Sizzler — Restaurant in Downey

I've been eating at Sizzler since I was a kid, and one of the things I’ve always appreciated is the consistency—same familiar menu, same dependable favorites, same comforting experience.

That’s why I was excited when this location near my home finally reopened after a long, unannounced closure for remodeling. I’ve been visiting a different location in the meantime, and it’s been great. But today, I decided to give the newly upgraded spot a try—and unfortunately, it fell short in ways I didn’t expect.

Consistency Matters: I ordered the steak & shrimp with salad bar. The first disappointment was that they didn’t carry the classic French dressing I’ve always loved—a small detail, but a big deal to a long-time customer. (The other location still has it.) Then, I sat down and waited for a server to bring the salad bar plate and bowl—something every other Sizzler has always done. No one came. When I finally asked, I was told it's "serve yourself" here—again, inconsistent with other locations.

The soup station didn’t have the usual Vegetable Beef, either. I reluctantly went with Chicken Noodle, which turned out to be barely warm, not hot.

Listening & Details: When I was told my chosen side was unavailable, I asked for a baked potato with butter only. It arrived with sour cream. The server did correct it quickly when I pointed it out, but it was another small letdown.

Procedures Gone Wrong: The most frustrating moment came when I left my table to refill my drink and get something from the hot bar. I returned to find my entire meal—half a steak, a baked potato, two shrimp, and cheese toast—cleared away and tossed. The busser realized his mistake instantly and apologized. My server offered to replace the meal, but I’d already eaten more than half and didn’t want to waste food. The manager later brought me a business card with a handwritten note for a free meal next time, which I appreciated.

The final twist? I’d spun their prize wheel at the register and landed on “70s pricing,” which brought my total from $34 to just $8. That softened the blow, but only a little.

Bottom Line: The staff was polite, and management did make an effort to make things right—but the inconsistencies and missteps left me unsure if I’d return. It’s not just about the food—it’s about familiarity, reliability, and trust, especially when you’ve been a customer...

I have to start this post with the fact that We love SIZZLERS!!!!! Every two weeks without fail we go to the sizzlers near our home.

This week we decided to attend the sizzlers next to our job instead of the one next to home. We get there and order our typical meal and asked for the bar salad for the third person in our group as usual. I had to explain this three times to the person who took down our order and then twice to the person who rang us up. No big deal we got charged and sat down. Right away the person with the salad bar went to get soup. Once our meals arrived we noticed we only had two sets of utensils and I needed a fork. I went up to our waiter and she handed me the set and asked what table we were sitting. A few minutes later she comes up to me and tells me that the reason we only had two utensils was because we got charged for two meals and one of them with a side salad bar. She continued to tell me that she needed to charge the difference between the side bar for a meal and a full salad bar. I agreed and told her okay and she said she’d be back. We continued to eat our meal and she came back charging us full price for a salad bar on top of the side bar. I asked why the not the difference and she pointed at my niece (who is 8) and said she had gotten some soup too so she had to charge for the full bar and the side bar. I’m not dumb I understand the technicality here I know she was correct because my niece had taken a few spoonfuls of soup but the problem was the way this was all handled. When I asked why our waiters attitude completely changed she was no longer friendly but rude and disrespectful. We payed the difference no big deal 8 dollars. My mother who was the third person told our waiter to take the plates for the extra salad that we didn’t need them but our waiter refused after being asked a few times. My mother was too upset at this point she went to drop off the plates in the front desk to see if a manager was present but couldn’t locate one. We decided to leave and take our food home to eat. Now we know to stick to what we know and just visit...

The food looked like it had been there in those dishes for 2 days. I remember my husband eating a piece of chicken and the breaded part was flaking off in big peoples like it had been there all day or for two days the ribs looked very old also. The saladbar was terrible. I just had the salad bar but I'm sure the cook obviously made all the food at one time or another so I guess it couldn't of been much worse. The waiter only came to my table when I called him over but went to the other two tables frequently. Never came to my table and asked if we need anything at all. The soup was just terrible it had some sort of weird flavor to it not vegetable beef flavor that's for sure tasted like someone just put a bunch of herbs that didn't go into it into it. Last I winded up leaving my phone in the ladies room at least it was still there when we went back considering it was empty before I had walked out oh yeah they basically kicked us out before 9 pm when they closed they told us at 8 pm that it was time to finish yp and we arrived at 7pm should of been told by ghe cashier that they close ge salad bar at 8pm we were not informed by cashier. Basically the whole staff including the cooks who were not present did a terrible job at every aspect of there job. What a waste of $15.99 I barely coulf eat the salad from the salad bar. I've never been so disappointed in my life sorry but it true sizzles is terrible anymore they take no pride in there jobs obviously. I wish they would of been a better buch of employees the sizzles in Bellflower is much better. This one...