Steak 'n Shake — Restaurant in Aurora

I don't think I've ever been to a Steak 'n Shake & this wasn't exactly a picturesque first impression. Adventuring out in the suburbs I found myself in Aurora. With my choices being between Steak 'n Shake, Hooters or Culver's & the latter closed until at least 10am I took my chances at Steak 'n Shake. With the almost non-stop advertisements through the 90s & early 2000s I felt like I was familiar with the establishment, but looks can be deceiving.

Upon entering things seemed ok. The place was empty & the waiter greeted me promptly. He handed me a lunch menu & I found a seat. As I walked around I could feel the grease & stickiness on my shoes. The floor was visibly dirty as well. I chose a corner bench seat (pretty much always a bad choice) only to find all sorts of goodies on the floor from straw wrappers to what looked like a crayon. The benches were also clearly broken as the seats came too far off the wall, creating a large gap with even more treats. Looking towards the window I notice a spider web on the condiment rack. With standard open ketchup & mustard bottles that's not a good sign as spiders could've crawled inside.

My appetite settles on a butter steakburger with fries, a chocolate chip cookie dough shake & even though it looked totally unappetizing...the chili mac supreme (don't know how you can call it "mac" if it's spaghetti. Even though it was 9:30am my food arrived within minutes which was startling. The burger I received looked to be regular steakburger upon inital inspection so I talked to the waiter. He spoke to the chef & said the butter was melted onto the burger & that they were out of grilled onions. Apparently the chef didn't think being out of a major ingredient was worth telling customers. I asked them to bring out raw onions as a substitute & they obliged.

Prices were average. $7 for a decently sized burger & fries is average. The shake was $5 & the chili mac $6. First off was the chili mac which tasted about what I expected which is like a amateur chef "had 7 minutes to whip up something quick & cheap to eat " at home & for some reason added it to the menu of a major chain restaurant. The chili was watery (probably from the spaghetti) & for some reason had a lot of sugar in it. It reminded me of the spaghetti as well as chili my father used to make which was barebones, watery & sugared to the point where it became kool-aid. My father had an excuse though, he was a military cook that didn't have anything to work with, just beans, chili seasoning, water & sugar. He unfortunately took that cooking style home with him after serving in Vietnam & being honorably discharged due to injuries sustained in battle. The fact that this is a major chain making military style food is unbelievable. The cherry on top is that the watery chili sauce splashed when I tried to dig in, ruining my brand new custom yellow shirt.

The burger was above average. Bread was a little over toasted, but not burnt. They didn't really give the burger juices time to sink into the bread like a good burger place, but at the same time the burger wasn't that greasy. Cheese was melted perfectly & once I added the onions the burger became so much better with the expanded flavor profile. For fun I added the steak seasoning at the table on a few bites which ruined the flavor. Fries were average as well, nothing to note here except they were dry, virtually no grease. The best part of the meal by far was the shake which was excellent, but definitely skimped on the chocolate chip cookie dough. The shake went down buttery smooth, wasn't too cold & was refreshing.

Eventually I went to the bathroom to cleanse myself & even that was a mess. A broken diaper changing station, once white floors now turned greyish black from dirt, gum stuck in off spots welcomed me. Of course they don't even offer seat covers...

Overall, this was the worst first experience I've ever had at a chain & you're talking about a guy whose been to Denny's at 3am. While the food & prices were average, the ambience, service & cleanliness bring...

Me and my boyfriend sometimes do late food runs. And stake n shake is usually a pick. Aroind this hour we havr never had an issue. Bit this location was and is just terrible. We showed up and a cook told us to frab oir own menus and to sit our selves. We sae thay it was packed and that there was only ONE waitress waiting 10 tables. After a while people finished and left. Some still waiting. We sit for 20 mins till we finally gwt out drinks and orderes in. They tell us the wait on shakes would be a wait so me anf my boyfriend decided to share onr so we didnt have to wait so long. After another 25-30 mins we get our shake thay was said to take a while. Withing this time our sodas didnt even arrive. The cooks and the manager (who was wearing a sweat band!) Were talking and sitting around. My boyfriend noticed and said that there was food sitting in the window for avout 20 mins. After saying that i see a cook walk out the restroom into the kitchen while scratching his behind and then proceed to put gloves on! At this point we were waiting for an hour and 30 mins. I became disgusted and told my boyfriend that we were leaving anf was not standing for this and dare eat anything that come out that kitchen. We get up leave our half drank milkshake on the table and storm out only to be yelled out outside in the parji g lot by the cook who said we had to pay!!? I yelled back at him telling him that we werwnt paying for anytjing because we didnt even get anything because we waitwd almost 2 hours and only got a milkshake and weren't paying for anything. For waiting almost 2 hours they atleast owed us the milkshake for free! The fact they weren't doing their job and had the decency to demand us to pay for the food we never got. People who arrived saw what happened outside and asked if it was true and told them to go somewhere better than here because it would be a waist of time. The workers and even the manager were horrible. I warn you to not go here and go...

Terrible service. Waiter walked me & my 3 guest to our table threw the menus on the table & walked away. Didn't give us her name pretty much didn't recognize us only enough to seat us. We sat there waiting for the waitress to come back for 20mins to take our order she never showed. The other two waitress were busy with their tables. But 3 waitress were in a hudle damn near the entire time while we waited. So we went to the counter to place our order. The young lady asked another waiter to finish the customer order in front of us & walked away to take seat orders. Than that young lady when she was done ringing them up. Walked off went and got her purse and walked out the door. Once again no acknowledgement what so ever. No " someone will be right with you" or nothing. We stood there for additional 10mins before the waiter Kenya came & took our order. She was polite & helpful. When we thought all was well. It turned left again. My order still took like additional 10-15mins when they found my order I had lost my appetite & my hour lunch break was over by than. I was still gonna take the food but the cook brought my order up placed it in front of me with raw meat residue on the outside of the bag from his gloves. I was furious by than just lost it & asked for a refund. I didn't want no food from there at that point. So the manager came to give me a refund which she was nice but had the nerves to try & make me wait while she tried to assist a customer that came in well after me....smh I always go to steak & shake for lunch no matter what neighborhood Im in. This time in Fox Valley the service was horrible. I will never return to this location...