Steak 'n Shake — Restaurant in Jacksonville

I recently visited this Steak 'n Shake where an employee Romeo was working and I regret to say it was one of the worst dining experiences I've ever had. From the moment we arrived, it was clear that Romeo was not prepared to provide a satisfactory service.

First, the hygiene practices were appalling. I noticed Romeo handling food without gloves and touching various surfaces before serving it to us, raising significant concerns about food safety. Additionally, our meals were undercooked and seemed poorly prepared, which is a major food safety violation.

When we pointed out these issues, Romeo responded with rude and hostile behavior. His attitude was dismissive, and at one point, he made a discriminatory remark that was completely uncalled for. His verbal abuse made us feel extremely uncomfortable and unwelcome.

To make matters worse, Romeo was visibly intoxicated, with slurred speech and a noticeable smell of alcohol. This gross negligence and substance abuse are absolutely unacceptable in a customer service role.

The final straw was an inappropriate comment of a sexual nature he made towards a member of our party, which constitutes sexual harassment and is completely intolerable.

Overall, Romeo's incompetence, negligence, and inappropriate behavior ruined our meal and left us feeling unsafe and disrespected. I urge Steak 'n Shake management to take immediate action to address these issues and ensure that no other customers have to endure such an unpleasant experience! I cannot believe They would hire such an incompetent person and if possible.I would absolutely sue because of how I fell and was treated by this child!

Dear Marlene martir the person accusing me of lying

Thank you for your response. I'd like to clarify a few points regarding my experience.

First and foremost, my review accurately reflects the events that took place during my visit. The individual in question was directly involved in handling food and interacting with customers in the lobby, contrary to your assertion. The lack of hygiene and the handling of food without gloves were observed firsthand, raising significant concerns about food safety.

When these issues were brought to the attention of the staff, the response was dismissive and rude. The inappropriate and discriminatory remarks made by Romeo were completely uncalled for and added to the discomfort of the situation.

Regarding the accusation of intoxication, the behavior exhibited—such as slurred speech and the smell of alcohol—were clear indicators. Whether Romeo is a minor or not, these actions are unacceptable in any professional setting. The speech impediment you mentioned does not excuse the unprofessional and inappropriate behavior witnessed.

My review was not created to attack an individual but to highlight a serious incident that affected my dining experience. The intention is to ensure that such behavior is addressed and that future customers do not have to endure similar treatment.

Thank you for understanding the gravity of the situation.

Sincerely, ...

I have been here a few times now with my family. The food is good, but the service is dreadful. Tonight I decided to leave a review since this establishment seems to have a trend of ignoring their customers. Upon entering, another couple was leaving telling us there was no Coke products and the service was terrible. It was 7:11pm, and we decided to go ahead in anyway. We were going to an 8:30 movie next door at Regal. Plenty of time, right? We asked the first employee who seated us if there were Coke products, he said, yes they had several to choose from. We sat at a booth and were given menus. We waited about 15 minutes, watching servers walk by and placing the place mats on other empty tables when we finally stopped one of them and asked if someone could take our order. I asked for a Vanilla Coke, to which the response was, "We are out of all Coke products" ..Lol. We put in our order and waited for our drinks. The waiter came back to the table with one of our drinks (Dr. Pepper) and asked us what the rest of us had ordered to drink. He had forgotten that we all (the other 3 of us) ordered water...Lol. We were given our waters without straws. After about another 10 minutes or so, we asked him for some straws by literally waving him down...Lol. We then waited until 8:15pm to get our food. The server was always pleasant. But, I overheard him giving another family a discount off their ticket due to something that went wrong. I noticed they also had waited about 15+ minutes for some kind of chicken sauce for their child who waited patiently for it before eating his meal (just an observation). The whole restaurant was only about half full at best. We could not understand how oblivious staff could be walking past us with not even water to drink without asking us if we wanted to order. This has happened on another occasion as well. We had to flag down a server to take our order after about 15-20 minutes after being given menus. Also, without even giving us water. In addition the only time I've used the restroom it was fairly disgusting. The ladies room had urine on the floor along with lots of toilet paper on the floor. Not sure if this was a one time event or not, but have never gone back. After writing this, I'm wondering to myself why I ever went back to eat there. Management doesn't seem to believe in training staff. Only positive is that when we do get the food, it's good. On a side note, when I did receive my club sandwich, it was cut in half (good, right)? Except that it wasn't cut all the way through...Lol. We did have knives in our silverware, though. (We did have to ask for those, though). No biggie. Just thought it was funny after waiting over 30-45 minutes to get it, that they cut it quickly not noticing the 'half cut'. We left at 8:24. They don't know how close we came to leaving and just eating at the movie instead. Good thing: we spent an hour with each other while...

Not a great start to our day. When we first walk in they set us a party of five in a table in the empty side of the dining room. The three waitresses stood back behind the drink station for at least five minutes arguing over who was going to take our table. We could actually hear them arguing over it.To the point where I almost got up and walked out. Then finally somebody drew the Short Straw and decided to take our table. The waitress was very friendly and was very quick and continue to come back and check on us and was very courteous. However it slowly went downhill when I went to get up from the table and I slipped because of water underneath the table from either being mopped or something. When my foot slipped, I jammed my toe into the metal part of the table stand and ripped my toenail on my big toe back. It was extremely painful. We asked to speak to a manager who came out right away and was very nice and courteous and took an incident report. I understand it was just a toenail I get that however, why the floor was wet under the table is ridiculous to me. The store was lucky that I didn't slip and fall and break my neck! It just seems like in the recent months management has allowed this store to go downhill. Aside from the accident, the last couple of times we've been in there they have been understaffed or not able to deal with the amount of customers they have. One customer in a booth not too far from us waited to get served for quite a long time, then when he got his food there was something wrong with it. He had to flag down his waitress who then took his food back to the kitchen. He waited for a while, and then just got up and walked out. My overall complaint is with the service and overall care of this restaurant. You have some great employees in there, but then you have some bad employees in there who are unfortunately overpowering your good ones work. Pretty sure I'm not headed back there anytime soon at least until management changes and clean this...