Dairy Queen

1 is a very generous rating considering the food, the food preparation, the service and the serious stomach pains my daughter and I endured after eating there. First of all, the food prep is unhygienic, bare hands touching food, counter etc, which could explain why I’m in pain. Secondly, I watched a polite gentleman ahead of me in line place an order and pay for it in cash. While I was up next to order, one of the employees (?) from the back comes to the front counter and scolds the girl who took the order for accidentally undercharging the gentleman. Then this same person proceeded to tell the gentleman he didn’t pay enough and would need to pay the difference, even though this error was clearly that of DQ. The difference was a minuscule $ 1.20; DQ could have easily absorbed the cost (even from the tip jar) and not made a scene in front of the gentleman. Then comes my order. For 2 burgers costing $ 14, we watched them MICROWAVE the patties in front of us before serving them! Being gluten intolerant, I ordered my burger without a bun and no sauces, to be on the safe side. With no condiments to disguise the taste, the patties tasted like rancid fat; they were floppy yet dry (as you’d expect from microwaved food) despite the high fat content and they were anything BUT fresh. They disguised the overheated patties with a thin slice of tomato and a leaf of lettuce. We became nauseated mid-​way from eating the food and I’m surprised this DQ is permitted to stay open. We were so tempted to ask for a refund, but after seeing other patrons treated unfairly, we decided to simply leave and vowed NEVER to return. I hope this review saves many UofC students from unnecessary digestion issues!

I know, you’re thinking that a 5 star review for a fast food joint doesn’t seem quite right. But as far as fast food chain restaurants go, this place offers a little something extra that even some of the best restaurants in town could learn from.
I took an out of town visitor to Dairy Queen tonight with the hopes of finding an «Oh Henry» flavoured Blizzard. Unfortunately, this isn’t one of their stock flavours, but never fear, the extremely kind older gentleman behind the counter is extremely accommodating and suggested that if we were to go out and purchase an Oh Henry chocolate bar, he would custom make the desired Oh Henry Blizzard for us!
When we returned with our coveted chocolate bar, the same gentleman flashed us a huge grin and made the best damn Oh Henry Blizzard this town has ever seen. The Blizzards were packed with flavour and were made without crazy wait period. And true to the DQ way, they even flipped it upside down when they served it to us! Now that’s what I call going a little above and beyond to make the customer happy.
This helpful gentleman appears to run the place, and he was extremely kind, had a great sense of humour and as has a beautiful smile. I was absolutely impressed with my visit to this particular Dairy Queen and even though it is not the closest location to my house, the smile we got makes it worth the extra drive!
–
L

I swore to myself I’d do everything in my power to avoid writing a second 1-​star review, but I honestly can’t restrain myself. It’s 2:00 in the morning and I still feel compelled to log in to Unilocal and share the travesty that occurred.
Now, let’s not pretend, dear reader, that fast food places are known for their high quality offerings. No matter where you go — whether the Golden Arches or Arby’s (God have mercy on your soul), you should expect the kind of delivery that can only come when apathetic high school kids and people who can’t read the knobs on the machinery prepare food for you.
But that said, you sort of expect them to be subtle about the fact that what they’re about to serve you was cranked out of the food equivalent of a puppy mill.
Not so at this DQ.
I arrived in a hurry and ordered a grilled chicken sandwich. Now, do not be deceived by the name. The chicken is not grilled — and I have serious doubts as to how much of it is actually chicken. It IS, for the record, a sandwich.
I watched in horror as, behind the counter, my sandwich was assembled without gloves. I then watched in further horror as the chicken «patty» was pulled sloppily out of a little yellow bin and placed on my sandwich. Okay, not too horrific just yet, right?
But then the employee picked up my sandwich, condiments, lettuce, tomato and all — and MICROWAVED IT before sliding it down the adorable little metal chute.
Are. You. SERIOUS?!
I need not dispense with how utterly disgusted the thought of microwaved lettuce/​tomato makes me, but I will anyways.
When you see a beautiful woman, you know what often strikes your eye? Contrast. The same goes for a beautiful burger — the coolness of the lettuce and tomato are supposed to offer a refreshing counterweight to the savory heat of the patty. Instead I got something that looked like it was sat on by the Dairy Queen herself.
Would you serve someone a beer that had been sitting out in the sun for hours by BLOWING on it, hoping to mask the fact that it is in fact a warm, heinous beer?! I certainly hope not.
I’m actually appalled that my ENTIRE BURGER was just nonchalantly microwaved before my eyes. I don’t know if the grilled chicken is a less than popular option. I don’t know if they don’t move many — but what I DO know is that at peak time (dinner) you should not have to be microwaving your sandwich meats.
If I wanted to pay $ 5.00+ for an microwaved hamburger I would have walked across the street to the gas station and picked up one of the miserable soggy messes they leave sitting in their coolers for days on end, waiting for someone who has reached their personal all-​time-​low to come along, pick it up, microwave it and eat it while thinking about all the ways their life went horribly wrong.
The saddest part about this story is that I swallowed my pride and ate the damn thing because I had just come from the gym and desperately needed to have SOME sort of food in my stomach.
Just awful.

Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the gentleman behind the counter who served us but I had to come on here and share my gratitude. He was so friendly, he made my day (and loaded my blizzard :) your smile is contagious!