Jack in the Box

Jack in the Box – A Tale of Two Visits Visit #1: A Five-Star Revelation So, my first time picking up food for myself instead of through DoorDash, and let me tell you—WHOLLY MOLY, I was impressed. The quality? Legit five stars. I walked away thinking, "Is this really Jack in the Box or did I accidentally stumble into some high-end secret test kitchen?" Either way, I was thrilled. Visit #2: A $10 Life Lesson Fast forward to my next visit, and... well... SMH. I walk in, literally the only customer, surrounded by seven or eight staff members who seemed to be moving at the speed of a dramatic movie slow-mo scene. I order the #22 combo with orange juice instead of coffee. Total? Over $10. At this point, I’m expecting something magical—maybe handcrafted, farm-to-table fast food? Maybe an egg so fluffy it writes poetry? Something, ANYTHING, to justify a $10 fast-food breakfast. Nope. I get a pre-packaged orange juice that probably costs 50 cents wholesale, a microwaved frozen sandwich, and an egg that felt like I was chewing on a flexible frisbee. Now, I get that not everyone scrambles their eggs, but this one? This egg was not right. But hey, I’m adaptable. I take my first bite... and it’s ALL bread, egg, and a tiny whisper of questionable cheese. Why? Because the meat was chilling on one side, the egg had slid to the other, and the cheese was somewhere in the middle, contemplating its existence. So there I am, driving down the road, one-handed, doing structural repairs on my sandwich to make it actually edible. Managed to center the ingredients myself (because apparently, that’s my job now), took another bite, and yeah... I’ve had better frozen sandwiches from Grocery Outlet. The Silver Linings? The girl at the front was solid at customer service. Not fast by any means, but attentive, made eye contact, and actually confirmed my order. The place is always clean. That’s important. The staff seems to be having a great time. And honestly, I’d rather see happy employees than a miserable crew dead inside from the weight of capitalism. Final Verdict? Since my first visit was shockingly good and this visit felt like a prank from the frozen breakfast gods, I’m gonna chalk it up to bad timing. But Jack in the Crack… $10 for THAT?!? WOW. I wasn’t expecting Michelin-star dining, but I also wasn’t expecting to feel personally attacked by a breakfast sandwich.

It is what it is. A fast food joint in a town that thumbs their nose at anything corporate. > The tacos are better than Taco Bell, way better. You know, the kind that taste great cold the morning after > The egg rolls are consistently crispy, succulent and tasty, but not so much cold in the morning after > Their menu is creative and fun > Drive-through staff is as good as you give. Kindness and good cheer gets you the same. Indifference gets you curt precision. Act a dick and you could get two reactions: huffy stinkeye or cheerful smiles. Pray for the stink eye, cuz smiley has spit in your food. And that's exactly as it should be at the only 24-hour restaurant in a town where all the food and most of the fun shuts down after 10 pm (We don't count Denny's because none of us go there) Just be prepared to camp out after last call. The parking lot is filled, and the drive-thru line stretches out onto Ocean Street. (That's, like, a dozen cars at least) But it can be fun. It's like a happy vampire hangout eating funky clown food while defying the ombuds-pronouns who hate that Jack's Box is a legacy joint grandfathered into a 24 hour business model they long ago banned by mandate in our beloved dead end town with a view.

I had to make two separate orders because I made a mistake with the first and had to cancel it. I didn’t get a refund (which is fine it was my mistake) but when I ordered a second time they gave me a completely wrong order. I order a large cluck meal and this is what I got (photo below). I’m a broke college student and this was all I could order for food tonight and now I don’t even have a full meal. When I tried to call they didn’t pick up despite having “24/7” service. Very disappointing and I intend to get a full refund.

I came here just to use the restroom. Both bathrooms were locked. No sign saying “restrooms for customers only”. Walked up to the counter. They weren’t busy at all. I asked the guy standing near the register if I could have the bathroom key. He starts to sort of look for it, then the woman in front of me behind the counter (shift manager maybe?) turns around and says “you have to buy something for the key”. I said okay and turned around and walked out. I understand a lot of homeless hang around the fast food joints on Ocean, but it’s pretty ridiculous that I had to buy something in order to just pee. Never giving this store my business again. Absolutely ridiculous. 🙄

The only place to get good around here after midnight. Their Oreo shakes are the bomb!! Just remember after midnight you have to use the drive thru unless you’re a delivery driver picking up orders.

Clean and tidy fast food restaurant, food was good (breakfast) but the cashier put the wrong name on my online order and put it behind the counter instead of in the pickup area. She insisted I didn't have an order and must have ordered at a different location. The cook was watching and came to the front to point out my order that she filled, or the cashier would have kept my order and my money too.

We were passing through and the family needed breakfast so we stopped here. Not very informative staff - they just want you to get over with the purchase so service was cold. I ended up not ordering anything cos personally their menu is very unhealthy with minimum vegetarian options. My husband felt a bit queezy after eating his burger. Restrooms available inside.

I stopped at Jack-in-the-Box cause I’ve for the most part part always had good experiences with Jack-in-the-Box. I enjoy their food their service in the restaurants. On this day however, it was not the case. I wasn’t feeling well and I needed to use the restroom and Jack-in-the-Box is always had a open door policy with the restroom until I got to this one when they told me I couldn’t use the restroom unless I bought something first, so I’ve had to go wait in line to buy a taco so that they would open the door for me so that I could go use the facilities. It was embarrassing demeaning and as far as I’m concerned, unprofessional on their part. But after that, you would think they must have a pretty stellar looking bathroom if they were keeping everybody out of it that isn’t a customer, and that wasn’t the case either it is dirty not horribly dirty but definitely not clean. I had to take toilet paper and clean the seat off just so I could use the toilet. There was a sign in the bathroom that said it was cleaned hourly. However, the dried up urine and whatever else was on there kind of makes me think maybe they’re not really getting into it every hour, or at the very least not doing a good job. I work in field service so I was out of town and couldn’t go home to use my own restroom or I would’ve. I don’t know if this is normal or not but when I arrived there, there were pallets of food sitting outside the restaurant in the parking lot near the drive-through, which is a very dirty area, but regardless of that it sat out there for more than 30 minutes because it was there when I got there and it was there when I left . That doesn’t inspire confidence in the food that’s for sure. In the future I will not be returning to this Jack-in-the-Box in Santa Cruz

I was craving Jack in the box food today so I came here and ordered their home style ranch chicken club on a brioche bun with ranch sauce Swiss cheese, lettuce,bacon and a crispy fried chicken patty and yummy was the sandwich tasty .Also I got onion rings which were yummy with ranch sauce to dip them into and a large diet coke making it a combo.I took the order to go.The employees here are all really nice

All of our food was stale and wrong. There was a penny in my ultimate cheeseburger box! How the hell does that happen smh

David the manager and his staff are the best. I spilled a drink all over the counter and they were very understanding and helpful and kind. They all need a raise!

They charge for ranch which legally you can't do that I ordered door dash and they charged my door dasher which is ridiculous you can't charge for sauce if you gave the option for it on doordash I could have gotten it my self.

Avg food and long wait during peak lunch hours. Took 10 min for them to even acknowledge my presence, then another 15 min wait for the chick nuggets and burger.

The current 2 star review tracks. I needed to use the restroom and get a small fry. I stopped inside and spoke to the team member at the cash register. I explicitly told the team member that I needed to use the restroom, and that I wanted to purchase a fry first, then use the restroom and pick up my fry afterward. Initially, the team member did not greet me nor respond. They rolled their eyes and put their head down a few times. I asked them if they could take my order and if I might use their restroom. The team member told me that in order to use the restroom, I had to purchase something first, which was already my intention. After purchasing a small fry for nearly $4, the team member unlocked the bathroom. Upon exiting the bathroom, I noticed the team member was standing at the entrance door, looking at the bathroom door. The team member then entered the staff area. My fry wasn't ready yet. The team member fixed the fry, bagged it, and handed it to me without a thank you or any customer service-oriented farewell. There were no napkins inside the bag. I looked for napkins without any assistance, then I asked for some, and the team member simply pointed to them. Why was the team member watching and waiting for me to come out of the bathroom? Why were the fries not bagged when I exited the bathroom? Why was there no napkin in my bag? So many more questions...

Came here and bought food that included a drink. I used my Yeti to refill and was asked if I was gonna pay for my drink. I said, "No." But, why would I? I paid for a drink but wanted a different source to carry the liquid in. It wasn't worth the argument, so I told her I would pay. She typed it in the register and then I poured it out and said nevermind. She felt good that she did her job that day.

someone should report this place to the health department. Use napkins to clean dirty tables, ask for clean wash cloth, say, '' we no have, no speak an English! " 22 combo my favorite, but got sick on occasion. Close the place the down

I'm trying to figure out how I'm supposed to propose to the cutie patootie yall have working the drive thru. Any tips or advice is appreciated. Thank you!

I only have an hour for lunch as I work for a living nearby. I went in to get something to take out. A fool came in ahead of me. He claimed a friend of his ordered by phone and was told his order was ready. ALL OF THEM stopped what they were doing to look for this mythical order. I was completely ignored. After the guy left (the whole thing was bogus) ALL OF THEM ignored me. I waited and waited and NOT ONE OF THEM acknowledged me! I was the only one in line and I was treated like i was INVISIBLE! So....I left. I shall NEVER GO THERE AGAIN! I had been there occasionally before the pandemic. It was better then, and at least I wasn't treated like I was invisible. WHAT SERVICE!!

Tacos are always cold. Been here enough times to be sure of it. Santa Cruz sucks and added a $.25 fee to paper cups. Even though, it is the excessive homeless population that makes all the litter. This Jack in the Box isn't very good for hot food. Expect it cold or barely warm and an excessive wait time.

Yeah. No. Don't order from here. I ordered three items, burger was for a picky eater-I ordered it plain for a reason and you made it harder than needed over the phone. You didn't even give me the right sandwich. FAIL.

Slowest service ever. I go here because it's close to where I work. Just spent 20 minutes of my 30 min lunch in line. Four people. It took them 20 minutes to serve 4 people. Not worth it!!!!!

Long, slow line. Repeated order they had it right on the screen - missing items. They said no receipt printing and we weren't charged for missing items. $15 for two breakfast jacks and I 1 soda, I was charged for missing items. Horrible customer service, but they were busy horsing around inside so there is that.

The worse customer service you can ask for. We went through the drive thru lane with one car in front of us and the person taking our order was extremely rude. Almost as if she was yelling at us, not only that, but service was super slow. This Jack in the Box will charge extra for whatever they can get away with. After getting yelled at after receiving our food, I knew for sure, we will never return to this store. We also didn't receive our receipt, and was already too annoyed to ask for one.

IVe been in Santa Cruz since 1976 and the changes are emmence. There has been one landmark across the street from the courthouse. we have 2 drive through on the Westside believe. One is Jack box, and the other is Burger King. Jack in the box is a hit or a miss. It will be fast, hot and tasty, depending on which manager is working. There are two women managers, who rock it! The managers are really good.

while in line I noticed big guy behind counter picking wax out of his ear. then he got tacos out of tray. no thanks. I called health dept

Went for the late night munchie meal a little after 10 PM. Didn't look at the receipt but we were charged $8. for both of the meals. The food was prepared very messy and had hardly any of the ingredients in the sandwich like jalapenos, cheese etc. Everything looked like it was smashed into the box. Tacos were flat as paper. Veing overcharged and served crappy food is why I now call this place on Ocean Street, "CRAP IN A BOX" Management should be changed and they should hire people that have some sense of respect for the customers paying for them to work the crappy jobs they CHOSE to work. Problem with most fast-food places is the staff that hates their jobs but blames the customers for paying for their jobs. CRAP IN THE BOX is the perfect example of how a fun and flavorful restaurant for fast food in the past, is now CRAP due to the workers they hire. Decent people don't want to work with those workers which means this place will never get better and only keep going down the toilet.

Food was mid. Line long AF. Overall 10/10. Love this place and my husband. Although there were crackheads outside of it. 11/10‍

My mom went there yesterday (the 7th) she ordered a chicken sandwich and 10 tacos. When she got her order she went to get her sandwich from the bag and there was no tacos! Also her sandwich was the spicy one and she didn't want that. She went inside to complain and the same lady who works the drive thru that everyone seems to have a problem with says no they didn't mess up her order and the sandwich only comes spicy. They refused to give her what she ordered and then wouldn't give her her money back. So she spent probably $20 on nothing. My mom was so pissed off. Terrible service. Terrible place. The people who work there obviously don't care and it is a terribly run business. Don't know how they stay open.

Terrible customer service, I asked to use the bathroom as a customers and pregnant women neglecting my children and I. I was discriminated, the crew member and manager treated me terrible. Not only that but the cleanliness of the store is terrible, very unsanitary. This is a terrible spot to go, I have been treated like this multiple times but this time was outrageous.

This older lady working the drive thru was extremely rude. We had ordered and then came back 5 minutes later to ask for a cup of ice and she rudely told me "for free, NO!" and proceeded to argue when I was polite the entire time. Definitely don't recommend this place, if I could give this zero stars I would.

This is the worst jack in the box EVER!! The person taking drive thru orders was really rude. I asked for the Bacon all American combo and they messed up my order three times. Everyone working there barely speak English I had to keep my order over and over and they still messed it up. My advice would be hire new staff or shut down. Never going there again and would NEVER recommend.

Long drive thru wait. I've been waiting for 20mn...will skip this place next time! Should of went to McDonald's down the street. No wait!

bad customer service cook in the back name maria is very disrespectful toward everyone she clearly said she doesnt like her job but she needs money in that case its not our fault for a shitty pay !

I cannot stress this enough, do NOT order here late night. After a certain point it's a veritable free for all of grabbing anything and stuffing it into a bag. I haven't gotten a correct order more than once out of my last (and only) few visits. I don't blame it entirely on them, however, as they are the only late night drive through open in the infested colon that Santa Cruz has become, but just because you cater to a bunch of college students doesn't mean that you guys can treat us like second rate citizens. Atrocious lack of any sort of regard when it comes to pleasing the customer, hence the one star. If I could give 0, I would. Please remember that this review is after multiple instances of the same Mickey Mouse bullspit without any sense of regard for the customer.

Worst customer service ever! And just messing up the whole order! Rude Asf! This one lady said she likes her job after my mom asked her that's how rude she is! but don't come here if you can avoid it.

After having not been to Jack in the box in a number of years I made the mistake of eating here last week. We ordered three different meal deals. All were badly prepared...buns smashed, condiments and grease all over wrappers. The only redeeming thing was the chocolate shake which was good, but not good enough to ever go back.

The line is always long as fucking Christ. But. Other than that service is good. Oh and they never answer the phone. Ever. But--2 am, yummy tacos--kinda outweighs the bad ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The dine in area is somewhat clean. Reason for my rating is because of how dirty the kitchen was. I saw flies inside the kitchen, kitchen was very dirty and it smelled funky.

I think it's been 20 years or so since I've seen or eaten at a Jack In The Box. So when I saw one in Santa Cruz - I knew I had to check it out. One evening I stopped in and ordered the "Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger": Two beef patties topped with three slices of bacon, American and Swiss-style cheeses, Mayo-Onion sauce, mustard and ketchup on a sesame seed bun. I added lettuce, tomato, and onions to the sandwich - and a Diet Coke. A very tasty and yummy burger! Wish we had a Jack In the Box around here!

This place has gone down hill they got a new crew that work most nite mom and daughter crew I think they look alike light skin females and they will literally delete orders on the screen if there door dash or Uber eats orders cause they don't wanna do em the owner literally is only there in am hours so he has no Effen clue Wts going on at late night hours I guess. He lets them do wt they want .. they also swear at people and and most nite they close the lobby and don't say nothing and u have people waiting around not having a clue until 20 min later wen it's to late

Staff is always friendly no matter what time of day, even when they are very busy. They're typically really fast even when busy

Every time I order with special instructions you mess up my order, please follow instructions, I am allergic to milk! This is unacceptable

Hadn't been in this place in a long time but stopped by to get a shake and wow the inside looks pretty bad. Tiny little kitchen and pretty dirty. I'm amazed they can run such a busy chain out of such a tiny little kitchen. Shake was pretty good tho lol

We ordered jack in the box via doordash and the food was great. Thank you to whoever made our order tonight

I come here more often than I would like to admit. My go to spot for late night snack/study break. I will order from the app when I see a good deal but I prefer ordering in person bc I like my food hot. The service here is consistent and they always let me know/ask me what I want swapped when they are out of something.

I was in town for business and walked to this location from my hotel. Unfortunately the front was closed but the drive thru was open. Unfortunately Jack in the Box has a firm belief that one must be in a car to go through the drive thru ordering lane but the beat up Volvo said I could order with them. Unfortunately I gave them my cash before the gave me the food and they drove off but I had a $25ish order so I know they ate really well. Jack in the Box, let pedestrians order at all hours, I shouldn't be penalized for not drunk driving to get late night munchies. Owner of the beat up Volvo, smooth move - well played chump

Takes forever to get food. The restaurant is clearly understaffed. I only got fries and it took me 45 minutes. Don't go here.

This morning I ordered two sausage egg pockets, which I actually really like and order them periodically. I got to work and found one was a hamburger patty only by itself and the other was some sort of egg thing. Possibly Their version of scrambled eggs, I don't know. Staff are usually very friendly I go there a lot on my way to work. I attached a picture of what I got, maybe you can figure it out.

At night when the owner is not around the staff locks the doors and eat/hang out. The manager is super rude and vulgar.

This place is horrible. The lady at register named Jennifer who took our order was so rude. When my brother took his order she was laughing in his face. So disrespectful. Then she had the nerve to put her gross hands on our food. Never coming back here.

Always a go to midnight munchie. HOWEVER last night my order got canceled 2 hours after waiting hungry and lonely. See I know this isn't a staff problem because the staff there are always working hard no matter the time of day. The real issue I have is with this Jack person. I've only EVER seen him in the commercials and never in these establishments he gets so much money out of. It's quite ridiculous to put your workers through this kind of messy upper management. Jack if you're reading this, STOP being a coward and show yourself. Come out of the box. Although your food creations are delicious, only showing your face to the camera and hiding from customers really shows the type of person you are.

My friend and I were hoping to grab some food and they would not serve us. They said they only serve doordash customers and we can order delivery when we get home. Why do we need to go through a third party to get food? We were standing right in front of you. Avoid this place.

Most recent trip to Jack n the box was unfortunately typical SHIT for service. ON THE DAILY these assholes short us something. Most recently 8 tacos, one chicken sandwich, three slices of cheesecake. That's just the most recent drop in a FUCKING HUMONGOUS bucket of pisswater. They always screw us on napkins/utensils/sauce. And they want to get all pissy about it when you insist that something is missing and argue about it, looking down their nose at us. We usually order online, adhering to no contact recommendations, always decently polite, myself and alot of my family have held jobs in the food service industry. I'm not here to judge, never condescending, generally a good tipper, but these people's behavior is un-FUCKING-acceptable. For the amount of money we spend there you'd think we could get a fucking spoon without catching some flak and bad attitude from people with room temperature IQ and a superiority complex

Would give 0 if possible. Charged my food on credit instead of debit but didnt think anything of it but did think it was unusual Later that night I had several charges sent to my card. Had to cancel my card immediately.

Went in to get something to eat I know tht with this Covid were not allowed to dine in how ever I believe tht it is inhumane for any Restaurant to allow us not to use restrooms but tht should not keep us from getting refills on our soft drinks if we choose to eat in our Vehicles due to that I will never eat at any Jack-in-the-Box no matter where I'm at

I Mobile ordered and I asked for no mayonnaise and no onions I also asked for extra pickles there were no extra pickles when I got home there were Onions and mayo on the Burger

I get that ordering fast food means your not expecting culinary greatness, however it should be at least edible. Went through drive through late last Night to grab a bite and it was horrible! 20 minute wait in drive through first off. I mean it's called fast food for a reason. You could probably cook the whole menu in that time. Well I ordered one of the new subs they are advertising and when I opened it to eat it the meat and cheese literally rolled of the bread. That's right it was just a roll of frozen meat and cheese they couldn't even be bothered to defrost it before just setting it on the bun. Little to no sauce and I would've needed a chainsaw just to cut a piece of the bread off to eat.