Steak 'n Shake — Restaurant in Bloomington

GHETTO. I placed an order on the mobile app rather than messing with a kiosk at the restaurant. I guess that limits you to only able to choose take-out, dine-in is not an option…and I’ll presume picking your order up thru the drive-thru isn’t an option either. So this means a few things: You won’t get an order barcode. They are going to bag your order and put it on the pick-up shelf. They won’t generally call out your name for mobile orders, just set it on the shelf (I asked rather than finding out the hard way.) You can’t get your own drink; because they want you to look like an idiot trying to use the drink machine that won’t dispense anything. When you tell them it won’t work, that’s when they tell you that you have to scan your order barcode. But #1 said you don’t get a barcode. When you tell the other guy you don’t have a barcode, he’ll tell you mobile order drinks are made in the back. So don’t try to save any time by ordering ahead in the app, because it will tell you 11-16 min, but you’ll have to wait 25 min with 4 kids with only ketchup, napkins, and straws in front of them. When you get your bag of food, just one bag of food for all 6 meals, they hand it to you, then ask if you are waiting on anything. Drinks sir…drinks. Then the milkshake lady, that is quite possibly in a different building than the rest, will ask if waiting on a milkshake, because I guess she is not able to communicate with the other part of the kitchen that does food and liquid drinks. Drinks and shakes were the last to come up, no kidding…25+ min after placing an order. Get everything to the table to start sorting stuff out, and it’s just a slop mess in the bag. Side item containers all on their sides…I guess they took the name too seriously. Anyways, be delicate pulling stuff out, because having stuff separated in a basket for each person is something reserved to only using the kiosk inside. After you finish your drink, because the kids drink is a coffee cup filled to the top with ice, remember, you can’t get refills because you don’t have a barcode. I thought I may have found a solution for the kids when some other guest left their receipt on the teacher, but I scanned the barcode on the ticket and the machine didn’t unlock the soda, but the water managed to come on and stay stuck on, so they took water…but said it tasted like dookie and didn’t sip any past the first sip. Last drawback of the app order, one bag of food goes to the table, so all 6 people’s trash went in one bag. Their trash bins have a circular hole smaller than their baskets (presumably so people don’t throw baskets away) but my big bag of trash didn’t fit thru the hole…so it just got left on top.

Trash on some tables, not really any table looking like it’s been wiped anytime recently, no soap or paper towels in the bathroom…the place is disgusting. Think about it, employees use the same bathroom guests do.

SnS has really gone downhill…nothing like it was 15 years ago…and even then, it was still meh.

The mobile app crap and self-use kiosks, along with the ridiculous time it took to get soggy fries, soggy onion rings, and grease soaked burgers and see-thru wrappers…it’s enough of a coffin nail, nothing is getting me...

We stayed overnight in Bloomington recently on our way to Michigan. We arrived late at our hotel but wanted to grab something to eat.

There weren't many options near our hotel, and considering it was nearly 10 pm, we didn't think much would be open anyway. Luckily, this Steak 'N Shake location was close to our hotel and still open.

It's been a while since I've had anything from Steak 'N Shake, and usually, I order using the drive-thru. This time, my son and I went inside to place our order.

It's actually really convenient because they have several kiosks where you can browse the menu and place your order, so it goes directly to the kitchen as soon as you use your debit card or Apple Pay.

The kiosk makes it really easy to customize your order. You can add and remove items from your burgers or request extra sauces as well.

We ordered both a shake and a fountain drink. To access the fountain drink, you take the cup they give you and scan the bar code on your receipt to fill your drink. It took me a minute to adapt, but it's not that difficult to figure out.

Our food came really fast (within 5 minutes). I didn't realize that the food and the shakes come from two separate areas, so when I inquired about our shake, they said it would be out shortly.

Sure enough, it came out about a minute later. We just grabbed some regular straws to take back to the hotel, but the woman behind the counter made a point to give my son an extra-large straw for his shake, which I thought was nice.

It's fast food, but it's not nearly as cheap as some of the other places. Regardless, based on the service, proximity to our hotel, and the quality of our meals, I give this place...

Just spent the last 20 min in drive through waiting in line. Two cars were told to pull forward which blocked off the window. Defeats the purpose of telling someone to pull forward if it still prevents the line from moving forward. Then, the guy comes out with food and drinks in hand. Turns out, none of those items were for the first two cars. So, at this point, he has a discussion with the woman at the window. I can see all these orders sitting on the counter inside. Translation, even if my food was made fresh, which I can assure you it was not, it is going to get cold just sitting there in an open bag while they sort out this mess. I finally get up to the window and try to point out that the food she is about to give me was just sitting there. She argued with me. The coke I ordered without ice had ice in it. It was watered down. The worst experience I have ever had here. For awhile after being shut down for months, a year, I don't know how long it was shut down, it was good. Fries were hit. Service was good. High hopes. Didn't take long for the service to become terrible, the food quality dropping dramatically, and the general attitude of the staff being aggressively defensive poor quality as well. I wish it wasn't the only one in town. It was late, after work, I made the mistake of thinking that I would have a positive experience. I was so wrong. Avoid this place if you can or take the risk of having such a terrible...