Don's Steakhouse — Local services in Walnut Ridge

Was in Northeast Arkansas and googled area restaurants and selected Don's, as steak sounded good and the reviews were okay. First, the Good: Nice clean friendly atmosphere though the decor was a bit more modern than most steakhouses I've visited with many focusing on a rustic wood look. Wait staff were attentive and friendly and made us feel welcome. Now...the Not-so-Good and unfortunately it was the steaks. They were, well...tasteless and tough. My wife and I both ordered ribeyes - hers well done and mine rare. Well, they just weren't good - and after digging into the reviews, it seems others have had the same experience. Sides (fries, baked potato and salad) were top notch as were our son's chicken strips. But the bottom line unfortunately, and it's tough to write a bad review - but the steaks were as tough as this review is. Perhaps a different way of cooking them - wood fired grill would be top notch and most especially trying a different approach to seasoning them (were they even seasoned?). Will we come back the next time we're in the area? Yep. I believe in giving every situation a second chance and most especially believe in supporting independent restaurants, especially during these tough economic times. I hope you consider my suggestions and make the steaks as good as the wait staff (who saved you from the dreaded one...

We’ve ate there a couple times trying to give it a chance because we know that sometimes you have bad nights, but every time our steak wasn’t cooked anything near what we said. I paid for a well done steak & was gave a burnt steak that was BLOODY on the inside. How they even managed to do that, I’m not sure but it was terrible. Not only was mine bloody my husbands was as well. When we called to tell them that our steaks weren’t done properly they got rude & told us they couldn’t do anything about it; eventually they agreed for us to bring them back to be cooked again, which we did because we paid almost $100 on a meal. When we went to get them recooked even though they were already burnt on the outside the cook & waitress were all calling us a liar until they cut into it theirselves, then rolled their eyes & finally said they’d recook it. We called the restaurant the next day to ask for the owner or manager & the owner herself got on the phone & told us if we didn’t like it then don’t come back. What owner does that I do not know but it was rude & sorry of her. She also called us a a liar about our food when we had PHOTOS & PROFF! I will...

The place was pretty dirty with most of the table stacked high with dirty dishes and they probably need to hire staff.

The salad bar is a joke with tomatoes from a can, soggy cucumbers, and bowls that look like they belong at a little kids tea party.

I ordered a steak rare and a sweet potato. The steak was medium-rare to medium, and the poor 16oz ribeye, probably had 8oz of salt and 8 oz of pepper. The sweet potato was mush and overcooked, with a blah brown sugar butter.

My mom ordered grilled chicken and a loaded baked potato. The potato was probably the highlight of the dinner even with being a palm sized potato. The grilled chicken was dry to the point the knife had a rough time cutting it, and again loaded with a ton of salt.

I normally always tip at least 20%, but the service was so bad along with the gross food I just couldn't do it. Especially, with the checking sitting on the plate as the waitress brought it...