PH
Peter Hourihan
Mar 16, 2026
We will never be returning to this location again, and if you have young children in the Mount Laurel area I'd advise you not to eat here, as your family will not be safe.
We just returned from this restaurant where my Wife, daughter and I went to have dinner. We ordered our food and sat down to eat. Just like the last two times I'd eaten there with my daughter, they did not include her drink--unfortunately this was not the problem tonight.
During our meal, a man and woman came into the store screaming at the top of their lungs at the "manager" behind the counter. Apparently, their daughter had been fired from the location--the woman proceeded to curse and scream profanity at the manager for 10 minutes straight--every word you can imagine. The manager stood behind the counter laughing and smiling, as if it were a fight on a playground. As our daughter began to cry, we seriously wondered if we were safe. The woman came in and out of the restaurant with absolutely no intervention by any staff at all, as they all stood around laughing and staring.
I was the only one to kindly and quietly ask the woman to refrain from cursing, as there was a 5 year old little girl who was terrified and crying. She didn't stop.
The manager didn't intervene, take into account any of the patrons at the store, or take any action whatsoever to deescalate the situation. Finally the woman and man, having loudly exclaimed their last few curse filled threats, left the store.
The staff erupted into laughter and the manager acted as if he'd just won a street fight. When I approached the counter to ask if he was the manager (as I felt it was both necessary and reasonable to address what everyone in the restaurant had just witnessed), this "manager" (whom I've now learned is a 23 year old boy named Josh) looked at me and said "ok now what's your problem."
I asked why he hadn't tried to deescalate and take the woman outside--he laughed, smiled, and told me that would have been unsafe--unsafe? It certainly felt unsafe as a deranged woman screamed curse word after curse word as my wife covered my sobbing daughter's ears. In fact, when I told the "manager" about my crying daughter, he said he didn't know there were any children there (not that it should matter)--unfortunately, he actually took our order and served our food, so I didn't accept that "excuse".
When I asked for the General Manager's information to complain, he refused to provide any more than the first name. When I asked other staff members, they quite literally ran the other direction. It was at that point that the "manager" threatened to call the police on me--not on the woman from the incident. But on me, complaining that my family and I felt unsafe in an apparently family friendly establishment.
We packed up our things and left. I've never in my life seen a more poorly managed situation by the person in charge. Chic-fil-A should be absolutely ashamed that they have a group of children in charge of a restaurant.
Fortunately, my wife and I have already acquired the GM and location owner's information, and we will not rest until we are provided an explanation for the behavior of the staff. When we returned to the car, the first thing my daughter said was, "Can we please not go there anymore it's so scary." We won't.
It's really important, I think, that as a society we hold places like this accountable for their lack of management. This world is crazy enough--but to have an attitudinal 23 year old in charge of a restaurant is insanity. I'm absolutely blown away by this entire incident. I hope this young "manager" is reprimanded, if not terminated, for his embarrassing display of how not to manage a restaurant.
I hope the owner, GM and Chic-fil-A take into consideration the seriousness of how these incidents can affect their patrons.