Steak 'n Shake — Restaurant in Athens

We love Steak N Shake. Normally it is fantastic. This specific visit didn't seem like the same restaurant that we think so much of. I always try to be the devil's advocate when rating a place and want to give the very best possible gratitude. If I go to a restaurant and order a medium rare stat and it is brought out well done, I eat it and smile without saying a word. I couldn't figure out how today was such a bad experience with this restaurant that we always enjoy. Wasn't any busier than usual but people seemed to be standing long periods of time waiting to be greeted. Twice we watched people have to gain attention that they were waiting. I'm not a smorgasbord style eater but was hungry so I ordered the triple steak burger with bacon, cheese and all the toppings. We were all shocked by the meat on the sandwich. The 3 patties may have been the thickness of a slice of the cheese. Very pitiful sandwich. The server (I would normally say was just out of sorts like we can all get so it's totally understandable) seemed disconnected from her duties. What appeared to be possible a manager was running a dozen directions to try to pick up duties that probably wasn't hers to do and was apologizing to customers for the inconvenience. This specific visit was definitely a bad disappointment. I sure hope this was a fluke because we truly like Steak N Shake. Everyone has off days and we hope that this was just a full team off day. We will visit again with hopes of this visit just being a rough day for the staff. As much as I want to give a 5 star rating here, I just can't based...

Disappointing - went through the drive thru tonight just before 6pm. Ordered a number 1 and a number 7 each with a shake instead of a soda. We probably waited 15 minutes in the drive thru before getting to the window to get our food (and there were only 3 vehicles in front of us in the line- only one of which was at the speaker when we arrived at the line). When we ordered the number one we were asked "in addition to the cheese, what would you like on it?". I replied "ketchup, mustard and pickle ". When the server came to the window he took our payment. He was very pleasant. He handed me a bag with our food and said it would be a few minutes on our shakes. So we got out the fries and started to eat a few. They were old and cold. So when the server came back over by the window I held the two fry boxes up to the window and said "can we please get some fresh fries? These are old and cold and we've been waiting a long time to get cold fries." He said yes and got us fresh ones, but his attitude completely changed, I'm sure frustrated that I wanted a quality product that I had waited for and paid for. Then he brought our shakes and we left. The mushroom swiss burger had like a whole onion of sliced sauteed onions on it and there were a couple mushrooms. The double cheeseburger was plain. (If you'll recall, when I was specifically asked what we wanted on that besides cheese, I told him ketchup, mustard and pickle.) Apparently that was just a survey like what would you get if you could?? LOL However, silver lining . . . The shakes...

So disappointing. I wanted to try their new fries for awhile. I finally found a store while traveling and thought it was perfect timing. I order at the kiosk as there was never anyone at the counter. No big deal it is becoming the norm. I get my shake fairly soon and had it mostly gone before my food came. I finally get my food and grab a few fries as im heading out the door and they are ice cold. I get to my truck and grab my burger and its pretty good. I'd highly recommend the garlic double cheeseburger. I finish my burger and of course my shake is gone since I got it 20 min prior. Tried the fries again and I just couldn't eat them. Guess the hype was too much. O'well I suppose. I can now go a few more years before I try them again. In short... shake was good but should've come with or at least close to my food. Burger was real good but fries were cold and just...