Wendy's — Restaurant in Washington

Love Wendy's - decided to stop off to try their holiday peppermint Frosty as a treat for my wife and I. (side note - could not get their app to work so I figured I just stop in and place my order).

Arrived and there were three cars in the drive thru ahead of me - not too bad. Should have the Frosties shortly. And... that's where I sat for about ten minutes.

What the heck could the front car be ordering that was taking so long. The car ahead of me finally had enough and left.

That gave me enough room to pull up so I could get out of the line, park, and order inside. There were no other cars there and just one person sitting at a table eating.

This was the perfect plan! Pulled into a convenient spot close to the door and walked over. Hmmm...door was locked. Then I see the handwritten note posted to the door saying due to being severely short staffed, they were only serving via the drive thru and we're very sorry.

Ugh! That sucks big time! The one person who was eating at a table was an employee on what I am sure was a very well-deserved break. Fully understand and support that.

Quickly hop back in my car to get back in line as getting the Peppermint Frosties had become a mission. I would not leave empty handed.

In the less than two minutes I was out of line, two more cars pulled in. Curses!

Making my way to the back of the line I decided to chillax. After another ten minutes or so the front car moved!

After another ten minutes I had my two peppermint Frosties.

The peppermint Frosties were pretty good. Nice holiday treat, but I think I will stick to the chocolate Frosty.

It is unfortunate that they are so short on staffing that this would happen. Hopefully they will be able to get the...

Entire restaurant was empty except for a full staff of employees. Nevertheless, the staff managed to forget my receipt and served me a burger that was covered in grease--it quickly disintegrated as I was eating it. I went back in for my receipt, overheard a joke about spitting in "white boy's burger", stood at the counter for about five minutes while the supervisor ignored me, other employees made eye contact and said and did nothing. Drive thru cashier finally noticed me and gave me my receipt upon request. There were NO other customers at the restaurant this entire time.

I will never eat here again.

Update 04-02-24: a friend told me that Wendy's cleaned up their act and provide an at least tolerable experience. I sat behind two cars in an otherwise empty store, watched one car pull forward and the next car waiting to place their order. After ten minutes of waiting, I left the drive thru without ordering--I'm not going to wait until the first car's order is complete, and then wait another ten minutes for the loser employees to take the next order, and THEN order my food myself and wait ten minutes for loser employees to slowly assemble a sandwich and cold soggy fries.

Sonic is next door, and they usually only take 5 minutes before allowing people to order and move forward.

How do these restaurants stay open when they only serve one...

I recently visited this Wendy's to pick up an order, and my experience was extremely disappointing. The management was noticeably absent and seemed to lack any sense of urgency. There were orders sitting on the screen for over half an hour, and I found myself warning other guests as they walked in. An elderly man with his granddaughter, a Hispanic family, a couple, and a mother with her daughter all ended up leaving in frustration. One mother reassuring her daughter the Krabby Patty should be around a few more days before leaving.

While I was there, it was clear that everyone waiting shared the same sentiment about the poor service. At one point, another guest even told a group I was talking to, "Good luck." To make matters worse, a worker quit right in the middle of all this chaos, clearly overwhelmed and unsupported. The management didn't even notice she had left for over ten minutes.

On a positive note, the front counter employee was doing his best to help customers despite the lack of support from his manager. Unfortunately, he was even reprimanded for assisting a customer who had been waiting far too long for just fountain cups.

Overall, this location is poorly managed and frustrating to visit. I hope they address these issues soon, as it’s clear the team needs better leadership...