Smashburger Printable Coupon: Buy One Get One Free Entree

Quote from TDMVP73 : If you really found it that unacceptable, I would call Corporate or ask to speak with the general manager of the individual store. Not only will you probably get a free meal out of it, but they will also take steps to correct the cleanliness. If nobody complains to someone higher up, they won't do anything. With that said, my local Smashburger locations are very clean, so I think your poor experience may be location specific. I know the GM, managers, and cooks at the restaurant I'm a regular at... and they all take pride in making sure customers are satisfied. Also, as for the menus being dirty.... they do have paper to-go menus and the menu is posted in the front window outside the restaurant, as well as on the front of each cash register. I don't think I've ever touched a laminated or bound menu from Smashburger before, but by now, I also know what I want every time. Finally, I don't know what time you went... but you may have just come in after a major crowd. So while the restaurant may have been seemingly dead when you were in there, the place could have been very busy beforehand. That's not an excuse for all the trash on the floor, dirty tables and seats, etc., but just keep that in mind. I know that from 6 PM to 8 PM, there will sometimes be a line out the doors. A lot of people bring their kids and they throw stuff on the floor, spill drinks, and make things a mess.

Funny thing is I filled in their survey honestly (the one on the receipt) and got a call from the manager the next day apologizing and telling me he was working on it.
He did mail me some certificates for us to try again and guess what---the certificates he sent were filthy. One looked like it was slept with and another was full of grease stains. the last one only had 1 food stain. I could not believe it and called the manager and asked if he sent the certificates out or if someone did it for him.
He tried telling me that he did not remember and then proceeded to tell me they do recycle the certificates. I recycle everything I can but sending filthy certificates to someone who is complaining about cleanliness is a little much,
I did bring the certificates in to the store for him to see (and exchange) and I made sure to go when there would definitely be no crowds. The store was empty- not 1 customer and the employees were all standing around and talking when I walked in. I glanced around and saw the station where the tableware is had dirt on the floor and the area at the trash receptacles had food and napkins, etc on the outside instead of inside. I did not bother to check the dining area because if the serving area looked the way it did I was fairly sure the dining area was probably not much better.
Please note as I stated originally when I walked in the employees were just standing around and talking among themselves and believe me if I could see the dirt they should be able to as well....so yes, before I posted this I did report it but nothing seemed to be done about it....

Quote from coupon queen : Funny thing is I filled in their survey honestly (the one on the receipt) and got a call from the manager the next day apologizing and telling me he was working on it. He did mail me some certificates for us to try again and guess what---the certificates he sent were filthy. One looked like it was slept with and another was full of grease stains. the last one only had 1 food stain. I could not believe it and called the manager and asked if he sent the certificates out or if someone did it for him. He tried telling me that he did not remember and then proceeded to tell me they do recycle the certificates. I recycle everything I can but sending filthy certificates to someone who is complaining about cleanliness is a little much, I did bring the certificates in to the store for him to see (and exchange) and I made sure to go when there would definitely be no crowds. The store was empty- not 1 customer and the employees were all standing around and talking when I walked in. I glanced around and saw the station where the tableware is had dirt on the floor and the area at the trash receptacles had food and napkins, etc on the outside instead of inside. I did not bother to check the dining area because if the serving area looked the way it did I was fairly sure the dining area was probably not much better. Please note as I stated originally when I walked in the employees were just standing around and talking among themselves and believe me if I could see the dirt they should be able to as well....so yes, before I posted this I did report it but nothing seemed to be done about it....

As I said, seems like a location specific issue. I think it's pretty funny that even that the comp. certificates looked dirty, but I don't think I would have had the guts to complain about receiving free food.

I would recommend trying a different location if possible because that one seems poorly managed and a far cry from the ones I've visited. Maybe calling corporate would help, but at some point, the employees are going to start giving you special sauce on your sandwiches. Honestly, it sounds like someone from corporate needs to do a surprise visit and see things the way they are.

Oh, and I'm not surprised that the employees were standing around doing nothing. It's basically a minimum wage job + a % of the tip bowl. If the manager doesn't get on them about getting things done, it's only natural the restaurant will look like a pig sty.

Quote from TDMVP73 : As I said, seems like a location specific issue. I think it's pretty funny that even that the comp. certificates looked dirty, but I don't think I would have had the guts to complain about receiving free food. I would recommend trying a different location if possible because that one seems poorly managed and a far cry from the ones I've visited. Maybe calling corporate would help, but at some point, the employees are going to start giving you special sauce on your sandwiches. Honestly, it sounds like someone from corporate needs to do a surprise visit and see things the way they are. Oh, and I'm not surprised that the employees were standing around doing nothing. It's basically a minimum wage job + a % of the tip bowl. If the manager doesn't get on them about getting things done, it's only natural the restaurant will look like a pig sty.

I have heard from others that the other Smashburger Locations around here are nothing like the one we went to....So we will probably take the coupons and try a different location.
don't get me wrong- I was not complaining about free food but being given filthy coupons that I did not want to even touch to get the free food was a problem.
If food is not handled properly in a mass produced setting such as a restaurant you can have all kinds of digestive problems and not even know why....since you had no way of knowing what happened to it unless you go by your gut feeling which in this case was not good.
I did leave a message for the local health department here a week or 2 ago on their answering machine saying I would like to have someplace checked out since I suspected they might not be meeting all health codes due to the dirt in the dining room. I never heard back from them in the form of a phone call so I am fairly sure the chance of them going top inspect them would be pretty much nil.

Quote from coupon queen : I have heard from others that the other Smashburger Locations around here are nothing like the one we went to....So we will probably take the coupons and try a different location. don't get me wrong- I was not complaining about free food but being given filthy coupons that I did not want to even touch to get the free food was a problem. If food is not handled properly in a mass produced setting such as a restaurant you can have all kinds of digestive problems and not even know why....since you had no way of knowing what happened to it unless you go by your gut feeling which in this case was not good. I did leave a message for the local health department here a week or 2 ago on their answering machine saying I would like to have someplace checked out since I suspected they might not be meeting all health codes due to the dirt in the dining room. I never heard back from them in the form of a phone call so I am fairly sure the chance of them going top inspect them would be pretty much nil.

Yeah, I understand what you're saying. I would definitely try another location... as I've had nothing but positive things to say about all my visits to Smashburger.

At least you were able to get a number to call for the health department! In my area, the Health Department only lists an e-mail for all complaints. Even then, I can imagine they don't follow up on the majority of them. There's one Chinese Buffet I can think of that's been open for years which definitely serves food below the minimum serving temperature. They leave chicken dishes out for hours and I'm pretty sure their warmers either aren't working or somethings wrong.

Quote from TDMVP73 : Yeah, I understand what you're saying. I would definitely try another location... as I've had nothing but positive things to say about all my visits to Smashburger. At least you were able to get a number to call for the health department! In my area, the Health Department only lists an e-mail for all complaints. Even then, I can imagine they don't follow up on the majority of them. There's one Chinese Buffet I can think of that's been open for years which definitely serves food below the minimum serving temperature. They leave chicken dishes out for hours and I'm pretty sure their warmers either aren't working or somethings wrong.

I tend to be very careful because of an experience we had a few years back.
We used to slice the deli size provisions for Ronald McDonald House and another charity and it was really hard on me with my little home slicer. I was slicing at least 30 lbs per week.
A local pizzeria advertised a free automatic slicing machine (a major brand) for free. We picked it up and when we got it home we thought we would be ill. The amount of crude and food that was encrusted on there was unbelievable. Since it was not working we brought it to the manufacturer locally and they were kind enough to fix it just for the price of the parts- they donated the labor since we were paying for it (and the repair would have been 600.) Long story short I mentioned to them how disgusting the machine was and the comment I got was- this was good. At least there were no bugs, etc encrusted in the dirt on this one.
The saddest part of this is the restaurant this came out of had an A rating.. Scarey- isn't it?

Quote from coupon queen : I tend to be very careful because of an experience we had a few years back. We used to slice the deli size provisions for Ronald McDonald House and another charity and it was really hard on me with my little home slicer. I was slicing at least 30 lbs per week. A local pizzeria advertised a free automatic slicing machine (a major brand) for free. We picked it up and when we got it home we thought we would be ill. The amount of crude and food that was encrusted on there was unbelievable. Since it was not working we brought it to the manufacturer locally and they were kind enough to fix it just for the price of the parts- they donated the labor since we were paying for it (and the repair would have been 600.) Long story short I mentioned to them how disgusting the machine was and the comment I got was- this was good. At least there were no bugs, etc encrusted in the dirt on this one. The saddest part of this is the restaurant this came out of had an A rating.. Scarey- isn't it?

Oh, yeah, I know that pizzeria's are notorious for nasty stuff like that. One of my friends works at one and she said there's like little bugs and all kinds of junk underneath the blades on their machines. And like you said, the place has an A rating... so they must not be looking very closely!

I've heard all kinds of horror stories over the years.

Here's one about Hooters that makes me cringe:
LINK [tumblr.com]

Quote from TDMVP73 : Oh, yeah, I know that pizzeria's are notorious for nasty stuff like that. One of my friends works at one and she said there's like little bugs and all kinds of junk underneath the blades on their machines. And like you said, the place has an A rating... so they must not be looking very closely! I've heard all kinds of horror stories over the years. Here's one about Hooters that makes me cringe: LINK [tumblr.com]

I've read worse. Much worse. It doesn't take very many trips around the Internet before you've read a story, like that one, about almost every restaurant on this planet. Basically, people making your food in the back have no idea about cleanliness.

Quote from TDMVP73 : Oh, yeah, I know that pizzeria's are notorious for nasty stuff like that. One of my friends works at one and she said there's like little bugs and all kinds of junk underneath the blades on their machines. And like you said, the place has an A rating... so they must not be looking very closely! I've heard all kinds of horror stories over the years. Here's one about Hooters that makes me cringe: LINK [tumblr.com]

Several years ago when we lived back East it was reported that a chain called Food Lion used to bleach the meat products that were past their prime in the same way so they could sell them.

Will try today. Hoping for a good experience.... Houston, TX.

We are going to out Smashburgers' today or tomorrow for the first time. Thanks for this deal @OP, will be decent savings with the BOGO entree. : )

*Reminder* today is the last day for the BOGO.

I just played the game again and the coupon is now for a free side item with the purchase of an entree...not bad considering most sides are $3 at the location closest to me.