Steak 'n Shake — Restaurant in Jeffersontown

We’ve been wanting to try this location again to see if the food/service/quality had improved any. Sadly, the answer is no. 😢 ➖

We ordered a good amount since there were four of us. We ordered two kids meals and two regular menu meals, plus four shakes of all different flavors so we could all try everything. ➖

As far as the burgers 🍔 go, they were cooked well so no pink inside and had crispy edges. The bread was fresh, but the toppings I had added to my burger; tomatoes and lettuce, tasted old although they were cool. It’s like the tomatoes were from a can although I’ve never seen sliced tomatoes 🍅 in a can. We ordered the double steak burgers for the adults and both had an over abundance of bread to meat and so the patties just seemed to get lost on the bread. ➖

The kids single steak burger was even worse. The burger patty flavor just got lost in the bread and was barely noticeable. The kids mini corn dogs came with five and my other daughter was quite unhappy with the flavor. She thought they were “plain tasting,” as she put it. ➖

And somehow, although we ordered two adult meals and two kids meals, we all got the same size 🍟 fries container. I’m not sure if it’s the small or regular size but it just didn’t make sense for us to pay so much more for the adult meal to get the same size fries as the kids meals. And just like in the past, the fries were soggy and tasteless. ➖ ➖

I was hoping our shakes would be better but they weren’t. My husband ordered an Oreo mint and, although the shake was green, there was barely any mint flavor. The Oreo part was good though. ➖

One of my daughters ordered a strawberry shake but felt the flavor was quite artificial or “fake” as she put it. My other daughter ordered the birthday cake shake but wouldn’t even drink it. She said there were too many sprinkles and they tasted “weird,” according to her. ➖ I ordered a classic chocolate shake, thick, and the consistency of this was great. The flavor, on the other hand, was not very good. It tasted artificial and was gritty, somehow. I guess they use a chocolate powder flavor enhancer or something. At the bottom were little chunks of something. I don’t think it was chocolate pieces because they were really light in color. I ended up not eating/drinking that part since I wasn’t sure what they were. ➖ Also, the shakes didn’t fill up the cup. They were only about 2/3 of the way full. We actually asked why they weren’t full and the girl at the window said they didn’t have the right size cups so they had to put them in the bigger cups. Makes sense for the regular sizes shakes but not for the kids shakes as they don’t come in any other size. 🤷‍♀️

The person who took our order at the speaker was quite nice and patient and the person at the pickup window was also nice. I believe it was the same person but am not entirely sure. ➖ ➖ So we are happy that we tried it again all all these years but are super bummed that their food hasn’t improved one bit. On a good note- they didn’t forget anything and my additional...

I came to this location last night around 8:00 p.m. after doordashing all day to get dinner. I ordered a "bacon double cheeseburger with an extra steak burger patty with no onion and no ketchup". After ordering, the order taker seemed wildly confused about what i was ordering so i tried to clarify with her. But somehow to the girl taking the order, unbeknownst to me that translated to one regular Bacon double and an entire other triple burger. She did not read the order back to me when I got to the window or tell me the total of the order she just took my card and closed the window. She gave me back my card with the receipt of the two burgers, quickly closed the window and didn't come back into veiw until she was handing me the already made incorrect order. So when she handed me the bag, before I took it, I told her she charge me incorrectly. After rolling her eyes while I explained again what I actually ordered she said with an attitude "Well you didn't say that." And took my card and receipt and harshly closed the window. After complaining about the customer, as service workers do, with her coworker (I could hear them through the window) they finally handed me back cash instead of the card refund because for some reason she couldn't do it. I waited for the new burger to be made and when it was I said thank you and parked to check that there wasn't onions or ketchup on the burger as I can't eat tomatoes due to allergy and i don't like onions. Both of which were on the new burger. So I sent my brother inside to ask them to correct it. He said he walked to the counter and asked for the manager. After a moment she came out to speak to him. But when he started to speak she interrupted him and told him "One moment." So that she could walk to yet another employee for translation assistance because she could not understand him. The employee translated while rolling her eyes to the manager. The manager then told the cook to make a plain triple cheese burger which is still also not what I ordered so my brother then corrected again and the manager proceeded to sigh and huff and slap the counter. Then when the burger was finally made correctly, the manager slammed the bag onto the counter and said "Sorry."

This is a wildly uncommon occurance at stake and shake however I will not be returning to the hurstbourne location. That was an absurd and uncalled for experience for something that could have been avoided entirely and could've been...

I'm glad that this Steak 'n Shake location was able to make a comeback after COVID. I'm generally a fan of Steak 'n Shake, but this one more out of convenience than anything since it's about 2 miles from home.

While I'm glad they were able to come back, I'm not a fan of some of the changes that were made. The most prominent one being ordering at a kiosk. #NotAFan There's something to be said for talking to a human being to place an order. The kiosks are 100% impersonal and are void of any human interaction at all. A part of the appeal of Steak 'n Shake is the throwback aesthetic of drive-up restaurants. It's now relegated to pushing buttons on a touch screen.

Kiosks not withstanding, our visits to this location have been pretty good. We generally go on Friday evenings and there's usually a person in the dining room that's basically doing what a server would do after that server took the order instead of a piece of electronics. They help deliver food when the name is called, offer to get drink refills or condiments, help keep tables clean, or assist in other ways. They're dressed in the way that the servers used to be.

The atmosphere hasn't changed much. It's still got a pretty laid back, vintage feel with lots of red, black and while, accented with some neon lights. Seems there used to be more booths than there are now. No matter, the ambiance is fun and makes me feel young.

I don't notice any big changes in the menu since they came back. I 100% dig their Frisco Melt. While I love their fries, they get cold SO freakin' fast it's disappointing. When you get your fries you basically have to shove them all in your mouth at once, otherwise they'll be nothing but cold, deep-fried potato straws shortly.

It's nice to have the Steak 'n Shake back, it really is. I can adjust. ...