Steak ‘n Shake

If I could give to no stars I would. Every single time I go through the drive thru the wait is so long. worst place to stop if you don’t have atleast a half hour to wait in the line.

UNBELIEVABLE, I waited in drive thru at least 35 – 40 minutes. Finally got out of car and walked to window and asked if there was a problem we should be aware of! The person in the car by the window said he had been there 30 minutes. I was rudely asked to step back and told they were working as fast as they could and were training new people. I would have expected a polite apology, not rudeness. As there were 2 cars still in front of I pulled out of line and left (at least 2 other cars had pulled out and left). When I got home I called the manager who had been there 2 weeks. She did apologize, but it was too late. I will NEVER go to that place again

Before visiting this location I had never eaten at Steak n’ Shake.
They don’t have them in Virginia and I recently moved from VA to Cincinnati. When I arrived, there was a crazy line to be seated and perhaps ¹⁄₃ to ½ of the tables were occupied. I decided to do carry out and read the menu at the front counter.
Within a minute, I heard everyone discussing the wait and apparently some folks had been waiting over 20 minutes for their food. I wanted a quick meal, but really wanted to try Steak ‘n Shake, so I left and hit the drive thru line hoping it would be faster. It was not, so I left.
After visiting this location, I have still never eaten at Steak n’ Shake.

Terrible. Service is terrible. Food sat under the warmer until it was crispy (in a bad way). And the manager never came to talk to us when we asked. We were here for 2 hours!!! Never again!!! Manager on duty needs a new occupation– this is not for her!

On ¹⁰⁄₁₇ my cousin and I ate here. It was about 5:30 on a Saturday and shockingly it wasn’t too crowded for a Saturday night now I know why! There was a man sitting across from us who ask his waitress twice where his food was finally after a few more minutes he just got up and left. There were three teenage girls that were waitresses. Obviously no experience they were in no hurry to wait on anyone or to ask if they needed refills OR bringing anybody’s food! After 30 minutes we finally got our food and hardly had anything that we ordered on THEM just a drop of mayonnaise. No one came to check on us no one came to ask if we needed anything! I had to get up myself & ask for refills on our drinks and get silverware and napkins and this is 20 minutes after we got our food. THEN waiting to pay another 15 minutes I noticed the man at grill making hamburgers had no burgers on the grill just standing there dancing!!! It was a joke! The place was filthy and has gone down hill since it opened 16 years ago I will never walk in that place again! You’re probably eating filth!

I’ll go to the location in Forest Park or Tri County before I go here again. I came in around 9pm on a Saturday — hardly anyone in the restaurant. I just wanted to get something to go after a long day. Someone behind the counter said that they’d help me in a minute. I stood there (with several other employees behind the drink station and working the drive thru looking at me) for a good five minutes, and nobody could be bothered to stop socializing long enough to wait on me. The only time I’ve gone here since was to get a shake in the drive thru, and the service then was even bad. Do yourself a favor and go two exits past Colerain Avenue on 275E — go to the Forest Park location instead.

14 minutes in the drive-​through. And still counting. Took five minutes to order my food. Unfortunately all I wanted for 2 foot longs and fries. What is wrong with this place.
Am I crazy for waiting this long for a hotdog? Mission accomplished 22 minutes to get to hotdogs yeah hey

Food was great! The grilled steak n cheese sandwich is to die for! We were passing through and decided to stop and I am glad we did!

We ordered 4 shakes at the drive thru window at 6:05 pm. There were 2 cars in front of us. At 6:20 we reached the window and paid. At 6:40 we were still sitting at the window. No one had come back to the window so I called the store from my cell phone and asked for the manager. When he (Gary) finally came to the phone I explained that we had been sitting at the window for 20 minutes waiting for 4 shakes. He said, «Hold on and let me see what’s going on.» He hung up the phone. We waited 5 more minutes for the lady at the window to return and said that we’d just like our money back at this point. She said she’d have to get the manager. She yelled to the manager that «they want their money back!» He came to the window with the shakes and explained that they were backed up on shakes. When I looked in the cups, I was shocked. They were only ½−2/3 full and were covered with tons of whipped cream to try to disguise it (but even with the insane amount of whipped cream the cups weren’t full)! I told the manager that the cups weren’t even full and again said I wanted my money back. He said they couldn’t fill the cups all the way up because the lids would pop off. I said «seriously?!» I told him I get shakes all the time (I’m currently 8 months pregnant) and they are never half full! I held up one cup so he could see and he replied, «oh yeah, that one could have a little more.» I said that they were all like that and asked, for a THIRD time, to get my money back — and held out the shakes for him to take them back. He said he could fill them up but it would take some time. I said «I’ve been waiting for over 30 minutes already! I just want my money back.» He said he couldn’t refund my money, that I’d have to call the next morning and talk to the general manager. He handed me the bottom portion of the receipt on which he had crossed out the customer service number and circled the store number — the same number I had called to reach him! Most ridiculous drive thru experience I’ve ever had!

Me and my friends have been going here almost on a weekly basis for over a year now. Recently (last 2 months) the service has been terrible. So terrible I’ve decided im not returning any longer. The first time the waitress literally forgot about us. Me and my girlfriend sat there for 10 minutes before we were asked what we wanted. Then i came back and got the same waitress a few days later. She actually remembered we were there this time! Other than that she continued to have a ‘bad day’. I suppose she wanted to feel bad for her. Then a week later we went there for a friends birthday. We had a cookie cake for her and we needed to cut it. Not only did the waitress not give us silverwear when we sat down, she also refused to give us it when we asked to cut the cake. Obviously annoyed, i stopped going for a few weeks. I returned yesterday in hope of some change. I got the same. A waitress (different than before) that was having a ‘bad day’. I ordered a burger and a shake, as always. I finished my food and sat for 10 minutes before finally receiving my shake. Terrible service all around. If youre thinking the drive thru is any better, think again. I’ve heard from multiple people its the worst in the state.

Generally, we enjoy Steak ‘n Shake, but our experience tonight was cringeworthy.
We got there at 9:55pm on a Friday night. The restaurant was about half full but most of the parties were finishing up. There was a large party — about twelve folks who appeared to be black and hispanic, ranging from age 5 to maybe 20.
A table was cleared for us and we were seated immediately. The large table where the party in the waiting area would have been seated remained unattended to. Two more white parties came in and tables were cleared for them and they were seated within a minute or so of entering the restaurant. It was painfully clear after less than 10 minutes that the host and wait staff was ignoring the large party. My husband even said to me, «It’s like they are just hoping they will leave.»
Folks, the party in the waiting area was more than patient. TWENTY FIVE MINUTES after *we* arrived, someone FINALLY started clearing the large table. The large group was seated THIRTY TWO MINUTES after *we* arrived. (Who knows how long they actually waited because they were waiting when we got there.) At that time, there were only five other tables seated in the restaurant, three of which had arrived after them.
Watching how this party was treated fairly well ruined my night. I will be contacting their corporate office on Monday because this was just egregious.
Furthermore, our own server was outright surly. We just came in for shakes and fries, but I swear she was giving me the stink eye each time she looked at me. And she brought our shakes in To Go cups with plastic spoons instead of the nice sundae cups and actual silverware. For reals.

Ordered a double steak burger with cheese and two singles with cheese, none of which ended up having cheese on them (and didn’t taste all that good to top things off). I also ordered two chocolate milkshakes, neither of which tasted right. It almost seemed like the ice cream had been frozen, thawed, and refrozen. Both of them ended up being dumped down the drain. All in all a waste of $ 16.

Y’all, it’s a Steak N Shake — you get what you pay for. I’ve literally never had remarkable service at any Steak N Shake location I’ve been to anywhere in the country. If you want remarkable service, you should just know better than to go here.
That being said, this location seems to be a little better than most. It’s not any cleaner and it’s still slow, but you can generally count on the staff to be friendly.

As far as stake n shake goes they’re the best. Management has some issues with not scheduling enough people as always. There’s two servers working themselves to death on a Friday night. No doubt not even getting paid four dollars an hour and dealing with the most unpleasant people society has to offer. We walked in to a drunk giving a server a hard time about the dollar fee for adding Bacon. The server was a good sport and stayed positive, but there’s no reason she should be dealing with that and so many other tables at once. Be a pal tip well. Food’s great too. They always make my weird creations with no questions or comments.

This is honestly the worst steak n shake I have ever been to. They messed up our order. They messed it up again when They tried to fix it. I understand that the manager said she can’t find good help. But good grief.
The only reason we tried this restaurant in Ohio was because we had such good service in Tennessee I guess we’ll just keep going to Tennessee.

I got drive thru. The banana milkshake was very good, their milkshakes always are. I got a buttery burger. For drive throughbit was good enough, but I couldn’t really taste the butter despite being rather greasy. The fries were average. Good a time or two a year.

Slowest service ever. Had to leave after waiting one hour for food. And they still charged us for the soda and a milkshake. If it’s full go somewhere else

[This is part of a set of reviews covering establishments my family and I encountered while taking a road trip to Cincinnati.]
*****
Chain review disclaimer: I won’t do ‘em. You can’t make me. Well, ok. Yes, you can. But not easily. I’ve sworn off chain reviews because chains are supposed to be the same wherever you go. That’s the beauty of a chain restaurant. So I’ll only do a review if there is something out of the norm for a chain, or the particular location. This will happen if there is something unique, if they are extraordinarily good, or extraordinarily bad.
*****
OR, I’m traveling and encounter a chain I’ve never experienced before. That’s what this review is.
For the preamble to this review, see
.
I’ve heard of Steak and Shake and have seen them on my travels, but have never been in one. It’s decorated like a 50’s soda shop with checkered floors, stainless steel railings, and colorful décor.
The «steak» in their name is for burgers. The have singles and doubles and triples and all their specialty burgers (e.g. bacon cheeseburger, mushroom and onion) are all on doubles. I really wanted a ‘shroom and onion burger, but didn’t know if I could handle a double. It turns out their double had the meat of other fast foods’ singles. So the burgers were on the small side, but still very tasty. The meal included skinny fries (fries that were much skinnier than your typical fries), which I actually really liked. The volume of them made up for their size.
Given the restaurant’s name, I had to try one of their shakes. I had a turtle shake made of vanilla ice cream with the top eighth filled with caramel, hot fudge, peanuts, and a mound of whipped topping. Very yummy and enough to share between three of us.
On the table, they had a bottle of Steak and Shake Pepper Sauce. It was a clear jar with jalepenos swimming in some kind of clear liquid. We tried it on some fries and it had a good kick with a touch of vinegar sourness. Presumably, that’s what the peppers were swimming in. It was great with the fries and the burger. In fact, we liked it so much, we walked out with two bottles. At less than $ 2 a piece, you couldn’t go wrong.
I was very impressed the speed of their service. Being that this was a sit down, I expected the meal to arrive in 5 – 10 mins after ordering. But after giving the waitress our order, it felt like I spoke 2 – 3 sentences to my family before the meal arrived.
Overall, a great experience and a fun place to eat. This is a chain that will definitely be an option the next time we see one.