Dairy Queen Grill & Chill — Restaurant in Vancouver

I am old and grouchy. I am not an ice cream/Blizzard kinda guy. I prefer the crunchings and munchings of tender young hobbitses and unicorn steaks. I likes to pull the wings from fairies like plucking petals from daisies and the chewiness of naked mole rats. I mean I never went to a DQ even as a callow youth back in its heyday, before the fall, before most cities joined Dante’s circles of hell.

Walking up to the window feels like I am the villain in a movie about better, simpler times. The place is shrouded in time, a bug stuck in amber. I don’t have a clue what to order, the signboards are way too far away for my rheumy eyes, the poor girl at the window barely audible to my mechanical ears. But luckily they have a menu of their buzzards, I mean blizzards posted in their window. I got this salted carnal (sp) chocolate thing and for my wife, a chocolate brownie extreme concoction, both of which were frightening in their resistance to gravity when held upside down. And then I struck out for home! However before I pulled out of the parking lot I made the mistake of tasting mine… oh amazing visions of decadent dancing girls, semi clad in frilly red dresses and impossible spiked heels!

Cold and thick with large chunks of caramel that stuck to my dentures and turned that cup into a freewheeling adventure! Suffice it to say the thing did not make it home, but I finished it off sitting in front of my old mouldering castle.

Damn! Now when I drive by Dairy Queen I won’t be able to look down my nose with disdain of the local peasants lined up at their window like beggars waiting for alms… no I will have to struggle with myself not to stop and join the line. No wonder these place are still in business after 80 years. Like a little snippet cut out of time. So decadent and rich, it might creep into my dreams like a shaft of happy sunlight breaking into a dark and dusty room.

What what have I been missing all these years? Perhaps if I had discovered it earlier I would not be as crabby and difficult as I now am. More Willy Wonka and...

Well, I can no longer recommend this specific location after multiple service issues over the last year to include the staff shutting the grill down 30 to 60 minutes before their stated closing hours, orders being wrong, massive wait times & downtown turning corner in the past 10 years.

There are simply other choices, even fast food ones, very close to include Subway, Taco Time, McDonald's, Burgerville & others.

The final straw came this evening when they handed me my large Blizzard & said "We'll let you know when your food is ready."

Umm...it's 94 degrees out, and for those who don't know outside temperatures are measured in the shade not in direct Sun in a parking lot. What exactly am I supposed to do with a Blizzard, other than eat it, before I have my burger & fries?

I ask how long it will be before my food is ready & I receive a blank stare thinking it might just be a minute...maybe two. No response...just staring. I prompt with "2 minutes?" to which I am told they don't know. I ask for it to be put in the freezer & approximately 4 minutes later I get all my food.

I live less than 3 minutes away & my Blizzards are always melting to the point I need a lid or they start spilling from the vehicle's cup holder no matter how hot/cold it is outside.

As I said already, downtown Vancouver is changing & while DQ did a facelift & upgraded a lot of their equipment in the past few years the service and/or training has dropped off.

It won't be me who breaks their bank, but they themselves & the changing environment of what is moving in to downtown.

I will take my 9600 DQ points, hit their 118th location for ice cream cakes, treat my co-workers & bid adieu.

(Purchase today at...

Tuesday September 14th right before close ordered chicken strips and my fries were cold, I brought them back to the window asking them if I could get fresh ones, they looked at them and said that they couldn’t do that because I’ve already eaten some. I literally had one bite of one fry that had no heat to it at all and explained this to them but the staff argued with me and told me they couldn’t remake my fries because the Order was 20 min prior, I explained I ordered 20 min ago yes but didn’t receive my food but a few min ago, long enough to walk to my car and open it and try a fry and walk back to the window my guess because they were getting ready to close. I was shocked at the response I was getting so I left the cold fries with them and left but turned around halfway to the car because my son really wanted fries, when I reached the window they shut the lights off on me, I waved the cashier and asked if I paid for another order of fries if I could have edible ones. She told me they were closed now but took my payment again anyway, but the cook making my food wasn’t even wearing a mask during the mandate! When they brought me the fries I asked if she was the manager and she said she was one of the assistant managers, I asked her name and she asked why, I told her because I was going to leave a complaint with the GM/owner and she refused to give it to me. It was the closing manager September 14th and she was very rude and unprofessional and also was handling my food with a mask only covering her mouth and not her nose, hire new staff because your closing manager does not know how to run the restaurant when real managers aren’t...