Barb Caffrey's Blog

Folks, a couple of weeks ago, I went to the Culver’s restaurant (the 21st Street location in Racine, for those of you in Southeastern Wisconsin or Northern Illinois). Most of the time, Culver’s gets its orders correct, and most of the time when it doesn’t, it has tried to make it right.

Except…not this time.

I’d ordered fish, broccoli, and mashed potatoes for me, and burgers, plus another order of fish (also with broccoli and mashed potatoes) for my mother. The burgers were fine. No trouble whatsoever. But the fish was another story entirely, as were the “fixings.”

The broccoli was good. (Mom’s dog, little Brat, likes broccoli, and she enjoyed what I didn’t eat. Mind that I do like broccoli quite a bit, but two orders of it is just a bit much.) But the fish was all fat and almost no meat, and the mashed potatoes were crunchy. While there was some gravy on the potatoes, it didn’t help.

So, of the six pieces of fish, only two were of decent quality. One was of marginal quality. The other three were all fat, and by the time I got to my Mom’s, the restaurant had already closed so there was no point in calling them.

I was ill for a few days, so I had to wait to call them until nearly three days after I’d had this bad experience.

Now, here’s where my rant comes in. (You’ll understand why in a bit.)

If someone complains to you that the food was not right, and that the potatoes in particular were crunchy (not what you’re supposed to have with mashed potatoes), you shouldn’t be told, “You waited too long to let us know.”

But that’s what I was told.

In addition to the “you waited too long” comment, my experience and that of my mother was downgraded to “it must not have been that bad because you didn’t tell us right away,” and my asking them to please make sure other customers did not get crunchy mashed potatoes and/or fish that was all fat and no meat didn’t go anywhere. Something was wrong with the food preparation there, and I said so.

My concerns were not treated well. The manager I spoke to by phone was obviously young, but that’s no excuse. I had the feeling throughout my call that the manager thought I was a crackpot. (Or looney tunes. Or crazy. Pick your poison.) I didn’t like that. At all.

No customer deserves to be treated the way I was. It’s just not right.

Anyway, back to the phone call. I tried one more time, explaining to this same guy that I often went to this particular Culver’s because the burgers are great. I stopped there several times a month, and occasionally more than once a week. Mostly the food was good. But that doesn’t mean I should just shut up when the food is terrible, and I wasn’t about to do that.

There was no resolution to my call. The manager basically blew me off.

Then, I wrote to Culver’s using their email submission form. But I heard nothing, absolutely nothing, back from them, either. And that just made me madder.

Do these people think I have all day to sit around writing emails and calling them about bad food and poor service from the manager after a complaint? Do they honestly believe I’d just make this crap up? When I’d been a regular customer for years?

So that’s where I’m at. I do not like being condescended to, and I really don’t like my observations being thrown out the window because “it’s three days too late.”

Since this Culver’s did not do anything to make this right, my only recourse is to not go there anymore. And furthermore, I wrote this blog to let others know in this area that they might want to avoid this Culver’s, as the management staff obviously doesn’t care at all what happens to their customers.

There are two other Culver’s restaurants in Racine County that I’m aware of, and if I really need to go there (or my Mom wants her favorite burgers again), I’ll be going to one of those two and leaving the 21st Street location alone. I’ve never had bad experiences at either one of those and am at least willing to give them a chance.

But 21st Street? Nope. Never again.

The upshot here is, the 21st Street Culver’s should’ve known better than this. No matter when someone complains, it’s likely they had a real problem if they still remember it three days later. (I wish I’d have taken photos of the crunchy potatoes. I didn’t think of it at the time. I’m not sure the fish would’ve been able to be seen, but those potatoes…yikes.) Especially when someone like me, who often stops there and has for years, complains about something odd like this, they should not be condescended to, and they definitely should not be treated as if they don’t matter.

I have no idea what happened to my comments at the email submission form. But at this point, I don’t care. I’m really upset with this Culver’s location, and I do not plan to go back there ever again.

Take this as a public service, folks. If you live in this area, avoid that Culver’s. They don’t know how to treat customers. And the food will likely not be up to par.