Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits

A friend, her two teens and I decided to swing by the drive through and pick up dinner. We were the only ones in line. It took a while to be served and were wondering if perhaps the speaker was broken. The lady came on the speaker and while she wasn’t rude, it was clear by the tone of her voice that she was stressed. She also had trouble understanding our order and after several minutes we pulled to the window noticing that there were two vehicles parked. Wanting to be sure our order was correct, we clarified the order once again and the lady expressed that it would be a 10 minute wait. We didn’t mind and parked the car. The 10 minute wait turned into 20 minutes and we noticed that other customers were placing their orders and leaving with their food while we just sat there. One of the people in the other vehicles walked inside the restaurant, promptly came out with food and drove off. Just as we were beginning to do the same, a lady came out and brought our food. She apologized several times and explained that it was her first day on drive through. She was not only looking like she was about to cry, but was sweating profusely, wiping it off her face with her hand. After checking the order for being packed properly, we thanked her and drove off.
The GOOD:
The food was delicious. For paying $ 40 I would hope so.
The BAD:
1)Slow service. Yes, this was rush hour but being a restaurant, this is not an excuse. There are too many other places to get good fried chicken than for this establishment not to be prepared for a dinner rush. This is the South after all and good fried chicken is everywhere.
2)A new person on drive through during dinner rush without assistance? What the hell is management thinking? Why wasn’t management helping her? Why was she left to herself to figure out how to properly (or in her case, improperly) handle multiple orders?
3)While she was a sweet employee, her profuse sweat was inexcusable. Yes, it’s hot in there, Yes, she was incredibly stressed and we all know grossly underpaid. However, she (and every sweaty, food handling employee) needs to keep a towelette or napkin on her person to wipe it off of her. When someone is handling my food, the last thing I want to see is beaded perspiration, then witness it being wiped off with bare hands.
This is a horrible reflection on horrible management. This is NOT the fault of the girl and I sincerely hope she is not reprimanded for management’s shortcomings. Management needs to either get additional training so they can better educate their employees on professional appearance or they need to step down and let someone better qualified take over. Perhaps he/​she can request additional training with their district manager so they can pass that down to the rest of the staff. Fast food employees are generally young as was the young lady who helped us and they need proper and kind guidance from strong management.
Would I recommend this place? I would try other fried chicken places first before sending friends to this place.
1 star removed for slow service.
1 star removed for allowing other customers to get their order before us.
1 star removed for management allowing untrained employee to serve during dinner rush.

For a fast food place, Popeye’s is great. Love the seasonings. Usually get the red beans and rice plus Cajun rice with spicy chicken tenders. Service is quick. Food hot. Love my Popeye’s

I try not to let a bad experience keep me from black listing a business, but Popeye’s in Lufkin will never see another dime of my money. A few years ago my wife and I were dining in, placed an order and got some undercooked chicken, not a problem in and of itself, give the establishment an opportunity to correct the problem and go on. I took the undercooked chicken to the counter and showed it to the cashier. The cashier got the cook, The cook looked at it and said, «Even when chicken is done, sometimes it will bleed at the bone.» I told the cook that was unacceptable that I wanted my money back and would leave. The cook said the owner of the franchise was already on her way and should be there any minute. I waited until the owner showed up, which wasn’t long and explained what happened. The owner said she would gladly replace the undercooked chicken. At this point my wife and I were past the point of irritation and I told her I didn’t want the chicken, that I wanted my money back. She refused, a decision on her part that has cost her business a lot of my money over the years. My wife loves fried chicken, I’m not so keen on it, but we get it all the time and in the years since the undercooked chicken incident we haven’t bought anything from the Lufkin Popeye’s, and won’t. It’s a shame because the sides are so good, no one in town can match their biscuits or their dirty rice, but this is one of those occasions where the principle trumps letting go of the hard feelings. I wasn’t being unreasonable in requesting my money back, the owner was being greedy in not refunding the order. My boycott may not have hurt her business, and that’s too bad as far as I’m concerned but it’s not going to change my mind.

This is very good as far as fast food restaurants go. I had a shrimp po’boy and red beans & rice for lunch and could not have been more pleased with its taste. The atmosphere is nice and while a bit slow, the service is great.

I try be complete in my reviews. My complete review of this restaurant is
Fncking disgusting sh1te