Steak 'n Shake — Restaurant in Grandville

It only seems to get worse..NEWER: just lost a star! I stopped by this Steak n Shake again and I really don't know why I keep going back! Due to COVID19 precautions I had to use the drive thru and there was no contact with the employee at the window (ie gloves, masks, debit card in dish, food served via tray, etc.) I was given my food and told, "he is just mixing your shakes so it will just be a couple minutes more." And I was totally fine with waiting. Then I looked into the window.. I saw the employee toss a cherry on top of one of my two shakes, but something was missing. Not in the shake, but the employee..HE WAS NOT WEARING GLOVES!!! I couldnt believe what I was looking at. I watched as this guy just started making my second shake with no gloves and without even washing his hands in between the shakes. I could sit there and do nothing. I knew I and nobody in my house was going to eat those after what I seen. So I knocked on the window. I informed the very nice lady of what I seen and watched as she turned around and told the gentlemen what I had said. He did not take it well I proceeded to hear him cuss multiple times and throw a fit about having to wear gloves. Then I watched as the kind lady at the window changed her gloves and remade my shakes. Aside from Covid19 precautions, any employee working with food is legally required to wear gloves when handling ANY food! This guy was definitely not doing this and even threw a fit when it was pointed out. He is lucky my phone was dead at the time otherwise I would have taken a picture. UNACCEPTABLE!! I wonder what other laws they dont follow?

NEW: at my most recent visit to this steak n shake, my "double steak burger" was really more like 2 half patties and the onions I had asked for didn't even fit on the bun, let alone the burger. Our waitress came to take our order and bring us our food when it was ready, but not really any interaction after that. All of our waters were were gone, but nobody was in sight to even ask. Overall I was not impressed, again.

OLDER: Been to this Steak 'n Shake many times and have had more good experiences than bad, but my most recent visit was not a good one. Our first problem was that my burger was some how deleted from the order, but the waitress came and told us as soon as she realized it happened and seemed to genuinely feel bad about it. Then she brought out my fiance's and my burger (keep in mind mine was the one deleted) but not my friends, but told us hers would be right out. My friend is gluten free, so she ordered her burger without a bun. When her burger came the only thing correct about it was that there was no bun. She ordered a dbl w/cheese, w/ pickles and no tomato...when it came there was no cheese or pickles and it did have a tomato and to top it off the shake she ordered was incorrect. Apparently there was a new cook,(who really shouldn't have been working) based on the receipt, there was a 2-3$ discount, but nobody said anything about it to us...on a different visit I had an even worse experience...I spent probably close to an hour in the drive thru which is bad in itself, but then when I got my burger it was a sloppy mess (see pix) and my fries were cold. Thankfully I hadn't left the parking lot yet. I had parked to open my burger to eat it while I was driving, so I went inside, like I should have done to start with and nobody seemed concerned about what I was so upset about. The only person who did was an employee who was on break at the bar/counter, he kept me sane and indirectly kept me from exploding and saying things might regret...I sent the company a message and pictures and they apologized and reimbursed me, so they are not that bad. This location is not terrible, but its definitely not great. These are really the only very bad experiences I have had here and I have come here many many times over the past five or six years. like I said I have had more good experiences than bad, but this location has not proven to be great all the time. Don't count them out, but don't be surprised if you have a...

Excellent quality burgers with an aggressively low price. The only option for dine in is to order at the kiosk, which is a HUGE drawback.

Double Steakburger with Cheese- $5.79: Better quality burger. You can tell. The high quality beef components have been maintained over the years and are still their emphasis. The toppings were well balanced and fresh. The cheese was just about right for their burger and flavor. The bun was average, but good. Overall YUMMY.

Fries (combo with Double Steakburger): My favorite fries EVER! I’ve always prized Steak ‘n Shakes fries. They are super thinly cut, hot when you get it, perfectly salted, and all the right textures. You do have to eat them fast because they cool fast, but they are AMAZING!

Frisco Melt - $6.70: My favorite sandwich here and the only place I know where I can get it just right. The burger is their awesome quality and mixture. The bread is toasted perfectly on the grill. The cheese combination adds wonderfully. But the “secret sauce” of the sandwich perfects it: Frisco sauce!

Oreo Shake - $5.29: A friend of mine ordered this. For the price, it is fairly large.

Service: The people were great, helpful, and brought out our meals since it was slow. Later, they were placing the trays as the pick-up area and people’s names were called.

KIOSK ORDERING MEANS THE DEATH OF TABLE SERVICE. This is my BIGGEST beef (pun intended) with Steak ‘n Shake. They used to have table service and I loved hanging out with friends getting our orders taken. Taking this away takes a huge chunk out of what defines a diner. Disappointing. I’d gladly pay an extra dollar AND a tip. Their overall quality and motif BEGS for it.

Atmosphere: Still kept that old diner feel I remember more than 20 years ago. It is even cleaner and kept updated with repairs. Years ago, I remember the seats were falling apart, but they are repaired and look brand new now. The only real complaint I have with the dining area was that the floor was sticky when I was there (recent spill not completely cleaned?).

Conclusion: I wish I could highly recommend Steak ‘n Shake because their food is great, but they have lost their personal touch. The people that work there are great, too.

Visited...

I'm a big believer in second chances, in fact for most restaurants, unless there is something that really disappoints me, I will give 3 chances. This S&S fails after 2 chances. We moved to this area a litter over 2 years ago, in that time, we have been to this S&S at least a half a dozen times. Each visit (not counting the last 2) were worthy of a 3 or 4 star rating. S&S rarely disappoints when in comes to burgers, fries, shakes, and of course Chili 5-way! The S&S restaurants that I have visited over the years have proven that the chain can consistently deliver in the quality of the food. However, this store has to be one of the worst managed stores I have ever visited. The last 2 visits our wait was well beyond reasonable and in the first of these 2 visits, the server was simply inattentive and frankly uncaring. Many people blame this on the fact that the majority of the staff is teens. While there may be something to be said about the work ethic of today's teens, that should only account for a small part of this problem. If your worker is slow and or lazy, they don't stay employed. If your worker is inefficient and unknowledgeable, they need to be taught. If all of your workers fall into these two categories, sorry...it's not the worker that is the issue, it's management.

This last visit we decided to go through the drive through. We had very bad service during our previous visit when we dined in. Since we were only going to get a couple of shakes, we decided to go through the drive through. It took over 30 minutes for us to get through the drive through from the time we ordered until the time we got our shakes. The young guy working the window was very apologetic, and clearly annoyed that he had to be the face of this mess. We felt bad for him. While the shakes were good, our cups were sticky due to all of the ice cream that had spilled over the top, and the window was so covered with ice cream, you could hardly see through it. I will not be returning to this store until I hear that things...