Steak 'n Shake — Restaurant in Charlotte

S&S's are cookie cutter formula, of course. I like them for a change of pace treat now and then. I'm certainly not going for the nutrition!

It occurs to me that there are a lot of things on the menu I've never tried. I'm pretty much going for the steakburger. Double, maybe triple, of course with cheese. The long skinny fries are good too. These days I try to avoid fries, but I'll eat at least some of the ones they serve.

If you like Steak 'n Shake, then what distinguishes one over another is pretty much going to be cleanliness and service. I've seen some dirty ones that took forever. This one was clean. But that can change from hour to hour, day to day, or week to week.

If you haven't been in a while, they have switched from table service to automated ordering at the counter. That seems to work okay, but I kind of miss the way young people seem to catch on to the idea of 1950s style table service.

For some reason, it took an extra long time for my shake to come. I actually had to ask if they missed it in the ordering cue. They hadn't. Or at least they didn't admit it. Eventually, they called my number and it was ready. And it was good.

If you've never been to a Steak 'n Shake, perhaps you're reading this review because someone who likes them is suggesting that they drag you to one. The restaurant is styled somewhat after a 1950s diner. They may have actually been around that long. As a video editor, I remember making a commercial for the chain back in the mid 70s. The jingle is still floating around my head someplace.

Again, my experience is somewhat limited to the burger. The flavor is unique. I want to say it is 'somewhat' unique, because it's not incredibly different from everything else, just a little special. But somebody's going to complain that something is unique or it's not, and it can't be somewhat unique, so there's that. Gourmet it is not.

And the shakes. They are thick, you eat them with a spoon unless you wait forever for them to melt. The ice cream is going to be vanilla or chocolate, but there is a wide variety of mix-in options.

So if someone is suggesting you go, understand that they are not trying to impress you, just give you a somewhat different experience from the usual. And if you like it, then great. And if you don't then...

Worst steak and shake I ever been this the first time I experienced a manager telling a customer they were trying to get “free food” when they messed up the order when customer went inside with the burger that was wrong she was told he was the manager and he couldn’t do anything for her that supposedly he fixed the order for her and it wasn’t wrong refused the fix the order when all he needed to do its exchange the single burger for a double bacon cheeseburger like she ordered and paid for I don’t understand how they were trying to get “free food” when she clearly took the wrong burger inside she never said I’m missing something all she wanted it’s was what she ordered and paid for but manager couldn’t take accountability of his staff mistake he said she was suppose to go inside with the whole order for him to see it when I had 3 hungry kids inside the car and I went through the drive through because I we didn’t want to get off!!! So we just took the ONLY BURGER THAT WAS WRONG WHY WOULD WE TAKE THE WHOLE ORDER FOR THEM TO TOUCH IT AND GO THROUGH IT wen they were suppose to do that before handling the food to customers and on top of everything they didn’t even have their soda machine refilled for dine in customers to refill their drinks… worst steak and shake ever don’t waste your time coming here manager clearly hate his job and doesn’t care about customer...

I don't know about all Steak n Shakes, but this restaurant requires customers to order strictly from a kiosk. The kiosk I went to did not respond initially. Then when it did, the glare was pretty bad where visibility was poor. Then after ordering, they had the nerve to ask for a TIP. Not only did I have to use a kiosk, I then had to walk up to get my order, and clear my table...AND THEY THINK THEY DESERVE A TIP?!?! Give me a break. Further more, when I went to refill my drink, the soda dispenser would not work. When I finally flagged down an employee, she did not speak English. When someone who spoke English arrived, she said that we had to scan the QR code from the receipt she gave us when we picked up order. She then walked away when we instructed her that it was tossed out with our trash. Thankfully another customer scanned his QR code for us. The only bright side is that the food was hot and tasty. The staff were cold and sour. I will definitely not return to this store, and doubtful I will return to a Steak n Shake in the near future. I have to restate that it is absurd to ask for a TIP when the customer does the work. Not cool on their part. The only reason they got the one star was because the food was good. Not $10...