Another day, another sandwich thanks to the Hurricanes staying perfect in the playoffs at home. Now, if only they could win on the road… 😉
This trip through the queues from hell takes us to the Knightdale location which often features the longest queues and wait times.
Interestingly enough, this would be the second straight trip through the drive-through where Karma will make an appearance.
This location has what appears to be a single-file queue that splits into two lanes about halfway to the order boards. The idea is that traffic approaching from either direction will alternate entering when there is traffic facing each other and then split later.
That’s the theory, at least.
Keep that in mind and let’s go review, shall we?
- 1617 – Mobile order placed near WakeMed with an estimated trip time of 13 minutes.
- 1627 – Arrived at the intersection of the main entrance off US-64 three minutes ahead of schedule.
- 1628 – Shockingly, the conga line is only two cars deep on the street so the IHOP is safe from being isolated for the time being. There’s a black Jeep waiting on the Arby’s side of the street to make a left turn and I let them come across thinking she’d take up her spot in the single-file queue. Those hopes were dashed when I watched her break hard right and drive over the spaces and then drive over the big hump that separates those parking spots from the outboard split jumping in front of the two cars that were in front of me. And she did this without so much as a wave.
- 1629 – I turn in and end up in the outbound lane right behind Jerky Jeep.
- 1632 – Order taker stationed at the order board 5m away.
- 1635 – Meet the order taker at the board and she’s spot on with the greeting and also has a parting “my pleasure” when I compliment her on her sterling greeting reminding me of Miss Summer from White Oak.
- 1636 – Here comes the red-headed receipt printer Drew and his greeting starts with “hey” with a topping of “man” when I challenged him to find a more appropriate greeting. He eventually takes the hint…I think. Ugh.
- 1638 – 5m to the choke point.
- 1639 – 2.5m to the choke point. I can’t help but wonder how many cars Jerky Jeep will try to jump at the single-file point. Good luck with that!
- 1641 – Jerky Jeep’s antics really didn’t do anything to speed her progress through the queue…the car in front of her was the one that was in front of me so if anything she’s actually made slower progress.
- 1642 – Turn toward the window 7m away.
- 1643 – Jerky Jeep gets her order at the window but she’s stuck behind the car at the window who is waiting for something and wasn’t spun out of the way. Karma! 🙂
- 1645 – Delivery at the window with the gentleman delivering a perfect greeting.
Seventeen minutes through the queue…not bad at all for that time of day.
Let’s see how they stacked up!
- Initial greeting: Order taker was perfect as was the gent at the window but Drew was a jarring note in between. I’m going to knock a quarter point for Drew wrecking the overall experience.
- Order correctness: spot on for the full point.
- Waffle fries: the fries were decently hot and tasty…full point.
- Sandwich: Sandwich was nice sized and properly breaded…full point! 🙂
Karma puts in an appearance and Knightdale scores 3.75 out of 4 possible points for another good outing.