WaBa Grill — Restaurant in Riverside

I have been to a few Waba Grill locations and always had good experiences. The visit to this location on La Sierra Ave in Riverside was not a good experience at all! The food was good, which is why I’m giving the 2 stars. However, the way this location operates leads me to question what is going on in the kitchen area! The first interaction we had was with the staff member pictured. We were looking at the menu trying to decide what to order, he was trying to rush me to make a decision for the 3 of us. One of the people in our party had never been, he was a senior so we were going over the options with him. It took about 5 mins, the restaurant was not busy, yet we were being pushed to hurry. When I did order, the employee would not let me order additional sauces! Yes, I knew there was a charge for additional sauce (been to Waba before!) yet the employee told me no, that the dish came with a sauce. Then I asked for brown rice and was again told no, the dish came with white rice. Ok?? We got our order and noticed there was only two sauces with our 3 dishes so I went back up and asked for a small cup so we could split our two sauces, the female employee who was working (not pictured) was about to hand me a cup when the guy who had served us interjected and said no, that we should just pour the sauce straight into our bowl! However, I think the worse thing that I saw was when this guy came out of the kitchen to clear a table after other guests left. He threw the remains of their food away in a trash can and then took their condiment cups back into the kitchen and placed them back in with the condiments they give out to customers!! Literally turned my stomach to think this guy was taking .50 cent condiment cups back into the kitchen to be reused…what else are they reusing at this location?!! Over all, I would not recommend or revisit this location. The particular staff member was rude but overall, I would highly question their hygiene tactics or reusing customer items in...

Avoid this location at all costs. Customer satisfaction is not prioritized, nor is cleanliness or food taste/portioning (it all changes every time). The rice is hardly ever washed, the steak is always stuck together and over cooked with a different level of flavor every time- also contains black charred flakes (clean the grill more often) we know what that is-the steak portion also changes from kids size to small kids size even if you order a regular bowl, give the same amount of meat EVERY TIME, people pay hard earned money for what's advertised not for the inconsistent fluctuations the cheap business owners try to slyly pass off as a "healthy food choice". These Waba portions are not consistent with other Waba Grills. The salad is soggy and rotting at least 6/10 times I eat here, which is extremely disappointing because the salad dressing is so tasty. Sometimes I get a full orange, sometimes I get a half. Sometimes the dumplings are perfect, sometimes they are the worst part of my meal. Sometimes I just plain get the wrong order, I have no idea on earth how when there's 3 other customers in the store. I am fed up with contributing to this location and you should reconsider spending money here. The blue shirt Managers are also the worst possible canidates for the job, they lack attention to detail probably because they are working so much they just don't care anymore. Also very rude and tempermental. Always arguing/bickering amongst themselves. It's rare when it looks like every one is getting along and not stressing. This place just opens and closes for the dollar, not the customer. Doesn't matter what...

Food is good, but the manager or franchise owner that is always there doesn't care. I placed an order online through the app for 20 dumplings. I get charged and I show up for it, then he goes on to tell me that he can give me them unless I order a rice bowl?

I said "that's okay no worries, can I just get a refund?"

Apparently he doesn't know how to do it and instead just argues and insists that I have to cancel through the app. I do it but the app says to call or visit the store to process refund. Regardless, he didn't know or want to give me a refund and instead kept insisting on giving me a rice bowl.

I didn't want a rice bowl, but my only options were to either leave without a refund because he didn't want to process it even though I was charged or take his offer of the steak rice bowl.

So I had to take his offer otherwise I'd be empty handed. The crew there are nice people and the food is good. But their franchise owner/manager...