Santa Fe Steakhouse — Local services in Giddings

We saw Santa Fe Steakhouse while passing thru Giddings, TX on the way back home to Round Rock and decided to stop in. I had high hopes judging from the other reviews on the web and the fact that the parking lot was jam packed. We walked in and put our name on the wait list. On the way to the bathroom, I saw a lot of dirty tables, specifically booths waiting to be cleaned off so I told my wife to let the hostess know we wouldn’t mind waiting for a booth. The bathroom was very nice and clean and smelled fresh, which was contradictory to the experience I was about to have. When I came out, my wife was sitting at a table, and she told me that they wouldn’t give us a booth because we would have to wait too long. That surprised me since I still saw many booths available albeit dirty. There was already a basket of bread rolls on the table but we couldn’t do anything with them since we didn’t have any butter, silverware, nor plates to eat them on. We asked one of the waitresses passing by if we could have silverware, napkins, and butter but she murmured something indiscernible and quickly walked off to wipe down another table. At this point my inner critic started to come out and take inventory. The place was busy but could have easily been handled by two good waiters, a good bus boy and a good hostess – but I started noticing how disorganized everything was. As it is said in the industry – they were “in the weeds.” The people at the table next to us were done with their meal and conversing among stacks of dirty dishes and empty drink glasses. I don’t know if any of them were annoyed about the mess, but I certainly would have been. I noticed the hostess was doing double-duty as the bus boy but had forgotten the smelly table bussing cart in the middle of the dining room. Another waitress finally came by to take our drink order. I was annoyed since we had been waiting at our table for at least 15 minutes with nothing but bread rolls which were by then cold. But seeing how busy they were, we amicably gave her our drink order and notified her we were still in need of silverware, napkins, plates, and butter for the rolls. I didn’t notice how long it took for the drinks to come out, but it wasn’t long enough to complain about. I was very thirsty from the long drive, so I immediately took large sips of my water, disregarding the fact that my glass was hot (not warm – hot) from just coming out of the dishwasher. I am not exaggerating when I tell you the ice in the glass had already melted and the water was not only room temperature but also tasted dirty. Being so thirsty, I continued to gulp it down but couldn’t take any more after finishing half the glass. I then started to look at the menu for other drink options when I heard my wife take a sip of her coke and nearly spit it out in repulsion. This was disturbing but at the same time I couldn't help laughing before I took a sip to validate that it indeed tasted like dish water. At that very moment, a different waitress came by to take our food order but I quickly assessed the situation – our table had nothing except two drinks and a basket of cold bread rolls. Our drinks were disgusting and after asking multiple times, we still needed silverware, butter, and plates. Even though the steak of the person sitting next to us looked enticing – I decided my patience ran out and didn’t want to invest another another minute of my time at this establishment. Without saying anything, I gave a look to my wife and nodded my head as to say “lets get out of here”, stood up and told the waitress nothing more than “never mind, we’re leaving” and politely walked out. After getting back in my truck we had a good laugh of the mess we...

I generally dont post negative reviews but this place was just terrible. Nobody here seems to know what they're doing.

First, we asked for 1 menu from the lady who seated us because my husband has trouble reading small print on his phone (my child and I were fine reading from my phone). We were told we needed to look at it online, just for the next table to be given 3 menus by the same person who told us no.

A 2nd lady shows up to take our drink and appetizer order. They came quick and the fondue was good (I definitely recommend it if you do stop here).

Then a young man comes to our table to take our order. I ordered a steak which came with the salad bar. He disappeared to put in the order and I assumed he would be back to make my salad (you arent allowed to make your own) but he never came back. He went to another table and took their order and immediately got their salads. While we are still waiting for him to come back he pops out from the back and is looking right at us. My husband raised his hand to signal that we needed help and he literally turned his back and walked away (he ABSOLUTELY did this on purpose).

Yet another waitress shows up to the table and delivers our food and makes my salad. I told her about the poor service we were getting and that we have been ignored for the past half hour and she pretty much blew me off. She never came back to check on us except to drop off the check.

Now, the food. My steak was cooked to the right temp but was absolutely awful. It was bland, full of fat, and had gristle throughout the whole thing. It didnt even look good and resembled the grey colored steak you get at a Waffle House. I think they just threw it in a pan, flipped it over and then served it. There were no grill marks on it like I've seen in all of the photos in other reviews. The garlic mashed potatoes and shrimp brochette were good. My husband got the Galveston platter and although it had good flavor all of the fried seafood was overcooked.

The best part of our visit was the elderly man that was busing tables. He was working hard throughout the restaurant. On top of busing tables he was making sure everyone's drinks were full (because apparently their waitstaff is incapable of doing so). Very sweet and polite man. Hes the only reason I didnt...

Not the worst place I have ever been but definitely not the best. Here are the problems I experienced with my wife and and 3 year old son. 1st point. The food was awful. We ordered 2 steaks, one of which had shrimp with it and a pizza and mac and cheese for my son. Both steaks were cooked incorrectly. I ordered rare and got RAW. My wife ordered a medium steak and got rare. The shrimp she also ordered was bland, tasteless and felt like chewing styrofoam. The mac and cheese that my son received was clearly out of the box. I would say even a lower brand than walmart. And the pizza was obviously a store bought mini pizza. The only somewhat edible portion of the meal was the soups. Can I say that they were homemade? Probably not but they were tolerable. The fried pickles, however, were not tolerable. The proper way to prepare a fried pickle is not to take a dill spear, slap some crumbs on and fry. But who am I to judge a good meal, only having grown in the south.

2nd and final point. Please ensure that your employees and wait staff are properly trained and punctual. After placing the order with our waiter, he disappeared only to appear again with the food. And then again, disappeared. Upon asking for the check, I had to ask another of the front of house staff for the check. Now mind you the fact that this was not a packed house, in fact there was hardly anyone in the restaurant at all.

If this restaurant truly deserves the stars that they have received maybe this was an off day but I cannot say as most of the reviews sound misleading and have no real information behind them.

Please dont waste your time or money and speak up if something is incorrect with your order. Would not reccomend and will not...