Long John Silver's — Restaurant in Staunton

First off, let me preface this by saying that any review before 5/2/22 are past experiences, and shouldnt be any kind of determining factor here as they really arent relevant anymore. This particular establishment had a fire, and got demolished and rebuilt in 2021, so what people said may or may not have been true, but with COVID, and a fresh opening, under new management and staff, any review past the above date should not be considered in your decision to try dining here. Also, I see a lot of one star reviews for non relevant comments and opinions. You either like LJS or you don't. I grew up eating it with my family, so I enjoy it. If you didn't or just didn't like it, thats great too, just dine where you enjoy. Your opinions are just that, Rating an establishment based on your opinion of the chain or its food based on your preferences isn't proper, and provides inaccuracies for those looking to dine here based on ACTUAL experiences and feedback.

Now for my opinion. Since public opening day, the restaurant had been slammed in the drive through and inside. With this being the only LJS in the immediate area, it's clear this has a cult following for seafood lovers and comfort food lovers alike. If you come here, plan on waiting 30 mins to an hour for now, as attention does down for this location. Also traffic here isn't the best and the location doesn't help matters as the entrance is also the exit, causing more congestion. Wait time is an issue, but will get better as the months go on. Also, for those returning, or visiting, this is now a Pure LJS, with no A&W integration whatsoever. The previous restaurant had A&W products, like burgers and such, but, like the KFC in Harrisonburg, when reconstructed, it was the reason to stop this, as really, aside from the root beer, the A&W products were always subpar.

Now for my experience. After waiting in the drive thru for 45 mins, I finally got the ability to order my meal. My order was rather large, and would be pretty time consuming under normal circumstances. That being said, from the time I ordered to the time I recieved it, it was 15 minutes, which was great with the amount of customers they had queued.

The quality is what you'd expect it to be, greasy, battered goodness, that was all fresh. No old grease here. Also, the sides were fresh, and great as well.

Now for the bad. One of my orders was supposed to be a chicken family meal. I got fish instead. This wasnt a particular problem for my family and I, but we like half chicken, half Fish, and sadly, this was missed. Also, 2 of our sides of rice were missing, and we had no sauces or condiments whatsoever. Normally, I would say this is unacceptable, but I can forgive this for now, as most of my order was correct, and fresh, for the demand and quantity of customers they had.

Overall, a swell grand opening week for them. If you like LJS, this one is great, and the problems will fix...

It took me approximately 40 minutes from entering the drive thru to get to the speaker to order. Initially my order was being taken and then I was told the only protein they had available was fish. I ordered a two piece meal and then was subsequently told they were also out of fish, which left me with essentially left to order. This was 40 minutes before closing.

I angrily explained how unacceptable that was and that I had been waiting for 40 minutes already to only be told this. An employee responded "Sorry, but this is what happens when half the county tries showing up."

I then waited another 30 minutes in the drive thru behind other vehicles to depart, because of the poor design of your restaurant's drive thru. So in total I spent an hour and ten minutes with your establishment, unable to order anything, after dealing with poor customer service.

That is beyond unacceptable, from the long wait, to the lie about running out of essential food and products, to the lackadaisical customer service. I want a substantive response to this complaint. I want to be compensated in some way for the time belonging to me your restaurant and employees wasted tonight. I want a redesign of your, quite frankly, dangerous and ill-advised drive thru construction. I want your employees to be better trained to handle high traffic situations. And I want whoever orders food to be retrained on correct portions if the restaurant indeed ran out of essential items.

I am not going to drop this until my concerns are...

2nd visit 7/26/2023 and last visit: terrible service and terrible food. should have gone to Red Lobster for a few more dollars would have been worth the cost after all spent $15 for cold hard food and missing fries when I ordered extra fries and got 10 fries in my box. I should have checked it before I left but the line behind me was long and I did not want to hold up the other customers waiting. Called once I got home and the Manager who ever he was would not give his name. ODD behavior and rude too. I reported them to the BBB and the Health Department I also filed a complaint with Corporate office. SAVE YOUR MONEY AND GO TO RED LOBSTER INSTEAD.

Waited for 45 min in drive thru, parking lot is terrible no room for people to pull in or pull out. Paid $15.92 and was missing half of my meal. was missing 1 pc fish 2 shrimp, fries and hushpuppies. The food I did get was not hot and was not of good quality. My ice tea had no ice (not 1 cube) it was still warm No napkins and no utensils for the cole slaw, I ask for shrimp sauce and got hot sauce. I tried to call to report the issue and only got a message that stated all reprentatives are busy and try to call back later. I called 12 times. I called again the very next day and received the same message. I'm going to dispute the charge. Will never go back!! and will tell others of my...