Checkers

The fact they are open until 6 am on weekends and 3 am on weekdays a lone deserves 5 star.
I don’t care how long the line is or whatever the experience you are having, you are getting your most likely drunk and/​or stoned self; a juicy burger with awesome fries and possibly a shake in the middle of the night when everything else is closed.
5 Stars case closed!

We went at 3am during their business hours. We were told to hold on at the drive thru and told that they were closed after waiting several minutes for service. It doesn’t make sense to have business hours that extend to 5:30 and close hours earlier without immediate notice to consumers.

This restaurant was the worst drive through experience of my life. Half hour in line (only two cars ahead of us), and the order was not correct. Ordered wings — no wings. Burger with cheese, ordered without. Food cold when we opened the bag 5 minutes later. Awful.

This place is shockingly bad in all possible ways. There needs to be an option on Unilocal for places like this… where the star rating is not applicable. It’s hard to describe in a review how terrible this establishment is.
I want to be clear. I have worked fast food, and I understand the expectations… I was expecting McDonald’s (predicable food, quickly) … but left with a new appreciation for how bad a place can be.
Hint #1 that it was going to be a terrible experience: No seating area… workers behind glass.
Hint #2: Walk in area was completely disgusting. Trash, spilled drink (I hope), bugs. We noticed that people waiting for their food were outside, despite the rain… this was because of the swarm of bugs.
Hint #3: Multiple workers playing on their phones in plain view of the customers.
Hint #4. The same person was working the drive through station that was working the walk in station. She was the only person in the building who was working.
Checkers as a whole is great for fast food… but I’m honestly shocked that Checkers corporate has not shut down this location.

I have been here many different times during different hours of the day. They are the SLOWWWEEWWSSTT place I have ever been its never been faster than 20 minute wait even with only one car infront of me. There is always several employees inside and they are still slow. Last time i went the cashier was eating food while at the register and i mean like a sandwich. The food is always hot but damn, this is not the place to go if y have a 30 min lunch break.

My boyfriend and I were pretty hungry after a long week of work and we didn’t feel like dining out at a restaurant. So we decided to have Checkers for dinner. Like all restaurants we go to, we look at there reviews prior to going. So the only negative thing I saw about this particular checkers was the wait time. So upon pulling in the drive thru, I instantly notice the long line. I began to think that maybe it’s just because it’s Friday or maybe it’s someone with a big difficult order. We were the 5^th car in line and honestly we were in line for about 10 – 15 minutes. When it was time to order I made sure I listened in to the conversation between the drive thru employee and my boyfriend. This particular employee was very knowledgeable of the menu and she made sure our order was correct down to the sauces. She didn’t have to double check our bags as her employee handed them off to her. Instead she took her time to make sure we had great service. Before handing off our last item I asked her for her name because I couldn’t wait to write my review. Her name was Terris! She gave 5 star service so it was a must that I showed her recognition! I will definitely come back for the service and the food!

Went to this checkers after a long day at work. The drive thru had a long line but the service was excellent Terris the associate who assisted us through the drive thru made sure we had everything that we needed and most of all we got all of our food quickly. The fries were still hot !

Chili cheese dogs here might look horrid but they taste like HEAVEN! Two for $ 5. Their wings are also splendid and juicy. You will not be disappointed. Checkers does not play around when it comes to eating fast food. They do it well.

Now, I don’t make it my business to review every place I go to, especially fast food, but I think exceptional service deserves a shout out —
First time at Checkers. After a whole days worth of construction work, we wanted to grab something on the go as we were headed towards Ikea. We pulled up to the drive through. Note: Checkers is a drive-​thru diner/​fast food ish kind of place. There should be a couple of spots to order, so don’t be like me and wait behind a car when another drive through spot was open.
We ordered our food and pulled up to pay. We then spot this special — 2 for 1 apple pies. We waved for a server (no one was directly in front of the window) and pointed to the picture on the window. A server waved back but hadn’t come immediately over. CPIK then began to chastise me on waving down a server and how they were probably going to slow down our order because of me. When the server finally came over, she pulled open the window and told us our total.
I ask: «Do you mind if we add in the apple pie special?»
She repeats the total and tells us laughingly that she figured that’s what we wanted. We had a nice, short conversation with her afterwards about the merits and psychology of the upsell versus pictures.
Though not much, it was probably the best service we’ve ever received at a drive-​through window. The attendant was funny and had anticipated our needs. We LOVED our food — the apple pies turned out to have a deep fried cinnamon crust…(drool)…
All in all, on par with fast food prices, I’d recommend this place over any fast food joint, hands down.

This Checkers is like a celebrity rumored to be dead until they make an appearance on some random reality show or Law & Order. I thought this location closed long ago, but no, as of yesterday at 4pm, it’s still there.
Checkers has always been shady, not because of location, but because of questionable cleanliness. But, they have the «best» fries. With a spices to grease ratio of 1:2, why go anywhere else? Yesterday, I bit into a fry that was all grease on the inside, no potato whatsoever. At least the customer service wasn’t as bad.

As I start to write this, I can’t help but giggle almost uncontrollably as I recall the evening Kevin and I experienced the drive-​thru here for a bag of fries.
We pulled up to the first order speaker. Nothing happened. The car in front of us advanced. We pulled up to the second speaker. We waited. And then all of a sudden, the voice of God came over the speaker. The voice was so immense that we literally swayed our entire bodies to the right side of the car as if we had just made a sharp turn and we were forced to the door. It scared the crap out of us and after we managed to actually place an order for fries, we started laughing so hard it hurt.
There must have been some sort of issue with the car’s order ahead of us because we stayed in that same spot for about 7 – 8 more minutes. In those minutes, there was silence and then the voice spoke again finally telling us to pull up. We must have forgotten how loud it was because we swayed to the right and started laughing all over again.
Funniest drive-​thru experience ever.
Oh and the fries? Absolute awesomeness. Well-​seasoned, hot and crispy — just the way fried potatoes should be.

Why, oh why, are negative stars NOT an option?!
Unilocalers, please, do yourselves a favor and do not ever… evvvvvver come here.
My boyfriend and I came here on a milkshake run last night. We gave our order (one large chocolate milkshake… complex, I know) to the confused girl working the drive-​through. Two cars in front of us, and we waited.
And waited.
And waited.
By the time the front car got its food and drove off, it was 9:55 pm. The car in front of us received a bag of food. And then waited. And waited (you get the point). At 10:07 — yes… TWELVE MINUTES LATER, the car received the last of the food and drove off. Now, this was not a ton of food they ordered, probably a total of 3 bags and a drink or two. I’m generally a cool cucumber, but this got me beyond ticked. We got up to the front and I asked the girl why it had taken so long (we had been waiting over 20 minutes by this point) and she went into a slightly nonsensical tirade.
«Ooo ma’am, don’t you ask me that one more time! That girl in the back, she don’t know what she be doin’! And she ain’t new, she been here 9 months already…»
Ok. I love the pass the blame game, don’t you?
Oh, and there was a hair in the shake.
The end.

«Big taste without the price?» — their motto is generally serious. A full-​on sandwich that’s two-​for $ 3? Find that for me elsewhere.
Having already had dinner earlier, I still got sucked in by the lure of their seasoned battered fries. Strangely (and not unlike a certain McDonald’s I’ve ranted about previously) their menu seemed to only offer sizes between medium and large. Not that I would have ordered anything smaller than a medium, anyway. In fact, I ordered up nothing short of a full large order of fries. Over $ 2? For fries? Yes!
And… I managed to devour them all.
I may have felt slightly disgusted at myself for eating an entire fried potato. Amended: a –battered– and fried potato.
Or… I might have wanted to go back for more.

You don’t show up here with the highest expectations, but you don’t leave disappointed either. That’s the beauty of low expectations. Since I live a few blocks away, I’ve stopped in here for a Buford a few times. Both their burgers and fries are pretty good as far as fast food goes.
Once I came for a Buford combo for lunch. They somehow lost my order and after two people after me had gotten theirs, the guy working there asked what I had ordered. He doubled my order and apologized for the wait. Two Bufords for the price of one!

My roommate and I decided to go to Checkers to get a milkshake on a nice day. I was dispointed with their selection — Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry, Banana. I guess I was expecting more.
We also got chili cheese fries but they were so salty and I felt parched afterward.
Prices are cheap but I think you could do better in terms of selection. I wouldn’t get the chili cheese fries again. I’m sticking to Ben’s Chili Bowl.

Do you like the the 50’s diner style burgers, fries and shakes from Johnny Rockets (affectionately known as J-​Rocks around our apartment) but don’t want to pay $ 15 for one burger, one order of fries and one shake?
There’s a new Checkers near Capitol Hill calling your name!
Taking into account that giving a fast food restaurant 5 stars probably means the end of my already poor Unilocal credibility, I’m doing it for your own good.
Burgers/​Chicken Sandwiches — on par with Wendy’s and clearly a step above Burger King or McDonald’s (don’t mean to offend anyone, clearly this is a matter of taste — but it is generally agreed that those two constitute the bottom rungs of the fast food ladder). Their signature burger is the Champ with cheese, which is like a larger Quarter Pounder with better veggies, or a smaller but thicker Whopper. It comes with tomatoes, lettuce, onions (?) ketchup and mustard and you can «get it your way» to borrow a line from BK.
Fries — basically the entire reason for going. They are incredibly crispy, not too thin not too thick, with a peppery taste that I would compare to crack, except that crack is probably better for you. Generally, they are fresh and I’ve only had one experience where I’ve gotten fries that have been sitting out — which is a good reason to go during peak hours where the turnaround is big. Also, you’re going to want to go for the medium value meal size, simply based on the fries alone — they will go quickly. You can dump most of the 397 oz tub of soda out your window when you’re done (please, don’t actually do that).
Drinks — normal Coke products plus Dr Pepper (big plus) or Mr Pibb. They also have Milkshakes although for some reason I’ve never had them. I’ll concede that they’re probably closer to McD’s partially gelatinated milk-​like products than J-Rock’s fresh ice-​creamy goodness in a retro metal tin. But that’s pure speculation on my part. I’ll get back to you.
What sets them apart: Aside from the fries, they have an incredibly efficient two lane drive-​thru. Seating is outside only, so on a 100 degree day you’ll want to take it home with you. If you’re from the Northeast like me, you probably have never heard of them because most of their locations are in the south or west coast. This particular NEW location is great because you don’t have to hike up to New York Ave and pray for traffic to clear up enough to actually pull out of their driveway which is on an incredibly busy and awkward intersection. This one is in a very low key Maryland ave neighborhood.