Steak 'n Shake — Restaurant in Greenville

This is our first time at Steak ‘n Shake. We decided to come down to Greenville, which is half an hour from our home because we had heard on the news that Steak ‘n Shake will start cooking their fries in a beef tallow. So we were excited about that.

When we walked in the door, the first thing that jumped out at us was how many unbussed tables there were. There were at least eight or more tables from previous patrons, with leftover cups and baskets, and empty milkshake cups, and partially filled glasses of soda. Very unsightly and unsanitary. Many of those same tables never did get cleaned while we were there for an hour.

Now for the good part, the staff was very helpful and quick. We didn’t have to wait but a couple minutes at the most to get a table that had been cleared and washed. Another five minutes and our waitress took our order. We noticed there were only two waitresses or servers in addition to the two cooks for the whole Restaurant seating area. This was a busy Saturday afternoon and I would say that the restaurant was over 1/2 full. The two waitresses were running and taking orders and they were in charge of probably 10 tables each with 3-5 people each. They were too many patrons for just two waitresses.They were red from exertion. I must say they worked hard and did not stop. There was no way they could buss all those tables and serve all those patrons! It really was an impossible feat.

One thing that would be helpful in improving the standards of the facility would be to serve the food that comes in baskets and cups and glasses on a food tray Each table would have their own tray and then customers could return their own used items to garbage cans and a bussing area like Culver’s has, and McDonald’s, and Burger King, and Chick-fil-A. Get the idea? How hard is it for people to buss their own trays? That would sure save a lot of work for the waitresses, and there would be a much more appealing appearance when first walking into a restaurant with cleared tables, not full of dirty dishware.

Finally the restrooms. I used the women’s restroom. There was handsoap which was appreciated. The paper towels were on the roll sitting on the counter, not in a designated holder. The paper towel collector basket was overflowing onto the floor with piles of papers around it. The sinks had not seen any cleansing products in a long while. They were wiped down but the sinks were in desperate need of Clorox Cleaner with Bleach to be sprayed inside. That would dissolve the old soap evidence without even the need for a sponge.

The food was tasty. They do use real cooked onions but the slices are too wide and long, and slide off the burger. The pickles are full length slices. We brought our own ketchup and mayonnaise from home.

I said we were excited about the new plan for frying the French fries in beef tallow. They were tasty and it is a big step in the right direction to getting away from seed oils, which are so unhealthy for us. We knew in our hearts that the ketchup and the mayonnaise would not meet those standards. The ketchup here in the U.S. in nearly every restaurant is Heinz. It has high fructose corn syrup. We were expecting that and came prepared. Also, the mayonnaise is made with soybean oil, which is a seed oil. So though your restaurant chain is making great strides by frying the french fries in beef tallow, the next step would naturally be to get rid of all the seed oils and the high fructose corn syrup, and the soybean oil mayonnaise. I make my own mayonnaise which of course wouldn’t be possible for a restaurant, but having the option available for those who are health conscious to buy an organic mayonnaise single serving pouch made with 100% avocado oil might be an idea - and with advertising draw more people to your restaurant.

Finally, we will tell our family and friends about Steak ‘n Shake’s tallow fried shoestring fries. For the rest, you should have a busboy clearing the tables so your waitresses can actually breathe during their shifts. It’s just too much for the...

Editing my review. Just went and the service and food was great, even at 1am on a Sunday when it was dead. Very attentive, and even brought us extra fries they made on accident and everything was hot and fresh and super quick too. Was nice and quiet while we were there and felt bad for the waitress as we were leaving because a big group of bar/club crowd came in being a bit loud. Hope they didn’t give the sweet girl too much hell. Was my boyfriends first time going to a steak and shake ever and he loved it, even said if his family comes to visit (from Washington state) he would like to go there with them since they didn’t have it back home.

Editing again. The first 2 times I went, I drove out of my way and they were closed both times with a sign up saying they would reopen in the morning. Then I had the good experience above. Then the next two times were pretty bad. We went in to eat (second visit ever to this location when it was actually open), the waitress listed off this huge list of everything they were out of to the table behind us. We ordered our food, and she just brought the check. I had to ask to order milkshakes at the end. She didn’t tell us anything was out, and I didn’t remember what all she rattled off to the people behind us, so I asked if the chocolate covered strawberry was available, she just said yes and put the order in after I asked for one to go. When she brought it to the table she said “oh the hot fudge is down here (points to half way down the cup) but it’s in there.” Finished the entire shake after getting home and there wasn’t a bit of chocolate in the entire thing. Was a plain strawberry shake. So she made a show of promising it was in there when it wasn’t, to cover herself I guess.

Next time we went through the drive thru. Only car in line. Only a couple tables inside. 2 employees out the back Door smoking by the menu board. The girl kept asking me to wait multiple times with 5 min pauses in between. Finally took my order. Pulled around. Waited a very long time as she sat in front of the window yelling and playing around inside with coworkers, finally after sitting about 10-15 minutes we received our food. Total between pulling up to the speaker and finally being able to leave, the process...

Honestly, probably one of the worst fast food experiences to date. My friend and I got there around 3:30, as we had just left a concert and needed food. We both love Steak and Shake and we were excited that there was one so close to our hotel. We decide to go in so that we can wind down, and there is nobody in the building. We were the only customers, but there was no staff. We stood inside calling out for people for almost five minutes, worried that something happened because one of their registers was busted up. I called the store itself, to see if that would get someone's attention. We went back to the car and debated on what to do. After about 15 minutes of waiting, we decided that we would drive around to the back of the building to see if there were any other cars. We find the restaurant staff huddled outside of the closed back door just bullshitting and smoking. We asked if it was I'm to come in and they went back inside. The server was moody, and seemed unhappy that we were there, but the cook was great. The cook took our order and started to cook it, almost five minutes before the server bothered to come over and write it down. Our food and drinks came relatively quickly, but after she served us our food, the server went over to a far table and sat with her cell phone. It seemed like she was waiting for us to leave.

The food was good. The cook was great. The customer service, cleanliness of the restaraunt, and attentiveness to the customer sucked ass.

They left the dining area and registers unnattended for almost half an hour, somebody could have easily robbed them at any point and they wouldn't have known it until they came back in.

I get it. Customer service, especially the food industry, is not easy. I don't expect to be treated like royalty, but I do expect some level of positive interaction and attentiveness. I also expect to eat in a clean and well maintained establishment. I think the thing that got to me the most was that they didn't mock the doors before going on their collective smoke break, and could have had some really negative...