I was hoping for much better. Never been to a Steak and Shake before. We were assigned a table that was wet from being wiped down, but still had food particles on the seats and under the table. I grabbed some napkins and wiped it down for my wife to sit. The waiter apologized when he saw me cleaning it. He said he just started his shift, but was wearing the dirtiest apron I have ever seen in a restaurant. Upon closer examination, his entire uniform was dirty and caked with food. Pretty funny when they are all supposed to be wearing faux tuxedos and bow ties. We ordered our food, and noticed many small gross things - the booths across from us had food fingerprints all over the back walls. The mustard on our table had hard dried mustard smeared across the lid. The salt and pepper shakers had been manhandled by someone too lazy to wipe their hands. My wife would not even touch them. The waiter placed our silverware on the table - and the napkins were dirty also! I opened up the napkins and the silverware was wet and spotted. I was now in the position of cleaning my own silverware with a dirty napkin. I didn't use them with my meal.
We received our shakes after 20 minutes - mine was just chocolate and was missing the banana. It had also completely melted and was very soupy. I stopped the waiter and asked for a corrected one. No apology, he just grabbed it and ran away. He brought me another one in 3 minutes - correct, not melted and very flavorful. Ok, then.
Our food came 15 minutes after our shakes, (which were now melted) and was generally agreeable - but the french fries were ice cold. I flagged down our waiter once again and asked for hot fries. He returned with them in three more minutes, hot and fresh. My wife asked for no tomato on her burger, but there it was on her burger, which we fished off ourselves. The waiter explained that "Oh, they never read the order slips." He then asked if everything else was ok, and at that point it was for the most part. He never offered an apology. Ok, then.
I guess if you are willing to sit in a booth you can keep asking for things to be corrected, and they will do it. Mighty expensive way to run a restaurant though.
This location is open 24 hours a day, why can't they clean the joint a little during the early hours when no one is there? Manager, take a close look at your tables and look at what you are expecting the customers to tolerate. Why can't the wait staff wear clothes that are washed? The cleanliness standards have got to be better than this. I tipped my waiter 33% simply because I wanted him to be able to afford the laundromat and some soap and he had to keep running back and forth to correct the kitchens' mistakes. Maybe I am expecting too much from a $20 dinner but even most Waffle Houses are cleaner than this. Not recommended for germaphobes! read more