LongHorn Steakhouse — Restaurant in Knoxville

Ridiculously slow service, and food that was just okay. Ended up going here after first trying to go to another steak house that's close by (but that one had a huge line outside and a very long wait).

Was pleasantly surprised to see that Longhorn wasn't overrun by people, and actually got us seated fairly quickly, which was kind of odd that there was even a wait to be seated given there were open seats and booths all over the restaurant.

Once we were seated, the service ground down to nearly a halt however. We sat waiting for our server for probably a good 7-8 minutes. He finally came, introduced himself and took our drink order. Both my guest and I were quite hungry and already knew what we wanted, so we placed our food order at the same time we told him our drinks - hoping to expedite the process.

I think we waited another 10 minutes for water. The bread didn't come out for at least another 15 minutes after our water. Then, literally 2 minutes after the bread came out, our salads arrived. They don't have Italian dressing, so my guest asked for 1000 Island on the side - which it did come with on the side, however she didn't care for it, and asked our server for a side of Caesar dressing instead. It took him at least another 10 minutes just to get her a small side of dressing.

About another 10 minutes pass, and our steaks finally come out. I asked for some A1 sauce for my steak, and waited a couple of minutes for it to come, only it didn't. I finally decided to just eat my steak without the sauce. Upon cutting into it, I discovered It came out medium rare, when I requested medium. Given it was taking so long for our server to take care of things, I didn't dare send it back to have it cooked a little more.

After eating literally 3/4 of my 8oz steak, our server finally came back with the A1 sauce I requested about 10+ minutes earlier. Wasn't much of a point in him bringing it when I was already nearly finished with my entire meal.

My guest's sirloin steak was okay, but she said it was tougher than it should have been. Basically, the same as my filet. There was no gristle or chewy bits in my fillet, but it certainly wasn't as tender as it should have been, even with it being done only medium-rare.

All in all, it was okay. The food was also just okay. For the cost of the meal, the quality of the food should have been better, and more importantly, the service should have been far better. The only time the server was fast was when he brought me the bill at the end. If they were overrun by tons of people, I would certainly have understood, but there were empty seats all around us. There was really no reason for the service to be as slow as it was.

I don't see myself going back here. I'll find another steak house to go to in the future. It's quite clear to me while there was such a long line at the other steakhouse, and none at Longhorn. Nothing about the experience was horrible or bad, but it wasn't remarkably good enough to make me want to come back again either...

Worst dining experience EVER! I knew it would not be what I was hoping when the Host did not greet us at all and stared blankly at us. I had to speak first and ask for a booth. He sighed at me and said to another host he would need to clever a booth never speaking to us at all.

First let me say the restaurant was slow. It was 3pm on a Sunday, which was today. We got our booth and Matt was our server. He took our drink order, that was the only thing that went well. Upon bringing our drinks he took our appetizer order. It took 45 min to get that because he said "the cook burnt our shrimp so I demanded he re-make them". I still tried to give the benefit of the doubt. The shrimp arrived under cooked but edible. An hour into our meal we just received our appetizer, no salad...nothing.

Matt refilled our drinks and brought the wrong drinks, again he blamed someone else. We had to ask for our salads and then he tells us "about our steaks". He said the cook "burned" my well done steak and his words " demanded that they both be re cooked". The steaks finally arrive not cooked well at all. He apologized but not the point. Not only did they mess up our drinks but then our appetizer and then our steaks. Keep in mind we are there almost an hour and a half by the time we even got our steaks. And every single aspect of the meal was WRONG! HOW DO YOU MESS UP SWEET TEA AND DIET COKE?

I am not one to complain or make a scene but I honestly should have. Again this was NOT at peak and they were very slow.

I will NEVER EVER eat at this restaurant Again! There really is absolutely no excuse for how badly this meal went. NONE! I will go from now on to either the Turkey Creek location (even though the drive is far) or I will go to Texas Roadhouse.

I am so disappointed and they did not try to make this right at all. An apology and blaming someone else is only appropriate when the situation is fixed the first time, not continuously through the meal.

I give this restaurant 1 star and deservedly so. Ridiculous! Never again! 😡

Update: Longhorns Corporate offices responded to this post within 1 business day. They were very apologetic and went above and beyond to right this situation. They are working with the staff to improve the customers experience, and so for one am truly grateful for their quick response and attention to this situation. I now give...

Yesterday 1/28/21 was our 1st ever visit to any Long Horn Steakhouse. We had chosen the 3:00 hour so that we were there after lunch but yet before the dinner hour. As a party of 9 for a birthday dinner , we were separated at 2 different tables, thus being after the guidelines for groups had been lifted in Knox County !! After getting a waitress...we waited at least 10 minutes on getting mostly waters that we ordered. Then she went for the 2nd of our tables... there again a 10 minute or longer wait !! Our order was taken at that time. 7 steak dinners with salads , 1 sandwich order and 1 childs plate, and 1 appetizer. The appetizer plate came out quickly (for our 1 table)but was very greasy and overcooked for onion petals. They were over crunchy !! For those of us who ordered salads....we waited almost 30 minutes just to get them right before our steak dinners came out !! The restaurant was NOT busy at all !!! 2 of us had ordered the exact same thing....steak and shrimp (on a bed of rice) with loaded baked potatoes. Wow....where do i start from here....our steaks were ordered medium rare and they were but yet they were COLD !! The shrimp and rice were COLD !! Not even really warm !! Our baked potatoes would not even melt the butter that was on them !! I hesitated...after the first few bites....on bringing it the attention to the waitress but then decided that for the price we were paying that at least I could get them to warm our plates up... but we never saw her again. I opted for just cutting up my steak and shrimp, mixing in with my rice just to get a to go box. When we finally saw our waitress again we were asking for boxes and our checks. Another 20 minutes went by and a man came with our checks. By that time we were already standing and ready to go. 3 of us had ordered a mixed drink/beer and we were never asked again if we'd like another !! By this time....I would had ordered a shot !! I'm not sure if the waitress was new ...she didn't act or seem that way but she sure wasn't up to par for a waitress at such a steakhouse !! I'm sorry but our 1st visit was VERY UNPLEASANT !! Cold Food and Bad Service is why i only give 2 stars for my rating. Needless to say ...there are at least 3 of us who will not be returning to this...