Carl’s Jr. — Restaurant in San Marcos

Most appalling experience ever. When I placed our to go order inside the restaurant I paid to upgrade the fries from a small to a large. When they put our order on the counter I realized they had given us the small fry instead. I brought it to the ladies attention, so she had a large fry made. She proceeded to take the bag from me putting her hand inside to take out the small fry. We all know there is no way to get the fries out without touching the fries. Since I watched her myself placing her thumb on the inside of the bag and her index finger on the outside to pinch the bag. She then proceeded to place it back with all of the other fries ready to put in orders to serve to someone else. They were going to give another customer the fries they took out of our bag. While putting our large fries in the bag they dropped half on the floor. So the lady decides she is going to dump the original small fry that she is touching with her fingers again into the large fry box. Until I spoke up and said can you please get us a new fry that you haven't touched. At that point a gentleman behind the counter as well said that's fine. Again I was so appalled!!! After they gave me my correct complete order I asked to speak to the manager and she told me the gentlemen is the manager. I waited for him to be available, I asked if he was the manager he explained he was the lead for the shift. I said I think you should throw the small fries away since the lady touched them with her fingers while removing them from our bag. Immediately he was defensive and stated no they didn't they take it out by the side. I said so you are calling me a liar when I saw it happen with my own 2 eyes. He continued to disregard my concern. I asked for the corporate # he said it's outside on the window. He said they will watch the video. I told him he had terrible customer service. I run a business and at no time would I allow an employee to speak that way to any customer. He was so RUDE don't know who in their right mind would have ever promote an employee like him to the lead. I asked his name and he pulled his shirt where his name tag would be to only realize he wasn't wearing it! "CHRISTIAN...the lead shift supervisor...WOW" run as fast as you can out the door if he is working. If he allows that during his shift what else do you think they get away with. BEWARE absolutely disgusting. We eat here often but I have never seen these 3 employees. The staff that usually work are great, friendly and know what customer service means. Christian should be demoted if not fired. If I ever return and he happens to be there I will leave. I will be reporting this to the corporate office tomorrow when...

Food was fresh and great onion rings! Place not overly crowded due to location which I like. Staff friendly and liked that they brought food to the table

Update 4/22/22... For 2 Carl's famous star basic burgers and onion rings and 2 small drinks which were just 2 meals, our total came to $23.00 plus change. We had not been back since they reopened after covid and the general manager was very very nice and extremely helpful on the menu. We were the only ones in there and their drive-thru was crazy busy so it took a little while for us to get our meals but no big deal. They brought us our meals in bags which didn't specify whose meal was what but we really miss having the trays. The burger was great for both of us and the onion rings weren't as good as they used to be and the coating wasn't crispy but soft and very dry. I'm not saying that it should be greasy or oily but both of us only ate about a quarter of our onion rings. I don't know if they've changed recipes or what but the onion rings definitely won't make us come back. Price will be the main reason that we don't come back because it's just too expensive for fast food. We got unlimited drinks which was great and we really like this location because it's quiet to sit inside and not noisy which is how it is at so many other places. Love Carl's Jr and they have plenty of selection but the prices are just too high anymore. I do want to say one thing that we both liked is that it was nice not to have to wait for an employee to let us into a bathroom or give us a code. We both understand why other places do that but it's taking employees away from their jobs by either going in letting us into a bathroom, like at Taco Bell or having to buzz us in, like a Jack In The box. Keep up the good work Carl's Jr, especially your staff because they are working really hard and deserve the praise but you'll have to give us some kind of deals on food for us to come back on a more regular basis or at all. Glad to see that the drive-thru is busy because inside we were the only ones that were there...

The food was good, as expected. The service was horrible. I had breakfast here this morning. It was a planned, and looked forward to, cheat day from how i normally eat. So the lack of meeting even a modest expectation of good service, ruined my entire trip and my rewarding myself for months of being "good" about my eating habits. The young person who took my order (Ale*r) could bother greeting me, just said "for here or to go?". I said good morning, with no reply from him and just staring back. I placed my order, and specified a small hash brown, and replied yes to his query if i wanted catsup. The order was delivered by a friendly young man, but without my hash browns nor catsup. He promptly apologized and moved to correct the issue. I then looked at my receipt and saw that the other guy charged me for fries, wwhich are a higher price. I told the 2nd (helpful) guy about the lack of service from the first guy and that he had zero customer service skills, had overcharged me, but to forget the overcharge as it was only $0.10 higher. Then the Hispanic Female Manager aggressively inserted herself into the situation. I knew immediately i didn't want to interact with her based on her demeanor. And i immediately dropped my complaint based on her aggressive tone. Mind you, i wasn't being rude, nor raising my voice. I complimented the 2nd young man for his help, and walked away. I have worked in customer support roles for longer than i should have. I walked away thinking to myself that this manager is the reason that the first employee feels free to provide horrible service. I hope the 2nd young man gets what he needs out of this job and moves on to a company that cares, and where he can flourish. And I read another review that likely was about this manager before posting this one. At least i hope the owner doesn't have more than one of these no service employees running their business. But it also makes me question why she is still working there and hurting your business after the negative post I read from a few months...