LongHorn Steakhouse — Restaurant in Hickory

Definitely an improvement since my terrible previous dining experiences at this same location. Long Horn was always a favorite of mine for a long time and I actually worked at this location 20+ years ago. There were a few years, more recently where they were bought and sold a cpl times to different corporations and they went down hill for a few years. And actually, the only reason I even gave them a chance after several terrible experiences was because 1 of my best friends was in town and that's where we met back in the late 90's. We worked at this Long Horn together when it was a brand new restaurant and still owned by Rare Hospitality. We were both trainers also. So onto more about my dining experience. My friend's both had steak and they were happy with it. Husband and I had appetizers as a meal because we weren't very hungry. We shared the wings and firecracker chicken wraps (my all time favorite) And they were both really good. I will say that the menu could be better, not many choices in my opinion compared to other steak houses like their competition Texas Roadhouse. The menu was great when I worked at Long Horn years ago. More varieties and options overall. At least there's been some improvements, that's better than not at all. Service was ok, they were really busy it being a Friday night. Our server took longer than it should have to even acknowledge we were even there. We didn't even get a "Hi, I'll be with you shortly" & we were seated a good 15 minutes at least before we were greeted and didn't know who our server was until then. Service did get better after the slow start. My advice as a former top server and corporate trainer for several companies over the years,- always acknowledge your guests/customers. They'll be a lot more understanding that you are busy but still took the time to acknowledge their presence and they're not sitting there wondering who their server is and how much longer is it going to take to be even politely acknowledged. And if you can, at least take a drink order & offer something from the bar, so they have something to sip on until you're able to come back. Oh and the reason I rated the atmosphere 3 stars is because even for a Friday night it was really loud and the lights must have been all the way up because it was way too bright and you could see all the food and crumbs on the floor. We always had the lights dimmed for a more relaxing setting and people don't feel like they're under a spot light likewedidinthemiddleofthediningroom. Less is more kinda thing for sure. There's a lot of things people don't notice when the lights are down some. A lot of little tricks that can make a positive impact on the customers overall experience. And the atmosphere can set the tone as well for the night at the same time. People speak softer, it's more calming for children, especially that crying baby no one can do anything about when the parents just sit there like it's not happening. Just some suggestions because I want to see Long Horn...

I had called around 4:30P.M. on July 30th to make the restaurant aware that I had 15 people coming around 6:45P.M. I had got there at 6:35P.M. to get a estimate on how long it would be. The younger host told me that they didnt do reservations and the wait would be about 15-20 minutes and she gave me a pager. So 20 minutes passed and I went inside to check the status of our wait. I was then told by a older woman that was a host that there was a party who is bigger than mine who had called before me but arrived after I did. If you didnt do reservations why does it matter who called first when its first come first served? So she then couldn't tell me what time they called and it would be another 15-20 minutes. Mind you the number of people in my party went down to 10 and I was then told if it was 15 we wouldn't be able to sit together. They also told me that all 10 people would have to be there to get seated. Well mind you 2 members of our party was running late and they refused to seat us until all members of the party was there. After a hour of waiting and being told there wasn't any tables available when I clearly seen tables available and my brother being so hungry he turned white we left and went to Red Lobster. I have never heard of you having to wait to get seated until all members were there is ridiculous and unprofessional. It was also my sisters birthday and she really wanted to eat at long horn but since the rule that I have never heard of was told to us had ruin her birthday dinner. More people were going in front of us and every time I asked how long it would be the older host kept giving me a attitude and said I cant make them leave and I wasnt asking her to do that. I just wanted to sit down with my family and she told me no she couldn't even seat us with the other 2 people about to pull in the parking lot in 2 minutes. I won't be back to this location at all. Please train your host to be more friendly with customers who have to wait a long...

Edited June 2022: Recently we came back to Longhorn to celebrate my older mom’s birthday. We had a large party, which I understand can be challenging, but she’s 81 and this is where she requested. I called ahead to no avail. No reservations, no call ahead seating, and the online wait list only works for parties of 4 or fewer. When we arrived they acted like they might not be able to accommodate us, despite that I’d called earlier! They finally agreed but told us we’d have to wait 45 minutes and wouldn’t even put us on the list until all of us were there. So much for trying to call ahead or show up early to get on the list. The thing is, they weren’t even that crowded. Most people walked in and got seated right away, but they kept making us wait for one particular table. Kept telling us that too. For nearly two hours we kept being told they were just about to seat us, any minute now. They kept blaming the other large party for taking too long. Finally I had to be more assertive as I realized that so many others had come and gone in the time we were waiting and there were plenty of open tables they could push together. They finally did just that and even comped our appetizers for our inconvenience. The food was good and service was good once we finally got a table. They just aren’t friendly or accommodating for groups. I probably won’t go back. They clearly didn’t want our business.

Original review: The food is always good. Steaks were just right. Service was good. We were celebrating a birthday. And everything was great. Nothing to...