Moe's Southwest Grill — Restaurant in Town of Cortlandville

2025 update: After calling ahead and being told that the first 20 customers would get free t-shirts, I drove almost 30 miles for Cinco de Moe. To make a long story short, no T-shirt, rude-beyond-belief staff. I was first (and only) customer, had to wait 20 minutes for 10:30am opening because it does not open at 10am as described on the Moes web site. Drove almost 30 miles home. Will never go there again. Read more reviews; many other negative comments about rude staff and poor customer relations. Positive comments are about the Moe's menu...which is, IMHO, still tasty food.

Summary: Not my favorite Moe's. The only reason this review is 2-stars...is because the generic Moe's can serve a pretty good burrito, and the negatives of this location aren't quite able to offset that advantage.

Once upon a time, Moe's was among my favorite decent-food fast-food go-to places. Not so much any more for two reasons: (1) Moe's in Ithaca closed and (2) The prices have gone way up beyond the good-deal range.

Two Moe's are now equidistant from Ithaca (about 35 miles, 40+ minutes), so it's not exactly an on-the-way impulse sort of meal. However, I visited Moe's in Cortland for Cinco de Moe. Observations, in roughly chronological order.

1. I arrived early. One reason to attend Cinco deMoe is the free T-shirt given to the early arrivals. In Ithaca, there was a line waiting at the 11am opening time. In Cortland, no such thing. Parking lot was empty. By opening time, there was one other car in the lot. About 10:55, an employee came outside to unlock the door. I waited a minute or two and went in. After all, who unlocks the door unless you're ready for customers? Instead of the usual, "Welcome To Moe's," I was greeted with, "You can't be in here." So I went out and returned a minute or two later. Talk about bad customer relations.
2. Although I was one of the first two customers, the staff was already busy filling orders. Maybe they came in by phone? Internet? Whatever. I had to wait 5+ minutes before they got to me. Talk about bad customer relations.
3. I ordered a Homewrecker. The tortilla got stuck to the warming press. Instead of pitching it, the server peeled it off, tearing it, and used it. Talk about not caring and poor standards.
4. The tortilla is a lot smaller than it used to be. Coupled with the price that's a lot more than it used to be, it's not such a good value any more.
5. The fillings were applied sparingly. See above for not such a good value.
6. The cashier simply dumped the burrito into a paper bag. I had to ask for a "dine-in" tray. It was handed to me along with the paper bag full of burrito and chips. See above about not caring.
7. The cashier forgot one detail. I had to ask, and ask again, for a T-shirt (remember why I was there, Cinco de Moe). Other customers forgot (or didn't know) to ask, and didn't get one.
8. The drinks machine was being maintained (or repaired) while customers were using it. No ice, plus the possibility of optional dust and debris drifting down into your food and cup.

On the plus side, the "black cherry chipotle" salsa was really, really good. OTOH, although labeled as spicy it was not spicy and none of the other salsas have ever been much more than flavored tomatoes (or tomatillos).

Now, the decor. From the outside, the Cortland Moe's would be mistaken for one of those cinderblock automotive businesses that are found next to well-traveled routes. An out-of-business business, at that, as the "don't pay for chips" signs had the coloring and lettering of those "store closing" and "last chance clearance" signs.

If I wasn't looking for a Moe's sign, I'd probably have ignored the place and driven by.

The interior decor is probably standard for today's Moe's. Not nearly as colorful and quirky and charming as they used to be. It was clean enough, no complaints.

Definitely not your Ithaca Moe's. Can't imagine why that one closed, and this one is still open. But it's still decently...

BTW: 7 years later and I still refuse to set foot in the place.

I placed my normal order for two burritos, one being the Art V. with only rice, beans, cheese and fresh jalapenos, and so as always I ordered "Extra Rice and Extra Beans." Stated clearly on the item order as well as the overall comment section order. And I clicked the slider to indicate double rice. Figured I had my bases covered.

Now, it was Moe Monday where everything is $6.99 it seems, but I didn't care, I wanted two full-size burritos as I ordered. When I got the bag it seemed light to me, but I mistakenly waited to get home to look.

What I pulled out were two anemic little burritos that were actually not even large enough to call soft tacos. Both together would not equal a normal burrito. This would not have upset me so much if I had not just paid $24 for 2 burritos and some queso dip and gotten what around $4 would have gotten me at Taco Bell. My wife called and we were told by the woman who answered "we ran out of full-size burrito shells. And everything is the same price anyway today."

No, not acceptable. I said out loud before the call ended that I was going down there, which would explain why a guy who I assume was the manager on duty met me at the register. He gave me a very curt "Can I help you?" Not a good start.

I was on the fence on having them remake the order or getting my money back until that moment. His hostile tone and posture made up my mind. "I would like my money back for this order."

"What's wrong with it?" (Still hostile)

I pulled out the tiny (and I mean tiny, Taco Bell's $1.00 bean and cheese burritos are larger) Art V and said "This is NOT a full-size Burrito."

"Yeah, well, we ran out of full-size shells."

I looked around when I came in and noticed everyone in there with burritos eating full-size burritos, and the staff on the line making, you guessed it, full-size burritos.

I don't care what sort of insane price thing they have, sending someone out the door with two tiny little burritos and a cup of queso and charging them $24 (Well, $22 because I added a $2 tip as always...) is absurd. And compounding that by treating me as if I am the jerk because I am unhappy with that, is the epitome of poor customer service.

I said I wanted my money back, he angrily asked me if I wanted him to remake the order but at that point, no way in hell. I said no, I want my money back, and I want the name and number of the manager. After fumbling with the register and failing to refund my card, he shoved the cash for the order in my hand, went in the back for 3 minutes and came back out with a single name "Carolyn" and the phone number for the store scribbled on a scrap of paper.

He told me she was the store manager, and would be there tomorrow. I left.

I intended to go down the next day but how much time do I feel like spending with this now that I am over an hour in? I sent in a comment through the "How did we do?" link at the bottom of the order. 24 hours ago I got an email from corporate:

"Thank you for alerting us about the recent issue regarding your purchase at Moe's Southwest Grill. We take the incident you described very seriously and apologize for any problems you encountered as a result.

This particular Moe's is an independently owned and operated franchise. We have forwarded your concerns to the owner/operator and have asked them to reach out to you as soon as possible."

No response from the owner 50 hours later. So, unfortunately, I cannot recommend THIS Moe's location in any way. Honestly, I've never been treated so poorly in a customer service situation. They obviously figure that the college kids will offer them a continuously replenishing supply of customers so they don't care what the locals think or if...

My family, and I, in particular, had the worst dining experience we/I have ever had.

My adoptive father has dementia. However, he has never had a problem like he had this evening. Allegedly, he must have thought his food had the wrong meat on it, and/or that it was not hot enough.

I did not know if either of those complaints were valid.

However, according to one or more of those who worked there, he allegedly became unreasonable (in the manner that one with dementia could), while making these complaints.

I did not hear his words. Eventually, I noticed some comotion from those who worked there. When I inquired as to whether everyone/everything was alright, I was told that he had tried to get them to correct these problems with his food. I was told that when they would not correct these problems, he made an odd statement (which was not in his usual character). I then apologized and validated their complaints about him, for him, and also explained that he has dementia.

However, when I did this, one of those who worked there made an uncalled-for, hostile, and sarcastic remark towards me. None of the others who worked there and witnessed this even attempted to deescalate this situation. In fact, they went from being dissmissive towards me, to encouraging this situation to continue.

I told them we would leave, if they wanted.

Despite this, they continued with this treatment towards me.

Naturally, I eventually became fed up with the way I was being treated. While we were leaving, I responded in-kind towards one of one of their antics.

However, when I did this, one of those who worked there immediately escalated the situation (in the manner of bullies), and became loud and profane. That person, and a group of those who worked there, then quickly closed their distance from me, got in my face, and remained there. Next, they began to make threats of graphic, physical injury to me, despite the fact that all the while, I was still attempting to leave.

This made an otherwise simple task immeasurably more difficult, due to well-placed fears of unjustified physical attacks.

I started out by being understanding and compassionate. They responded with unjustified suspicion, then downright hostility. At every turn, they were the instigators and aggressors. Nobody deserves to be treated so...