Steak and Ale — Attraction in Burnsville

Four of us dined last week at the new Steak & Ale. We were excited about Steak & Ale coming back because we used to frequent the former Steak & Ale in Bloomington and it was very good! This restaurant was a disappointment all the way around.

First, the food: The salad bar was a sad attempt at replicating the wonderful salad bar at the former restaurant. It wasn't nearly as big. Many items were missing here that we used to be able to choose from at the former restaurant. And the items here were served in such small containers that many of the containers were empty; and the poor gentleman working the salad bar was constantly running back and forth to refill and replenish.

The onion soup was bland. We could tell because it didn't have that rich brown color that onion soup has when it has been simmering all day. The lobster bisque had very little lobster meat in it and, again, was bland.

All four of us ordered the prime rib. One ordered an end cut. The three of us that didn't get an end cut felt that the meat was terribly unseasoned; bland; no flavor at all; and a little overdone. The one that did get an end cut said it wasn't an end cut of a prime rib; rather it was an overdone steak of some sort.

Now the service: One word - horrible! The server seemed to be in a hurry and didn't spend the time she should have when taking our order. When our food came, she dropped the plates on our table and ran off. The right thing to do before she left would have been to ask if we needed steak sauce or anything else. She didn't come back to see how our first few bites were, and if there was anything else she could get us. She proceeded to cop an attitude when we brought to her attention the overdone end cut meal. She argued that it was indeed prime rib, but we begged to differ. Too bad we didn't think to take a picture of it. The kitchen sent out the wrong potato on one of our meals and when we called the server over to tell her, we got an eye roll, then an excuse that she'd been having trouble with the kitchen all evening. Whatever happened to quality control? Shouldn't the server be checking what she wrote down when we placed our orders to what's on the plates she is delivering to us?

The only person that took interest in his job and was right there to refill water glasses and clear dirty dishes was the busser. Kudos to him.

Enough about the negative stuff. It just makes me angry because we were so looking forward to that great Steak & Ale experience that we remembered. Overall, we were very disappointed in our meal all the way around and won't go back. Do better, Steak & Ale, or you're going to lose customers and be forced...

Where do you begin. $105 tab. My daughter's birthday.

They have not been open too long. A long hallway to get to hostess stand and we had reservation. We waited at bar as we were early.

$24 for a glass of Moscato and Pina Colada. Moscato portion light.

Texted table ready on time.

No waiter assigned to our table. Using bartenders to take tables by the bar and bar is full. Restaurant is busy. Bad idea!

Manager taking orders for drinks elsewhere. A friend of ours also said bad service, rubbery chicken.

15 minutes waiting as servers kept passing by. I finally get up and went to hostess's and the other person a waitress stating we have no one assigned to our table More wait. No manager appears.

Who saved the day was bartender Steve who came to say sorry and brought water apologizing they were not in standard goblet.

The table candle was not lit. Salad bar standard items.

The tablecloths do not fit the booths- way too big and I nearly pulled everything off the table trying to get up to get help.

Steve took our order- NY Bourbon Strip and 8 oz filet- both with loaded bake potato. Steaks cooked perfectly- potatoes need more butter. No salt and pepper on the table available on request.

Our order was checked on by Steve and hot when he brought it.

He checked to see how food was.

We finished and ordered dessert. He said he would have manager comp for long wait.

Dark haired female manager, hair up, took her time at bar comping dessert and walked right past us never stopping to apologize or make amends for service. She did not visit one table we could see. Poorly trained and no idea of customer service .

She disappeared into the back never to be seen our last 15 minutes.

The decor only reminiscent of the old Steak and Ale with the wall recessed barrels.

It looks like a restaurant attached to a hotel with no real warmth like the old version.

They now serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.

They are short staffed. They have the wrong night manager.

It was a sad visit and likely a new vision for decor. My daughter and I both pros in running restaurants and all we could do not to get up and Handle it.

You will lose customers like us if you keep it up. You haven't been open long enough to run short with bartenders on tables. You need quality service to build your trade.

There is no warm fuzzies there and only Steve the bartender who was worth his tip. We will...

It took over 15 minutes after we were seated for the server to take our drink order. 10 minutes later, she came to take our dinner order. We weren't quite ready to order, but asked about our drinks. The bar was backed up. She came back about 10 minutes later to take our dinner order. I told her I usually like to have my drink while perusing the menu. She said that this would be fine if we wanted to wait another 5 or 10 minutes to order. We declined, and ordered our food. Bread was delivered to the table, but we waited to cut into it because we still did not have our drinks. About 30 minutes after we ordered our drinks, they finally arrived. One drink was room temperature. A French 75 is much better when it is cold. Not ideal. Then someone came to our table, wanting to clear plates. We had just cut into the bread, so we needed our plates. Then most of the food arrived (one order was missing). The plate-clearer came back, and we let him take the bread plates. The missing order arrived. After the first few bites, the plate-clearer came back (he was at our table 7 times during the course of our 90-minute visit). The food: 16 oz prime rib - it was almost half fat. Not marbled in, but the entire right side was a big chunk of fat. There was a hair on it, but the server did not seem concerned when we mentioned it. Mashed potatoes were good. Prime rib sandwich - was supposed to be served on "lightly toasted garlic roll". It was so hard that it was impossible to bite into it. A lot of uncooked fat on the sandwich. The horseradish sauce was very good. Fries were good. Salad bar was good. Fish & Chips - the fish was hot, and done very well. Not greasy, or overly breaded. The tartar sauce needed some kind of acid. The coleslaw (which the server warned was spicy) was very bland. We did not have to ask for the bill - the server and plate-clearer seemed anxious to get us out of there. 3 people for dinner & 1 cocktail each came to almost $200. It was overpriced for the quality of the food. If we go back, I would probably get the salad bar and soup. You can get the salad bar Ala carte for $10, although that is not stated on the menu. The server told us about this when we suggested that they may want to offer a soup & salad bar option. I have no problem spending $50 per person for dinner, as long as the food is worth it, but in this case, thr dinners...