Sonic Drive-In — Restaurant in Saginaw

My grandson was over last night. He wanted to have his favorite Sonic Burger. I went to the drive in and attempted to order his burger. He is very picky about how he likes his Sonic burgers. My wife and I like Sonic also so we were going to get something to eat also. I pulled into the parking space and proceeded to try to order our meals. The conversation went something like this.

"Welcome to Sonic, my I have your order please?" "Yes, I have three separate orders. Here is the first one. I would like a #2 double cheeseburger." "Would you like ketchup with that?" "I will let you know in a minute. I would like a #2 double cheese burger with that following: Extra pickles, extra lettuce, no onions, no tomatoes and no sauce along with a large fry and a large Dr. Pepper. Long pause on my part waiting for the order taker to acknowledge my first order. The never came. The second order is a foot long cheese coney," "Sir, can you repeat the first order?" So, I very distinctly, slowly and with a slighted raised voice to make sure they were hearing me, repeated the first order with the exception of adding, no mustard, no mayo and no ketchup". Then I started with the second order again. "I would also like a foot long," at that point a mature man's voice came over the intercom. "Sir, can you repeat your last order." Once again, I started to repeat the first order, in a very distinct, slow and slightly elevate voice, I started over: "I would like a #2 double cheese burger". Again yet a different voice came over the intercom and asked if I could repeat my last order. By this time my patience had worn out, I told the third voice that if they could not get my order correct after 4 attempts, I would take my business else where as I was backing out of the parking spot. I could hear them talking to me but at this point, I was so aggravated I left. This is not the first time I have had problems with this Sonic. Several years ago, I ordered a burger dry. Now I thought that a burger "dry" was no sauce of any kind but with all of the veggies and cheese, if so ordered. What I go was meat and bread. I took the burger back and the manager argued with me that I did not know what I was talking about and that dry meant only meat and bread. I have had to repeat my order on numerous occasions. and I may or my not have been correct. If they have an outdated intercom system, then they need to upgrade to a better system. They also need to give the person making the order time to finish their order before asking them any questions.

Do not go to this or any other Sonic.

I will not be back to this or any other Sonic. My experience last night was totally uncalled far. Yes, I considered that they were having intercom problems as at one point, the second male voice did say it had "cut out again" but did not specifically tell me that they were having problem hearing me due to technical malfunctions. Had they done that, I would have gladly moved to another spot.

i really hate to write off Sonic as I have been a customer since I was a teenager more years ago that I want to count.

I cannot recommend Sonic a a good place to eat. If you get outside of their established way of doing things...

Im going 3-stars so as not to be horrible but also not be great. I am a bit biased. I worked at Sonic last millennium while a student at Boswell during my junior and senior years 1996-98. At that time, Sonic was where Popeyes is today and where Taco Casa is now, was just a large open parking lot and we parked our cars there along the curb facing Palomono Drive and Sonic. I'll just say that Sonic was an awesome place to work. We had so much fun. I have pictures and if I can locate them, I will share them. There is no way to overstate how much pride we took in our jobs and how immaculately, pristine clean we kept that store. Definitely memories that I have kept with me over the years.

I know that businesses have to evolve and expand their offerings to stay relevant. The whole idea of Sonic's theme was meant to be reminiscent of 1950s era drive-in, order from car, food delivered by carhop with plenty of condiments, napkins, available as necessary. The carhop would, as so desired by the customers, hook their tray to the driver's window that was partially rolled up and the tray used to hold food items, drinks, and ultimately refuse to be discarded. Ideally, carhops would wear traditional roller skates but even in my time, some would wear roller blades. Equally so, skates would not be worn. So, the departure from what Sonic's intended theme was meant to be began in the mid-late 1990s. And over the years, just my opinion, but the food quality has really waned, many of the newer menu items are 'interesting' to say the least, drinks that once included fresh fruit by default no longer do and I have to request 'extra, extra' blue coconut syrup just to taste my ocean water- and no orange slice or cherry. The order menus and drive through, while convenient, have also contributed greatly to Sonic's departure from its original themes. Every order of FF & TT overflowed in my days. Today's regular burger size is much more what a junior was in my days. What happened to coneys? Those I've seen make me want to train the swamp how to properly dress them. They look a hot mess! And no more hickory burger? What the heck is up with that?! Nerds in slushees? Really? I really feel like the 1950s is calling Sonic to come back closer to its roots. I remember when every station was occupied and cars would circle the lot until a space opened. We were that busy (and popular!). I would love to see Sonic get back to the good times. I would bet if Sonic reverted itself, it would become a whole new level of crazy-busy as we once were. I suppose your phone number being the same as it was in my days counts for something.

I'm not here to voice service or quality complaints. Just randomly sharing my experience with Sonic in years past. I still sometimes confuse myself when ordering as a #1 was once always mayo whether single or SS, and a #2 was always mustard whether single or SS. I would actually have to look at a menu to recall what these were changed to.

Good times, lots of laughs, and great people for sure! I honestly could not have asked for a better...

DO NOT EAT HERE! I was picking up an order for a customer and this is the only Sonic that makes you get out of your car and walk over to the patio for them to bring your food out to you for online order delivery services. Tonight, I had two orders from this place. The first order, they brought out to me and the carhop explained that it’s a franchise location and it’s different from all the rest and they just broke “rules” that the manager made that they cannot bring online orders out to cars? I found that to be extremely odd. The second order I had come back for which was an order of 12 cheddar peppers, I went to the stall, pushed the button and let the carhop know I was there to p/u an online order. They said ok we’ll have it out, they knew who I was from previous order. I waited 15 minutes until I noticed all these cars around me that arrived after me were all gone. So I pushed the button again to ask about my order and the male carhop told me I need to get out of my car and walk over to the patio and push the button there to pick up my order. (So they allowed the customer to wait 15 additional minutes on her order bc they refused to bring the bag of cheddar peppers out; that’s horrible). When I tried to explain that we cannot very easily get out of our cars while parked in the stall and that I was parked the same distance, once again, from the door that delivering to the patio would be, the assistant manager took over the mic and told me straight up “the carhops don’t get tipped to bring out online orders”!!!

So either this sonic doesn’t pay their car hops fair wages and that’s why their service ALWAYS sucks? OR they are OKAY with EXTREMELY negligent and poor customer service because THEY DONT GET A TIP TO DO THEIR ACTUAL JOB!

The owners should be ashamed of themselves.

My family and I will never EVER again eat at this location, which we do often. And I can assure you that every chance I get to explain what self serving brat employees they have here, I will tell everyone.

I had to call the customer and explain exactly what the manager told me. She wanted to cancel her order but I was already on my way. So good luck trying to recover from that!

Shameful to say...