Cattleman's Roadhouse — Restaurant in Georgetown

My son took me to Cattleman's for a Mother's Day dinner. It was a first time visit for both of us. I had seen how crowded the parking lot can get on weekends, so usually that means the food and service must be great! I ordered their biggest ribeye (Their Cowboy Ribeye, $30.) I have been thoroughly disappointed in the past when ordering steaks. I expect my steak to be cooked the way I ordered it to be cooked. I prefer my steaks to be cooked medium rare. Medium rare is a cooked steak. My medium rare people out there know what I'm talking about! How many of you have ordered your steak to be cooked medium rare? How many of you received raw steaks? Medium rare does not mean "RAW!" CATTLEMAN'S SERVED ME A RAW STEAK THE SATURDAY BEFORE MOTHERS DAY! WHEN OUR WAITRESS BROUGHT IT TO OUR TABLE, I WAS IMMEDIATELY DISAPPOINTED BECAUSE IT LOOKED WELL DONE! IT LOOKED OVER COOKED! BUT WHEN I CUT INTO IT, IT WAS EXTREMELY RARE! IT WAS RAW! WELL DONE ON THE OUTSIDE, RED RAW ON THE INSIDE! SOMEBODY AT CATTLEMAN'S DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO PROPERLY COOK A STEAK! I THOUGHT, MAYBE THE ENTIRE STEAK ISN'T THIS RAW? THERE WERE TWO SQUARE INCH BITES OF MEDIUM RARE RIBEYE ON THAT STEAK! I ATE AS MUCH AS I COULD. MY SON SAID TO SEND IT BACK. I DON'T KNOW WHY I DIDN'T. I WOULD HAVE BEEN JUSTIFIED IF I HAD! OUR WAITRESS WALKED BY OUR TABLE, GLANCED AT MY STEAK, AND HER EYE BROWS RAISED UP TO HER HAIRLINE! SHE QUICKLY WALKED AWAY! SHE CAME BACK FIVE MINUTES LATER AND ASKED ME IF EVERYTHING WAS OKAY? SHE KNEW THAT STEAK WAS RAW, AND I KNOW SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE THAN HAPPY TO TAKE MY STEAK BACK INTO THE KITCHEN TO BE COOKED TO IT'S PROPER TEMPERATURE. I KNOW I SHOULD HAVE DONE THAT. BUT IT WAS MOTHER'S DAY! AND MY SON AND I HAD SUCH A NICE MORNING AND AFTERNOON VISITING FAMILY IN LOUISVILLE. WE HAD SO MUCH FUN AT A LAKE THERE BEFORE WE WENT TO CATTLEMAN'S IN GEORGETOWN. I KNOW IT SOUNDS KINDA DUMB, BUT I DIDN'T WANT TO SPOIL THE,,,VIBE? I DIDN'T WANT TO SPOIL THE,,,MOOD? THE ATMOSPHERE? DOES ANYBODY WHO IS READING THIS UNDERSTAND WHAT I MEAN? YEAH, THAT STEAK COST $30. I GOT ONE SIDE WITH MY $30 STEAK! I ORDERED A LOADED POTATO. I WILL NOT ORDER ANYMORE LOADED POTATO'S FROM CATTLEMAN'S! IF I ORDER A LOADED POTATO I EXPECT TO SEE SOME CHEESE, A LITTLE BACON, SOUR CREAM, AND CHIVES, AT LEAST! THAT WAS THE WEAKEST LOADED POTATO I HAVE EVER SEEN! I ORDERED A $12 MARGARITA. THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY ZERO ALCOHOL IN MY MARGARITA! OUR BILL WAS $90.00, INCLUDING A $10 TIP. WE USUALLY TIP MORE THAN THAT, BUT MY DINNER WAS TERRIBLE! WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TIPPED THEM ANYTHING! BUT OUR WAITRESS WAS SO NICE! IT WASN'T HER FAULT MY FOOD SUCKED! MY SON THOROUGHLY ENJOYED HIS SLAB OF BABY BACKS AND FRIES! AND THE COMPLIMENTARY DINNER ROLLS AND CINNAMON BUTTER WERE DELICIOUS! BUT MY STEAK WAS COOKED BY SOMEBODY WHO HAD NO BUSINESS COOKING STEAKS FOR ANYBODY! TO SEND A RAW STEAK TO SOMEBODY'S TABLE IS INEXCUSABLE! I BLAME MYSELF. I SHOULD HAVE SENT THE STEAK BACK. BUT I DIDN'T. THAT'S ON ME. AND I WASN'T EVEN PLANNING ON WRITING ANY REVEIW. BUT A FEW MINUTES AGO GOOGLE MAPS ASKED ME "HOW WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE AT CATTLEMAN'S?" "WOULD YOU LIKE TO WRITE A REVEIW?" "YOU'RE POPULAR!" I THOUGHT ABOUT THAT AWFUL MEAL AND THE WATERED DOWN DRINK CATTLEMAN'S SERVED ME! SO, I SAID TO MYSELF, "WHY NOT? PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW THAT CATTLEMAN'S IS A STEAK HOUSE WHO EMPLOY COOKS THAT DO NOT HAVE ANY IDEA HOW TO COOK A MEDIUM RARE STEAK! SOMETHING ALL STEAK HOUSE COOKS ARE SUPPOSED TO KNOW HOW TO DO! I CAN'T RECOMMEND CATTLEMAN'S TO ANYONE BECAUSE OF MY EXPERIENCE!" THE STAFF WAS SUPER NICE. I FOUND OUT I WORKED WITH MY WAITRESSES AUNT AT TRANE FOR 26 YEARS! THEY ARE GOOD CHRISTIAN PEOPLE! IT'S NOT HER FAULT MY DINNER SUCKED! I ENJOYED THE CONVERSATION I HAD WITH MY COWORKERS NIECE AT CATTLEMAN'S. I DIDN'T WANT TO ALTER THE GOOD VIBE ME, MY SON, AND OUR WAITRESS HAD GOING ON! BUT! I DON'T PLAN ON RETURNING! THERE WERE SOME ITEMS ON THE MENU THAT I WAS PLANNING ON RETURNING TO CATTLEMAN'S TO TRY! AFTER I WAS SERVED THAT RAW STEAK MY SON PAID $30 FOR, I CHANGED MY...

Food was great, as usual. Wait staff was friendly and efficient, as usual. But on my last visit there the restaurant management really dropped the ball and demonstrated poor professionalism and manners.

I gave my AMEX card to the waitress and she and/or an assistant mgr ran my card (which showed up as an instant notification on my phone as a pending charge, indicating everything was normal). But when they tried to input my card’s CVV number they used the wrong one (the CVV is a 3-digit number on the back of Visas and MasterCards but it’s a 4-digit number on the front of American Express cards, and any server or restaurateur should know that) and thus it wouldn’t finish processing. No big deal. Honest mistake on their part.

But it’s how they handled it that was the insulting part: the assistant manager came to my table and in an unnecessarily loud voice (he was definitely using his “outside” voice) he gave me the “We’re having a problem with your credit card…” speech loud enough that we were drawing stares from surrounding tables. He didn’t have the tact, professionalism, or discretion to have such a potentially sensitive tableside discussion in private manner. It was humiliating.

I knew there was nothing wrong with my card, and if I had whipped out cash or another card to cover the tab it would have made the onlookers think my card was indeed a dud. So I stood my ground.

He offered to step away so I could call my credit card company, but he made sure to say that with equally loud volume so no one within 15 feet would miss it. That just added to the humiliation.

I called AMEX to verify everything was okay and the AMEX rep told me, “He probably tried the wrong CVV number - it happens a lot”. We shared a chuckle over the phone.

So he finally returns to the table, and I ask him to show me which number he tried to run as the CVV number. Sure enough it was the wrong one. (Was I the first customer at that restaurant to ever present an American Express card?)

And I also expressed my displeasure to him about his failure to keep the matter discreet and private instead of broadcasting it to a roomful of strangers. It was HIS mistake but I was the one to get publicly embarrassed.

On my way out I tried to have the same conversation (in discreet, hushed tones) with the primary manager, and to my disappointment he was as loud and indiscreet as his assistant manager. Maybe it’s a Kentucky thing.

Was the food good? Yes. But it was amateur hour when they tried to process a perfectly valid American Express card, and it was a nearly unforgivable breach of professional etiquette for them to be that insensitive and to embarrass a customer in public. I shouldn’t have to tell two grown men that their parents didn’t raise them right. It wasn’t their first day on the job, but you’d be hard-pressed to tell.

I was dining alone, so I took much of it in stride. But had I been dining with a companion or date and they chose to ignore professional discretion and publicly humiliate me that way I don’t think I would have let them off the hook that easily. I might have held in my anger for the moment but return later to vent.

Final review: good food but the professionalism of the management needs improvement.

Many folks would have gone full “Karen” on them and demanded the meal be comped. And they notably didn’t offer to comp all or part of it, though what they did arguably met the criteria for it. I considered that their third lapse of discretion. Had they offered to comp the meal I probably would have declined, but the offer would have gone a long way to them acknowledging their unprofessional way of handling their earlier errors.

I would be reluctant to dine there again, just...

Our waitress Toni E took our order of two specials which were the Bourbon Glaze steak with a side plus unlimited salad bar. We asked for water with Lemon. My husband had worked a 10 hour shift out of town and I came down to spend the night with him at a nearby hotel since he was working another 10 hour shift the next day in Georgetown . We decided on Cattleman’s because we really enjoyed their salad bar. When Toni took our order if we made any changes, for example, from baked sweet potato changed to steamed broccoli she said that would be an extra charge. Also when the water came it was without lemon—we never said anything—however she said she was going to get the lemon. Ten minutes later she came to asked if we would like another water and my husband said yes ( it was 95 degrees)Toni our waitress said that would be an additional Five dollars for the extra water. Yes we knew she was joking. Still nothing said about the lemon she had went to get.Twenty minutes later we had finished our meal and still no water, no bill and still no waitress. We got up to leave and asked several waiters/waitresses what number table we were at since we could not see a number. Out of no where came our waitress making excuses that she was rolling silverware etc. I explained that we had waited on water but we just wanted our bill. She took us up front and we paid. When we got in our vehicle I noticed that we had a charge of an extra meal on our ticket. We had already left the parking lot, heading back to our hotel but we had to turn around, go back in and the manager was standing there and we explained what had happened. Here came our waitress Toni and said oh I gave them the wrong receipt.. So she then took the wrong receipt and went to the back and came back with the correct receipt. I have never left a bad review before for a meal however I felt that her attitude was a ‘I don’t care’ , and oh I’m sorry but does nothing to rectify the situation. I however have talked to many managers about excellent service we have received however this is not one of those situations. The food at Cattlemen’s is really good and I think the prices are as well, but this is the 3rd time we have eaten there in the past year when we come to town and the service was only fairly good during our second visit. Toni kept telling us she was hot and very forgetful today. However that is what pen and paper is for. When we came back in to get the correct receipt, so we knew we were charged the correct price for our meal we were explaining to the hostess at the door — she was like well she’s been really busy today and she’s had a hard day today and my husband was like so had he. Customer Service and accountability is becoming a thing of the past, which...