I have had an aversion to filling drinks from a soda fountain machine used by the public since the onset of the pandemic. I thought they were going to honor my request, however when I specified one of the drinks I wanted to order, they seemingly declined my request, as they said they would give me cups to fill the drinks myself. When I inquired with the person taking my order as to where the drive-through speaker is located, they indicated there is not one, and that anyone wanting to order would need to "roll up to the window". (A drive-through without a speaker is unheard of.) There is every appearance this location is low rent, which is ironic, given that it is located next door to Farmer Boys' corporate headquarters. I would strongly not recommend this this location, as it lacks proper convenience and...

The restaurant was about 1/3 full and we waited 2-3 minutes in line to place our order. Nothing seemed a miss overall. My order was taken and I received the receipt at 9:46am. My wife and I ordered a hamburger, a BLT & single piece of fish (this was my first time to Farmer Boys so I wanted to have a taste, which was included in the bill). We waited in the lobby with the flag number (40) in plain view. And we continued to wait, and wait. Other customers stood in line, ordered their food and left with their order, while we waited some more. At 10:26 (40 minutes after placing the order) I approached the service counter and requested a refund. The manager promptly refunded my money while never offering an apology or expressing any kind of remorse for having taken more than 40 minutes to complete a 10 minute order. What did they do for 30 minutes with my ticket?! The Management's inability to control and supervise the employees and the product was a textbook demonstration of buffoonery in action. Incompetence is the only descriptor that applies to this situation. This experience reflects poorly on the Farmer Boys name as well as on the community in which the operate. So I wasted an hour of my time with the Riverside Farmer Boys on this day. I will try Farmer Boys again, but likely at another location. There are good restaurants in Riverside. This Farmer Boys is not one of them.

The lobby and exterior of the building was clean...

Went here for breakfast and as we were walking in to the restaurant we greeted an employee that was cleaning tables outside the patio area and she didn't reply to us at all. It looked like she was having a bad day already. After we ordered our food we looked for a table and when we sat down the table was really sticky and dirty. We asked if someone could clean the table so we can sit down and the employee that was there came out and wiped the table but she left it wet and made a comment to another employee that she didn't want to be there. I'm not sure what was going on that day but I can tell you that there was only 1 employee there that was paying more attention to us and taking orders almost at the same time. I couldn't see his name tag so I can't tell you exactly what his name is but I can tell you that he was the only one that was friendly and making sure that we had everything we needed to enjoy our breakfast. We wanted to say thank you for your friendly service and hopefully you can give some advice to your fellow employees on how to make a customer feel welcomed and not wanting to...