Nancy Jo's Burgers And Fries

This was our first time back in about a year because I had a couple of consecutive bad experiences where I ordered their German corn dogs (which were sooo good) and was either given the cheaper kid’s corn dog (which is really gross) or they changed their German hot dog for a less quality one.
It was gross and had the weirdest texture.
I still can’t get that taste out of my mouth.
I literally fed them to my dog. We ordered 2 bacon cheeseburgers, Cajun fries, and a cheeseburger basket for our son. We got home and the first thing I noticed was the burgers are much smaller than they used to be.
They used to be on large sesame seed buns.
But tbh, I liked the new buns much better.
They don’t fall apart like the old ones.
The second thing I noticed was they didn’t put bacon on our burgers like we ordered and paid for.
They also didn’t put tomato on my burger like I asked for.
My hubby had been out in the heat all day and did not feel like going all the way back to have them fix our burgers, so he called to see if they could just refund us the difference.
He called three times with no answer.
Today we call and talked to the manager Sarah who put us on a list to get free bacon on our burgers next time.
I would have preferred a refund but this was satisfactory. We both thought our burgers were okay except they weren’t how we wanted them and they were a little dry.
I have absolutely no idea how they’ve won best burger in Salem for 11 years in a row.
They’re not even in the top 5.
People need to try more restaurants in Salem apparently.
I do recommend their green leaf lettuce rather than the iceberg which had absolutely no flavor.
The Cajun fries were good but not as good as 5 Guys.
The only thing, besides the buns, that I was impressed with was my son’s cheeseburger basket with fries.
Mostly because it was a decent portion for the price.

Owner response

Mixed experience first time here.
Burger was good but bun seemed basic, like the cheapest thing I could pick up at the grocery store.
Milkshake was very good from hard ice cream would describe size as medium.
Got large fries which were plentiful but the flavor was off, like something was very odd with the oil and too much salt, disappointed with the fries. Atmosphere reminded me of a sixties diner with music but not in your face sixties diner. We came in about half an hour before closing and felt rushed from the start, like the employees could not wait to leave.
This was made more frustrating watching a middle school student and her whole extended family (two cars) come in a few minutes before closing and after looking at the menu for a few minutes being told they would not be served.
She had clearly just come from a middle school track meet, still in uniform, and it just was disappointing to see. We ended up feeling rushed to leave (the catchup for example was put away before we got our fries and well before closing time) and had to pack our food unfinished and eat outside in the car.
While there we saw more vehicles with customers come and be rejected at the door.
The service attitude for the employees needs work and I guess then it should not surprise that food quality is inconsistent, some very good, some disappointing. I am giving it three stars instead of two in part because of the reputation, my daughter has eaten there before and really liked it, I could have just had a random experience.
I like to contact the owners before leaving a message like this but there is no way to leave feedback on their website.
I hope improvements can be made, I am willing to give it another try in a few months.

Owner response

When the food was ready, one of the 4 cooks brought us our order.
All the cooks and the cashier are nice and you can tell the guys are working hard in excellence making the food to perfection.
It’s ALWAYS good and so is the customer service.
This is the only Nancy Jos I eat at now!

Owner response