Smokey Row Coffee — Restaurant in Waukee

Had a very poor experience here today. My husband, three year old, and I came in around 12:15 and ordered two coffee drinks, one chocolate milk, one sandwich, and a kids grilled cheese. There were four other tables occupied and many empty. We grabbed a booth and put our table number right out in front. We received the chocolate milk and one coffee drink in about five minutes. The other coffee drink showed up around five minutes later.

And then the real wait began.....and went....and went...and went. At around 45 minutes since we had ordered, we watched people who had come in after us get their food. I went to investigate. I overheard one of the employees (tan sweater girl) telling another that she may have thrown away some tickets she thought were complete and obviously were not. Another table was agitated and waiting for food that had not arrived either.

The employees were clearly scrambling to figure out what to do. No one would make eye contact. They all ran off to the kitchen. When another employee emerges (bright blonde lady) I asked her if our sandwiches are coming. She tells me there are three of them back there working on it.

We waited another 10 minutes. The other table that was waiting has one sandwich show up "to go" instead of eat in, and they apparently haven't made the other. My husband went up to ask for a refund from tan sweater girl. She calls bright blonde lady out to handle it. After poking around the computer for a few minutes, she figured out how to refund us. She offered no apologies and would not look us in the eyes.

A few minutes later I approach the counter to ask if they are still making the sandwiches. Bright blonde lady tells me they are working on them

Another 10 minutes go by. The other table that had been waiting on food had eaten theirs and was gone. I approach the counter once more, asking tan sweater girl when our food is coming. She gets a look on her face, then tells me that someone must have thought we didn't want the food and they threw it away. Yes.....they made the food, then threw it in the trash as we continued to patiently wait in the same booth with our number displayed prominently.

I scoffed and shook my head and said "Jesus, you made a three year old wait over an hour for a grilled cheese, then threw it away." We grabbed our belongings and left. It was 1:40. My three year old was confused and began to cry when she figured out they threw away her food.

Neither the refund was offered, nor was an apology at any point in this whole ordeal. I'm not sure if it's a lack of training or just profound ineptitude, perhaps both. I would presume four employees would be able to handle the relatively modest number of customer orders witnessed during the nearly 90 minutes we were there. I will not...

I went this morning about 10:30am, 7-16-23. I ordered a large vanilla latte along with the full order of biscuits and gravy. After waiting 30 minutes I went up to the counter and the girl that had already taken my order looked at me as if she had never seen me and asked me how I was doing and what she could get for me. I told her I was waiting on what I had already ordered and she said they were just getting started on it right then. She then went to the back to obviously tell them to make it. She told me how they were short staffed. Yet the guy that was behind me, who told me he comes every day and loves the place, had received both of his drinks and his food by this time. At least three other people that came in after me had gotten their orders also. She then matter my latte but gave me a medium and not the large that I ordered . 15 minutes later when my order came out, my biscuits and gravy were packaged to go, not to stay, as I had wanted them. The biscuits looked like they were the prepackaged biscuits and the gravy definitely tasted and looked like it came from a can or something pre-made. I tried to cut into the biscuits but they were frozen in the middle. Kind of strange considering this the menu description ...."our yummy sausage gravy served over freshly baked warm biscuits"! When I told the guy who gave me my food that the biscuits were hard in the middle he told me he would get me some fresh ones. He didn't get them fresh he just slice them down the middle and must have put them in the microwave for a few seconds. The outsides were hot but the inside was still cold. I was extremely disappointed and realized that nobody that was working actually cared. Very...

I moved to Waukee recently and was excited to see that there was a Smokey Row close to my home. I had nothing but great experiences with the Ankeny location and was hoping for the same experience. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed a lack of consistency when it comes to their drinks. I usually order a strawberry smoothie with no whip cream. Out of the five times I’ve come to this location, only one has actually produced a smoothie on par with other Smokey Row locations. Sometimes I get strawberry milk and other times I get a drink that was not blended enough to the point that chunks of strawberry get stuck in the straw. I’m a huge fan of the business and only decided to post this review in the hopes of giving feedback for positive change. No anger at all...