February 22nd I decided to stop into BRAUM'S for an evening snack. It as dark when I arrived but the parking lot was well lit. As I entered, the floor appeared dingy, but not more than with recent heavy foot traffic, though at that time, they did not appear busy.
With only one person ahead of me in line, I had only a brief wait. As I approached the counter an employee quickly and cheerfully offered to take my order. I said that I wanted medium fries with cheese on them and asked if they could do that. She eagerly stated, "Sure! We can do that. No problem." She asked if I wanted a drink or anything else and if my order was for there or to go.
I stepped aside to fill a ketchup cup and wait for my order. The condiment station had a few, semi dry spills, but was well stocked.
Within three (3) minutes my order was ready and my number was clearly called. I was politely thanked as I picked up my tray.
I turned to step into the dining area to find a table to sit at. There were very few people in the dining area so there were many tables available. Most of the tables; however, were dirty. They had not been recently cleaned, nor were they cleaned during my visit. I had to sit at a table that had obviously not been cleaned since its last tenants.
Immediately as I stepped in to the dining area to go to a table, my feet 'crunched' on the dirt and grit on the floor in the dining area. The floor of the entire dining area was very dirty. You could not take a step without "crunching." The floor did not appear to have been swept the entire day, maybe longer. And it was never swept during my visit.
I was not comfortable sitting there eating my fries with a view of dirty tables and grungy floors. And the floor under the tables was much dirtier. The dirt against the baseboards under the tables appeared to have been collecting for quite some time. Amongst the dust bunnies was old, dried food. The edges of the baseboards have turned black with dirt and the walls under the tables were splashed with old stains and food. One must wonder, if the area visible to the customer is this dirty, what the kitchen and storage areas, not seen by the customers, looks like.
The people traffic through BRAUM'S that night was very slow. There were long spaces in between customers. During this time the kitchen duty managers and employees stood around drinking sodas and visiting amongst themselves. I felt they could have put that time to good use sweeping the floors and wiping down the tables.
Surprisingly, my fries were very good! They were golden and crispy on the outside, moist and flaky on the inside. The cheese was evenly, smoothly, and generously melted over all of the fries. No one fry was without cheese. My cheese fries were hot, fresh and tasted great. I was squeamish about eating them, though, after seeing the filthy condition of the dining area. The medium fries were $1.50, the added cheese was .20. With tax the total was only $1.86 for a very tasty, quick and filling snack.
During my visit at this BRAUM'S, located next to Lowe's, I received very friendly, quick service. The food was of excellent quality and reasonably priced. But due to the lack of cleanliness at this location, I doubt that I will return any time soon.
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