Hardee’s

I have noticed that the reviews are not the greatest here but it is always just an average experience for me «no expectations no disappointment» type of thing. This place is close to my house and almost like leaving the city because they have a cool gift shop with some nice candies and Indiana hoodies two restaurants a coffee shop game room and toilets with seats and paper. I only started coming regular the last few years but try to keep it on my regular yearly circuit now.

Stopped by this Hardee’s (on the other side of the one on the map), at 530pm. One customer on the taco shop and nobody on Hardee’s side. The black gentleman at the front just kept talking to two other folks in the back and didn’t even bother looking back at me for a few minutes. Then he turns and looks at me briefly and turns back to his chat session. I waited another two minutes and decided it wasn’t a good idea to eat here. I stop here for gas often, but from now I will avoid this stop.

Offers amazing people watching and in general is a great opportunity to experience america.

My first visit to Hardee’s: decent burger, much better than McDonald’s, not nearly as good as Five Guys. Pleasant outdoor seating area, polite staff. Food took (seemingly) forever to cook.

We stopped at the rest area on a road trip to get a meal. Red Burrito was the only feasible option for us so we ordered burritos, quesadillas and chips with salsa. They were able to make everything vegetarian. It probably wasn’t the healthiest meal but the amount of food was sufficient and it tasted good. It was better than Taco Bell. It was a little more expensive than most fast food places but that’s probably because it was at a rest area.

Could smell grease from the parking lot. Bathrooms smelled like cheap chemicals and was dirty. There was a Gloria Jean’s in the entry way which was fantastic.
Like a rest stop, had a few shops inside.

Got the Hardees I wanted. Something was weird about a shift change and we had to ask twice for a shake. We didn’t get a receipt (but didn’t care enough to ask for one). Not many people there but the staff looked busy. Manager-​ish girl appeared to be nice and trying to pep up the team who were close to retiring for the night.
Food was the fantastic Hardee’s that I expected, and that’s what counts I guess.
2x Hardee’s in 1 month. Yay!

With Gloria Jeans (the largest mall based coffee shop in the world. woo dee doo!!) closed… I had to try the coffee and breakfast offerings at Hardees.
Hardee’s– founded by Wilbur Hardee in North Carolina started this char-​grilled hamburger fast food joint back in 1960.
Now we know it from their «Happy Star’ icon/​mascot.
I know it (now) from their chicken fried steak biscuit. Pretty damn good.
Coffee was luke warm at best.
Back on the Indiana toll road going to see Momma… head East young man

I stopped at this rest stop just to eat at Hardee’s or Red Burrito. I have never been to a Red Burrito so I decided to give it a go at this rest station. They made the food after we ordered. It took a total of 10 minutes for them to cook it. So much for fast food.
The food was somewhat decent. The beans were good and the tacos were filled with a ton of fixings. Nothing special but it was better than the McDonald’s at every other rest station.
The order to boot was messed up once we hit the car. I would have went back in to get the order fixed but there was a man knocking on our windows begging for money so we opted to eat what we had, and hit the road.

Great place for a pee break when you’re on the road.

Holly crap this place was a nightmare… I didn’t know Hardee’s was still a place that was open. this store is a PRIME example of why they should be closed… I think they have eclipsed McDonalds with the ability of hiring people who hate working… the lady who served me simply GRUNTED at me… it was bizarre. almost unreal. I took two bites and even thought the food was bad. wow.

There’s a few guarentees in life: getting a huge zit on your nose the day of a big date, having to pay taxes, and there being a Hardee’s on the turnpike.
Sadly, all three of these are not things to look forward to in your life.
The choices on I-​80 are very limited, and once hunger sets in you’re screwed. Acutally, your intestines are screwed. Sure you could go to the «Red Burrito» thing next to it, but who wants to put themsevles through that kind of torture. Is there anyone who’s that much of a masochist?
Your best bet is to only stop in to use the restrooms, and go the next 40+ miles to the next reststop where there are a few more palatable options.

It gets 2 stars, because it’s the only Hardee’s within 30 miles of Chicago, the other location «nearby» is in Roscoe, IL, about 80 miles away! Otherwise, complete dump.
The staff is incompetent, as other reviewers have noted. The way Hardee’s works, is you order your food, they give you a number, they bring the food to your table. Despite being the only people here, they made us walk back to the counter for our food. Lazy employees don’t want to walk ALL THE WAY to the tables for one customer. It took about 20 minutes for our food to be ready, well, it actually took less than 20 minutes for it to be «ready.» That’s because the food had to be prepared, cooled down, and then served cold. If that wasn’t bad enough, there’s flies all over the place, and I mean all over! Trying to eat my thickburger and fries, I had to swat at flies almost continuously. Why are there so many flies? Because despite being the ONLY customers, we couldn’t find a clean table! There’s like 50 tables, and all of them had crumbs, garbage, etc. on them. I guess the employees care more about the livelihood of the flies than the customers.
Cabela’s is our stop for burgers (and ammo) when we’re out that way. Seriously, their café has some of the best burgers I’ve ever had!

There is a «Red Burrito» uhm… «restaurant» attached to the Hardees here. I was pretty hungry after driving for 10 hours so I opted for a 1 pound burrito. It had some low grade beef gristle and simulated guac in there… pretty much gave me instant heart burn. Bummer.
I appreciate that I can stop here and use the wash room. So, extra star for that! What I did not like however was the way the parking lot is arranged. There are two buildings, one for gas, and one for «food», arranged to that they have corners touching. People were kind of zooming around the buildings in both directions as they finished getting their gas/​food. Very dangerous I though, I almost got nailed twice trying to escape.

We drive from Indiana to Illinois a lot and seem to stop at this god awful rest stop every single time and I’m going to veto the stop next time. Where do I start?
There was the time I ordered a rock hard croissant at the coffee shop. Or the 3 times I got coffee that tasted like it was brew last Christmas. There’s the bathrooms that smell like no one has cleaned them since the Christmas before that.
The girl (Her name is Susan) working the counter at fazoli’s (hardee’s and fazoli’s seems to share employees) took my order like a zombie and then wandered back into the kitchen and very loudly commented on the «fat ass» customer she’d waited on before me. Classy! (PS — Susan, those who live in glass house… yadda yadda yadda)
Then 2 weeks later, we end up at this god awful hell hole AGAIN and I begrudgingly order Hardee’s food and guess who takes my order? You guessed it: Susan. She again seems to be half asleep as I state I’d like the «Frisco» burger, no bacon. She then tells me it has no bacon. OK well, the picture of it over her head has 2 giant strips of bacon hanging out of it, but what do I know? Once we’re clear it comes with bacon and I DON’T want it, I add I don’t want cheese either. She goes «You want a burger no bacon no tuhmatuh.» For a second I wonder if I have been speaking another language to confuse this woman so thoroughly. «No, I want the frisco, no bacon. no cheese. No mayo.» She looks at me as if I have 4 heads and scoffs «You just want the bread, the burger and the tomato?» Yes, Susan, I’m trying to NOT gain 10 pounds at this grease ball of a «restaurant» but I understand you aren’t used to this so I confirm she now has it right and pay.
Let’s lay off Susan for a while. I have a problem with flies near my food. I have a real big problem with them when they’re swarming around garbage cans and the ketchup dispenser. I tried not to think of the fly larvae that’s most certainly living somewhere in the kitchen that this burger just came from and bite into my sandwich and find it’s a lot harder of a chew than expected. Turns out, Hardee’s is so concerned with freshness that it doesn’t even wait for tomatoes to ripen, they slice ‘em up GREEN! Wooo hoo! That’s fresh! It’s also like eating a coaster so I pulled that out.
The burger was ok. Hopefully I don’t pass a fully grown family of flies later today.

absolutely horrible! the breakfast food was not warm, we waited about 15 min for a simple egg and sausage sandwich and the people working were awful too. If you’re heading east DON’T STOP HERE … just hold out a little while longer and there is a few more options down the road. Ridiculously bad service and the people were sooooooo slooooooow.

Hardee’s operates this rest area in Indiana, just before the Illinois border as you head west on the interstate. The Gloria Jean’s there, also run by Hardee’s, was staffed by a rude young woman who refused to use my re-​usable coffee mug and then served me burnt coffee and glared at me when I asked why she gave me a paper cup when I handed her my mug to use. It’s a lame, lame scenario here and rude people still do suck. And beware, the gas station jacks up their prices and charge more than any gas station in Illinois, despite Indiana gas usually being cheaper. Keep driving and save yourself the trouble. Illinois just redid their oases and many of them include Starbucks now, along with being clean and possibly staffed by nice people, so stopping at one of those is a far better idea than stopping here.