Lone Star Texas Grill — Restaurant in Richmond Hill

We’ve been here a couple of times and the first time found it to be somewhat disappointing. But since I had Costco gift cards we decided to go a second time and give them another shot. Location wise this place is quite handy with lots of parking We ordered the four pack of Mexican beers and I specifically wanted and asked for the most strong Mexican beer instead of the usual watery 4.5% alcohol ones. They came in a bucket, including my Dos Equis, which was exactly the same strength as the Sol beers which were included in the in the bucket. I asked the waitress to see if there were actually stronger Mexican beers, and she indicated that this is what the bartender had given her, but I mentioned to her that this is the exact same strength as the other beers it’s not any stronger. She took it away and came back with a Dos Equis that was actually 5.5%. Neither her nor the menu had anything indicating the alcohol content on any of their beers so it made it difficult to order a beer that would be appropriate. We ordered a couple of Appetizers, including calamari and the mozzarella sticks. The calamari came way overcooked and rubbery, but I ended up eating the vegetables which were part of the platter. We ended up getting this removed from our bill at the end of the evening seeing as this was very poor quality and poorly cooked. We often get the calamari at the keg, which is the identical price, but from our experience is a larger platter and never is overcooked. The mozzarella sticks were basically four rectangular pieces of mozzarella breaded and covered in buffalo sauce not very warm and definitely not very appealing. I would highly recommend people avoid these two appetizers. I ordered the $27 chicken fajitas, which were basically one chicken breast with grilled vegetables, dried up shredded cheese and mushy rice with sour cream and four soft warm tortillas It was OK quality but in my opinion, a very poor value for one little piece of chicken. I would call it food court quality chicken fajitas. We also ordered chimichangas a chicken bowl and the beef taco. As a side to these dishes were overcooked beans and pretty rough tasting Mexican rice. Our sons didn’t even touch the rice or the beans and they pretty much eat anything especially anything from chipotle. We didn’t even think about ordering any dessert since the mains we’re pretty mediocre The only positive takeaways were decent beer, a good location and the opportunity to use gift cards from Costco where you could save 20% Even though we were comped the calamari, I would never suggest going back to this place again since the quality and the value is so low. if you’re going here for beers and chips then maybe you’re OK. Our sons actually preferred chipotle to this restaurant, which is kind of sad. Server was OK even though the place was actually quite busy . If you want good Mexican food, then this is definitely not the place. There are many options...

I’ve been to this restaurant once before, so I think after my second time coming here I’ve got a good sense of the food/environment/cleanliness.

Before I start, my friend and I after the food we ate. Got extremely bad stomach pains/sickness from the food we ate. Not sure what it was from but it was either from poorly cooked food, overused oil, and or too much salt….

Firstly the restaurant is very clean and tidy, bathrooms are decent, could use a cleaning on the mirrors but that’s about it.

The environment is full on American/Texas vibes lol. Like going to a cookout with the boys, and catching up on the football game. I love it! Makes me feel like I’m really in Texas.

Service was okay, my glass of water was empty a lot of the time as I do drink a lot of water. I get it though not many servers during that time of day (3pm) but still a very nice/respectful server.

Now for the food, my friend and I ordered the

Alligator bites Queso and chips Texas burger (might of been a different name) And steak fajitas

Alligator bites were below par. It was served with a dip that reminded me of butterchicken. It did not compliment the food at all, almost turned the food off for me. Alligator itself was good, but lacked freshness. 3/5

Queso was a failure, tasted like a bad attempt at making Alfredo sauce, too salty, and just tasted nasty. The ones in the jars taste better then it; the chips were good though and it was a good portion of them as well. 2/5

The Texas burger, it was okay… something in the burger tasted burnt and I could not bite through it. Not sure if it was a bacon or slab of pork? But I literally could not bite through it. I had to focus on not chocking while eating the burger. It was over cooked as well which made it SUPER dry and not enjoyable. I had a side of fries which were okay. Not fresh, as they tasted a bit old. The flavour of the burger was decent though, kind of a mash of random flavours and it didn’t really work. 2.5/5

The steak fajitas were pretty good, love the toppings they coke with and the sauces. My only complaint is the cut of meat that is served with it. Is a bit tough. I’m assuming it’s more of a cheaper cut of steak (less fat = harder to chew) but still flavourful. The sautéed peppers were good but had a odd smell. I’m assuming the case iron it’s served with isn’t washed properly giving it that special odder. The serving size is great! I’d prefer an extra fajita or two since there is a lot of food to consume with the limited fajitas. Overall that dish was a 3.5/5!

Overall the experience was a 3/5

Would I recommend this place? Not really unless the food changed or it improved.

I am happy I got to try this place again though, but I am disappointed with the...

Where do I begin with this experience. First, the lone star across Hillcrest is the best but I moved to markham and I think that one closed down....it started with the caesar which came with some smokey something rim I really wanted to try but when I got my drink there was hardly any rim..a few salt pieces...hardly noticeable..i asked the waitress if it was supposed to come with that smokey rim (that is why i got it). The waitress offered to transfer it to a new cup with a rim but I planned to stay longer and have more Caesars.i didnt end up ordering more.. The celery on the caesar was so old I couldn't even eat it..I tried but realized I didn't want to get sick. My go to is the queso. The chips tasted off and I couldn't figure out why ...it tasted stale but i wasnt sure...(i was told later it was overcooked)..and i hesitated to complain because I already did with the caesar rim lol...the chips were hard... I think the manager came over to check-in? Well someone did and didn't come back til later on to apologize but I did get new chips from the waitress and those were great. My partner got calamari...someone brought it over and didn't know where to place it and when I saw it...I said my partner can have it because it looked gross lol (i didnt say out loud it looked gross but thought it). Again, I could be wrong...my partner ate one and couldn't eat anymore...I wasn't going to complain cuz that would be THREE times. The bill came and the waitress wondered why we didn't want to take the untouched calamari home and we didn't want to say anything after already complaining twice...she said she will take it off the bill and we told her that it was fine....we didnt mind paying for it..we didn't want to bother her. She did it anyway which was nice of her. I was walking out of the restaurant and started to feel really sick. I ran to the washroom and threw up my meal and my $13 caesar 🥲!!! This has NEVER happened before...there was something wrong with the queso because that was all I ate there. I have never vomited that much...nor vomitted from bad food in my life...I told the waitress that helped us...just so they would be mindful and not have others vomit. It was just a really bad experience to say the least and it was very uncomfortable having to complain about everything we ordered 😮‍💨 I can say I will not be returning because I'm afraid of vomiting...