While some of the take-out food I've ordered is tasty, I'd give it an overall B+. Some is tasty, some is ho-hum. I've been going to Fairchild's off and on for about 6 years. The prices are high for what you get. An average tuna sandwich will set you back $8-$10, depending if you want cheese, and a small soup runs $5-$6. If you buy chocolates in a small package (of 6) you'll pay $12. The prices and the store itself scream "upscale".
Sadly, Fairchilds' service is dreadful, and for their exorbitant prices and boutique look, you'd expect better.
I recently had a horrific experience with Edward. I walked back to the deli and ordered soup. Edward (whose name I didn't know at that point) lacked soup into a container and walked back to the counter. I said I also wanted a sandwich. He took out a pad and pen and said he wanted to write it down. This puzzled me as I was standing right in front of him and had always just told the person who waited on me when I ordered what I wanted on the sandwich and they made it, which I explained to him. He kept repeating, "We always write it down." I told him I'd been in the store many times and had always asked someone to make a sandwich and they simply walked over to the ingredients station and started making it while I told them what I wanted. He seemed confused, perhaps because he talked non-stop over me.
I had the sense I was in a scene in an adolescent movie where he was cast as the comic relief who talks non-stop and hears nothing. We finally made it to me telling him what I’d like on the sandwich, “Tuna, Swiss cheese, tomato, and arugula”. He started repeating (over and over), "I know what I'm doing, you don't have to tell me", which was weird because I actually DID have to tell him what I wanted on the sandwich. His repetitive patter kept going, and I finally asked if he could please stop talking to me and make the sandwich. He began talking over my head to another customer (behind me), saying, "Do you see how she's treating me? I know what I'm doing!” He put the tuna, cheese and arugula on, then closed the sandwich. I stopped him and said, "I also want tomato". He kept repeating I didn't have to tell him what to do, and I asked him his name. He shouted at me, "Edward! I'll tell you my name! You can't do anything to me!" I said, "Please stop talking and just make the sandwich." He shouted, "You can't tell me what to do," and then said, "You be quiet." “She should be quiet,” (to the other customer). I raised my voice and said, "This is not how you speak to a customer. I'm trying to tell you what I want on my sandwich!"
With the sandwich finally done, he picked it and the soup up to take it to the front counter, while talking frantically at me all the way to the cash register. He got to the woman who was standing by the cash register and stood behind her, shouting over her head, "You can't do anything! You can't tell me what to do!" It was a nightmare. I asked the woman at the cash register to ask him to stop and she finally sort of waved her hand over her head and weakly said something like, "OK, let's stop this", but without force, nor did she turn around to address him. He kept ranting and yelling at me and I asked her, "Are you going to do something about this?" She said, "I'm not a manager," so I asked to speak to the manager and she said there were no managers there. At that point I'd had it and said, "I don't want this," and walked out of the store without purchasing anything (it was supposed to be my dinner).
I spoke to a manager the next day (Marty) over the phone and he defended Edward, saying he'd worked with him for many years and never had a problem with him. He said he thought there might have been a miscommunication. I said there had been no miscommunication, that Edward clearly understood me when he stopped to listen, but that had not happened much since he talked non-stop and repeated everything he said over and over again.
My advice: spend your money elsewhere. Fairchilds is worth neither the abuse nor...
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