I had a really crappy experience at this Montana's the other day. It was my first time at the restaurant and my boyfriend, who usually eats his steaks medium/medium-well advised me that they had pretty decent meat. There was a photo on the menu of how a steak should look when cooked rare/medium rare/medium etc and as usual I opted for a medium rare. The photo shown was a pink steak with a darker pink stripe in the middle - just what I'm accustomed to!
When the food arrived I cut into my steak to find that it was browned all the way through. Despite the restaurant being nearly empty, our server was too busy to come check on our table until the end of the meal. I told him that I was really disappointed in my steak which is why I didn't eat it. He offered to get the chef to put another one on the grill but my boyfriend and I had finished our meal and I didn't want him to bother. A few minutes later he showed up with the manager of the restaurant and they both proceeded to tell me that the steak was "one of the most perfect medium rare steaks they had ever seen" and that as people who used to work in the kitchen they would "never lie to me about something like this." I told them that it wasn't even pink, let alone juicy, and he explained that this is how medium-rare steak is supposed to be cooked. Not in my experience! I told the manager about the photo on the menu that clearly illustrates how it should look and he told me that the picture was inaccurate because "it's obviously glossy in the menu which makes it look different." Really? I was humiliated that they came out and argued with me, telling me that I must not know what medium-rare is and that from now on I'd be better off sticking to rare.
They did comp my meal which was nice and they offered me a 10% lifetime discount card for Montana's, though I don't think I'll ever be back. I thought it was really rude. I work in the service industry too so I know that "the customer is always right" mentality has its problems, but I felt disrespected when these two men came to my table and argued with me about my steak.
The only positive thing I can say about this experience was that the baked potato was tasty (though not as good as one from The Keg) and my raspberry piña colada was delicious. read more