Which Wich — Restaurant in San Diego

I grew up going to Which Wich, and I'm a fan, but not sure I will return to this location. I've visited this location twice. The first time the food was fine but the service was terrible (details below). The second time I went during operating hours (5:30pm on a Thursday) and the lights were off and the door was locked. No sign or anything saying what was going on. Not sure I'm willing to go again if I don't know it will be open.

My first time visiting this location, I was very confused. I'm used to Which Wich with the paper baggies you mark up with your order, however these were nowhere to be found, only a cash register without an employee and two digital ordering stations. No one greeted me when I came in and I wasn't sure what to do, but other customers were using the digital ordering, so I went over there. This is the worst digital ordering system I have ever encountered. The screens are super confusing, to the point I almost ordered a plain turkey sandwich without toppings. This isn't the fault of this particular location, but it added to the bad experience. It took me several minutes to figure out how to correctly submit my order. One customer gave up and left. Another customer gave up and went to the register to order, but there still wasn't an employee to be seen. Finally a guy left a group of three men sitting at a corner table and talking and came up to the register...I thought he was a customer with his friends, but he was actually an employee, just ignoring all the customers to sit and talk. I finished my order and then had to wait a very, very long time for this same employee to make the sandwiches. He moved with no urgency whatsoever. When he finally delivered them there was no acknowledgment of or apology for the wait. He also didn't give me my chips or cookie, and I had to go back and ask for them. The sandwich was decent but he skimped on toppings. Horrible customer service all around, plus mediocre sandwich, at a place that used to be known for its super fun ordering experience and...

Favorite sandwich shop ever! I'm bummed that the one near where I live closed recently, but I'll stop by this one in the Hazard Center (Mission Valley) if I'm in the area. Great rewards program, easy ordering and pay if from their app if you'd like, also Uber eats delivers if you want.

Many don't know what to do when they walk in. Basically, this chain has streamlined the sandwich building restaurant idea. You walk in, and instead of shouting over the noise and dim of a restaurant what you want on which sandwich, you grab a paper bag, creatively pick your name (my kids have fun with that one) and check off what you want with Which Wich's iconic red Sharpies. You present your filled out order form/bag to the cashier, pay, and wait for your name (or the one your chose) to be called. My kids and husband have picked names from their favorite fantasy novels or series, and it always draws a chuckle.

The art wall is visually interesting (sorry, forgot to take a picture of it). There are some amazingly talented artists out there and often I find a positive message or two among the art, like quotes from poems, or "Be your own kind of awesome."

The food is good. If they mess up, they make it up to you (free remakes, or free next order, or add what was left off on the side with an offer of a free cookie, etc.). So, yes, they've made mistakes, but they've always more than made up for them.

The sandwiches here have an incredible selection of vegetables to choose from, so great for vegetarian and vegan eaters (unlike some chains, ahem, Jersey Mike's).

My son is obsessed with their shakes. They are yummy. We love their crushed ice. Not many restaurants use this type of ice. Also, they offer reusable cups that you can bring in and fill with a shake or drink...

This is a strange place to get lunch, the sanwhiches are great but its not worth the terrible service.

So the cool thing about which wich is you get to customize your sandwich with the big list of ingredients on the paper right? Not anymore! Now you get to moon light as a which wich cash register operator with their self check out system and its labyrinthine system of menus within menus within menus of options for your sandwich. And you better beleive that line crawls as each customer has to figure out the stupid kiosk thing one after the other.

After 45 minutes of waiting in line and 10 minutes of figuring out how to place your order, it suddenly dawns on you: the restraunt has 2 employees who might have 90 days with the company between them. Fortunately the ingredients are good and the system still makes good sandwiches, but these employees are slow at making sandwiches and dont know how to manage tickets. They dont yell loud enough when sandwiches are ready, they give the wrong sandwiches to the wronf customers and have to remake sandwiches. Its chaos.

And I'm not mad at the employees. Theyre just college kids who have only worked at this place for a couple weeks and probably wont in a couple more. The shame is on the management. Im assuming they dont pay people enough to live in San Diego so they run a carousel of college kids a few weeks at time. If this place ever had good veteran employees who know what they were doing, they are long gone now and the cheap owner just runs a skeleton crew of green horns at all time.

You just shouldnt get food here, honestly this place is a machine that creates human misery both for underserved customers and abused workers. It would be unethical to...