Steak 'n Shake — Restaurant in Lawrenceburg Township

The short: Overall, I recommend this place. Food and shakes here are always great. Burgers made fresh, so expect a wait, especially if they're busy. Service is hit and miss. Be patient and don't expect top-tier servers. I get much better service at the Frisch's across the street, which has a great day time server crew and an amazing dinner time wait staff. I think the management at Steak n Shake could learn something from Frisch's, who discovered that it is worth it in the long run to hire great, personable servers who actually enjoy their job and show it.

The details: burgers and shakes here are top notch. All the burgers are cooked fresh, so expect a wait, especially if they're busy. I usually have a decent experience here, but there have been a couple bad ones. On a recent visit about a week ago, we came in and they were clearly short-staffed and struggling to keep up. We never got refills and had to go up to the counter to get our own refills and napkins. We watched a 6 top sit with no drinks for 15-20 minutes while we ate, with none of the servers even bothering to communicate that they'd be with them soon or anything like that. I was very surprised at the low level of service. Our server came to our table one time in 45 minutes to take our order, but never came back. She didn't ask how the food was or whether we wanted desserts or refills obviously since she never came back after taking the order. Another server had taken our drink orders prior, and yet another server ran the food out.

The food was great, but the service was horrible. I've waited tables and been in the hole, struggling to keep up, but a simple acknowledgement and letting people know what to expect goes a long way. What surprised me the most was that they weren't even very busy. The restaurant was at about 25% capacity with 3 or 4 servers. I don't know if our server was new, tired, or just having a bad day, but whatever the case, it was one of the worst dining experiences I've ever had. She couldn't even muster up a fake smile or any modicum of cordiality. She acted like we were just a total burden and all she wanted to do was anything but wait on us. It was just myself, my wife and my daughter, and since I waited tables for years, we all know how to make a server's job easy; know what you want when your server comes to the table, otherwise ask for more time. Stick to the menu as much as possible and try not to make difficult modifications that are a pain to ring in. Stack your plates neatly at the end of the table so the server doesn't have to reach across to prebus and eventually bus it. Try to keep the table relatively clean and don't leave stuff laying around on the table and floor. Ask for what you need early and get any sauces or extra napkins all at once so the server doesn't have to make unnecessary multiple trips. If anything is wrong, let them know right away so they can fix it, don't wait till the end and complain when you're already done. And most importantly, leave a big tip because servers only make $2/hour and live on tips.

If you're a server and you are reading this, NEVER entirely ignore a table, even if you can't take great care of them because you're overwhelmed. Let them know what's going on, how long it will take, and what to expect. The vast majority of people will understand and work with you, but getting to the point where you completely ignore a table is just downright rude and incompetent. A simple, "I'm sorry guys, I'm trying to keep up, I'm just a little overwhelmed right now. Do you guys need anything? Does everything taste alright,"...

I pulled into the Steak 'n Shake drive-thru with the same optimism I had when I first discovered Wi-Fi, thinking “Hey, it’s a Tuesday night, how long could the line be?" Twenty minutes later, my car had evolved into a time machine, sending me back to a simpler era where patience wasn’t a virtue, it was a necessity. And no, this wasn’t a "fast food" experience – it was more like a pilgrimage.

After finally crawling to the window, I was told my order wasn’t ready. "Could you come around again and wait?" they said, which is like asking someone to finish a Netflix series after they’ve already clicked on the next episode. I was like, "Sure, no problem!" as my stomach screamed in protest.

So I did the mature thing and looped back, ready for round two. Another 15 minutes passed. And then, just when I thought I might be hallucinating from hunger, he appeared. The Edward Cullen of the fast-food world. You know, the guy who thinks his pale, brooding presence and permanent scowl somehow grants him the authority to tell me everything I did wrong. “Actually,” he said with a smirk, “you didn’t order this right.”

I paused. I had ordered a burger. How wrong could I get that? Did I say it with the wrong vibe?

He proceeded to correct me in the most condescending way possible, acting like I was the one who had asked for a glass of dirt and a side of disappointment. When he handed me my food, I almost expected him to sparkle in the moonlight, but instead, he just glared as if I had personally insulted the entire Steak 'n Shake legacy.

Finally, I escaped with my meal—half cold, half underwhelming—and now I know: next time I crave a burger, I’ll just slap my own face with a piece of leather and...

After ordering and paying, my daughter noticed the two people cooking were not wearing gloves, however they were handling the food as they placed it on the grill and were preparing the food. We sat at the table where the grill was clearly visible from our booth. The young lady cooking, put gloves on one time while we were there but after that 1st time, she did not wear gloves again. The gentleman who was cooking, I believe his name was Cecil, never wore a pair of gloves during our visit. While it may have happened, I never saw them wash their hands between handling the meat, cheese, buns, etc. While the food tasted ok and none of us got sick on that visit, it only takes one time so we decided not to return. Initially, I thought maybe they just forgot to slip on the gloves but considering both cooks did not to wear them almost for the entirety of our visit and because it was multiple cooks, it must have been a choice rather than being absentminded. The funny thing was, an entire box of gloves were sitting on the countertop conveniently located opposite of the grill and were just a bit more than an arms reach of the grill. I guess they felt secure knowing the Board of Health was not going to visit this location. As a side note though, just as someone else rightly mentioned, we also witnessed a staff member assisting an elderly couple with the kiosk so from that perspective, the service was good. I wish they cared enough about their customers to wear gloves while...