Auburn City Steakhouse — Restaurant in Auburn

Let’s start with the “Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”. I wish I could say there was something good....but...not really. My son made reservations for our family to celebrate my birthday, that was the best part of the evening. There were 6 of us and we were seated in the back corner of the restaurant by the box that I am assuming is the kitchen. The slamming that was going on inside this box about made you jump out of your seat every time it happened. Now, to the service, I’m not even sure where to start. It started ok and very quickly went downhill. The waitress took our order for drinks and after about 20 minutes they came and she took our food orders. One of our party joined us late and he was never offered anything to drink even when his salad arrived even though he didn’t order salad. That’s when we knew we were in trouble. Two of the party didn’t receive what was ordered for the soup and salad and was never corrected. We asked for additional dinner rolls for our entrees and was brought ketchup? We asked the server again and was brought rolls that were not the same as the original ones we were served. These were cheap dinner rolls. Next, the entrees arrived....not one of our entrees were correct and my son didn’t get his entree at all. The waitress would come out every 15-20 minutes saying it was going to be another 2-3 minutes more to get his steak up to temperature?? But every 15-20 minutes?? During all of this no one checked on us to refill drinks or to see if we needed anything additional. It was complete confusion. Finally he told them to forget his entree as the rest of the party were finished eating. Then she went to get our checks only to return another 15-20 minutes later and my sons missing entree was on the bill. She left once again to go correct the bill and another 15-20 minutes later came back and said she spoke to two managers and they wouldn’t do anything about him not getting his food....(his entree was later removed from the bill). Now get this....after all this, the final “corrected” bills still were not correct. At this point we were over it and just wanted to leave. From the service, to the incorrect orders, to the missing food, not sure how much else could have went wrong. For the price, the expectations are higher for the food and service and it just wasn’t there. I truly think we could have gotten better service at a drive thru. My son and I did speak to the lady manager upon leaving and she stated she was not aware anything was wrong, but did state she was on her way to our table - but if she was not aware anything was wrong why was she on her way to our table? We were not expecting anything monetary but an apology sure would have been nice or at least an acknowledgement that mistakes were made-especially after speaking to her. It was obvious she just didn’t care. I can assure you we will not be returning, which is really sad as I was very excited to have a...

The salmon and prime rib were really good. The rolls were store bought.. I didn't understand that. The food items were overpriced. The waitress was awesome, but the hostesses weren't. They continued to talk as I awkwardly stood there waiting to say I had reservations. Continue your personal conversation after the guest is helped.

EDIT 12/4/21:

I had to put this on Google from Opentable, because apparently I have insulted them. I received a pathetic "sorry not sorry" response blaming my standards, and not their own restaurant. Here was my review:

I wish Auburn had a good steakhouse. That's where I'll begin. I ate at this restaurant on Valentine's Day around when it opened. It was okay, nothing special, overpriced, but friendly staff. Let's move forward to 12/4/21.

We were seated around 7PM by a friendly host and hostess. We were then ignored until around 7:10 PM. A random waitress gave us a couple water glasses and the water pitcher.

7:20 cue our waitress who previously walked by us around 3-4 times with saying a word. We were definitely ready to order. We just got a couple Pepsi's, but I had to remind her we still needed them.

7:35 here comes the fondue appetizer. It was okay. Kinda salty. Out of Pepsi. Bartender sees me playing with the straw and ice, but cleaning his clean drink glasses with zero patrons is more important. We were told we were getting refills, but she had drama to spread with a different waitress and "forgot".

7:55, the table after us gets their salads, and we eventually do too, with the excuse it was the kitchen's fault, and she "went off on them". Food tip - the chop chop salad is basically fancy coleslaw. Avoid this.

8:05 We got the bread she forgot, and it was rock hard, but we were hungry.

Around 8:10 we got our food. My prime rib (with no au jus or horseradish) looks like a ribeye, but we're starving, and I eat half.

Around 8:20 we get the very high bill. I see that she charged me for the ribeye (prime) $60, vs the prime rib. She got it fixed, and we left at 8:30. An hour and a half. It was not that busy, and yet there we were.

A tip for the waitresses: Each and every one of you go up to the bartender area and talk bad about each other. It was a pathetic soap opera. I didn't want dinner and a show; just my dinner. Pay attention to your tables, not each other and why you don't like them. I also suggest you thank Rick James for paying for this business. If this wasn't funded by such a generous man, it would have died off a long time ago.

In conclusion,...

This past Saturday was our first visit. We made an online reservation the day of. Being a Saturday night the 4:30 p.m. opening time was the best option. We arrived a bit early and darn if the chef didn't open the door and welcome us as he passed through the dining room making his final inspection before the opening crush.

Our server was Alainah and she was a delight. A very bright and attentive college student who will be off on her "big girl" job in a couple of years. For now she is supporting herself giving tremendous service and providing joyful conversation at the Auburn City Diner. We saw lots of teamwork at this location with food being delivered and table bussing occurring by others. Simply terrific cooperation among a group of people who clearly respect each other for the high level of professionalism they each deliver in the Front of the House of the Auburn City Diner.

Our N Y Strip and Scallops entrees were superb. The Caesar Salad presentation was unique and really defies description. You will have to order it yourself to see it. For the first time in my life I had a Greek Salad with bits of pineapple in it and it was terrific! We really enjoyed our potatoes au gratin and would have a hard time not ordering them again. The Brussel sprouts were just fine but I think I will go for the roasted root veggies next time.

Toss in a couple of $12 glasses of wine and our dinner was $125 pre tip. We felt it reasonable for the wonderful ambiance, great food, and terrific service but it is not going to be a weekly occurrence for us.

The Chef' is very talented and cares, passing through the dining room a couple of times to see who is eating what. It appears service will be top notch whichever server you draw. We likely will ask for Lainie again just to see what has gone on in her life and her studies since we were last with her.

Susan and I regretted the pandemic kept us in for so long. We would have liked to have discovered this...