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| - Before the Peoria location opened, I'd never had a Fatburger, I think I saw the chain in other cities but had never eaten at one. I ate at this one not long after it first opened, and I REALLY liked it. It was one of the better fast burgers that I've had. The fries were good, the place was clean, and I loved the number placard that they gave you to claim your meal with its music and burger trivia on it.
The placards went away, and apparently so did the initial quality and cleanliness.
I still like Fatburger burgers, but I don't know if I'll be returning to this location. I no longer live in Phoenix, so I pretty much only get to Fatburger when I come to town, and always thought of this as a good place. Well, sadly, it isn't that good of a place any more. The burgers, in my opinion, still taste good. But the place has suffered from neglect. There were only two people working there when I went there a couple of nights ago, and they were out of BACON. I gently chided the man on the register, how could a burger joint run out of bacon? He said the manager didn't order enough. And I guess it was impossible for a shift manager to take $40 out of the till and drive 3-5 miles to buy a bunch of bacon. Pretty lame, IMO.
That's pretty trivial, but it is indicative of a problem.
There were other indicators. First, the dining area hadn't been bussed. Tables were dirty, and that is not good. Second, the soda fountain had not been properly cleaned. Several levers were sticky with syrup, and that level of stickiness takes some time to build up. So proper cleaning procedure hadn't been followed for some time. Third, again attesting to the dining room not being properly maintained, they were all but empty of the little cups that you load with ketchup for your fries. They have two large bins for them and probably less than a dozen total available between the two.
To me, these indicate a total lack of concern from the owner/manager. The franchise is not being properly supervised, procedures are not being followed, and that is a problem.
Let's talk about my meal. My burger was cooked properly and done quickly. There were two orders ahead of me and the woman at the grill seemed to be getting orders out speedily. My cheddar cheese burger tasted good, even without the extra-crispy bacon that I wanted. I've always liked the flavor of a Fatburger, it must be the meat and fat mix plus seasoning. The fries, though hot, were a little under-done. And the soda mix was not correct, I think too much soda water. I did not get a refill, I nursed the one drink through my meal and got icewater when I left. This is, after all, Phoenix summer.
I would give them three stars for food, if they'd had the bacon I might have given them four.
So why am I giving them two stars overall?
A couple at a table had a problem with their meal. I don't know what, but the woman was talking about how she couldn't eat it. Maybe the order was incorrect or they included something on her burger that she had a sensitivity to. Regardless, the workers did not satisfy them, as a result the woman complained throughout their meal and said 'This is going up on Yelp as soon as I get home!' Well, it hasn't yet, so she either calmed down and realized that she was perhaps overreacting or she just didn't get around to it. But the workers did nothing to placate them. Any small business, especially food, needs repeat business, and they lost those two customers that night. Maybe the workers didn't have the authority to satisfy the people with a future comp'd meal, which would indicate that the owners/managers have a weak set of procedures in place that produced dissatisfaction.
I got the feeling that the place was under-staffed. I never saw more than two people, and neither came in to the dining room to clean. After the unhappy couple left without busing their table, that table sat uncleaned for over half an hour until I left. But on top of that, they had very little business that evening. I arrived around 7pm and stayed for an hour. One person came in after that picking up an order to go, one family came in just as I was leaving. That's not enough business to justify staying open.
Maybe it was a slow night. Maybe they were shot-staffed that night. Maybe management is on vacation. Regardless, this location's owner and management need to take a serious look at how this site is operating, because otherwise, they're going to start losing money if they're not already.
For me, there are lots of places to get hamburgers, including Smashburger, The Habit, Steakenburger, Wineburger, etc. There's lots of places to get good burgers, and all of those locations have better numbers than this Fatburger.
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