Sonic Drive-In — Restaurant in Santee

I went to this Sonic about midnight. I pulled up to the drive-thru teller and waited for a few minutes to be greeted but was never greeted. I said hello a few times into the teller but there was no answer.

So I drove off and pulled into one of the stalls and hit the red button to order. I was told that they're no longer doing carhops and that I would have to go through the drive-thru. I told the guy that I was just at the drive-thru and there was no answer. He said the sensor must not have recognized my car and that I would have to go through the drive-thru.

So I pull out of the stall and into the drive-thru to the end of a long line of cars that were now in the drive-thru line. I downloaded the app and figured I'd order online while I was waiting in line. I was unable to order online because the app said that the restaurant was closed when in fact it was open.

Once the car in front of me gets to the teller she has the same problem I previously had, there was no answer and the teller did not sense her car. She finally gave up after a few minutes and drove off. So I pulled forward to the teller and the same thing happened to me again, there was no answer. But I wasn't going to pull off again, not without calling first.

So I called the restaurant from the teller and the phone rang and rang and rang. It finally went to voicemail so I just hung up and called again. Again it rang and rang but this time they finally answered the phone. I explained how I was at the drive-thru teller and there was no answer. They already realized there was a problem with their drive-thru sensor and said OK, but didn't tell me they'd contact me at the teller.

I heard this greeting come through the teller so I placed my order. The menu was a little hard to see because it's not as close to the teller as it should be. I ordered and pulled up to the window.

It took a while for me to get my food, so I'd say the drive thru is slow at midnight on Saturday night. The order was accurate but I still had an unpleasant experience.

And to top it off, the lid from my shake popped off and caused a mess in my car. The same thing happened the other night too. So those lids for the shakes suck pretty bad. Beware cause they may pop off and you'll have a mess everywhere.

Update 10/2019: Bumped up my review two stars because they came through by giving me a complimentary shake while picking up a delivery order.

Update 10/2019: Knocked it back down to 2 Stars cause service is very slow. Here to pick up tots and Oreo pieces and it's been 10 minutes already. SMH 🤦🏻‍♂️

Update 07/2020:Staff seems friendlier at night but they are still slow. Check your order too because last time I was here they were missing items. Also, they close the stalls at midnight I think for some safety reasons I guess. It's an inconvenience cause the drive-thru is awfully slow.

Service got worse. Was on a delivery so went to pick up an order. Since I was going I figured I'd order some food for myself on the mobile app since I was hungry. I get there and check in on the mobile app. It shows my order in process. I then hit the red button to let them know I was there to pick up a delivery. Then I wait. And I wait and wait. And when the girl finally comes out she give me the wrong order. So I wait some more. After about 15 minutes I hit the red button and tell them I'm still waiting. A few minutes later my deliver order comes out. Good. I continue to wait a few minutes for my personal mobile order. A few minutes goes by and I hit the button. They say they'll being it out. Wait longer. Hit the button again and tell them it's been about 30 minutes. They didn't find my order. A manager comes out, I show him the app. He apologizes, goes back in and then my food comes out 5 mins later. Terrible service. He made up a little with a...

I feel for the kids who are working at this location. Signs are posted about being short staffed and asking customers to be patient. These have been in place for about a year now and I've got to say, its because of poor ownership/ management, all of the other surrounding fast food restaurants are performing just fine, same challenges related to employment. I went today after waiting for about a year to see if the service/ speed of food had recovered and it appears its even worse than before. Went to a stall and pressed the red button, took about 5 min or so before someone came over the speaker. While trying to give my order, the young lady taking the order appeared to struggle either hearing me or knowing how to log an order into the machine. It was getting frustrating having to repeat myself over and over again. I spoke very loud and clearly but she continued to struggle which makes me feel it was either a training or competency thing (no knock on the person). Once my order was taken @ 1:23 PM, I waited, and waited (being patient as asked) and at 1:47 PM I pressed the red button so i can find out why my food hadnt been delivered. Again, no answer waiting... At 1:52 pm another person came with our food and are food ticket being assigned for delivery at 1:50 pm (red button still had no response yet). We waited about half an hour for 2 burgers, drinks and fries. I am sorry, this isn't acceptable from this type of establishment, its literally their job to be "fast". I had time while waiting for my food to look at others reviews and the same issues, long waits, poor service... Some had responses to provide feedback to the Franchise Owner. If this person isn't looking at the reviews or the staff management isn't making this person aware then shame on them. It appears to me the franchise owner doesn't care about the customers or the staff. Glad I get to chose where I eat and I can honestly say, I will not be going back to this location again. For the staff working there, you can get jobs at other businesses for equal or higher pay and not have to deal with frustrated customers because of the downfalls of the site ownership. Life is too short, be happy...

First review I've ever written about a fast food establishment in my lifetime. I preface this by stating that I'm cognizant to the challenging nature of operating a restaurant as i've worked in service positions before, but this place has by far and away the worst service of any establishment i've experienced in my whole life. Ordered food with my friend earlier today in the stall, they forgot his order, we pushed the button again to ask what was up, said it would be out soon. 40 minutes go by and we decide to give the drive through a go (as he had not yet paid) and were told to "wait" at the speaker, 10+ minutes go by with no response, we then decided to drive to the kearny mesa location where he was able to order and receive his food in less that 7 minutes at the stall. Sonic clearly is cheap and treats their workers very poorly and it shows in their attitude, the service at sonic is somehow even worse than Popeyes in my experience. In n out and chick fil a provide adequate staffing and fair treatment for their workers and have the best service by a mile. I have had other issues at this location such as servers refusing to split the order (even when at the stalls) and the food is rarely delivered within 20 minutes. Also this location is frequently out of many items (particularly side items), will be giving the kearny mesa location my business from now on. Not to be judgmental but maybe it's a santee thing? staff at the other restaurant chains in the area seem to be very poor compared to their San Diego counterparts, the raising canes in santee is also VERY poorly run while the Mira Mesa one has friendly staff...