Food was good, staff was good. Restaurant was some what run down and floor was filthy. Ok place just don't look down

The Steak 'n Shake on Randall Road in Elgin is probably the worst location. They never have some of the menu items (especially the baked beans), they are slower than molasses in taking care of you, and the store manager is on the grill and clearly ignores the fact that you're standing at the counter waiting for service or for your order. I decided to use the app today and try their new way to order. I left immediately after placing the order because it takes about 10 minutes to get there from my house and the order time stated it would be ready in 15. When I get there, it takes several minutes to get someone's attention even though the store manager was literally feet away from me managing the grill. When the guy finally came and asked me what I wanted to order, I showed him my order confirmation and he stood there for a full minute or more acting like he had no idea what he was looking at. When he finally figured it out because I told him I ordered from the app, he went to where they place orders to die a cold death, picked up my bag and then set it down again and called over his shoulder that they don't have baked beans. It took yet another few minutes for a girl standing way down the food prep area to call out that maybe I would want chili since they didn't have beans. I said sure, and she took another several minutes to ladle up the chili and bag it. Then she stood there doing NOTHING while the bag sat on the counter. When she finally moved again she placed the chili next to my cold burger and fries on a different counter and walked away. I had to wait several more minutes till she finally brought both bags to me. All the while, the manager was at the grill and not paying any attention to the fact that a customer was standing at the counter. On a last and really bad note, the chili was AWFUL. It's thick and gluey, has a brown gel-like texture and has no meat whatsoever in it. There are a lot of beans, but chili is actually supposed to have meat in it, and after all, they do have ground beef on prem. One bite and I threw it away. I hate to say it, because the next Steak 'n Shake is not really close, but I'll probably never go to this location again. read more

Food is okay but the washroom is the most filthy I've ever seen anywhere. I reported to the manager and she laughed. Time for a new manager

My daughter and eight of her friends went here after homecoming. The place was a very busy but after 30 minutes of waiting they decided to sit at a table that was open. A waitress came up to them and told them since they sat themselves they would not be taking care of. So they left and went across the street to Applebee's where they were treated very very nicely. read more

How is this place still open ? I had to wait 10 minutes to be sat. I then waited for a server for 20 minutes until I had to stand up go to the register and order Togo just to sit down and eat it there as I tried to explain what happened to the cook I was being antagonized by employees wearing their uniforms but not clocked in. I wish I could leave 0 stars I can't believe how rude these people are read more

We have been going to Steak and Shakes for years. This particular one has had issues from the beginning. For the past 5 years, at least, they have "run out" of baked beans EVERY time we came in. I believe they no longer even serve them. For a restaurant that serves basically burgers, fries, baked beans and shakes, to run out of one of your top items is pretty ridiculous!! Plus, baked beans are the ONLY ITEM which makes you unique in the world of burgers. Last time we went here we noticed how dirty the place looked and even smelled!!! The corporation really needs to take a look at this place and start over. Get some decent management and clean up the joint! YUCK! read more

I used to love steak and shake but the last time I went was terrible. The place was dirty. The customer service was OK but this poor girl had to work all by herself. There was a bunch of full tables. Finally my family and I felt very sick after eating there, which was icing on this awful cake! I'm not trusting Steak and Shake again. read more

I loved the food!! Super delicious. The service was alright. The butterfinger milkshake made everything worth it.

Alright so my coworker and i came in here at 320. It took them like 30 mins to get our drink order. If you have an hour lunch i do not reccommend. The service sucks but the food is great. I get better customer service at walmart. read more

Off to a terrible start when I ordered a milkshake and was told they were out of milk and couldn't make one. I should have left then but I ordered 2 burgers with Cajun fries anyway. Burgers were so greasy they ended up in the trash- along with the cold, soggy fries. A complete and total waste of time and money. The 1 star is for the girl working the drive thru because she was nice. You know when you eat something and it's so bad that you know for a fact you will never, under any circumstances eat it again?? Ya, that's how I feel towards steak n'shake. Y'all gotta change your name and menu if you aren't gonna serve shakes like y'all hit an all time low tonight. read more

Went here for lunch and we never got seated the employees ignored us so we left will not be going back I wouldn't recommend this steak and shake . read more

I do drive-thru here 1-2 times a week. They are always speedy and extraordinarily friendly. Great happy service, never disappoints.

We just ordered carryout and the food was good except they forgot the cheese for the cheese fries. We ordered a melt , 6 mini burgers, three fries and a drink. The total was only $15. Wow what a deal. The lady at the drive through was very nice too.. I read some of the reviews and I guess if you want to eat here go early! ! read more

The cashier had a really hard time taking our order and when we finally got it it was incorrect. When one of the workers "fixed" it he just took my shake to the back and threw Oreos on top to make it seem like a cookies and cream shake. In the end, it was honestly just a glorified vanilla shake. Don't waste your time and go to Portillo's - much better service and food! read more

They could barely take my order and I had to repeat things multiple times. Next, I go to the window and we have to keep asking for things that we ordered but had not recieved. They forgot one of our drinks and one of them got an attitude when we asked for more ketchup. Not very pleased with this experience. read more

I don't get all the Hate here. I have pretty much loved the food and service here. My breakfasts are consistent and tasty. If you all have issues with the food, service, bathrooms, etc, be an adult and approach the management kindly. read more

Ordered shakes for the kids and then got to listen to the staff argue as to who had to make them. Unprofessional and slow staff makes it hard to find a reason to come back. read more

I will give a zero !!! Worst steak and shake I've ever visit the service was awful and let's not talk about the nasty food order chili and looked like it was done days ago !!! The cheeseburger was cold nasty !!! Will never go here EVER read more

My husband and I go to this steak-n-shake sometimes because we met there when we were teenagers. We're not huge fans of this restaurant because the service is ridiculously slow. We mainly go there just for memories. Their shakes are really good and especially good at happy hour! read more

I've only been here once. I had just finished my last final at ECC one morning and since it seemed early enough, I went here to try their breakfast. With the way I felt that morning, I needed something that would fill me up. I saw one of their skillet options and I thought, okay, let's try that. They made it so quickly I was surprised it didn't take long to cook. The skillet also came with a side of pancakes. Not even halfway through my meal, I was getting a little full. I liked what I chose. I didn't get a shake that morning, but the food was worth it. The waitresses were real nice that day. Must be tough working at a place that's open 24/7. Props to them. If I'm ever in the area again, I'll remind myself or my friends to stop by here. read more

Not sure how a 24 hour place closes at 12:30. But wait, they took the last order at 12:15. But fortunately for them, they made us wait 8 minutes so at 12:12, they decided no more orders. If you're going to close at midnight, that's fine, turn off your lights. But don't make people wait in the drive through then lie to them. No reason ever to go back to this place. read more

Saturday afternoon. Was quite busy but were seated quickly. After that the visit went downhill quickly. Took forever to take our order, then to get our beverages. Food service was slow and my food was brought out when my husband was almost done with his meal. The shake was good but I don't think I'll be returning. This was quite literally the worst Steak 'n Shake I've eaten at. read more

This Steak and Shake is about 50/50. Came here on 6/15 and service and food were god awful. Drive thru was down so i went inside to order. Out of the 3 staff members only one knew how to run the register. I must have repeated myself 10 times on what type of shake I wanted (snickers). The fries were cold, they were out of chili, they couldn't understand that my girlfriend wanted no mustard, and while the burgers cooked the worked talked on his cell phone the whole time. I've worked in food service my whole life. I understand that there can be a lot of down time but quite frankly this was some of the worst food i've ever eaten. The order was 2 shakes 2 single cheese burgers one no mustard or tomato, one order of fries, and a taco salad. It's not rocket science. They probably had 6 hours left on their shift, i was the only person in there. Get it right. Geez. I'll writing the gm as well. read more

I've lived in central Illinois, the home of Steak 'n Shake and have been to many of their restaurants. The Elgin store is a pathetic imitation of what a Steak 'n Shake is supposed to be. It is not the staff's fault. It is the management or lack thereof. It is always understaffed, leading to long wait times in the drive through and at the tables, just to get your order taken. It is even longer to get your food, and it is not always correct. Turnover rate on staff seems high as well probably due to management. The floor is always filthy. I avoid going in the bathrooms. read more

The other times I've gone to this Steak 'n Shake have been the normal experience, but this time was pretty horrendous. According to our receipts, it took us 50 minutes to go from getting our order taken to leaving the restaurant (and my family probably only took 5-10 minutes to eat tops). The chicken sandwiches we ordered tasted overcooked and were chewy. One of our meals had a hair in it while another meal had an eyelash in it. The third and final order was hair free but had mayo on it when we ordered no mayo. There wasn't even anyone manning the register consistently. I waited 4 minutes at the register, and the only reason someone came over was that a line started to form behind me. It'll be a while at least before I go back to this location. read more

Needs to train their staff customer service ASAP. My boyfriend told two different people that he ordered onion rings instead of fries and he ended up eating fries because no one cared. All three orders were screwed up. Oh and there was a hair in my food. read more

I've been here many times over the years (unfortunately) and I guess I can liken it to labor. You forget how painful it is until you go through it again. My kids enjoy it here but I think this will be the last time. The service is the worst I've experienced consistently at any restaurant. There seems to be no system in place as far as serving a table and the servers are often at the counter cashing people out and talking behind their soda station while we sit and wait 20 minutes for a Coke and for our order to be taken. I finally got up and retrieved someone to take our order and waited another 15 minutes for a Coke. I'm not even going to comment on the good because it's the same as it always is-ok. After 40 minutes total we finally got our food (just 2 of us) and by burger was wrong. Of course I would never send it back because id be here until the next day. If you want a quick meal avoid use your better judgment and avoid this place. read more

One word can describe this place and nothing more needs to be said. Filthy just plain Filthy. Fingerprints on everything. Dirty plates everywhere. Sticky menus, dirty glasses, dirty Windows it's just gross. The service is slow and no one is in a hurry to buss tables. Don't waste your money just stay hungry. The hunger pains are way more satisfying than the filth your will experience here! read more

Our waitress took a her long time to acknowledge us after we were seated. The place wasn't that busy.

Probably one of the worst services I have received at a Steak 'n Shake. It took 30-45 min to receive our food after the order was put in. They tried to be helpful by subtracting all drinks from the total tab which didn't really help considering all we had was one sweet tea and a milkshake and the rest were waters. All of the orders had something wrong with them. The spicy chicken had mayo even though we requested no mayo, the sliders had an eyelash in them, and the other spicy chicken had a hair in it. After going through all of that, it took forever to be waited on at the register. Will not be going back to that Steak 'n Shake anytime soon. read more

Terrible place. Drive thru always closed. Went there last nite and the restaurant was closed. So much for 24 hour. The staff is lazy and the management is just useless. Time to shut it down and open a In N Out Burger. Goodbye Steak n Shake. read more

I could have gone to the grocery store, brought it home, and made it faster. It's a Thursday night and I ordered a grilled cheese and a burger and we are already over 30 minutes with one less car in front of me as I type this as I am still at least 5 cars from the window. The food isn't even worth it. Wish they would replace it with a 24/7 McDonald's at least then I wouldn't have to wait all night for shitty food. read more

this Steak 'n Shake had very very slow service. A young gentlemen finally asked about our order and gave my friend and I free milkshakes, after 40 minutes of waiting for 1 thing. read more

Regular one in terms of food. We went little late in night and the service was horrible.

I went to dive thru yesterday and ordered one of the $4 meals which comes with cookie and coleslaw. When I pulled away I looked in bag and coleslaw and cookie were missing. I went back and went inside and girl said she would check for me, I had no receipt as they don't give you one, when she came back she told me those were extra and I didn't order them. I get this meal all the time. She then asked if I would like to speak to manager. I said yes but manager would not come out, she said sorry she couldn't do anything. It was getting late for my lunch and lunch was getting cold so I said forget it and left. When I left I drove by sign for ordering and it clearly states meal comes with this. I pulled in again and told girl and she said she would get manager. Again manager would not come out. Finally after arguing she got me a coleslaw. No cookie had to ask agin for that and no fork to eat coleslaw. Sorry to put these people out of there way to try and get what I ordered. I eat at Steak n Shake all the time, but not anymore. Not worth wasting my lunch order arguing about what I ordered. read more

I really wish it was possible to give a place zero stars. This place is terrible, and frankly me not recommending it is an understatement. All we ordered were shakes and after we ordered, the waiter muttered under his breath "ah this ain't gone be good"; he was right it wasn't. We sat there and watched our shakes sit in the window for almost 20 minutes. By the time we got them they were melted and 2/4 of them were the wrong ones. One shake had chocolate chips in it and it was a strawberry cheesecake milkshake. The waiter however had a good reason, as he claimed "the chef must have gotten a little 'handsy' with the shakes". They messed up on one shake and when he took it back, instead of just getting rid of it or fixing it he just put it back on the shelf for a new later victim. He also asked us "what am I supposed to do about it" when we complained about our messed up shakes. And when we later called him out for the contaminants, he asked us in return "is it throwing off the taste or something?". Anything else we needed (napkin, straws, etc.) came down to being a self service matter at best. When we waited for a near half an hour for our receipt we finally caught the first rare glimpse of our waiter as he walked out the door. With the help of another employee in a long investigation of tapping the computer at the counter one-thousand times (realistically she was probably just playing Tetris) she finally found our receipt under a different waitress's name. Frankly I think that the tip we didn't give our original waiter was being more than generous. read more

Not a good experience. At all. Just got home from Steak n' Shake with my two good friends and my mentally challenged younger brother. We don't normally eat out together as my brother can be a little hard to handle sometimes. Nevertheless, we figured it would be a good experience and less formal environment for my brother. We arrived and were promptly seated however the workers and manager continually gave us rude stares. My brother has some issues and was playing around with the ketchup bottle: we try not to encourage poor behavior but directly saying no is never a good means of handling situations like these (as some of you may know). Anyways, at one point a blonde female worker came over and made some comment to us about how he should stop messing around and basically made him drink the ketchup he put in his water. I was shocked. Never before have I seen such abuse of a happy, sweet kid like him. The waitress later came around once again making a snide remark along the lines of how she's going to have to take away the condiments if he kept touching them. I was in such a state of awe that I didn't know how to react. I wish I would've said something in the moment but I couldn't muster up the words to have a complete response to all of the insensitivities that took place. Not okay. read more

During my time in this restaurant, I was very unnerved by what I saw. An older man at the counter complained that his burger was cold and that the staff had left a burner (kitchen apparatus) on? The staff was very rude to the man in their response and it was appalling to see. The man said he would not pay for the cold burger and the staff and manager took on an extremely disrespectful tone towards the man which included profanity. The man then yelled profanity back towards the staff. As a former fastfood employee, I am accustomed to dealing with unreasonable patrons and generally would side with the staff but this situation was handled very poorly by the management. Yelling profanity at a patron is never acceptable. Long story short, the police were called to intervene due to the escalating situation. The whole issue could likely have been avoided by staff apologizing to the customer and giving him a new burger. Will not be going back. Felt unsafe. read more

I am a server, so I guess I hold other servers to a higher standard. But, this was honestly the worst service and most disgusting food ever. My friend and I stopped there because it was close-big mistake. The server took FOREVER to greet us and take our order. He was also very awkward and I got a strong feeling he hated his job. The other servers were just standing around doing nothing and I overheard the one guy (that was actually doing his job) get very frustrated and tell the others to do something. Half the tables were dirty and no one was making any effort to clean them. When the food arrived, it was covered in grease and the meat looked strange. I didn't even eat my food because it looked so bad. The entire time I just wanted to leave. read more

Worst experience at a steaknshake...the manager that worked the night shift 10/29/2015 around 11pm is so rude. She doesn't interact and her staff is poorly trained. read more