LongHorn Steakhouse — Restaurant in Kingsport

I dress nicely, have good manners, and am never rude to staff. Once a month, I treat myself to a good ribeye. I enjoy the flavor of Longhorn's ribeye and prefer to eat it at midday so that it digests before bedtime and the flow of customers is slow. However, in the three times that I have visited the Kingsport location, I feel mistreated. The servers act as if I will dine and dash or tip poorly every time. They are incorrect on both counts because I have more than enough money to pay and tip between 25 and 30%. Although, the chilliness from their demeanor dominated my experience the entire time I was there.

Today was the breaking point. The server was attentive but cold and was obviously determined to get me out of the station as fast as possible, even though the restaurant was NOT busy. I had finished the food and started drinking the last of the iced tea (that I was paying for). I was responding to a text while the check lay under my hands (no credit card or money out) that the server had dropped off just a few minutes before. So, I was shocked when the server approached the table and asked irritably, "Are you ready?" She was referring to the check, even though I was clearly not ready. I have never had a server ask me that question in such a demanding tone. I told her I was not, and she stepped to the side. I then stood up after paying with the QR code on the receipt. The booth was directly behind the host station, and she was standing right there facing the booth. Two other people were at the host station as if they were waiting for me to bolt. "I paid online!" I told her bluntly before leaving. I know I hadn't been in that booth long because I texted a friend immediately after finishing my salad and it was 47 minutes after the hour. At 04 after the hour, I had a receipt in my email inbox. Furthermore, the vast majority of those who had arrived before me was still eating, so I had not taken a long time!

They may not like it when I request a booth as a solo diner, and my ordering a ribeye is a red alert, but I do not get this treatment at other restaurants! HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE treatment of someone who did nothing wrong except chose to eat a steak in the afternoon. There are good steaks all over town, and Longhorn is NOT the place to go if you also want good service. I know I will never walk through those doors again!

It is interesting that after every bad review, aka honest, several 5-star ones appear for this location. When I posted this review the rating was much lower. So,...

01/17/23 @ 18:48. Walked up and waited for any acknowledgment from the host. ZERO. Had to ask if I could have a table for one and received a "Mmhmm". The host turned to another employee and he directed him as to what table I would be sitting. This would be acceptable behavior if there was a line or wait list BUT it was not at all busy. Had the menu and utensils placed on the table and employee just walks away. Five minutes later a waiter walks up and asked if I was ready to order. I asked for a drink first but yes I had enough time to review the entire menu and make my selections. NY strip (medium), mashed potatoes and ranch dressing with my salad. After being seated directly behind the host stand I see why they were in a rush to seat me quickly without any type of courtesy. 3 to 4 young waiters were hanging out joking around at the host stand. Not to loud but very animated in their story telling sessions. Kitchen would be more appropriate for this but OK. After a while waiter brought my salad and placed it on the table without any dialog what so ever. OK. Nothing to get upset about. An expeditor brought out my entrée and placed it on the table and asked was anything else that I would need. "No thank you". First cut into my steak I could tell is was very undercooked, so I was looking for my waiter to have him send it back to the kitchen. Looked and looked and..... ,well you get the idea, for my waiter. Tried to get the attention of one of the 4 waiters at the host stand and totally ignored. Waving my arms, as if I was calling for a fair catch in football, should have got the attention of 2 of the waiters, one blonde with long curly hair glanced my direction and quickly went behind the wall between my table and the host stand. Still looking for the waiter, I finally got the attention of a lady, believe she was management, and told her my situation. She was VERY courteous and quick to resolve my issue. She evidently saw how frustrated I was and compt the entire bill. Seems like a nice lady but really needs to take charge of her...

So me and my fiancee love Long horns food & as you can see in the pic I added when we go we always get the same thing the Rib eye steak, house salad, and brussel sprouts and I always get another order of brussel sprouts because they're just the best and the food is always amazing but this past Friday night Feb 18th we went to Long horn to sit down and eat and I wanted to try something new so instead of my usual order I ordered the 6oz Renegade sirloin with 6ct redrock grilled shrimp, & upgraded my house salad to the strawberry salad 🥗(which I didn't know was much bigger just thought it had fruits and nuts added) and of course I ordered brussel sprouts well luckily I didn't order a second order of sprouts like I usual do because I don't know if it was just a new cook they had cooking that night or if I just don't like the way they cook their shrimp idk but the shrimp tasted like it had no seasoning on it at all so it tasted so bland and then the bed of rice tasted so plain and bland also and I love rice even unseasoned white rice and then my most favorite part that I always look forward to are the brussel sprouts and they came out so bone dry that they didn't even taste good at all.. They usually come out with so much extra sauce dripping off of them that when I order another order of them I always have extra sauce in the bottom of the bowl to throw on top of my extra ones but nope not this time they were bone dry and I seen in the reviews that someone else has commented on the same problem of the sprouts being bone dry also.. Now the steak came out fine that and my salad was the only thing I ended up eating and so didn't my fiance.. If we come back again we will most def just order our usual and cross our fingers that it comes out perfect like before because like I said usually their food is worth the money but this time it was awful so hopefully this was just a one time thing and it doesn't happen again because we don't want to waste money eating here if it's not...