IKEA

IKEA is a great place to get decent furniture for cheap. There's plenty of home decor items to buy for very cheap as well. I suggest not coming here on a weekend, particularly a Saturday. It gets insanely busy.

For my most recent trip, I knew what furniture I wanted, so finding out where the boxes were was easy. I went directly to the information standing terminals, inputted the item number, and found out what section and bin number the items were in.

My mistake was purchasing a box that had a small to medium sized hole in it at the top edge. I didn't think there'd be an issue. Turns out, whatever punctured the box went through to the wooden slats inside. IKEA doesn't seem to have much protection for their packaging. I had a total of 3 boxes and had to go back to exchange one.

Returns and exchanges have an incredibly long wait. It took me a little over 2 hours just to get a box switch. When I came in, 28 tickets were in front of me. When I left, it was nighttime and there were over 50 tickets. They seem to be understaffed and it looks like the majority of the employees are slow. Props to the guy who helped me with the exchange, though. He immediately apologized for the long wait for something so simple and trivial. Honestly, I could've carted the broken box in and switched it out with a whole box myself. I did ask an employee permission to do that the moment I stepped in, but they of course said no. It was worth a try. It wasn't this employees apology that I cared for, he didn't need to say that at all. It was just that he was very understanding and felt for my plight. That I appreciate. He was also very easy to talk to and was willing to answer my other questions. I did not notice his name, but he was an older African American male.

Also, the IKEA branches do not have separate numbers. They only have a shared phone number and a call center picks up. Your call will take over an hour for someone to finally pick up. It's pretty horrible.

Overall, IKEA needs to rework their customer system. It doesn't seem to be working out so well. The current system is not very productive.

Conclusion from my sister and I for today's trip: This be why IKEA got a food court. People be waiting so long for them returns and exchanges, they be hungry. Good marketing ploy.

Came here on a Friday afternoon and to my surprise it was busy especially in the restaurant. Meatball meal was 50%, possibly a promotion for the month? You can only get free tea/coffee with your membership in this area, and it's in a glass cup, no to go. They had a rainbow cake which I've never seen before so of course I bought it. It was a huge disappointment. The cake was very sweet since there were overly sweet layers of frosting and the cake itself wasn't moist. I didn't want to finish the cake and who can say no to a cake?!

I grabbed a few things which they had in stock but was disappointed by the plant section since it was pretty small compared to other IKEA I've been to. The washrooms were cleanish unlike other IKEA I've been to.

The "As Is" section wasn't that cheap, still pricey so no bargains.

So disappointed in the store and the customer service. I ordered a mattress set a date for pick up and paid (2 gift cards and a credit card). Order was placed on 6/23 for delivery on 6/29. On 6/28 I got an email that the order was canceled. 12 days later still no refund. At any rate, on July 1 (7/1-7/9) they began their MidSummer sale which includes free delivery on purchased over $300. I assumed that at some point before 7/9 the money would be returned. I spoke with a customer service agent (Deepak) on 7/1 telling him of the inconvenience. Initially he offered me free shipping and when I told him that there is a sitewide free shipping offer he apologized claiming he was not aware of that and offered 10% off the order (he stated I needed to show the chat transcript to a customer service agent after the item was delivered).

On 7/8 my money was still not returned so I decided to go ahead and pay for the mattress again so I could at least get free delivery. And now it is out of stock for 2 weeks. Spent over an hour on chat with Ikea "customer service" and they were not helpful. I figured since the other agent was ready to offer a code for free shipping I could just do that. Tanya (the agent today) said there is no such ability neither the free delivery nor a 10% discount. She claimed that ikea has no coupon codes or vouchers. Funny because at checkout there is an option to enter a discount code. How hard would it be to give me a code worth the same amount as delivery? So basically the customer service agent I spoke with on 7/1 lied about having the ability to provide any sort of codes or Tanya is lying about not being able to provide codes. The website accepts discount codes.

They fraudently took payment on an item before providing it, their customer service agent made fraudulent promises, and now I still have no mattress and their offer of "free shipping" is useless. The website says the mattress will be back in stock in 2 weeks. Since they have no problem taking money without having delivered an item I don't see why they can't do that now since I am willing to wait the 2 weeks for delivery.

[Food]
- Swedish Meatballs ($9.99): This dish is the main reason why most people come to IKEA's restaurant, their renowned meatballs! Comes with yummy mash, savory gravy, and bland peas. I'd recommend adding butter to the peas and microwaving it to melt it a bit to make the peas more tasty.
- Garlic Lemon Cod ($9.99): I never saw this before, so I think it may be a seasonal dish which is unfortunate because I quite liked this. It was a garlic lemon crusted cod that was cooked nicely with just the right amount of flavor as it wasn't too heavy.
- Marinated Salmon ($4.49): Basically smoked salmon. Delicious with a squeeze of lemon!
- Caramel Almond Cake ($2.29): To me it tastes like a really yummy cookie rather than a cake.
- Hot dog ($0.75): Not bad for the price but I was told the veggie dog is better which I'll have to try next time.

[Service]
- Fast, helpful, friendly
- Product returns line/wait does take a while

[Ambiance]
- Cafeteria style
- Please do toss out your garbage, put trays and carts away after use!

[Overall]
- I usually only have a few small items to buy when I visit but I love coming to Ikea just for the food!

4/2/24

I came here mainly for food but also to check out for a potential new desk. The selections weren't as good as before. Seems like IKEA is running out of ideas. And inflation made everything so expensive despite the so-so quality of goods. -1.5

I got the Swedish meatballs today, 8 meatballs ($9.99). It came with mashed potato, peas that were obviously frozen, gravy, and cranberry sauce. Out of everything on it, the meatball was obviously the best. Back then, there were veggies on the plate but now they changed it to pain peas. $10 for 8 meatballs was not worth it. Make sure to get IKEA membership (free) to get some discounts. -.5

I also got the garlic bread (~$1 each). It was a pretty thick bread and quite good.

Overall, IKEA is a great place to start your furniture shopping if you just moved to the area. However, it was not like how it used to be. If you ever go to IKEA and are hungry after shopping, order the Swedish meatball and garlic bread.

This place oddly gets a not the best rap on Yelp, I think it's totally fine. Staff are friendly, food is good, overall it's DIY and choose your own adventure. It could have more maps coming in digitized in a screen at the entrances so it's easier to find where you want to go to rather than walking in 2 gigantic circle mazes.

Our visit and purchases went well, but I can sadly see why some people give this IKEA such critical reviews. The return section looks like a DMV waiting room (see pictures). Other than that though, things are generally like how you'd expect things to go for an IKEA: good prices and selection of items!

Last labor day, my friend and I furniture shopped at IKEA and got food at their cafe. We spent $30 at the cafe, and because we paid with her family card, she got $30 off her furniture that day. Pretty cool promotion event.

Each time I go to IKEA's cafe, I take a look at the NY Cheesecake... dreaming of when I will finally decide to order it. I went to the cafe this time with my ex-crush, now boyfriend, and decided to try the IKEA dessert together... not worth it. Too sweet. I have had a better frozen Cheesecake box from Safeway.

Goodbye cheesecake from IKEA dreams.

Decided to stop by the Ikea cafeteria for a quick dinner. Food was great for a quick bite! And felt sort of healthy due to all the veggies.

Swedish meatball meal: 4.5/5
Meatballs were yummy, posted with mash potato and green beans. I'm not a big fan of the jam it came with but my partner loves it! So just a preference thing.

Salmon meal: 4/5
Salmon was a bit small but it was good. Paired with some squash, carrots, and a meatball.

Mac n cheese: 4.5/5

Staffs were very friendly while serving the food and during checkout! Felt so welcomed!

The selection at Ikea isn't as good as before. Not only that but their staff on the showcase room is limited now and some of them are not as friendly. A lot of their Ikea items are out of stock and has been for a long period of time, which I can't understand why. I also feel the place isn't as clean as before and when you go into the section where they sell chairs, it's literally a mess. One good note, is that their cashiers are still very nice and helpful, which I appreciate.

When it comes to their food court, they are still busy. However, i feel their meatballs aren't as good as before. I was i disappointed to learn that they don't have the swedish pancakes anymore, so don't waste your drive here, if you are craving their swedish pancakes.

I like the click and collect concept, but there's almost never anyone there, ready to get your order, even though they make you schedule your pick up time. If I have to schedule a pick up time, I expect someone to be there to give me my order.

The selection is pretty good, but they were out of three or four things once we got there, things that were marked as in stock in the app, that I did not add to the click and collect, figuring we could just pick them up quick in the marketplace.

Sadly, they were out of all of those items.

Prices are always good.

The cafe was PACKED and the line moved way too slow, and they really should have had both sides open (the line extended back into the store) I had the chicken strips and chips, the chips were subpar and the chicken was mostly salty breading. Partner loved the meatballs though. Love the pear soda though. Wish they still sold it in six packs of cans in the grocery area.