Shake Shack Valley Fair — Restaurant in Santa Clara

First time at a Shake Shack. I left the US the year Shake Shack came to the west coast and haven’t had the chance to check it out on the short visits before the pandemic. Finally got to give it a shot after all the hype and unfortunately, I was NOT impressed.

We were “greeted” by a gentleman at our table after we ordered and seated ourselves after paying an 18% gratuity at the self service counter. He lured around at the side of our table, asking if we needed help. We said we were fine but he stuck around and insisted to finish his 5-min-speech. I tried to cut the convo by saying yes please bring us napkins and water, but he wouldn’t stop and just kept mumbling. At one point he was saying something like “the CIA wouldn’t knock on your door or anything”. At first I was just a bit annoyed but near the end I was getting kinda anxious as I wasn’t sure what he was looking for. He finally wrapped up and gave us a feedback QR code with his name on it, and then left without the water and napkin I asked for and moved on to the next table.

Not a great start to a much looked forward meal.

The place was more than half empty on a Monday evening. After a 20 min wait, we received a signature burger, chicken nuggets WITHOUT the sauce we opted for, and a plate of chewy cold fries. I asked the gentleman at the counter for the sauce, and was given a silent treatment and no eye contact after the 3 thank-you’s I gave him. But I did get the Shack sauce.

Now onto the food. I wouldn’t trade my 3 dollar in n out for the Shake Shack burger I got any day. Honestly couldn’t tell the difference other than the super soft brioche, which I would appreciate if it was a pillow but not as a bun. Letting alone the one sad looking pale frozen fry that I took a bite out of, rest of the fries were dry and soggy at the same time (it’s almost magical how the contrast was presented), chewy, room temp, and tasted nothing like potatoes. The highlight was the chicken nuggets. Super tender, crispy and tasted like chicken (the bar was that low at this point).

My lemonade was nicely watered down, just how I like my lemon waters.

There goes my first Shake Shack experience. I think I was just unlucky and will give another location a try on my prolonged trip this time around, since I’ve waited 3.5 years to be back on the US soil, and this simply CANNOT be my first and last memory of Shake Shack before I have to...

This could have been a terrible experience if it wasn't for Rich. So we ordered our food on a busy Saturday afternoon. We put our number in, got a text that we'd be notified via text when the order was ready. We waited and waited, enjoying our own conversation (my wife and I) and we noticed 30 minutes had passed and others were getting their food and we were puzzled where ours was. We went and checked the food pick up area and our food had been waiting and we didn't get a text. The burger and fries were now luke warm, and I wasn't having it. I talked with an employee who was wearing glasses and he said their notification system doesn't work when there's a rush and sorry. I was upset. I sat down and had a fry and wasn't enjoying the food and Shake Shack's text notification issues. I went and asked Rich (another employee) for the manager. He listened and asked for more information about the issue. He explained the issue that they have with the text system and said that employees should manually enter the numbers for orders waiting a few minutes. Rich took ownership for the issue and said they could remake the food and he'd bring it to me. He did it and made sure other employees were checking on customers to make sure their needs were met. So, 2 things, if you're waiting for your food, check with them if you haven't received a notification after a few minutes and Rich deserves a raise/promotion. He's a responsible employee who cares about...

I want to preface this by saying the restaurant staff were not responsible for this. However, I am thoroughly disappointed in the menu changes. This used to be one of my favorite places to eat as a gluten intolerant vegan. I always got the impossible burger on a lettuce wrap and the plant based chocolate frozen custard. Recently they replaced the impossible burger with another veggie patty, which contains gluten, which I didn’t realize until I ordered it a few days ago. My stomach only really calmed down this morning. Again, that was on me for not checking. But I am disappointed in the change. Should also mention they got rid of the vegan milk shakes and frozen custard. I don’t want to risk sounding like a Karen, but it sucks when you have specific dietary requirements and one of the few places you could eat at becomes unsafe! Same thing happened when Panera changed their menu.

TL;DR: don’t eat here if you’re celiac/gluten intolerant and vegan. Probably don’t eat here if you’re celiac at all because of cross contamination and because they’ve gotten my order wrong before, but you probably...