Slow, SOINCREDIBLYSLOW. If you’re in absolutely no rush and wanna kill 20 minutes, this drive thru is the place to do it. To give you some perspective on exactly how slow this restaurant is, I’m writing this review as I wait ATTHEWINDOW for my food, not to mention the other 15 minutes in line behind only 2 cars. Now with that out of the way, the staff here is fairly friendly, and the food is always delicious, which are the only two reasons why I return occasionally. So weigh your options!
Aurora R.
Rating des Ortes: 3 San Jose, CA
First off, I love the all natural burger! I try to stay away from fast food but Carl’s Jr is a weakness. With that said, my cheat days consist of Carl’s Jr. I usually wait 6 – 10 in the drive threw because they make it so fresh BUTNOT this location! Within 2 minutes of pulling up to the window I received my food. I was surprised but grabbed the bag and began pulling out. I went to grab a fry & they were bearly warm! Most of the time they are still steaming hot & fresh, too hot to touch. I pulled over and went inside to request FRESH fries. The lady looked at me like I was crazy and just grabbed my bag not saying a word. I will not be back only in desperate times.
E V.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Santa Clara, CA
The Worst Burger I Ever Tasted! I can’t believe it! I thought I had bad before… This beats that! I ordered the New 1⁄3 Super Bacon ThickBurger It was Horrible! Had one Bite… WoW…Nasty…some fake looking beef, that was not even cooked, COLD! it looked old after I opened it up. like grey color… real nasty looking. The lettuce was a big piece of the butt, I mean end of the lettuce! Looked Horrible! Never ever again!
Eric E.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Campbell, CA
Ill keep it short. Showed up around 10pm with some light drunchies. Ordered a bacon western and some fries. Made it about halfway through and thought it tasted a little funny, so i threw it out. This is day 3 in bed with the worst stomach/intestinal pain of my life accompanied by fever and a gigantic migraine. I knew Hot Carls would be dicey for late night drive through but even a taco truck with visable roaches scurrying about doesnt make me nearly this sick. Do yourself a favor and eat litteraly anywhere else.
Shyla J.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Santa Clara, CA
22 dollars for 2 meals. STEEP. We ordered a chicken sandwich, and an all natural burger… My burger tasted like cardboard, it had ZERO flavor whatsoever. The patty was dry and tasted so fake… The bun was disgusting, but the worst part was the CHEESE! It literally looked like a piece of plastic, wasn’t even melted on the patty either & the burger was lukewarm, so no help in melting it a bit. I was craving a burger & was thouroughly disappointed, even the crisscut fries were gross. Had barely any, or no seasoning. My boyfriends chicken sandwich was inedible. He said it just tasted so fake & he asked me not to be mad if he threw it away… I said go ahead, I believe you based on how EH my burger was. Drive-through menu is SOOBIG, so many choices and things everywhere. REALLY difficult to read in my opinion. Maybe thats why it took so long to figure out my order… The drive-through lady was so rude! Cutting me off, not letting me finish ordering before the«Total: $ — » came up on the screen. Then at the window, she tried to repeat my order & I was getting a phone call, from my boyfriend. Maybe he wanted to add something? I answered while still listening to her, but she walked away, pissed off looking & yelling something in spanish to her coworker. Up until the point of me putting the car in first and driving away she was rude– I believe I finally got a smile at that moment. GREAT! i’m done being in your drive through amyways. TOOKFOREVER. Bye! So, OVER20 dollars wasted on barely-edible«food» & I’m still hungry. Just kidding, my stomach hurts now, it’s been approximentaly 2 hours since I consumed the«food». No longer hungry, because my appetite is ruined. No thank you, ya nasty!
Alexander S.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Santa Clara, CA
I know everyone seems to favor«in an out» burgers over Carl’s Jr, but for me Carl’s is the go to place for burgers. I find their chicken tenders amazing, they feel very natural. The«all natural burger» is also great, tastes like something you could make at home(if you can cook) — very fresh. This particular branch is actually close to my home, but I go here even I’m closer to another one. May be I’ve been lucky(all 100 times) but the staff is helpful and nice. Had no problems with the drive-through: always works, always fast.
Scotty S.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Santa Clara, CA
Avoid the drive thru intercom system. Apparently they will not repair it because it is held together with tape and garbage bags.
Lisa B.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Santa Clara, CA
I like Carl’s Jr. cuz of the taste of the Hamburgers… I do find the bill usually will comes up to $ 18 for 2 deal meals … sometimes that just seems kinda of high prices for fast food. But In any case yes I do like the food. Never any problems. I always go through the drive through. FAst…
Stefany V.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Las Vegas, NV
This location is conveniently located to my home but never seems to be busy. In fact, I often forget its even there at all. Surprising, considering what a steal their $ 3 buffalo-bleu single burger is! Unfortunately, the product here isn’t up to what I’ve experienced at other locations. Come to think of it, the other location further down Saratoga by the old F&E wasn’t particularly good, either. Here I went by at around 9 or 10PM and there was literally no other soul here. Waited quite a while at the drive thru before being acknowledged, then had difficulty placing my order as they were OUTOFFRIES. Not sure how that even happens but okay. Ordered a grilled chicken salad for my BF’s mom for dinner– surprised to see that the Apple-Walnut salad from their website was not present here, and the salads on the menu are almost there out of requirement. One grilled, one crispy, pick and that’s your only option. Unable to have the buffalo-bleu fries as planned, and hearing that they also were not serving shakes– even though they were open for another 3 or four HOURS, I got what I needed and left but won’t be back any time soon.
Leetus N.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Charter Township of Clinton, MI
The good management and customer service here rarely mess up my orders, but when they do, they happily replace or fix it everytime.
Wendy W.
Rating des Ortes: 3 San Jose, CA
I’ve made a huge effort to not eat as much«fast food» as I use to. and for the most part. I’ve been successful. but every so often I fall off the bandwagon.(plus. I was sick. and the first thing I craved as I started to feel better was bacon. — BUT it was like 10PM… so there’s not many places I could get this)… Got the guacamole bacon meal… medium(which was HUGE — what happened to small(they didn’t offer this to me. just medium or large)… It was ok. i really wish they put more guacamole though(even though it wasn’t the best)… when the burger is called GUACAMOLE burger. I expect to get it in every bite! Overall, it wasn’t terrible… but wasn’t bad. plus. they made my order correctly!
Patricia V.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Mountain View, CA
I went. I ordered. I ate. Not the best grilled chicken salad nor the worst. Improvement needed: more chicken on the salad. My salad seemed to have about 1 ounce of chicken so $ 5 was a lot to pay for this chicken less salad.
Al C.
Rating des Ortes: 2 San Jose, CA
Carl’s Jr. was one of my favorite places because of the burgers and awesome crispy fries. They changed the fries, unfortunately. So, reviews now come down to location and service for me. Ordering was a little rocky because the guy taking the order just didn’t seem like he was in the mood to work that day. After trying to simplify the order for the guy, they still messed-up the order. I try not to be difficult when ordering food because, you never know what happens in the kitchen when you’re not looking. The food was standard. I thought about using the restroom to wash my hands, but a bum walked-in there and never came-out. About 20 minutes later after finishing lunch, he was still in there and I decided to move-on.
Patricia C.
Rating des Ortes: 1 San Jose, CA
So everytime I go here they get my order wrong!!! I stopped going here because of that reason. But today I was going to work a little behind schedule and I was hungry so I put aside the past and decide to go here… I was wrong!!! Is it so hard to listen to what I want!!! I get all the way to work and am ready to eat my spicy chicken sandwiches :. Dang mayo all over!!! I called them letting them know they got my order wrong and will be there at 9 so they can replace my food!!! Now I know 100% I will never go there again…
Michael F.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Santa Clara, CA
Filthy bathrooms, rude service.
Shawn F.
Rating des Ortes: 1 San Jose, CA
They forgot to put the hamburger in my burger. I know you really can’t expect much from a fast food restaurant like this Carl’s Jr.(on Pruneridge and Saratoga) that’s run by minimum wage earners who don’t have the incentive to provide decent customer service or ensure your order’s accurate. I do, however, expect the MEATPATTY in my Teriyaki Burger, especially if I discover the meatless burger after arriving home. I drove back to Carl’s Jr. politely letting the woman manning both the drive thru and in-store register know that there was no meat in the burger. To give them some credit, she did seem visibly upset at the burger-maker guy, and they proceeded to make me a new burger. I asked if I could get a refund(for the trouble of having to drive back there) and she said no, because I was getting a new burger. I told her I didn’t want the burger anymore, just my money back, please. Lady #1 called over Man #1 and Lady #2(supervisors, I think), who panicked because I paid with a credit card and probably didn’t know how to process a refund on a credit card transaction. The 2 supervisors came to their senses and realized they can just pay me cash. Then the Lady #2 hands me my money and says she’s only refunding me for the burgers only, and not the fries I also bought, because I already ate the fries. I know you get what you pay for, but I thought that I’d at least get a meat patty in my burger.
Brian A.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Honolulu, HI
I have always liked Carl’s Jr. It made me sad long ago when they took away their signature crinkly fries. Anyone remember that? I do want to say that this part of my review is about all Carl’s locations in general. Anyway, I’m all over their western bacon cheese burger and since they added chili fries, add that on too! The six dollar burger is just too big for me, but that doesn’t make it taste any worse. Their cheesecake isn’t too bad either. In the morning, I like their french toast dips. Sometimes their hash browns come out a bit too oily for me though. Specifically about this location, I’m not really one to complain about waiting. Especially at a fast food restaurant, unless it’s ridiculous like around 10 minutes. I grew up near here and frequented it enough to say that I’ve actually never had a problem waiting at this one. As long as you get your order correct with no hairs or «other surprises,» then it’s all good. Can always find parking and there’s always enough space for everyone to sit.
Ray C.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Redwood City, CA
Like Krissy S. mentioned, Horrible customer service. This first part has nothing to do with the restaurant, but I let this large family about 7 – 8 cross the street across the parking lot because I’m a nice person. They even kindly acknowledge my graceful gesture. I get inside and obviously I end up in line behind them. They proceed to take their sweet time ordering, then conversating with the cashier who looked like a manager, while I wait… wait…wait, clearly standing in line WAITING! When it’s my turn, naturally she has to apologize. That’s fine, but it’s not cool to make customers wait that long to order when you clearly see them waiting in line and it was obviously a large order. The extra-curricular chatter in espanol could have happened later on the side after allowing me to place my order. At one point, I even considered just leaving, but I had just lifted and was starving. The Loaded Breakfast Burrito was not even wrapped correctly. Contents were spilling out. Generally, I was not pleased. The problem is that this isn’t the first time I have experienced bad service/quality at this particular location. The last time, I ended up on the toilet.
John B.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Santa Clara, CA
I have eaten at this place several times since it’s convenient. The food and staff are normally good. On my most recent visit, I encountered something disturbing. Recently, they increased their prices on some items. They made the change in their cash registers, but did not make the change in their displayed menus and pricing. So you order something thinking it’s gonna cost X and they ring it up as X+$. When I caught the anomaly and questioned them about it, they quickly dismissed it as just the tax I had to pay. As if I was stupid enough not to know about sales tax. I explained to them that the receipt was showing the base amount was higher and the taxes were listed below separately. So once they understood the problem this would result in an escalation of workers trying to figure it out. Each time the new person would just say, it’s the tax. Before I got to speak with the actual store manager, each worker and floor supervisor told me that whatever the register rings up is whats important. None of them had a clue about misrepresenting pricing. By the time I finally talked to the store manager, he immediately understood the issue, apologized for the confusion and corrected the menu signs. This was a good sign but didn’t make up for the fact that the rest of the staff continued to give me the evil eye, thinking I was just a troublemaker instead of someone who helped their business avoid defrauding their future customers. [EDIT: 9/20/09] I’ve been back here several more times and have not had any additional problems when ordering or with the food. So I’ve bumped up my rating from 2 stars upto 3.
Bart F.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Mountain View, CA
#4 with Criss Cut Fries and a Dr. Pepper… has been my order ever since I was little guy playing Little League with aspirations of playing in the bigs. I was quite the little baller and my all star team nearly made it to regionals except in our state tourney we faced a kid named, Juan Fiero, who threw 150 mph and had a full go-T. Seriously! How is a 12-year old gonna have a fully grown and groomed go-T? We lost in the finals and I was crushed! My father knew that no words could comfort my broken dream took me too Carl’s after the game. I will always remember the feeling I had biting into that double western bacon cheeseburger. It was a feeling of security. Like a blanket woven of onion rings and bacon. I’ve always been attracted to that Smiling Star!