These 8 Restaurant Chains Got The Worst Customer Reviews In 2025 (So Far)

There's nothing quite like the disappointment of a terrible restaurant. You know the feeling — you've paid good money, you're hungry, and the meal that arrives at your table is so bad that you wouldn't serve it to your worst enemy. To help you avoid this disaster, we've waded through the customer reviews from 2025 to pinpoint exactly which restaurant chains are earning the most complaints. Consider this your warning list.

We dug into multiple trusted sources including Trustpilot, Yelp, Consumer Affairs, and the highly regarded American Customer Satisfaction Index to identify which restaurants are consistently disappointing customers across the board.

There's something darkly fascinating about reading other people's restaurant horror stories, and what we uncovered was certainly eye-opening. Some of the restaurants on our list are struggling with shocking cleanliness problems — think cockroaches on tables, hair in food, and bathrooms that are downright unsanitary. Others are clearly dealing with staffing challenges, whether it's not having enough employees to handle customer volume or staff members who are poorly trained and outright rude to diners. And then there are chains where the food itself is the main culprit, with customers reporting everything from cold, stale meals to dishes that barely resemble what was advertised. So which chains made the list? Some of these names might surprise you.

When it comes to measuring customer satisfaction, one of the best reports is the American Customer Satisfaction Index. It was developed by researchers at the University of Michigan in 1994 and remains one of the most well-known and widely used measures for tracking the quality of goods and services from the customer's perspective.

Unfortunately for Sonic though, the news isn't good. The chain scored a disappointing 73 in 2025, falling well short of the 79 point average for quick-service restaurants. Even more concerning? It has fallen considerably from last year's score of 76, suggesting things are heading downhill fast for Sonic.

Over on Trustpilot, Sonic's reputation takes an even harder hit with a dismal 1.5-star rating. It seems like every problem under the sun is plaguing this chain. Customers report dealing with rude staff, shakes that arrive runny instead of thick, and an ordering system and app that is often not working. Getting orders wrong appears to be a regular occurrence, and even worse are the complaints about undercooked food.

One customer's experience captures the extent of Sonic's problems. After ordering through the app, she waited a staggering 50 minutes at a pickup stall — only to receive a meal where literally nothing was right. The onion rings arrived black and burnt. Her chicken wrap featured soggy lettuce with hardly any chicken, and it was all served cold. Even the Sprite was off, tasting like "water with bubbles." This poor lady just couldn't catch a break.

On Consumer Affairs, this pizza chain holds a dismal 1.2 rating, with most of the problems here seeming to stem from poor customer service. Reviewers describe staff members who are not just unhelpful, but actively dismissive. Customers report employees talking to them with their backs turned, avoiding eye contact, and showing an unwillingness to answer basic questions. Health and safety concerns also surface, with complaints about staff not wearing gloves while handling food. While it is not mandatory to wear gloves in some states, it doesn't make you feel that confident about a place if they don't.

The pattern continues on Trustpilot, where Little Caesars scores just 1.8 stars. The sea of 1-star reviews tells a troubling story: Customers report food poisoning incidents, an app that routinely overcharges or simply doesn't work and a number of complaints about orders being mixed up or subpar quality. When customers attempted to bring the food back to be corrected, they were consistently met with rude responses and staff who made no attempt whatsoever to fix the mistake.

Even Yelp, where the chain fares slightly better at 2.1 stars, echoes the same themes. There were similar complaints about a lack of effort to fix mistakes. But here customers seemed to be most annoyed about long wait times for both in store and delivery orders. This doesn't bode well for a restaurant who's motto is literally "Hot-N-Ready."

With a 1.4 rating on Consumer Affairs, Chili's is facing a flood of complaints. One customer tells of how they ordered a well-done steak but it arrived rare inside. When they complained, Chili's issued a gift card instead of a refund. Three months later, they used that gift card to order another steak — this time it arrived so overdone they could barely cut through it. Other reviews reveal head-scratching mistakes like a potato soup with no potatoes, and a chicken quesadilla with no chicken inside.

On Trustpilot, where Chili's has a rating of 2.0 stars, customers have been especially outspoken about recent menu changes. One reviewer complained that the chain discontinued all the good items while raising prices on everything else. The new nachos received some criticism and multiple customers expressed disappointment with the new queso, saying it doesn't compare to the old skillet recipe. As one customer said, "Ordered the queso, expecting that delicious chili queso from times past... instead got a disgusting bowl of cheese (Velveeta?) soup, so sent that back."

The American Customer Satisfaction Index gives Chili's a score of 78 — not terrible, but it falls short of the overall score of 82 for sit-down restaurants. What's more worrying is that it's dropped from a score of 80 just last year. The ACSI dug into what's behind this decline and according the them, around spring of 2024 Chili's rolled out new promotions and menu items aimed at attracting McDonald's customers. These customers came in with different expectations than Chili's typical crowd. Apparently it's this shift along with the rapid changes happening at the chain, that's the cause of its decline.

With a 2.8 rating on Yelp, it's not the worst rating in the bunch, but the low star reviews are... concerning. The first theme you notice when reading through them is the lack of cleanliness. Customers report dirty plates, filthy bathrooms, and hair showing up in their food. Others mention ants and cockroaches crawling across tables and floors. In one particularly disturbing incident, a customer took their pregnant fiancée out for a meal only to discover a spider in their food.

The second thing you notice from the Yelp reviews is how many customers describe the food with words like "slop" or "mushy." Customers complained that the food was served cold, or looked like it had been left over from the day before. There were consistent reports of dishes not being fresh, whether it was a wilted salad bar, sour fruit or rock-hard bread.

Trustpilot reviews echo the same themes, with even more reports of cleanliness problems and cold food dominating the feedback. When it comes to a buffet, the entire business model depends on food being hot, fresh, and constantly replenished in a clean environment. Having cold food that has been sitting out all day in a dirty environment are some serious red flags that should really make you think twice about eating there.

With a 2.2 rating on Trustpilot, Red Robin is facing a barrage of complaints about incorrect orders, food arriving either cold or burnt, poor customer service, and prices that don't match the quality. One reviewer's experience captures the extent of the problem: Their fish came out cold and burnt, the sweet potatoes were cold and dried out, and the coleslaw looked like "it came out of the trash can." The only edible item in the entire meal? The onion rings. That meant they essentially paid $33 for a side of onion rings.

Yelp reviews pile on with more complaints about subpar customer service. Customers report servers who are rude and impatient, excessively long waits just to receive menus, and food that takes forever to arrive at the table. For a casual dining chain that's supposed to offer a fun, family-friendly atmosphere, this isn't a good look.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index scored Red Robin at 78 — well below the 82 benchmark for full-service restaurants. However, there's a glimmer of hope here: The chain has actually improved from last year's score of 76. While a two-point increase might seem modest, it suggests Red Robin is at least aware of its problems and making efforts to turn things around. Whether that upward trend continues will depend on the chain's ability to address the core issues customers keep bringing up: food quality consistency, reasonable wait times, and attentive service.

On Yelp, where the chain scores 2.3 stars, customers complain about excessively long wait times, staff who are rude and unprofessional and poor quality food. One customer described buns and meat so dry they literally choked trying to eat their meal. In a particularly concerning review, one customer found the women's bathroom sink completely torn off the wall, making hand washing impossible — and to add insult to injury, the chicken strips she ordered were the size of her pinky finger. Another frustrated diner reported getting wrong orders three times in a row, with one burger so hard they worried about chipping a tooth.

Trustpilot reviews echo these complaints, but with an alarming twist: Numerous reports describe poor behavior from managers, with some customers even mentioning threatening conduct. If these accounts are accurate, Hardee's should seriously consider some management training. One customer recounted walking into a location, shouting "hello" multiple times to an empty front counter, and eventually having to leave — noting the restaurant was visibly dirty, as well.

Over on Reddit, it's a slightly different story. In a discussion thread about Hardee's, users agree with the Trustpilot reviewers about the customer service problems, but unlike the Yelp crowd, they seem to be happy with the food itself. One Redditor summed it up, "Great food terrible customer service... I believe that if they were ran by the same people that do Chick-fil-A or Five Guys customer service they could dominate." It seems some customers find the food quality lacking while others praise it, but nearly everyone agrees that Hardee's service standards are holding the chain back from reaching its full potential.

A study conducted by Comparably found that Arby's earned one of the worst Net Promoter Scores in the industry with a rating of -28. The NPS measures how likely customers are to recommend a restaurant to friends, making this negative score particularly concerning. Another interesting thing to note in this report is the gender split: Women scored Arby's at -28, while men gave it a -8. This notable difference begs the question: What is it about Arby's that's driving women away at such higher rates?

On Trustpilot, where Arby's holds a 1.9 rating, the reviews are brutal. One customer compared the service to "a frat house with a bunch of drunks." Another tried the new steak bites and found them disappointingly salty and dry. Professional standards seem to be an issue, too — one drive-through customer was less than impressed when the employee handing over her order was actively eating a cupcake at the same time. Multiple reviewers also reported food that was old, stale, or poorly cooked.

Yelp reviews continue the pattern of complaints about poor quality food. One customer discovered mold on their sandwich — a serious food safety issue that should never happen. Others report receiving cold food or orders missing key ingredients they paid for. Arby's reputation was already in the gutter and what emerges from these reviews is a chain struggling with the basics: food quality, freshness, and professional service standards. For Arby's, which markets itself on having "the meats," it's particularly damaging when customers are consistently reporting that those meats are cold, dry, stale, or worse.

Buffalo Wild Wings didn't fare well on the American Customer Satisfaction Index, scoring just 76 — one of the lowest marks among all full-service restaurants and well below the 82 benchmark. Making matters worse, the chain has dropped significantly from last year's score of 79, suggesting things are moving in the wrong direction.

On Trustpilot, where Buffalo Wild Wings holds a dismal 1.6 rating, the complaints follow a frustrating pattern: Customers wait far too long for their orders, those orders come out wrong, and when they try to address the mistakes, servers respond with attitude rather than apologies. Yelp reviews echo the same frustrations. One reviewer theorized that the root cause might be chronic understaffing — there simply aren't enough people working to handle the volume of customers. If that's accurate, Buffalo Wild Wings locations need to seriously reconsider their staffing levels before its reputation becomes irreversibly damaged.

Buffalo Wild Wings' Net Promoter Score of -32 is another terrible indicator of how the chain is doing. Customers are extremely unlikely to recommend the chain to friends, and the reasons they cite consistently point back to poor customer service. There is one silver lining worth noting, though: very few customers are complaining about the actual food. The wings, sauces, and menu items themselves seem to be holding up. People are livid about the service, not what's on their plates. So if they can solve the staffing issues and train employees to handle mistakes with grace rather than attitude, they might be able to turn things around.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is a highly respected benchmark in the U.S. that has been measuring customer satisfaction across industries for decades. It surveys thousands of customers yearly and scores businesses on a 0 to 100 scale, providing one of the most comprehensive snapshots of how companies are performing in the eyes of their customers. ACSI separates restaurants into quick-service and full-service groups and tracks how their satisfaction scores change over time, which allows us to see not just where chains stand today, but whether they're improving or declining. In 2025, quick-service restaurants had an average score of 79, while full-service restaurants averaged 82. The index's thorough data collection and statistical modeling make it especially reliable, and many businesses use ACSI scores as key performance indicators.

We also looked at Consumer Affairs, a platform where customers can leave detailed reviews and file complaints about their experiences. What makes Consumer Affairs particularly valuable is that reviewers tend to provide extensive narratives about what went wrong, often documenting entire sequences of events that led to their dissatisfaction.

Comparably was another crucial source we examined. This platform measures customer satisfaction through Net Promoter Scores (NPS), which asks one straightforward question: How likely are you to recommend this brand to a friend? The NPS scale ranges from -100 to +100, with positive scores indicating customers would recommend the restaurant and negative scores showing they'd actively discourage others from going. What's particularly interesting about Comparably's data is that it includes demographic breakdowns, helping reveal how different groups — such as men versus women, or different age ranges — experience the same chain differently.

And lastly, we combed through all the reviews left on Yelp and Trustpilot that were posted in 2025, along with any Reddit threads that were discussing these restaurant chains. Together, these sources gave us a comprehensive, multi-platform view of what customers were really thinking about each chain.