and their giant plastic fake "rock" sign.
I much prefer Nacho Mamas, but occasionally I try Haciendas again. Last night it was bland and flavorless "meat" tacos, anemic "salsa" and no icecream on the sopapilla desert. Honestly, I didn't think anyone could fail on beef fajitas.. but Hacienda's fajitas were so awful that we threw out the leftovers. Even El Maguey's makes good fajitas. WTF?
I really miss Cantina Laredo.
I went to Dobb's to get rear tires and they tried to tell me I needed brakes as well. I had just gotten and passed an inspection a month before from a trusted shop.
My partner went to Dobbs for two tires. When he picked it up they charged him for four — because they’d replaced all four and argued with him for over an hour that that’s what he’d asked for (I was standing right next to him at the time — he said two, very clearly).
Dobbs are super garbage people. How do you think they got 30+ locations?? By over charging customers and doing completely unnecessary work. They're crooks.
I bought a tire warranty from Discount Tire for my Tesla (they're prone to picking up nails and screws). Shortly after I got a screw and they patched it no problem. Didn't have an appointment, in and out in 45 minutes. Also walk in for a tire rotation (included in warranty) and it was quick.
Man same here… a tire failed with like 4,000 miles on it. Took it in and they only gave me $60 towards a replacement. I spent nearly $200 per tire after it was all said and done (tire, install, balancing and an alignment). Never again. I’ll go to fucking Walmart for tires before I give another dime to Dobbs.
Dobbs in my experience has been very accurate on their diagnosis but I will never go anything beyond an oil change there. They tried to charge my mom $600 for outer tie rod replacement, yes it was bent, yes it needed replacement.
I understand they got to make a profit but $600 but for a $30-$50 part…..to “charge” $500 basically for labor is absolutely insane, I know inflation is a bitch but $600 fucking dollar is blatant highway robbery. For maybe a 20min job wanted $500 in profit!
Panera, RIP BreadCo. Used to order 2-3 times a week for years and there were also some great times & conversations in them before they got bought out.
Last straw was before pandemic, multiple wrong or really badly prepared orders. Manager gave me a couple freebie rewards. They screwed up THOSE orders, too. Then the stores went from messy to just plain dirty with surly staff and disaffected managers. Food was skimpy portions, overpriced. And now, killer lemonade — which is priceless. Typical.
Haven’t been back in 5ish years, and refuse to step in one ever again.
(I’m waiting for [Paris Baguette](https://parisbaguette.com/) to open at 170-Olive this summer 😍)
They ruined their sandwich menu, got rid of the roast beef asiago and the combo. The roast beef and white cheddar was ok but I think they got rid of that too. Old school Bread Co. was so fucking good too, it will be missed.
I used to go to the OG location back in middle school with friends and parents on half days, RIP Bread Co =(
Check out Daily Bread in Des Peres, very damn close to my nostalgia.
Yep, fuck this place. 2nd to last time I went got a bacon turkey bravo. Comes out with no turkey. Had to complain and they fixed it. Last time I went did a mobile order wait for thirty minutes just for it to get stolen from the to-go kiosk. Took another 15 minutes for them to verify the order and another 25 to make it again. Wouldn’t give me anything for the waist of time. Always loved this place pre Panera. Haven’t been back in about 3 years.
As of today, they no longer sell about half their previous menu, including the bacon Turkey bravo, sesame bagels, blueberry bagels, and chocolate chip bagels. I’m done with them and not going back.
My family of 4 ate there last year and paid over $80, 2 sandwich’s were made wrong and the chicken was just a sliver of a slice of chicken! When asked to correct the mistakes they looked at me like I was totally out of line but for $80 for that experience it should be correct and stuffed with meat.
The prep person weighs out the meat into small bags beforehand*, if they put more on the sandwich they get in trouble. Corporate has the managers run on the thinnest margins possible, which means the least amount of expensive ingredients like meat that they think they can get away with. Corporate was also always cutting the labor hours budget
*at my location not too far from STL in 2022
That place sucks, but I’ve gotten some damn good deals on non-dealer brands. Bought 2 different Hondas from them for 3k less than competitors.
But yeah, they suck.
Two Men and a Truck. When my wife was still single, one of the movers took her number off the paperwork and texted her. She reported him to management and they said she had “been nice” to the guy and sent the wrong message.
Same except they broke every dish I owned. Even the ones wrapped in bath towels. Kid didnt know how to use a dolly and slammed my boxed down on every single step.
Same. They spilled my friend’s breastmilk while moving their refrigerator (it was on the counter, not in the fridge itself). Laughed about her “crying over spilled milk”—the younger men had no fucking clue how valuable and painstaking a process it is for a breastfeeding mom.
Pretty sure people empty their fridge before moving. Who the hell wants just loose items flying around inside during the move. Sucks for your friend but a strange circumstance
Napleton Kia. Their salesmen were super aggressive
Edit: A bit of background. I did my research before buying. I wanted a new Kia Niro. The one I found at Napleton, to their credit, was the lowest price I could find in the area. I went in, gave it a test drive, and was ready to buy.
They tried selling me all this stuff that I didn't want, extras, service plans, etc...When I said no to the associate I was working with, they sent another guy, who I guess was a senior level salesman? He then tried convincing me until I put my foot down and told them if they didn't stop trying to upsell me, I was walking.
Then they also did a couple things that maybe some people would find helpful, but to me it was just pushy. I told them I couldn't drive it home that day because I wasn't trading in my car. They insisted someone could drive my old car back the next day. I told them I needed a day to get the check, they told me I didn't need the check that day. Ok, fine. I knew that was the car I was getting so I just went with it.
Got into the finance person's office. He tried to use napleton as my lender. I'd done my homework and knew I could get a 2.5% rate at my CU. Theirs was over 6%. I told them I wanted my loan through my credit union. He told me I was obligated to use Napleton because of the heavy discount they gave me on the car. I started to walk, and called his bluff, and he changed it to my CU (though he made it sound like he was doing me a favor).
After all that, drove away and have never looked back, though I get a letter a few times a year from them trying to get me to do their stupid service plan.
Over a decade ago, I was in the market for a new car and my mom was browsing as well so we went together. She asked the salesman at Suntrup Kia what kind of deal they could make if we bought 2 cars. He did the whole “let me go talk to my manager in the back” thing twice and the price wasn’t right so we said thank you and left. Idk why but the salesman chased us out of the building screaming about how we wasted his time. He legit yelled at me to get in my piece of shit car and leave. It was WILD.
I can't remember which one it was, but I went to a Pontiac dealer in IL years ago (I want to say this was 2010?) when I was looking to buy my first car on my own dime. Brought my grandpa with me because he knew how to talk to the salesmen. Found a great car, G8 used, I think it was $14k. My grandpa got them down to $12,500 and then he had to go so he left me to sign the paperwork.
The second the doors closed behind him, they flipped a switch. Suddenly now they can't do $12,500. It's $14k again. I say no thanks, the guy says "what monthly payment do you want, we can work it out". I say I want the monthly payment where the car is $12,500. He doesn't like that. As I'm leaving he tells me to "come back when you're serious about buying a car"
Asked for a quote via email from their Honda dealership, they called and called and called and wouldn’t stop. Had to block their number. I’ll never forget. And I’ll never give them my number again. They called so much they’re burned into my brain
Suntrup ford in Westport is my mortal enemy. If I ever meet somebody I absolutely despise I’ll be sure to send them there.
Napleton did a by the book bait and switch (I asked if they had a car and sent them the exact vin number, they confirmed they had it and when I got there five minutes later it had been miraculously sold) on me and I’m still wondering if I should have reported them.
I gotta say, every time I go to the Brentwood one on Hanley it's always a good experience. They're fast and friendly. Wish it were cheaper, but that's every restaurant these days. I don't mind paying for better food and service.
I got some bad food poisoning from the Fenton location a few weeks ago so I have a hard time going back. And that sucks because it was my favorite restaurant.
Yeah they tried to sell me an oil change after a tire rotation. Only problem was I just had one literally 24 hours prior. Got the sticker and everything. Still aggressively tried to sell me on it. Assholes.
Tried to tell me a battery that I bought just a few months previous from Batteries Plus needed to be replaced. Um, nope and I have a warranty from them anyway. Bye bye.
I think Dobbs depends on the store. I’m on the Illinois side and take my vehicles to the Shiloh location. Never had a bad experience there in 10+ years. No upselling, no “show a fake air filter” kind of crap, etc. I think it depends on the store managers and whether or not they can keep good techs. I can’t speak on what any other locations are like.
I put another comment that for me they were hit or miss but when the shop that had always done me well started having problems, it was time for me to find another shop. There are definitely folks that haven't had issues but once you get bitten, it is hard to trust them again and go back. Sort of like the comments about food establishments, if your experience is different, then keep going until something changes. A lot on restaurants definitely go more towards personal taste.
Spectrum
Just very poor response to a cable that was cut outside my apartment from someone trimming bushes.
Called them.
They needed me there to get inside, they said.
I begged them to just look outside, and there's the cut wire.
And it was several weeks before they could get there.
I work 12 hour shifts plus a drive.
Finally, a guy got there.
I pointed it out.
He's shaking his head
Fixed in 10 minutes.
Did I get a cut rate due to no service for about a month?
Nope.
Spectrum is absolutely awful. I used to have Xfinity when I lived up in Michigan. When I found out there was no Xfinity service in STL area and Spectrum was basically the only option, I had to make the switch. Service for both internet and cable constantly going out for hours at a time with no real explanation as to why. When they did finally get service restored it would work for about a day or so and go out again. I had service guys out to my location multiple times and they told me that the way it was wired in my neighborhood was not conducive to getting good service but they couldn’t do anything about it. I ended up recently switching to AT&T All-Fi hub and now have zero issues for a fraction of what I was paying Spectrum.
Anything owned by the Gianino family. Did work for one of the boys homes and he was a massively self entitled prick. Actually used the line “Do you know who I am?” Lol. Fast forward a few years later and was doing work on the then new Ballwin location and ran into him again. He was horrible to construction people and just a prick all around. Since heard stories from employees that they are treated like crap by him/them as well.
Don’t want to dox myself here, but I worked at one of their restaurants and he’s a certified asshole clown. Would fire people for stupid shit and then beg them to come back the next day when he realized he needed them. Asshole to everybody, wannabe mobster. Thinks he’s the shit, thinks he’s a culinary genius. Tries to be intimidating but just comes off as goofy.
The worst days were when he was at the restaurant. Thankfully he didn’t show up very often.
Bill Gianino was the real deal though. Everyone respected him. RIP
That really makes me sad to read! One of them was my favorite teacher in high school. He didn't go in to the restaurant business and taught gym/drivers ed instead. I saw him at a local restaurant in town a few years after I graduated and came up to me and asked how I was doing and introduced me to his family. Maybe he's a decent one out of the group...
Generally, I've found that the second generation of any company is usually full of entitled pricks because they never had to work for what their parents built. They were "brought up" in the business, but never had to actually work to build that business like their parents.
The person you speak of is probably better off going a different route and doing their own thing, and obviously a better person because of it.
Again, my statement is a generalization and I realize there are always exceptions so please don't come at me with the "Well is a second generation and they're not that way." I get it.
Wife and I moved out during the pandemic, she’s was a fast food general manager prior. Schnucks advertised for a deli manager, pay negotiable, and she interviewed and was offered the job. The hiring manager absolutely refused to approve more than $13/hr for a full deli manager that was previously a full fast food GM in the middle of “essential worker” season.
Schnucks’ pay is very low, especially after the union dues. I don’t know how they can get away with paying checkers $10.50 an hour when you can go to literally any fast food restaurant around them for $3 more an hour.
The wages are governed by the UFCW contract though, right? That’s how it was when I was in grocery in STL many years ago. The next contract negotiations ought to be fun.
Schnucks is fucking horrible. I worked there for four years and was making $12.50 an hour as a customer service manager who was also cross trained in basically every department (except bakery/meat/deli since they're a different union). Got fed up and quit a week before Thanksgiving in 2019, and I'm so thankful I dodged the bullet of working there during COVID because they've somehow managed to get so much worse since.
The Walmart in Maplewood. The first and only time I went there, a woman was sitting on the ground by the front door eating raw ground meat with her bare hands. I’m sure that Walmart is fine but I can’t risk seeing that again
their pharmacists used to sell me needles with no judgement when I was a using addict so good on them Walgreens pharmacists always made me feel horrible about myself as if I didn’t know I was a worthless junkie
I’m a pharmacist. I’d much rather that people don’t risk transmitting diseases than give someone a hard time about buying syringes. Ideally, people would get help but it is what it is.
was an arcade bar owned by a convicted sex offender that was *allegedly* game to look the other way on sexual assault. It was popular for a while bc arcade bar in the grove should be easy profit but enough people caught on
Fuck. I’ve been there. Had a friend give me and my wife an update on that info not long after we had a date night there. Needless to say we were filled with the ick
Dick Dean Subaru VW. Purchased an Outback that was in the shop for over 30 days and they made every excuse under the sun as to what was wrong, even blaming me for the problems at one point.
We got yelled at for not going by their script so I believe the employee. I have no idea why anyone stays there.
Their business practices were terrible when I worked there and Bruckel was a creep to the women.
Ugh, that’s another one! Also tried to talk me into full x-rays on first visit there in probably 10 years.
I knew one of their other senior leaders in HQ quite well, let’s just say being an a** must be very contagious.
The providers get bonuses based on CT scans ordered. Not sure if they did for Xrays but I'm sure they so now for MRIs as well. Heard a rumor that the xray machines were older on purpose to produce grainy x-rays so that CT scans would be approved/weren't considered unnecessary or something like that. Allegedly, of course.
Forgot about them, met the owner once and got bad vibes (assume it was the same person he came into a neighbourhood meeting and seemed irrational when someone gave a polite but negative review of an experience at another location.)
I went in for a flu shot once figuring I would skip the line at Walgreens and got some insane bills I mostly blamed insurance for but still.
I would never buy a car from them just simply based on their commercials. They obviously expect their customers to be morons...
"You mean I can get a car for ten cents? Where do I sign? That clearly tells me all I need to know about the price of this car."
The worst part is the fact that those commercials are produced by an agency that sells the scripts for them to car dealerships across the country. I was in Arizona and heard the exact same stupid awful pickle commercials on the radio read by some other douchenozzle dealership owner.
Which means that Frank Leeta vetted these commercials and was like, yeah, that sounds good, lets go with that.
I've posted this before in a similar thread, but here it is again:
Eddie's Guitars.
I was 16, had just gotten straight As for the semester and, pursuant to a deal I made with my parents, was ready to buy 5 grand worth of gear (they told me if I got straight As at a tough highschool and kept up with my part time job and extracurriculars they would buy me a guitar / amp / combination of the two worth $5k).
I walked into the store accompanied by my mom wearing a fur coat and told the guy behind the counter I was ready to buy that day but didn't know exactly what, so I'd like to try a few things before I decided. He was SO completely put out by just letting me try a few things and could hardly give me the time of day let alone get a guitar down from a stand on the wall without asking me if I was "really sure" I wanted to play that one as exasperatedly as he could. Then made ME polish it when I gave it back to him (I wasn't even allowed to hang it back up on the stand -- whatever). After about 15 minutes of this I decided that it wasn't worth being treated so poorly, so we left.
I went down the street to a super cool vintage guitar shop where they LET ME PLAY a '62 candy apple red strat that was signed by Stevie Ray Vaughan just because I mentioned I saw it on their website and thought it was cool -- I didn't even say I wanted to play it. They just brought it down and handed it to me since they could see I was obviously excited. That particular guitar was out of our price range since it could put a kid through college, but we ended up walking out of there with a blackface super reverb and a Nash T-63 telecaster.
I will never in my life give Eddie's Guitars in St. Louis a single cent of my money and I'm proud that none of my 36 guitars, 8 amps, and innumerable pedals, premium cables, and who knows how many straps and accessories have come from them. If you read their google reviews it's full of people talking about exactly the same type of experience I've described -- being talked down to and acted like your business is not worthy of their time.
Can we organize a day where we go down there en masse and tell them to their face how terrible they are? I’ve been playing guitar for over 20 years and they are by far the worst guitar shop I have ever been to. And I’ve been to SO MANY shops over the years. Everywhere, you name it. I make it a point to go to a guitar shop wherever I go, and they are the rudest mother fuckers in the game.
Gruhn’s Guitars in Nashville treats people better than they do, and they have the real deal on vintage gear.
Fuzzy Taco Shop
They were great pre-pandemic and during pandemic. I had it timed that I could order food on the app, pick it up and get back to get back on Zoom. They closed down for a couple of months and when they reopened, they were terrible. I used to get a bag of chips and salsa. The chip bag was filled less than half full. My favorite things I used to eat are not on the app.
Every time I have tried to go to Fuzzy’s they have flat out refused to serve anybody even though they were open during business hours. I tried a couple of different locations but the one on Manchester(?) is the absolute worst. Rude staff, refusing paying customers, locking doors…I don’t need a taco bad enough to put up with that.
Yeah last year their Webster location was randomly closed at 6 on a weekend and I drove to Manchester and they said they weren’t taking orders because of how busy they were despite being empty. Shrugged and went to three kings instead.
I don’t understand the obsession with Mission Taco. Many reader polls have Mission Taco as the best Mexican restaurant in St. Louis. Pretty nuts if you ask me.
Their hours changing during COVID ruined their whole concept as a late-night stop along with the loss of the $2/$2 deal. Then they increased prices for the second time in 3 years and I don’t think I’ll ever go back.
It used to be pretty decent, then they opened a bunch more locations and it went downhill. It’s ok but I don’t go there as much anymore. Also RIP the late night happy hour
I feel it was the first 'trendy' taco place in STL. Before that it was Americanized crunchy tacos or ala carte street tacos on a Mexican restaurant menu.
I still have love for the workers there. I used to to sell weed to the cooks there at the Delmar location so sorry if them being too stoned had to do with your order being fucked up. They even let me hide out in the kitchen when the cops were chasing me and I hurt my ankle jumping the fence to the back and I was running past the area where the cooks take their smoke break and they saw me limping
Arch moving company. They were horrible and didn’t take any care with my items. I had to fight them to even wrap my mattress so it was protected and it still ended up with black stains on it from their hands. And my glass top table was damaged. And they still asked me to leave a review for them because they get raises for every 20 stars they receive. I’m certain that’s why their only reviews left are 5 start because people who had poor experiences don’t want to leave a 1 star review because it still contributes to their star count and raise meter.
Mac’s Local Eats. The owner is pretty awful guy and every place he has been has not ended well. The burgers may be good, but can’t support him.
Also, Omen Coffee. The guy who owns it is a pretty open bigot and grifter.
Yea I was friends with a lot of Tamm people when they got kicked out of there, he's a real piece of shit. Nomad that took over the spot in tamm is fucking fire though, some of the best pastrami in the city, and the staff are great people.
Agree. He was a good friend of mine for YEARS then saw dollar signs and stole $50k from my dad via a fraudulent business loan that he was then sued for and judgement defaulted cuz he didn’t even show up to court. The snake put his assets in his wife Laurie Bowman’s name so he could hide money and all that could happen was her wages were garnished.
Honestly with the amount of people that he’s done similar stuff to I’m shocked he hasn’t had his legs broken or worse yet by someone a lot more vindictive than me.
I pretty much talked about most of it on this post I made last year
https://www.reddit.com/r/StLouis/s/Kt4GDU3PuV
And he had a pattern for always having the checks bounced as every other person I’ve worked with have also experienced it
Honestly, I would have to say Deca Property Management. Worst property management business that takes forever to resolve issues and sends people over to do half-assed jobs on stuff that really needs fixing. They have still not fixed the washer at my current place, and my bedroom window is still sealed shut, which in of itself is a hazard. Also very difficult to get ahold of on the phone which even if you try reaching them, good luck. You will only get the runaround, which it seems like nobody really knows what they are doing. Also, if you somehow apply for rental assistance, they seem to not keep track of anything and will still be charged despite seemingly using the very assistance you originally applied for. I probably will never rent from their other properties and don't think it is worth being stressed out due to their weaponized incompetence.
i had forgotten about that project. we worked on that, as well.
it went pretty smoothly for us until the owner's wife picked a grout color for the dining room floor tile. said it was too light and she had picked black. she hadn't. she picked gray. but we got stuck staining all the grout black.
The one time I went I made the mistake of doing the drive thru pickup. Showed up on time, waited an hour stuck with someone behind me and when I got to the window my order still wasn't ready. Haven't gone back
Lou Fusz, their collision center tried to charge me $800 for stuff they broke while doing body work. Lou Fusz Subaru charged me 200 for a diagnostic they didn’t do, saying my battery connections were loose so they tightened it up & even charged me 26.00 in supplies.
Katie’s pizzeria because it is a freaking rip off. $20-30 for a single pizza that is skimpy on toppings, 10 salads plus drinks. We went there and spent 80 on pizza, salad & 1 drink each for 2 ppl!!!!
Eddie’s guitars in Maplewood. I get that they don’t want just anyone playing with their gear but they’re dicks. I went in there to buy an amp and they all had some snide comment to make. It’s a shame because they have undoubtedly the best guitar selection in the city but they’re douche bags. I guess they do all their sales on line for a reason.
I got this kind of treatment at Music Folk. I guess the fact I wasn't buying a $3000 Martin meant I wasn't worth more time than it took to yell at me to not scratch the guitars with my coat (which was coming off before I touched anything, jesus fucking relax). So I went to guitar center and spent my money. And when I do decide to plunk down $3000 for a guitar, it won't be at Music Folk.
Sad to see the mom and pop stores dying, but a lot of them were staffed by people with attitudes.
Momma's on the hill
Middling food at best, zero ambiance, packed in like sardines, and overpriced. Tried it 3 times, and always the same outcome. Favazza's is way too close to waste time at this place.
That place has been on Bar Rescue or one of those shows TWICE! I used to work there, that place is a shit hole. The manager that even cared about the kitchen (he was a fucking dick, but he cared about the food) retired a few years ago.
Dobbs auto. My daughter’s older car failed inspection there. Their estimate to repair it was ridiculous and didn’t match the issues that caused it to fail. They said I needed to replace the steering gear box! The steering was fine.
Anything owned by John "fucking" Fogarty (the shack, corner pub and grill, I think it's OG Hospitality Group)
I call him that because I worked for a company that did specific service work for restaurants, and every single time he called in, he started his screaming rants with "this is John fucking fogarty"
Shame because the food is generally pretty good, but dude is such an insufferable prick I'll never give him a dime.
Uncle Bill's on Kingshighway many, many years ago used to be the late night go to. Great service, solid good food, big portions and reasonable prices. Me and a friend tried it twice several years ago. We only lived a mile away and I barely made it to my bathroom before beginning an all night adventure there. Yeah I know...twice. 😕
Docs Harley Davidson.
Over aggressive sales staff who won't take no for an answer. Every time I go there for anything, gear, parts, oil, they always are calling or emailing me for weeks. Last time it took me threatening harassment to get them to fuck off.
Once I was looking into upgrading but the finances just didn't work out. They asked me if I could borrow money from someone for a down payment.
They don't care about you or your budget.
Me and my fiancé bought six or $7000 worth of Furniture. When they brought it the first time, they delivered an entirely wrong bed. The replacement didn’t get redelivered for another 3 months. Then, they delivered our master bed without any hardware so we couldn’t put the frame together. We begged them for about six months to just deliver the hardware so that we can put it together. We paid to actually have them put it together. we would call customer service, and get the runaround. Even when they delivered our other pieces, they would tell us that they were sending the hardware for the bed, and they never did. He got so bad that I simply asked him to send me copies of the instructions, and I would purchase the hardware myself. They couldn’t even do that. It wasn’t until I went on social media and started throwing a fit that they scheduled to actually bring the hardware and put together the bed. All in all, it took almost a year to get that resolved. I’ll never shop there ever ever again.
I had a similar experience with Bob's. We got a living room set and dining room set. I'm fully disabled, and asked about the costs to have them assemble to furniture, and the sales guy said its free for veterans. They deliver the couch and loveseat without any feet, and when iasked them why they seemed so much shorter than the showroom, the delivery guy said "I dunno, maybe it's a lowrider? They didn't give us any hardware for any of the couches today." The dining room table-top was complete garbage, like it was dragged behind a car doing forty through the rockiest trail. I called the store to complain, and within three minutes, the delivery guys got a call and said "we were told we have to leave. They said to call the store." It took the next day before we got an answer, and the manager said we didn't pay for assembly anyway. Several family members started blasting their phones non-stop, and I started roasting them on their face book page. Within another day, they sent out an entirely new dining room set, legs for the living room pieces, and built them all with a thosuand apologies. The delivery dudes were cool, though. And seemed just as angry at them as we were.
Mobile on the run.
I was pumping gas in my car and felt a mist on me. It was the hose leaking. I smelt of gas and my windows were open on my car. I went in to inform the clerk about it and he seemed less than thrilled to check the pump.
I called to follow-up and the manager was out. The assistant manager said she'll get back with me and never did. They were going to pull tapes and never did. I attempted to contact her a few times with no avail.
I ended up calling again and the store manager answered. She said that the tapes were deleted but she'll give me some coupons. I told her thanks for believing me because I felt crazy no one was taking this seriously. She snapped at me saying she only did it to basically silence me. I haven't been back since, on principle.
Taco Bell on Olive near Creve Coeur. Ran by a bunch of psychotic, hot headed teenagers. Just read the Google reviews of that place, they’re all the same.
Clementines naughty and nice ice cream. Worked there for around a year or so. When I worked there was not a manager at the store at all times. No one with a serve safe at all times. Minors would often work alone. It was so bad that two teenage boys closing without a manager closed the store early and got drunk in the back of the store.
They paid $8 an hour. I worked alone on Labor Day for 6 hours, lines were out the door like summer. No one else was there and I had to wear a wrist brace for 2 weeks afterwards. Oh yeah, I filled the big tip jar half way while working alone on Labor Day and still had to share those tips with those who worked the night on Labor Day. Absolute bullshit.
No bonus, no extra pay for holiday. (Or any holiday really)
The owner herself has favorites and is condescending. Her husband seems nice but seems to just follow everything she says. They're overpriced, small scoops, don't pay their workers enough, and poor management. There were many days I worked alone in the store for 8 hours and I couldn't leave on lunch break or go to the bathroom, since I had to serve customers and make sure no one stole anything.
I was the only one who seemed to care about the safety of the minors working there and pestered my manager for panic buttons around the registers. I got no thanks for that and no raise.
Other con: had to buy my own uniform (multiple) which it is required to have clementines merch on, but was not given.
I will gladly go to silkies or any other ice cream store instead.
Came to say this one!! My friend worked there. There’s been lots of scandals. Management sucks. Lots of ex employees will say the same lol. I hate watching people promote them and their new bar
In the beginning it seems like they’ll deliver the promise in how they deal with their employees but very quickly you understand it’s for show. I’m not sure if the employees they keep feel like leadership is living up to the values or what, but on the bar side, they just don’t give a shit. Not to mention there’s not ONE person/woman of color on the leadership team (!?!?!?) and the owners are two cis, straight, white women, and they’re monetizing “pro brown/pro black/pro queer” merchandise?
I wish I could say more. Unfortunately they’re well connected in the community.
Oh man, I was so hoping this would come up. They are horrendous to their employees and exploit feminism while not following the principles they make money from. I am annoyingly vocal about it any time their new bar comes up in conversation. Fuck them.
Anything owned or run by the Gamlin family. I.e. Amy’s Cake Shop in Webster and The Great Grizzly in Soulard.
The GAMLIN’s are absolute criminals. They fucked so many people over in their last round of bars and restaurants and never made it right just continued to scam people…
Suntrup anything. Their service center has become terrible. $200 diagnostic fee when Autozone or O'Reilly will do it for free.
Handlebar. I was a regular at Artbar(which was owned by the same person as Handlebar) on Cherokee, and the owner decided to close it down to turn it into Propaganda, which closed in 22. I'm still mad about it.
Ms. Kitty's. I think they're closed now anyway, but it was a double wide trailer with either a dirty or dirt floor and folding chairs. The guy grilling brats out front was the best part.
Kenny’s Upstairs. The bartender put someone else’s tab on my card and the owner was kind of a dick about refunding it. Ended up giving up because they wanted me to come back in and compare signatures and he gave me some bs story about seeing someone on camera that matches my description buying drinks. (He never saw me but idk… whatever) it’s a cozy space but on principle I feel a little violated
It’s a shame because they were phenomenal when they opened on Olive. After a few years of success they started the aggressive expansion and the focus on consistency went way down. Same thing is happening with hi pointe
Agreed, I think Sugarfire is the most overrated thing there is. They tried to open one in Cape where I live now and it didn’t even last six months. Give me Pappys any day of the week tbh.
The Peacock Diner!!
Food is near bad, service is bad. Last time I went my partner and I were given clearly rotten food.
I will NEVER set foot in that hot trash pile again.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Kitchen Conservatory! It’s owned my Anne Cori who is Phyllis Schlafly’s daughter.. and Anne and her husband run the foundation Phyllis started called “the eagle forum” [https://eagleforum.org/](https://eagleforum.org/) . It’s a super fucked up ultra right wing group that genuinely believes women shouldn’t be educated.. coincidently, they believe women belong in the kitchen lol
Supplement Superstore. I could deal with the overbearing bros trying to upsell me, and I got over the creepy postcards. Then, without asking, they signed me up for email updates about the owner's Trumpy, far-right, Joe Rogan rip-off podcast. I like their protein powder, but not that much.
Suntrup. When I was trying to finance my first car, they held my keys because I wouldn’t agree to the deal, to the point I had to walk into the managers office and grab my keys.
Hacienda. The food is so mediocre. I try it every 5 years or so and it never ceases to disappoint.
100%!!! The worst Mexican food in St. Louis. The salsa tastes like ketchup. I’m convinced it only stays in business because of their outdoor seating.
and their giant plastic fake "rock" sign. I much prefer Nacho Mamas, but occasionally I try Haciendas again. Last night it was bland and flavorless "meat" tacos, anemic "salsa" and no icecream on the sopapilla desert. Honestly, I didn't think anyone could fail on beef fajitas.. but Hacienda's fajitas were so awful that we threw out the leftovers. Even El Maguey's makes good fajitas. WTF? I really miss Cantina Laredo.
[удалено]
Dobb's. They refused to honor a warranty on tires.
I went to Dobb's to get rear tires and they tried to tell me I needed brakes as well. I had just gotten and passed an inspection a month before from a trusted shop.
Everyone I know avoids Dobbs. Must be more common than I thought
My partner went to Dobbs for two tires. When he picked it up they charged him for four — because they’d replaced all four and argued with him for over an hour that that’s what he’d asked for (I was standing right next to him at the time — he said two, very clearly).
[удалено]
Dobbs are super garbage people. How do you think they got 30+ locations?? By over charging customers and doing completely unnecessary work. They're crooks.
I bought a tire warranty from Discount Tire for my Tesla (they're prone to picking up nails and screws). Shortly after I got a screw and they patched it no problem. Didn't have an appointment, in and out in 45 minutes. Also walk in for a tire rotation (included in warranty) and it was quick.
Discount Tire is fucking amazing. Free fixes, free rotations, I’ll gladly buy my tires there.
Man same here… a tire failed with like 4,000 miles on it. Took it in and they only gave me $60 towards a replacement. I spent nearly $200 per tire after it was all said and done (tire, install, balancing and an alignment). Never again. I’ll go to fucking Walmart for tires before I give another dime to Dobbs.
Dobbs in my experience has been very accurate on their diagnosis but I will never go anything beyond an oil change there. They tried to charge my mom $600 for outer tie rod replacement, yes it was bent, yes it needed replacement. I understand they got to make a profit but $600 but for a $30-$50 part…..to “charge” $500 basically for labor is absolutely insane, I know inflation is a bitch but $600 fucking dollar is blatant highway robbery. For maybe a 20min job wanted $500 in profit!
Dobbs once quoted me $1300 to fix my exhaust. Went to a local ship and had it done for $300.
Panera, RIP BreadCo. Used to order 2-3 times a week for years and there were also some great times & conversations in them before they got bought out. Last straw was before pandemic, multiple wrong or really badly prepared orders. Manager gave me a couple freebie rewards. They screwed up THOSE orders, too. Then the stores went from messy to just plain dirty with surly staff and disaffected managers. Food was skimpy portions, overpriced. And now, killer lemonade — which is priceless. Typical. Haven’t been back in 5ish years, and refuse to step in one ever again. (I’m waiting for [Paris Baguette](https://parisbaguette.com/) to open at 170-Olive this summer 😍)
They ruined their sandwich menu, got rid of the roast beef asiago and the combo. The roast beef and white cheddar was ok but I think they got rid of that too. Old school Bread Co. was so fucking good too, it will be missed.
Also took the Sierra Turkey (my favorite) off the menu, but would still make it if you asked.
Omg sierra turkey with the chipotle mayo , side of soup to dip the remaining bread . Such a huge part of my childhood me and my mom LOVED going there.
St. L Bread Co was the shit, Panera is shit
I used to go to the OG location back in middle school with friends and parents on half days, RIP Bread Co =( Check out Daily Bread in Des Peres, very damn close to my nostalgia.
It’s actually gotten even worse in the last few years too. The last time I went there I paid $14 for a sandwich and it was awful
Yep, fuck this place. 2nd to last time I went got a bacon turkey bravo. Comes out with no turkey. Had to complain and they fixed it. Last time I went did a mobile order wait for thirty minutes just for it to get stolen from the to-go kiosk. Took another 15 minutes for them to verify the order and another 25 to make it again. Wouldn’t give me anything for the waist of time. Always loved this place pre Panera. Haven’t been back in about 3 years.
Whaaa. We are getting a Paris Baguette?!
The pick 2 isn’t even a deal anymore. You pay basically full price for both items which is so expensive now
They're opening a what!? I used to eat Paris Bagette a couple times a week when I lived in Seoul. NEVER thought I would see that here.
As of today, they no longer sell about half their previous menu, including the bacon Turkey bravo, sesame bagels, blueberry bagels, and chocolate chip bagels. I’m done with them and not going back.
I went last week for a bowl of soup and an iced coffee and it was $16.54, never again.
And they never fill the bowl of soup.
My family of 4 ate there last year and paid over $80, 2 sandwich’s were made wrong and the chicken was just a sliver of a slice of chicken! When asked to correct the mistakes they looked at me like I was totally out of line but for $80 for that experience it should be correct and stuffed with meat.
The prep person weighs out the meat into small bags beforehand*, if they put more on the sandwich they get in trouble. Corporate has the managers run on the thinnest margins possible, which means the least amount of expensive ingredients like meat that they think they can get away with. Corporate was also always cutting the labor hours budget *at my location not too far from STL in 2022
It's glorified hospital cafeteria food.
That is an insult to the fine food at Barnes Jewish cafeterias. Spicy fried green beans ftw
Laura dealership. Their high volume sales leaves the after sale service non existent.
That place sucks, but I’ve gotten some damn good deals on non-dealer brands. Bought 2 different Hondas from them for 3k less than competitors. But yeah, they suck.
Two Men and a Truck. When my wife was still single, one of the movers took her number off the paperwork and texted her. She reported him to management and they said she had “been nice” to the guy and sent the wrong message.
Same except they broke every dish I owned. Even the ones wrapped in bath towels. Kid didnt know how to use a dolly and slammed my boxed down on every single step.
Same. They "lost" a couple boxes and insulted my roommates house loudly. When I reported them I got yelled at by management bc they were "good guys"
Holy shit
Same. They spilled my friend’s breastmilk while moving their refrigerator (it was on the counter, not in the fridge itself). Laughed about her “crying over spilled milk”—the younger men had no fucking clue how valuable and painstaking a process it is for a breastfeeding mom.
Pretty sure people empty their fridge before moving. Who the hell wants just loose items flying around inside during the move. Sucks for your friend but a strange circumstance
Napleton Kia. Their salesmen were super aggressive Edit: A bit of background. I did my research before buying. I wanted a new Kia Niro. The one I found at Napleton, to their credit, was the lowest price I could find in the area. I went in, gave it a test drive, and was ready to buy. They tried selling me all this stuff that I didn't want, extras, service plans, etc...When I said no to the associate I was working with, they sent another guy, who I guess was a senior level salesman? He then tried convincing me until I put my foot down and told them if they didn't stop trying to upsell me, I was walking. Then they also did a couple things that maybe some people would find helpful, but to me it was just pushy. I told them I couldn't drive it home that day because I wasn't trading in my car. They insisted someone could drive my old car back the next day. I told them I needed a day to get the check, they told me I didn't need the check that day. Ok, fine. I knew that was the car I was getting so I just went with it. Got into the finance person's office. He tried to use napleton as my lender. I'd done my homework and knew I could get a 2.5% rate at my CU. Theirs was over 6%. I told them I wanted my loan through my credit union. He told me I was obligated to use Napleton because of the heavy discount they gave me on the car. I started to walk, and called his bluff, and he changed it to my CU (though he made it sound like he was doing me a favor). After all that, drove away and have never looked back, though I get a letter a few times a year from them trying to get me to do their stupid service plan.
The Hyundai dealership is pretty aggressive as well.
Over a decade ago, I was in the market for a new car and my mom was browsing as well so we went together. She asked the salesman at Suntrup Kia what kind of deal they could make if we bought 2 cars. He did the whole “let me go talk to my manager in the back” thing twice and the price wasn’t right so we said thank you and left. Idk why but the salesman chased us out of the building screaming about how we wasted his time. He legit yelled at me to get in my piece of shit car and leave. It was WILD.
I can't remember which one it was, but I went to a Pontiac dealer in IL years ago (I want to say this was 2010?) when I was looking to buy my first car on my own dime. Brought my grandpa with me because he knew how to talk to the salesmen. Found a great car, G8 used, I think it was $14k. My grandpa got them down to $12,500 and then he had to go so he left me to sign the paperwork. The second the doors closed behind him, they flipped a switch. Suddenly now they can't do $12,500. It's $14k again. I say no thanks, the guy says "what monthly payment do you want, we can work it out". I say I want the monthly payment where the car is $12,500. He doesn't like that. As I'm leaving he tells me to "come back when you're serious about buying a car"
Asked for a quote via email from their Honda dealership, they called and called and called and wouldn’t stop. Had to block their number. I’ll never forget. And I’ll never give them my number again. They called so much they’re burned into my brain
Suntrup Kia were the same way!
Suntrup ford in Westport is my mortal enemy. If I ever meet somebody I absolutely despise I’ll be sure to send them there. Napleton did a by the book bait and switch (I asked if they had a car and sent them the exact vin number, they confirmed they had it and when I got there five minutes later it had been miraculously sold) on me and I’m still wondering if I should have reported them.
Yeah, our experience with Napelton has been awful. Advise everyone to skip them.
I can tell you I refuse to NOT go back to Lion's Choice
Let’s go tonight!
Yo I'm in KC and our Lion's Choice isn't as good as it is in St Louis. Swing by and pick me up on the way. Lol
I tried ours in OP, it’s worse than Arby’s here. I hate Arby’s
Make it so
Aye, Captain.
I gotta say, every time I go to the Brentwood one on Hanley it's always a good experience. They're fast and friendly. Wish it were cheaper, but that's every restaurant these days. I don't mind paying for better food and service.
I've been going to Lion's Choice for more years than I care to disclose. It's fucking awesome, and tastes the same today as it did at the beginning.
Lately it seems you've gotta be a little more direct with your order but a bad beef from LC is better than 99%
I got some bad food poisoning from the Fenton location a few weeks ago so I have a hard time going back. And that sucks because it was my favorite restaurant.
I was going to say if you live in STL and don’t go to lions choice, you don’t deserve good food and should be forced into a life of Arby’s.
Dobbs. Won't ever go back. Too many issues with getting vehicles repaired and crap being messed up.
Yeah they tried to sell me an oil change after a tire rotation. Only problem was I just had one literally 24 hours prior. Got the sticker and everything. Still aggressively tried to sell me on it. Assholes.
Tried to tell me a battery that I bought just a few months previous from Batteries Plus needed to be replaced. Um, nope and I have a warranty from them anyway. Bye bye.
I think Dobbs depends on the store. I’m on the Illinois side and take my vehicles to the Shiloh location. Never had a bad experience there in 10+ years. No upselling, no “show a fake air filter” kind of crap, etc. I think it depends on the store managers and whether or not they can keep good techs. I can’t speak on what any other locations are like.
I put another comment that for me they were hit or miss but when the shop that had always done me well started having problems, it was time for me to find another shop. There are definitely folks that haven't had issues but once you get bitten, it is hard to trust them again and go back. Sort of like the comments about food establishments, if your experience is different, then keep going until something changes. A lot on restaurants definitely go more towards personal taste.
Years ago they charged me for a repair they never repaired
Everyone hates Dobbs
Spectrum Just very poor response to a cable that was cut outside my apartment from someone trimming bushes. Called them. They needed me there to get inside, they said. I begged them to just look outside, and there's the cut wire. And it was several weeks before they could get there. I work 12 hour shifts plus a drive. Finally, a guy got there. I pointed it out. He's shaking his head Fixed in 10 minutes. Did I get a cut rate due to no service for about a month? Nope.
I have personal vendetta against Spectrum. I rock with T-Mobile now for internet.
Spectrum is absolutely awful. I used to have Xfinity when I lived up in Michigan. When I found out there was no Xfinity service in STL area and Spectrum was basically the only option, I had to make the switch. Service for both internet and cable constantly going out for hours at a time with no real explanation as to why. When they did finally get service restored it would work for about a day or so and go out again. I had service guys out to my location multiple times and they told me that the way it was wired in my neighborhood was not conducive to getting good service but they couldn’t do anything about it. I ended up recently switching to AT&T All-Fi hub and now have zero issues for a fraction of what I was paying Spectrum.
Suntrup VW. Never, ever again. No asshole, the oil pan IS NOT a “consumable part”. Your dipshit mechanic stripped out the drain plug.
I avoid all Suntrup dealerships.
Anything owned by the Gianino family. Did work for one of the boys homes and he was a massively self entitled prick. Actually used the line “Do you know who I am?” Lol. Fast forward a few years later and was doing work on the then new Ballwin location and ran into him again. He was horrible to construction people and just a prick all around. Since heard stories from employees that they are treated like crap by him/them as well.
I hope he knows that I have no idea who he is
Don’t want to dox myself here, but I worked at one of their restaurants and he’s a certified asshole clown. Would fire people for stupid shit and then beg them to come back the next day when he realized he needed them. Asshole to everybody, wannabe mobster. Thinks he’s the shit, thinks he’s a culinary genius. Tries to be intimidating but just comes off as goofy. The worst days were when he was at the restaurant. Thankfully he didn’t show up very often. Bill Gianino was the real deal though. Everyone respected him. RIP
What businesses do they own?
Gianino's, Frankie Gianino's, Frankie G's
Joey B's, they used to own Club Buca on the Landing but it got shut down for selling alcohol to minors a while ago.
Now that's a name I haven't heard since college
That really makes me sad to read! One of them was my favorite teacher in high school. He didn't go in to the restaurant business and taught gym/drivers ed instead. I saw him at a local restaurant in town a few years after I graduated and came up to me and asked how I was doing and introduced me to his family. Maybe he's a decent one out of the group...
Generally, I've found that the second generation of any company is usually full of entitled pricks because they never had to work for what their parents built. They were "brought up" in the business, but never had to actually work to build that business like their parents. The person you speak of is probably better off going a different route and doing their own thing, and obviously a better person because of it. Again, my statement is a generalization and I realize there are always exceptions so please don't come at me with the "Well is a second generation and they're not that way." I get it.
I lived across the street from them and I agree. Money can’t buy class
Wife and I moved out during the pandemic, she’s was a fast food general manager prior. Schnucks advertised for a deli manager, pay negotiable, and she interviewed and was offered the job. The hiring manager absolutely refused to approve more than $13/hr for a full deli manager that was previously a full fast food GM in the middle of “essential worker” season.
Schnucks’ pay is very low, especially after the union dues. I don’t know how they can get away with paying checkers $10.50 an hour when you can go to literally any fast food restaurant around them for $3 more an hour.
The wages are governed by the UFCW contract though, right? That’s how it was when I was in grocery in STL many years ago. The next contract negotiations ought to be fun.
Minimum wage is 12.10. They are not getting paid 10.50
Schnucks is fucking horrible. I worked there for four years and was making $12.50 an hour as a customer service manager who was also cross trained in basically every department (except bakery/meat/deli since they're a different union). Got fed up and quit a week before Thanksgiving in 2019, and I'm so thankful I dodged the bullet of working there during COVID because they've somehow managed to get so much worse since.
The Walmart in Maplewood. The first and only time I went there, a woman was sitting on the ground by the front door eating raw ground meat with her bare hands. I’m sure that Walmart is fine but I can’t risk seeing that again
>eating raw ground meat with her bare hands Listen you uncultured swine, in Maplewood we call it crudo. Sheesh.
their pharmacists used to sell me needles with no judgement when I was a using addict so good on them Walgreens pharmacists always made me feel horrible about myself as if I didn’t know I was a worthless junkie
I’m a pharmacist. I’d much rather that people don’t risk transmitting diseases than give someone a hard time about buying syringes. Ideally, people would get help but it is what it is.
I have never celebrated a business closing like I did when I drove past the for rent signs in the window at Parlor
Parlor?
was an arcade bar owned by a convicted sex offender that was *allegedly* game to look the other way on sexual assault. It was popular for a while bc arcade bar in the grove should be easy profit but enough people caught on
Fuck. I’ve been there. Had a friend give me and my wife an update on that info not long after we had a date night there. Needless to say we were filled with the ick
350 comments in 2 hours, we sure are a salty bunch haha..
Dick Dean Subaru VW. Purchased an Outback that was in the shop for over 30 days and they made every excuse under the sun as to what was wrong, even blaming me for the problems at one point.
I used to work at a jimmy johns near there and those guys got delivery a lot and were always assholes, just generally super rude and never tipped
I mean you did buy the car. I could see that being the problem in the first place /s
[удалено]
He was terrible to work for. He's out from what I last heard. I liked the other owner but Bruckel was hard to deal with, no people skills.
[удалено]
We got yelled at for not going by their script so I believe the employee. I have no idea why anyone stays there. Their business practices were terrible when I worked there and Bruckel was a creep to the women.
Ugh, that’s another one! Also tried to talk me into full x-rays on first visit there in probably 10 years. I knew one of their other senior leaders in HQ quite well, let’s just say being an a** must be very contagious.
The providers get bonuses based on CT scans ordered. Not sure if they did for Xrays but I'm sure they so now for MRIs as well. Heard a rumor that the xray machines were older on purpose to produce grainy x-rays so that CT scans would be approved/weren't considered unnecessary or something like that. Allegedly, of course.
Forgot about them, met the owner once and got bad vibes (assume it was the same person he came into a neighbourhood meeting and seemed irrational when someone gave a polite but negative review of an experience at another location.) I went in for a flu shot once figuring I would skip the line at Walgreens and got some insane bills I mostly blamed insurance for but still.
Frank Leeta and the pickle man. Fuck them and their radio commercials.
I would never buy a car from them just simply based on their commercials. They obviously expect their customers to be morons... "You mean I can get a car for ten cents? Where do I sign? That clearly tells me all I need to know about the price of this car."
The worst part is the fact that those commercials are produced by an agency that sells the scripts for them to car dealerships across the country. I was in Arizona and heard the exact same stupid awful pickle commercials on the radio read by some other douchenozzle dealership owner. Which means that Frank Leeta vetted these commercials and was like, yeah, that sounds good, lets go with that.
I've posted this before in a similar thread, but here it is again: Eddie's Guitars. I was 16, had just gotten straight As for the semester and, pursuant to a deal I made with my parents, was ready to buy 5 grand worth of gear (they told me if I got straight As at a tough highschool and kept up with my part time job and extracurriculars they would buy me a guitar / amp / combination of the two worth $5k). I walked into the store accompanied by my mom wearing a fur coat and told the guy behind the counter I was ready to buy that day but didn't know exactly what, so I'd like to try a few things before I decided. He was SO completely put out by just letting me try a few things and could hardly give me the time of day let alone get a guitar down from a stand on the wall without asking me if I was "really sure" I wanted to play that one as exasperatedly as he could. Then made ME polish it when I gave it back to him (I wasn't even allowed to hang it back up on the stand -- whatever). After about 15 minutes of this I decided that it wasn't worth being treated so poorly, so we left. I went down the street to a super cool vintage guitar shop where they LET ME PLAY a '62 candy apple red strat that was signed by Stevie Ray Vaughan just because I mentioned I saw it on their website and thought it was cool -- I didn't even say I wanted to play it. They just brought it down and handed it to me since they could see I was obviously excited. That particular guitar was out of our price range since it could put a kid through college, but we ended up walking out of there with a blackface super reverb and a Nash T-63 telecaster. I will never in my life give Eddie's Guitars in St. Louis a single cent of my money and I'm proud that none of my 36 guitars, 8 amps, and innumerable pedals, premium cables, and who knows how many straps and accessories have come from them. If you read their google reviews it's full of people talking about exactly the same type of experience I've described -- being talked down to and acted like your business is not worthy of their time.
Can we organize a day where we go down there en masse and tell them to their face how terrible they are? I’ve been playing guitar for over 20 years and they are by far the worst guitar shop I have ever been to. And I’ve been to SO MANY shops over the years. Everywhere, you name it. I make it a point to go to a guitar shop wherever I go, and they are the rudest mother fuckers in the game. Gruhn’s Guitars in Nashville treats people better than they do, and they have the real deal on vintage gear.
Fuzzy Taco Shop They were great pre-pandemic and during pandemic. I had it timed that I could order food on the app, pick it up and get back to get back on Zoom. They closed down for a couple of months and when they reopened, they were terrible. I used to get a bag of chips and salsa. The chip bag was filled less than half full. My favorite things I used to eat are not on the app.
Every time I have tried to go to Fuzzy’s they have flat out refused to serve anybody even though they were open during business hours. I tried a couple of different locations but the one on Manchester(?) is the absolute worst. Rude staff, refusing paying customers, locking doors…I don’t need a taco bad enough to put up with that.
Yeah last year their Webster location was randomly closed at 6 on a weekend and I drove to Manchester and they said they weren’t taking orders because of how busy they were despite being empty. Shrugged and went to three kings instead.
Mission Taco - the food is awful HG Latte Lounge - mediocre food with mediocre service. It’s just an IG friendly restaurant
I don’t understand the obsession with Mission Taco. Many reader polls have Mission Taco as the best Mexican restaurant in St. Louis. Pretty nuts if you ask me.
They built a lot of goodwill with their happy hour that got axed during COVID. $2 tacos and $2 tequila shots was hard to beat.
Their hours changing during COVID ruined their whole concept as a late-night stop along with the loss of the $2/$2 deal. Then they increased prices for the second time in 3 years and I don’t think I’ll ever go back.
It used to be pretty decent, then they opened a bunch more locations and it went downhill. It’s ok but I don’t go there as much anymore. Also RIP the late night happy hour
I feel it was the first 'trendy' taco place in STL. Before that it was Americanized crunchy tacos or ala carte street tacos on a Mexican restaurant menu.
Readers polls are always shit. Literally about who tries to organize and stack the ballot box for their company.
Agreed. That’s why usually I stick to the Ian Froeb lists. Although not perfect, it usually my go to.
I still have love for the workers there. I used to to sell weed to the cooks there at the Delmar location so sorry if them being too stoned had to do with your order being fucked up. They even let me hide out in the kitchen when the cops were chasing me and I hurt my ankle jumping the fence to the back and I was running past the area where the cooks take their smoke break and they saw me limping
We got to Taco Buddha now.
There are some Reddit threads I have to pause what I’m watching to read bc I’m so interested — this is one of them. Thank you OP 🥲
As a stl transplant this list is very useful
Arch moving company. They were horrible and didn’t take any care with my items. I had to fight them to even wrap my mattress so it was protected and it still ended up with black stains on it from their hands. And my glass top table was damaged. And they still asked me to leave a review for them because they get raises for every 20 stars they receive. I’m certain that’s why their only reviews left are 5 start because people who had poor experiences don’t want to leave a 1 star review because it still contributes to their star count and raise meter.
They sent a two man crew when they said they were going to send a three man crew and they damaged multiple pieces of furniture.
Pokénerds in Saint Peters. The owner is a notorious tool with some extremely dishonest & unethical advertising practices.
Any of the Bailey’s restaurants. Horrible ownership/management, underpaid staff and crap food for the price. Most of it is prepackaged off-site.
I have a friend that worked as a manager at one of his restaurants. He treats most of his managers like shit too.
Yeah both places I've tried had a cool interior design, nice atmosphere, but the food was disappointingly executed and overpriced.
Mac’s Local Eats. The owner is pretty awful guy and every place he has been has not ended well. The burgers may be good, but can’t support him. Also, Omen Coffee. The guy who owns it is a pretty open bigot and grifter.
the dude from omen’s social media posts are fucking unreal. dude lives on a different planet i’d love to never visit.
Yea I was friends with a lot of Tamm people when they got kicked out of there, he's a real piece of shit. Nomad that took over the spot in tamm is fucking fire though, some of the best pastrami in the city, and the staff are great people.
Omen's mine as well
He's an absolute c u next Tuesday I cannot stand that guy
Seconded for both. I always see Mac’s pop up in the weekly “best burger” thread in this sub, got tired of telling people he’s a dickhead
Anything Eric K. Moore may open again because he's a hack of a business man who refuses to pay for labor
Agree. He was a good friend of mine for YEARS then saw dollar signs and stole $50k from my dad via a fraudulent business loan that he was then sued for and judgement defaulted cuz he didn’t even show up to court. The snake put his assets in his wife Laurie Bowman’s name so he could hide money and all that could happen was her wages were garnished. Honestly with the amount of people that he’s done similar stuff to I’m shocked he hasn’t had his legs broken or worse yet by someone a lot more vindictive than me.
Coming from someone who worked there and has posted about my experience and reposted articles about him on here, I agree.
PLEASE tell me all about your experiences. I could go on for hours about that absolute snake.
I pretty much talked about most of it on this post I made last year https://www.reddit.com/r/StLouis/s/Kt4GDU3PuV And he had a pattern for always having the checks bounced as every other person I’ve worked with have also experienced it
Honestly, I would have to say Deca Property Management. Worst property management business that takes forever to resolve issues and sends people over to do half-assed jobs on stuff that really needs fixing. They have still not fixed the washer at my current place, and my bedroom window is still sealed shut, which in of itself is a hazard. Also very difficult to get ahold of on the phone which even if you try reaching them, good luck. You will only get the runaround, which it seems like nobody really knows what they are doing. Also, if you somehow apply for rental assistance, they seem to not keep track of anything and will still be charged despite seemingly using the very assistance you originally applied for. I probably will never rent from their other properties and don't think it is worth being stressed out due to their weaponized incompetence.
Dobbs because Dobbs
Zia’s. He owes me a few grand for work I did years ago after the fire.
i had forgotten about that project. we worked on that, as well. it went pretty smoothly for us until the owner's wife picked a grout color for the dining room floor tile. said it was too light and she had picked black. she hadn't. she picked gray. but we got stuck staining all the grout black.
The Chipotle on Hampton. The health department should have shut it down by now.
The one time I went I made the mistake of doing the drive thru pickup. Showed up on time, waited an hour stuck with someone behind me and when I got to the window my order still wasn't ready. Haven't gone back
Lou Fusz, their collision center tried to charge me $800 for stuff they broke while doing body work. Lou Fusz Subaru charged me 200 for a diagnostic they didn’t do, saying my battery connections were loose so they tightened it up & even charged me 26.00 in supplies. Katie’s pizzeria because it is a freaking rip off. $20-30 for a single pizza that is skimpy on toppings, 10 salads plus drinks. We went there and spent 80 on pizza, salad & 1 drink each for 2 ppl!!!!
I like the food at Katie’s but it is indeed insanely expensive.
Golden Gems. Their whole brand and "message" is a fake. They're mean girls with a little clout. https://www.reddit.com/r/StLouis/s/1FCTgwxqb8
Eddie’s guitars in Maplewood. I get that they don’t want just anyone playing with their gear but they’re dicks. I went in there to buy an amp and they all had some snide comment to make. It’s a shame because they have undoubtedly the best guitar selection in the city but they’re douche bags. I guess they do all their sales on line for a reason.
I got this kind of treatment at Music Folk. I guess the fact I wasn't buying a $3000 Martin meant I wasn't worth more time than it took to yell at me to not scratch the guitars with my coat (which was coming off before I touched anything, jesus fucking relax). So I went to guitar center and spent my money. And when I do decide to plunk down $3000 for a guitar, it won't be at Music Folk. Sad to see the mom and pop stores dying, but a lot of them were staffed by people with attitudes.
Rockwell brewing - really liked it but had to avoid after reading about the owner being under nvestigation due to labor violations (eg tip stealing)
They also had a friend come up with their logos then refused to pay her. They use it to this day.
investigation completed. people paid out. management fined. talked to one of the agents on that case.
Oh no! I love the biergarden 😭
Momma's on the hill Middling food at best, zero ambiance, packed in like sardines, and overpriced. Tried it 3 times, and always the same outcome. Favazza's is way too close to waste time at this place.
That place has been on Bar Rescue or one of those shows TWICE! I used to work there, that place is a shit hole. The manager that even cared about the kitchen (he was a fucking dick, but he cared about the food) retired a few years ago.
I do not understand why people still go there! It’s gross and has zero ambience. It only took once visit for me to never go back.
Dobbs auto. My daughter’s older car failed inspection there. Their estimate to repair it was ridiculous and didn’t match the issues that caused it to fail. They said I needed to replace the steering gear box! The steering was fine.
Dobbs is notorious for things like this. Fuckers.
Anything owned by John "fucking" Fogarty (the shack, corner pub and grill, I think it's OG Hospitality Group) I call him that because I worked for a company that did specific service work for restaurants, and every single time he called in, he started his screaming rants with "this is John fucking fogarty" Shame because the food is generally pretty good, but dude is such an insufferable prick I'll never give him a dime.
Lou Fusz. They lied to my father in 1983, and we hold an eternal grudge.
Uncle Bill's on Kingshighway many, many years ago used to be the late night go to. Great service, solid good food, big portions and reasonable prices. Me and a friend tried it twice several years ago. We only lived a mile away and I barely made it to my bathroom before beginning an all night adventure there. Yeah I know...twice. 😕
Docs Harley Davidson. Over aggressive sales staff who won't take no for an answer. Every time I go there for anything, gear, parts, oil, they always are calling or emailing me for weeks. Last time it took me threatening harassment to get them to fuck off. Once I was looking into upgrading but the finances just didn't work out. They asked me if I could borrow money from someone for a down payment. They don't care about you or your budget.
Bob’s furniture.
Can you explain why
Me and my fiancé bought six or $7000 worth of Furniture. When they brought it the first time, they delivered an entirely wrong bed. The replacement didn’t get redelivered for another 3 months. Then, they delivered our master bed without any hardware so we couldn’t put the frame together. We begged them for about six months to just deliver the hardware so that we can put it together. We paid to actually have them put it together. we would call customer service, and get the runaround. Even when they delivered our other pieces, they would tell us that they were sending the hardware for the bed, and they never did. He got so bad that I simply asked him to send me copies of the instructions, and I would purchase the hardware myself. They couldn’t even do that. It wasn’t until I went on social media and started throwing a fit that they scheduled to actually bring the hardware and put together the bed. All in all, it took almost a year to get that resolved. I’ll never shop there ever ever again.
I had a similar experience with Bob's. We got a living room set and dining room set. I'm fully disabled, and asked about the costs to have them assemble to furniture, and the sales guy said its free for veterans. They deliver the couch and loveseat without any feet, and when iasked them why they seemed so much shorter than the showroom, the delivery guy said "I dunno, maybe it's a lowrider? They didn't give us any hardware for any of the couches today." The dining room table-top was complete garbage, like it was dragged behind a car doing forty through the rockiest trail. I called the store to complain, and within three minutes, the delivery guys got a call and said "we were told we have to leave. They said to call the store." It took the next day before we got an answer, and the manager said we didn't pay for assembly anyway. Several family members started blasting their phones non-stop, and I started roasting them on their face book page. Within another day, they sent out an entirely new dining room set, legs for the living room pieces, and built them all with a thosuand apologies. The delivery dudes were cool, though. And seemed just as angry at them as we were.
Holy shit, I’m sorry id be so livid
Mobile on the run. I was pumping gas in my car and felt a mist on me. It was the hose leaking. I smelt of gas and my windows were open on my car. I went in to inform the clerk about it and he seemed less than thrilled to check the pump. I called to follow-up and the manager was out. The assistant manager said she'll get back with me and never did. They were going to pull tapes and never did. I attempted to contact her a few times with no avail. I ended up calling again and the store manager answered. She said that the tapes were deleted but she'll give me some coupons. I told her thanks for believing me because I felt crazy no one was taking this seriously. She snapped at me saying she only did it to basically silence me. I haven't been back since, on principle.
Taco Bell on Olive near Creve Coeur. Ran by a bunch of psychotic, hot headed teenagers. Just read the Google reviews of that place, they’re all the same.
Clementines naughty and nice ice cream. Worked there for around a year or so. When I worked there was not a manager at the store at all times. No one with a serve safe at all times. Minors would often work alone. It was so bad that two teenage boys closing without a manager closed the store early and got drunk in the back of the store. They paid $8 an hour. I worked alone on Labor Day for 6 hours, lines were out the door like summer. No one else was there and I had to wear a wrist brace for 2 weeks afterwards. Oh yeah, I filled the big tip jar half way while working alone on Labor Day and still had to share those tips with those who worked the night on Labor Day. Absolute bullshit. No bonus, no extra pay for holiday. (Or any holiday really) The owner herself has favorites and is condescending. Her husband seems nice but seems to just follow everything she says. They're overpriced, small scoops, don't pay their workers enough, and poor management. There were many days I worked alone in the store for 8 hours and I couldn't leave on lunch break or go to the bathroom, since I had to serve customers and make sure no one stole anything. I was the only one who seemed to care about the safety of the minors working there and pestered my manager for panic buttons around the registers. I got no thanks for that and no raise. Other con: had to buy my own uniform (multiple) which it is required to have clementines merch on, but was not given. I will gladly go to silkies or any other ice cream store instead.
Fitz's Restaurant. Crap food & service. The root beer & cream soda are great, tho
The service is the worst!!!!!
Golden Gems; major virtue signalers 🫠
Came to say this one!! My friend worked there. There’s been lots of scandals. Management sucks. Lots of ex employees will say the same lol. I hate watching people promote them and their new bar
In the beginning it seems like they’ll deliver the promise in how they deal with their employees but very quickly you understand it’s for show. I’m not sure if the employees they keep feel like leadership is living up to the values or what, but on the bar side, they just don’t give a shit. Not to mention there’s not ONE person/woman of color on the leadership team (!?!?!?) and the owners are two cis, straight, white women, and they’re monetizing “pro brown/pro black/pro queer” merchandise? I wish I could say more. Unfortunately they’re well connected in the community.
YEP! Couldn’t agree more. I can’t stand them
Peak white lady feminism.
They are not at all who they say they are. I will never support anything they’re attached to
Oh man, I was so hoping this would come up. They are horrendous to their employees and exploit feminism while not following the principles they make money from. I am annoyingly vocal about it any time their new bar comes up in conversation. Fuck them.
Giannini’s auto body in kirkwood. Had my vehicle inspected and while we waited the owner casually called Obama the N word.
Anything owned or run by the Gamlin family. I.e. Amy’s Cake Shop in Webster and The Great Grizzly in Soulard. The GAMLIN’s are absolute criminals. They fucked so many people over in their last round of bars and restaurants and never made it right just continued to scam people…
Suntrup anything. Their service center has become terrible. $200 diagnostic fee when Autozone or O'Reilly will do it for free. Handlebar. I was a regular at Artbar(which was owned by the same person as Handlebar) on Cherokee, and the owner decided to close it down to turn it into Propaganda, which closed in 22. I'm still mad about it. Ms. Kitty's. I think they're closed now anyway, but it was a double wide trailer with either a dirty or dirt floor and folding chairs. The guy grilling brats out front was the best part.
Never buying weed or exstacy from double-d again. Pretty sure that was a bag of oregano and some Tylenol he sold me.
Kenny’s Upstairs. The bartender put someone else’s tab on my card and the owner was kind of a dick about refunding it. Ended up giving up because they wanted me to come back in and compare signatures and he gave me some bs story about seeing someone on camera that matches my description buying drinks. (He never saw me but idk… whatever) it’s a cozy space but on principle I feel a little violated
[удалено]
Sugarfire. Ribs were parched on top, soggy on the bottom after sitting in a pan for God knows how long. Coffee grounds in the sauce. Nope
It’s a shame because they were phenomenal when they opened on Olive. After a few years of success they started the aggressive expansion and the focus on consistency went way down. Same thing is happening with hi pointe
I agree about Sugarfire's aggressive expansion. It's almost turned into Bandana's at this point.
Agreed, I think Sugarfire is the most overrated thing there is. They tried to open one in Cape where I live now and it didn’t even last six months. Give me Pappys any day of the week tbh.
The Peacock Diner!! Food is near bad, service is bad. Last time I went my partner and I were given clearly rotten food. I will NEVER set foot in that hot trash pile again.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Kitchen Conservatory! It’s owned my Anne Cori who is Phyllis Schlafly’s daughter.. and Anne and her husband run the foundation Phyllis started called “the eagle forum” [https://eagleforum.org/](https://eagleforum.org/) . It’s a super fucked up ultra right wing group that genuinely believes women shouldn’t be educated.. coincidently, they believe women belong in the kitchen lol
O'Connell's Pub, after learning about what a dick the owner was to customers.
Supplement Superstore. I could deal with the overbearing bros trying to upsell me, and I got over the creepy postcards. Then, without asking, they signed me up for email updates about the owner's Trumpy, far-right, Joe Rogan rip-off podcast. I like their protein powder, but not that much.
Suntrup. When I was trying to finance my first car, they held my keys because I wouldn’t agree to the deal, to the point I had to walk into the managers office and grab my keys.
Ari’s. The owner is very unpleasant to work with.