Zesto of West Columbia — Restaurant in West Columbia

8Jun2024: Just go somewhere else, its not worth the stress. $12.95 for a double cheeseburger with a small fry, small coleslaw and no drink?

NEXT ORDER! If this is your first visit to Zesto, this is the greeting they use to serve you. Its the kind of restaurant that treats you as a number, instead of a human being that is going to pay for food. I am going to explain why stars were taken away for each hit leading to the ratings.

Food: 1. Long hair embedded into my cheeseburger due to overstaffing and no hair nets being worn (see picture). 2. Coleslaw is gross, it was salty, why is there salt in it? 3. Beef patty is flavorless. 4. Fries were cold and wet. 5. Sweet tea tasted like the dishrag used to clean out the container. Food not worth the price.

Service: NEXT ORDER! This phrase is shouted to cue the next patron to step up and yell their order over the staff who is working behind the employees and shouting at each other. 1. My wife and i stood there for about 4mins deciding what to order for our family of five and it was continuously shouted towards us, as everyone else around us had already ordered. 2. No hair nets = hair in food sometimes. 3. The employee had an attitude because she was writing faster than i was talking, and had to keep erasing due to assuming what i was going to say next.

Atmosphere: 1. Uninviting- staff shout at you. 2. Unwelcoming- no greeting offered as you approach the counter. 3. The vibe that you're bothering the staff by giving them your order is really what pushed me into giving the most detail possible on this review.

We will not be returning here, I didn't even want to use the restroom at this place because I was so fed up with it. After returning the burger with hair, the picture of an open burger is to show how there's almost no ketchup on it after requesting...

Our family was so excited to try this place based on the reviews. We are huge fried chicken and coleslaw fans, so we were looking forward to it. We're not locals, so we didn't know the ordering/seating system. Tye employees were impatient, staunch and unhelpful even when we asked questions it was as if we were wasting their time to ask a question or two. Still, once we got through the poor body language and impatient and unfriendly service, we figured out we needed to go outside and around to get our food. We were still excited to try the food. That's where the disappointment continued. This was the absolute saltiest fried chicken and coleslaw we have ever had. The fries actually had no seasoning. There was no seasoning or flavor to the chicken, except that of lots of salt. It was just harsh and hard to swallow. We asked for ranch hoping to balance the salt, but they didn't have that. Asked for a couple honey mustards and that was $1.50, so we passed. We had hoped the slaw would be a little bit sweet and creamy to help offset our parched salty palates. The coleslaw was bad, too. The sweet tea tasted like there was dirty rags inside the tea container. It tasted mildewy. It's hard to mess up fried chicken and sweet tea, but...

I have eaten here multiple times and have always enjoyed it but my last visit was very disappointing to say the least. My family and I ordered burger and chicken baskets to go. I had chicken basket. The first bite of chicken was EXTREMELY SALTY. My husband had a burger basket and side of chicken as well and his chicken was the same. The burger was fine. I tried one more bite and realized the saltiness was throughout the chicken. I couldn’t eat it. I called the restaurant back to notify them of this and the cashier gave the phone to whoever I assume was the manager or supervisor. I explained to him how salty the chicken was and I told him it tasted like it had possibly been brined. He basically yelled at me and told me that they season their chicken the same way always. I explained that I have had their chicken multiple times and it had never been this salty. I stated that it seems like it could have been a mistake. He said “well I don’t know what to tell you”. He blew me off, didn’t even attempt to rectify the problem and acted like I was a nuisance. I was left with inedible food. I will NEVER return here to spend my hard earned money. I don’t know what has happened to this place but it has gone...