Cook Out — Restaurant in Shelby

2023 update: I used to go to this Cook Out multiple times each week. I go there less now in a year than I used to go every week. But I would like to thank corporate for FINALLY changing the placement of the speakers. Better extremely late than never!

Tonight, I had a hankering for hotdogs. I started to go somewhere else, but because I was near Cook Out, I went there instead.

I ordered 2 Cook Out Style hotdogs, a huge unsweet tea, and a spoon. The young lady repeats the order except she says "sweet tea" and doesn't mention the spoon. I correct her on both items, she gives me the price, and I pull to the window.

While she's taking someone else's order, she takes my card and gets my payment. Then, while still taking that order, she hands out my card and my bag. Then she hands out the tea and straw. To her credit, she did take time to tell me to have a good evening.

I drive down the road to my next stop and open my bag. No spoon. No napkins. SMH. But the hotdogs were good, and amazingly, the tea was unsweet.

This location was excellent once upon a time. They had a great manager, but she eventually moved to their corporate office.

I work late at night, this Cook Out is close to home, it was even less expensive back then, and I visited often -- at least 3 times a week, usually more frequently. I rarely had a problem. And if I did, that manager took care of it promptly and professionally.

Once that manager left, things went downhill. If my order is correct 50% of the time now, I consider myself lucky. To be fair, I don't visit much anymore. I usually drive right by and go somewhere that serves me what I order.

Corporate sent me coupons for 2 trays to compensate me for a visit that was so bad that it spurred me to call them. I took a picture of my food that night, but corporate said they didn't even need to see the picture. I also explained how often my orders were wrong.

The first time I used one of their coupons, this location got my order wrong again. It was quite a while before I went back even though I was going to pay with a coupon. When I order something, that's exactly what I want -- even if it's free and especially if I'm paying for it. I usually order my burgers with mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomato and onion. Is that really so hard, Cook Out? Really? You're in the burger business. Why does at least one of those ingredients get left off so often?

By the way, if you order a side of slaw, you better ask for a spoon, or be prepared to either "drink" your slaw or throw it in the trash. I've done both. Don't assume that they realize you need utensils to eat certain things they sell. They don't.

Part of their problem with the incorrect orders is that they have a speaker that stands so close to the ground that it's impractical for people in full-size trucks/vans/SUVs. I explained this to them when I called corporate and at the window after numerous times of having to repeat myself when ordering. (I don't have this problem anywhere else.) Have you noticed how many of those type vehicles are on the road, Cook Out? Check the numbers with DMV, then locate your speakers appropriately, please.

I roll my window down on my stock F150 4x4, stick my head out and do my best to talk loudly down to their speaker. It's very poor speaker location, and it has been a problem since the day they opened. How many more years and how many more wrong orders before they finally decide to correct this poor design?

This Cook Out is located between a busy 4-lane highway and a busy 3-lane road on a sliver of real estate. Noise from all that nearby traffic compounds the problem of being heard accurately.

On the good side, I like the flavor of their hamburger meat. Their bacon is very good, and I like their BBQ sandwiches too. Their BBQ isn't in the same class as either of the Bridges BBQs here in Shelby, but it's tasty for fast food BBQ. They have a nice variety for a drive-thru restaurant. You can eat there relatively quickly and cheaply. Personally, I'd rather sit in line another minute or two and get what I...

Absolutely terrible customer service. My co-worker and I come to this location often for lunch, and have never had a negative experience. However, the last 2 months, they always get our orders wrong. Today we decided to get lunch here (July 16, 2017). The employee at the speaker did not repeat our order and when he told me the total, I knew the order was wrong, as the total was too low. I asked 2 times for him to repeat my order, only to be ignored. We went ahead and pulled up to the window, only to be met by a young, black girl with a nose stud and a bad attitude. I asked the young lady to repeat our order and got completely ignored along with an eye roll. I had to ask multiple times for her to repeat the order, until she finally did. She also interrupted me each time I tried to speak and she kept telling me the total. We did not want to pay until we knew that our order was correct. She finally repeats it and only had half of the order and that wasn't even correct. I had to tell her multiple different times what she had missed, she continued to get the order wrong, mostly due to the fact that she would either ignore me or just interrupt me. She made no eye contact, had terrible manors, and awful customer service skills. I feel this girl needs to be re-evaluated, she is giving this particular location a bad reputation. Not only that, I ended up having to tell her about 4 different times to add on a large cajun fry. The girl told the guy to go get a cajun fry, and we received them pretty quick, so I figured they had previously been made. We checked the bags before we left and everything was there. When we started to eat, I noticed that my fries had not been in the fryer for very long, given they were hot, but soggy with no crispness to them at all. This entire experience lasted a little over 10 minutes and could have been done in 5 minutes or less, since they were not busy and if the employees would have fully listened it have went a...

I went to visit on Sunday 16 Sep 2018 I ordered a bbq sandwich no slaw with the sides.I got home to Boiling Springs and yuck my sandwich had slaw.The next day I went to lidl,on my way back home I went by and returned the gross bbq that they gave me.They were very polite and fixed me a bbq no charge.I went by Thursday 20 Sep 2018 and told a young lady went I went through the drive thru that I appreciated it and it was the most delicious chopped bbq that I had ever had.It was absolutely delicious.All I got this time was there great bbq sandwich no slaw.I got home and SOB same thing gross slaw.I called them and the same lady that I had I had talked to in the drive thru said that she had checked it and it was right.BS she was lying.I said GD I live 13 miles away I will be back.I got there and I told her I apologize for what I said on the phone.She responded with,she was used to the abuse from customers and she was used to being abused.She responded with a typical northern reply.She could have said I accept your apology and here is a new bbq sandwich to replace yours that had a RECEIPT THAT SAID NO SLAW. 26 miles round trip twice to fix their FU.They had delicious bbq but I will never go back.This is the South and I apologized for what I said She knew that she had lied to me and I called her bluff.She needs to go North where she is from or know that some dumb southerners aren't stupid and they can apologize if they said something wrong out of frustration.I won't ever go back to the Shelby location if she is working there.I have never rated or reviewed any business in my life.But I was so angry went back today I had to say something. Sincerely,...