Chick-fil-A — Restaurant in West Des Moines

Terrible. We came in at 3:15 PM on Thursday, May 26. We ordered at the counter for 3 people. I have 3 issues I’d like to bring to managements attention. I couldn’t find an email & tried calling but extension 5 just rang so this is my attempt at making them aware.

The gentleman who took the order struggled with making change, but that’s fine we could wait & I’m sure that with todays environment the strongest team members aren’t working the counter however he was also unfriendly - this never used to happen at Chick-fil-A. Even during the heights of the pandemic Chick-fil-A offered incredibly friendly service.

Our beverages has almost NO ICE. This has become a regular occurrence at the University Ave location & we heard other patrons complaining about it also. I had five little melted cubes in my large glass of tea. The same thing happened with my lemonade last week. I didn’t realize that supply chain issues extended to ice. Surely there is a solution to be found here.

One of my waffle fries tasted like mold. Unfortunately, although we ate most our meal inside, I took my waffle fries with me to eat in the car on the way to our appointment, as we’re running a little later than planned, otherwise I would have made staff aware of it at that moment.

Additionally, if you are going to open the dining room it shouldn’t still feel like a storage area. This is the first time I’ve come inside the store since covid, and you obviously don’t want people to do so. I’m really shocked at how far this restaurant has slipped. It was remarkable during covid and there are obviously managerial issues at this time that need to...

Last night was HORRIBLY off. Got in left line past the driveway (not a long line extending past the building or anything). Both lanes were filled right to the end of the initial drive through lanes but not beyond that. Waited 6 minutes, line has not moved at all. Eventually someone comes out with a tablet to take orders. Awesome. That is usually where Chik-fil-a shines and gets things really moving along in the drive thru. More people have now arrived and there are at least 10 cars behind us and 10 cars behind the car that was last in line in the right lane when we arrived. Person with the tablet is ONLY taking orders from the right lane. Takes 8 orders from cars that arrived 6-15+ minutes after us. Our line never moves. I've seen the tablet order takers alternate from line to line before but apparently that was not an option last night, and we were now stuck in line with at least 8 people that were served before us that got there long after we did. Screaming hungry toddler. We're trapped in the line, so we have no choice but to wait with the wails of a hungry monster in the backseat with us. I asked politely at the window why they were helping so many people that arrived after us and the girl said "because we only have 1 headset" and seemed genuinely annoyed that I even said anything. I was only feeding my kids but my teenager said it was cold and not up to par with their typical standards - he ended up eating frozen...

We usually love CFA, but our visit passing through West Des Moines was rather disappointing. While we had a decent fast food meal, the experience was not up to par with the high standards that are typical of the franchise chain.

With 2 toddlers on a road trip, we specifically routed to this location for the play area. However, upon arrival, we found that the play area was closed and being used for storage. This was standard during “unprecedented times”, but a little odd to still find that the case, especially considering the main entry boasted a face-full of shelving, cardboard boxes, and excess catering items. Likewise, our table sat next to a third makeshift closet that housed winter attire (our visit occurred in August). In front of the closed play area was a long table reserved for staff on their break (not a bad thing). But because there were so many areas sectioned off, the remaining eating area and tables for the guests felt cramped and unwelcoming. The dining area itself was untidy – nothing terrible, just uncharacteristic of a normal CFA. The AC did not seem to be working, and it felt stuffy. The staff were generally cordial, but as a patron, I felt like we were in the way. I realize we were there during dinner-time rush. And had this been any other fast-food chain, I wouldn’t think twice about these seemingly petty things - just not our normal...