Potbelly — Restaurant in Thornton Township

I am writing to file a formal and serious complaint regarding an appalling experience I had at your Potbelly Sandwich Shop located at 17573 S. Halsted St. on August 5, 2025, at approximately 6:35 PM (Order #286).

I placed an order for two Big sandwiches — a Turkey Avo and a BLTA. While the young gentleman who initially took my order was polite and even apologized for the wait, the experience quickly devolved into a complete customer service disaster when I arrived at the second window.

There, I encountered a young female employee with extremely long hair who began asking about my sandwich toppings. From the outset, she carried herself with a dismissive, rude, and unwelcoming attitude. The interaction was awkward and unnecessarily confrontational. When she asked if I wanted extra bacon on my BLTA and I said yes, she repeated the question with an attitude and made a point of loudly noting it would be an additional charge — all while glancing and smirking at her co-workers instead of engaging with me directly. Her tone and behavior were completely unprofessional and disrespectful.

There was clearly a miscommunication between her and the sandwich prep person about what I had requested, but instead of resolving it with clarity or courtesy, she escalated the situation with attitude and eye-rolling. I knew exactly what I ordered, and I clearly stated that I wanted extra bacon — but the interaction was so hostile and passive-aggressive that I felt completely disrespected.

It got to the point where I told her I no longer wanted her handling my food and requested someone else prepare my sandwiches. Her response? Even more attitude. She became visibly irritated, began gossiping with her co-workers about the situation while I was still at the window, and made it a point to socialize rather than focus on doing her job.

To make matters worse — and even more concerning — I witnessed multiple sanitation violations. This employee was repeatedly touching her face, the drive-thru screen, and buttons, without changing or washing her gloves before handling food. This is a serious health code concern. Additionally, her long hair (or weave) was not tied back or contained by a hair net, which is a basic hygiene requirement for anyone handling food. The lack of cleanliness and disregard for safety protocols is deeply troubling.

Thankfully, the manager eventually stepped in, prepared both of my sandwiches, and sincerely apologized. He even offered me a free drink or cookie, which I declined because I was still deeply upset by the experience. Even while the manager was preparing my food, I could clearly hear the young lady muttering disrespectful remarks under her breath in the background — adding insult to injury.

The fact that an employee like this is allowed to work in food service — let alone interact with customers — is extremely alarming. Her attitude, lack of professionalism, and total disregard for hygiene protocols are unacceptable and reflect very poorly on this location.

I am demanding that the owner of this establishment contact me directly to address this matter. If I do not receive a timely response, I will escalate this complaint to Potbelly corporate and will not hesitate to post reviews online to inform other customers of the poor service and unsanitary conditions I encountered.

This incident must be addressed immediately, both in terms of staff training and enforcing food safety standards. No customer should be subjected to this kind of disrespect and...

Went in and had the worst experience no customers were in the store beside me & husband then another young lady came behind us. We watch the girl behind the counter just stand there looking down she never addressed us or looked up to make eye contact but she knew we were standing there. After trying to give her a second to finish doing nothing. She walks away to wash her hand she was moving so slow she could’ve shower as long as it took to wash her hands. She comes back to the counter still don’t look up so we just watching her. Waiting on the her customer service to kick in. No luck there. I look over the counter a catch the other girl eye she says that the girl in front of us will be with us. By this time I’m so hot and disgusted with this girl attitude, and lack of training we decided to leave. I asked the girl at the register for the manager she tells me he’s around somewhere. I guess it was him in the parking talking with another employee when we pulled up. I said to her this is terrible customer service, and if the young lady don’t want to work she shouldn’t be there that was ignorant. I did a complaint online. But I was so upset that I wanted to talk to someone in management. I called up there clearly the lady that answered the phone wasn’t either one of them that was in the store. I asked to speak with the store’s manager she tells me he’s around there doing things! I was like was does that have to do with him getting on the phone. She puts me on hold for over 12 minutes 34 seconds later, still no manager picks up the phone. By this time I’m sure they have plotted together because I said that I was going to call back. After I hung up the phone ,and I called right back no answer. I called from my husband’s phone one of the girls from behind the counter answered not sure which one if it was the rude one or the one at the register at this point. Now they trying to screen my call. I asked again to speak with a manger please . She asked what is was about I said can I talk with your manager , and no I didn’t want to tell her what it was about because I didn’t know if it was the one I had the complaint about. So let the games begin she put the guy that was at the drive through window on the phone as I’m talking to him about the situation he had the audacity to ask me if this girl saw us at the counter that question alone made me know that this wasn’t no manage sir Ray Charle could see us standing there! If he was the manager no wonder the employees act this way. After I gave him the whole run down of the situation at the end of my venting he said oh ok. I said did you just say ok nothing else. Than he said I was just getting my paper together than he said I will talk to her and call my district manager. Which I know wasn’t the manager what manager need to call the district manager to correct a employee for not having respect for customers or customer service skills. Never will I go to this location again, and I will let my friends and family know not to go either.The thing about it is also we was giving this location another try after always getting home and discovering that our food wasn’t right anyway. I might do a action against them at this location. Union Power I will shut it down keep playing! I would...

Showed up10 minutes after the order was estimated to be ready only to find that they hadn’t even began preparing it. After declining a substitute offering, I was told that the original order would be ready in 30 minutes, and she (the original employee I spoke with), would tell me when it was ready. 40 minutes later, after not getting any update, I went back up to the counter and spoke with another employee. I told her about my order and handed her my phone with showed that it was a pre-paid online order. At first, I was told that the order did not come in yet. Then the original employee who said that it would be ready in 30 minutes came over and asked me again did I want a substitute. Apparently, they hadn’t even began preparing it, and I just wasted an additional 40 minutes waiting for something that I was told would be ready in a half hour.

After filling out the contact form a second time (the first time on the day of the incident the company apparently ignored), the General Manager of that location contacted me and gave me times to reach him to discuss getting a refund. I call during some incident. Instead of putting the phone on hold, whoever answered it just sat the phone down, allowing me to unwillingly witness a rather heated if not violent confrontation between parties within the restaurant. So after a couple of minutes, I hung up the phone....