Spotted Cow Steakhouse — Local services in Winston-Salem

I would consider this a great to-go steakhouse, or a great steakhouse if you’re in a rush! The food itself was excellent, five stars.

The reason I’m knocking off stars for service is because when we go out to a steakhouse, we are out for the experience as well as the food. We tried to order salads, were then informed that if we ordered steaks, salads and a side came with the steak. Okay great! We asked if we could put in our order for our salad and let the waitress know when we were done, order our steak, and so on. She said no, so we clarified that the salads would come out well before the steaks, to which she said yes.

We got our salads, and I wasn’t halfway done with my salad before we got our steak.

Some people like quick meals, and if you fall in this category, then this is your place, five stars!! I’m not being sarcastic, it really is one of the best steaks in town!

But we specifically asked if we could let them know when we were done with our salads, to which they said no.

Bottom line - we came in, ate an excellent steak, and left within 30 minutes, which again, if that’s what you’re wanting, you found the perfect place! I’m not exaggerating, we got seated at 8:30, and were paid up by 9. But I prefer to let each course settle just 5-10 minutes ONCE I’m done until I get the next course. (I didn’t get to finish my salad)

Management, if you’re reading this, I would give people the option to order their first course without ordering the rest of the meal for this...

Pretty lackluster experience overall. Entered to an establishment that smelled like the bathroom. Service was poor up until the end. My Mahi was overcooked and tasteless even with a dab of pineapple salsa on top. My inlaws, medium ribeyes were medium-rare but no big, we didn't say anything about the fish or ribeyes. My husband's 9oz. filet was supposed to be medium-rare but was seared medium-well. When we sent just the filet back, the server came back with what looked like a 14ish oz grilled sirloin. While cooked to the correct midrare temp, when questioned if it was a filet, she insisted it was. Then while back in the open kitchen, we could clearly hear the cook/manager being rude because it was definitely NOT a filet they sent as the recook. The salads could've come from a diner, served with plastic dressing ramekins and cheap ingredients. Four to five on-duty servers just sitting and standing at the bar while I suppose waiting on more tables to enter (not a busy wednesday night). For a "steakhouse" with $40-50 cuts of meat, it was disappointing at best and we were there to celebrate a 74th birthday; could've been at a Lonestar. The best item was the rolls, they were warm, moist, and yummy. The valet attendant was kind and thoughtful - my mother-in-law walks with a much needed cane. I know they are new-ish, but they can definitely do better. But I won't be back for 6...

We were a party of 5 for a birthday celebration, with a reservation. Our table was ready when we arrived, the venue was very crowded but the service was excellent. The bar was a tad slow but everything else was very prompt, with accurate advice from our attentive waitress. The menu was decently broad while focused on their theme. Salads and soups were good. The steaks (four ordered steaks and one pork porterhouse) were nice cuts and seemed to be really good quality.

Unfortunately, everything except soup and salads were drenched in salt. Even appetizers were over salted, though it mostly came through in the steaks -- just drenched in salt. Almost inedible, though the excellent beef tried hard to stand up to the poor seasoning.

We were 5 people from 3 households, none on salt restrictive diets but we were unanimous in the opinion, and this was almost literally all we could talk about in comparing notes. I tend to over-salt myself, but nothing like this. It was the first time I can remember I woke up in the middle of the night needing water.

This place has real potential despite pretty high prices - great service, good location (adjacent to a parking garage even), nice old-school look and feel. But the chef's poor seasoning left us all unanimous in the verdict of...