Steak 'n Shake — Restaurant in Kentucky

We visited this particular location on Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019 at around 3:00 pm. We were a party of three, interested to see what Steak & Shake had to offer.

We entered the front door and, after a brief wait, the gentleman at the front went to bus a table for us. After a longer wait, a lady came by and also went to bus a table for us. After a total of ten minutes or so, a second lady came by and took us to a table. I don't blame them for this particular aspect of an experience that I could honestly title 'The Table that Time Forgot'; they don't control how many people are in the restaurant (it was packed) or how quickly people eat their meals and leave.

Our total order was; 2 Prime Burgers, 1 Wisconsin Burger, 1 order of onion rings, and 2 milk shakes. I ordered the Wisconsin Burger because it sounded pretty good--two patties, cheese, caramelized onions, salted butter on the bun. The menu offered a succulent-looking picture to tempt and tease my tastebuds but, like a bad Tinder date, it was a lie wrapped in deceit..

The inside of the store looks nice, with its 1930's vibe of paper hats and bow ties and wallpapered history of the restaurant. A nice, wide open kitchen with 'In Sight It Must Be Right' in bold white lettering, though what it is supposed to convey I cannot claim to know. I don't know anything about making steakburgers and shakes so how exactly I'm supposed to know whether or not something was done wrong is left conveniently unexplained. I will say it's nice watching people work on a flat top grill. There's a lot of nice coloring with the red and white and the slick, chrome edging of the tables that display table number (We were 35). Our waitress was polite and more nice than I would have been if I'd been working at her pace. We discussed with our neighboring tables the exciting opportunity of trying something new and avoiding the awkward realization that 'adventurous' living for us had devolved into a fast food restaurant.

I can relate these things because we had a LOT of time between ordering and getting our food. Over 90 minutes, by my watch. It's understandable that a restaurant, swamped with customers, may fall behind on orders. I've seen Food Network shows. I like to think Guy Fieri could visit this location for a new show called 'Diners, Drive-ins and Damn where is my food?' However, at least three tables came in after us, ordered, received their food, ate, paid, and left before our plates arrived. Even the adjacent table with whom we were making jokes like 'I guess this place raises the cow to make sure it's fresh' got their food before us and that was around the 45 minute mark for us. So, clearly the issue was deeper than merely being extraordinarily busy.

I've had food in my life that was worth an extraordinarily long wait. This thought kept me optimistic and hopeful as time slowly lost all meaning. When my Wisconsin burger finally came, I was honestly surprised that the good state of Wisconsin would want its name attached to such a thing and I briefly considered writing them a letter informing them of this heinous crime against cheese and cows. The top bun lay half on the burger, and half on the plate. The 'caramelized' onions were not at all caramelized and were, instead, translucent. My skin is darker than those onions were, and I make printer paper look tan. They, like the bun, had slowly slid away from the burger and onto the plate as if, somehow, they knew what terrible act had been performed and sought to escape culpability for it.

In short, if I had to describe my burger in a simple way, it would be the culinary version of a teenage boy's bedroom floor.

The experience ended with a bill for approximately 27 dollars. I was a little surprised the amount didn't need to account for inflation by the time we got to the register.

In conclusion: half-price milkshakes is about the only thing I can suggest. Or, if you happen to be on death row and are waiting for your final meal, I highly recommend this location as it will guarantee several additional...

We've been here twice and the first time it was really busy, so there was a long wait, but it had just opened, so I understand that. The service was good that time. We ate there again yesterday (Sat, Aug 3) and the service left much to be desired. The food was good, but the burger patties were so THICK. I've ate at Steak & Shake in Lexington and other places and I thought that thin patties were part of their thing. Well, these were way thicker than any other S&S I've been. Second, there were kids with us and there was milkshake spilled. A worker brought some dry paper towels and just laid them down for us to clean up. I guess she had second thoughts and she started wiping it, but it made more of a mess than before. Third, I went to the restroom to wash my hands and there was no soap. About that time, a worker (not the milkshake wiper, a different one) was getting done using the bathroom, she was getting ready to wash her hands and said "no soap". I thought well surely she will go get us some soap. I waited and waited but she didn't return. (She did not wash her hands in the bathroom! YUK!). About 15 minutes later, when we got ready to leave, my niece had to go to the restroom and came out saying there was no soap. So, a worker knew first hand there was no soap and done nothing about it. That really bothers me that there is no soap for workers to use when they go to the toilet. Granted, they may wash their hands in the kitchen or somewhere else, but as a customer, to see them not wash their hands after they use the bathroom leaves a bad taste in my...

I’ll give 4 stars because the food is great and depending what staff is working depends on what service you get. One day I went over there and the waitresses working didn’t ask me nothing didn’t even acknowledge that I was in there if it wasn’t for Michael I wouldn’t have gotten my order taken care of so I appreciate him for that. Another day I went in there and there were different people working and they were the nicest most generous people I have met I was in and out. Then one night I went over there and the door was locked there were people eating people in the drive thru and the workers was cooking I stood there hoping to be told something I mean if your closed at that point I should have been informed but I wasn’t the 3 waitresses was at the register and they turned around and walked where they hang their tickets at I stood there and said okay and left I was highly upset I get it fast food can be hectic but every customer should be taken care of. I swore I wouldn’t go back but I did I couldn’t stay away because the food is great that last night it was a mix of the workers who didn’t acknowledge me and the nice workers and I was taken care of. Like I said the food is great!!!! Depending on who’s working depends on if you have a good...