Steak 'n Shake — Restaurant in Litchfield

I stop here occasionally while driving across the state. Food is just fine like a regular Steak 'n Shake, but the service is less reliable. Most recently, I used the drive-through with an internet order. I ordered a burger, fries, shake, and large soda. At the drive up, I was given all but the soda. So I asked "is there also a drink?" The girl seemed a bit annoyed, but asked what kind, and I said Cherry Coke. She closed the window, and grabbed the smaller cup to start filling it. When she opened the window up, I said "I'm sorry; I should've specified; is that the large cup?" She said no, and I replied that I ordered a large. She seemed actually angry at that point, which seemed weird. Without a word, she closed the window, poured the regular cup into a large, topped it off with more Coke (no extra cherry syrup 🤷‍♂️), and then handed the result to me. I said thank you, and smiled behind my mask. No prompt if I wanted any ketchup for that large order of fries, either -- after the soda incident, she might have come through the window if I had possessed the gall to ask for it. :D

This all seems pretty benign, but 1) there was at no point any apology for not simply confirming the order (it wasn't confirmed at the drive-up either; I said I had an internet order, and was just told to drive around), nor any acknowledgement of error at all. And 2) why not just default to the large when fixing an error like that to begin with? The cost to the restaurant for the "upgrade" is trivial when someone ordered the smaller one, and such a situation could thus be avoided. Even without the completely unjustified bad attitude (I was friendly through the process, so there's no reason to take a bad day out on me), this indicates a lack of training on how to handle inevitable mistakes.

Fast food restaurants fulfilling hundreds of orders a day are bound to make errors on occasion, and that's ok; what's important is handling mistakes gracefully. This location has, on multiple occasions, done poorly in that regard. Given that they usually don't make mistakes, I'll keep going here - but will also keep my...

My wife and I purchased 2 orders of the No 1 Original double meat burgers with fries and a onion rings and sodas at 4:53 pm on 2/22/23, bill was for $15.47. My wife's fries were stale and cold. Not a hint of warmth. They were kind to replace them with a fresh cooked batch. The burgers were ok, the onion rings fine. My wife noticed a "Share Your Thoughts" with a code to give feedback and receive a FREE milkshake after 4 pm. I went online with my phone and completed a "Top Box" reply. That means despite the cold fries, I was giving them a top rating. On completing the survey, they sent me an email with a code -- IJGTE9 Since we planned to check out their shakes, we took the code to the counter to get my wife a free shake, I was going to order another for myself. The counter girl called the manager, who told my wife she'd do it, but their system doesn't recognize the code! I showed them the email with the code. They are holding our receipt with the code written on it. They said they couldn't honor it! They are acting like we're cheating them! I ordered my shake, and when my wife heard it would be over $5!!! she said never mind. She asked to forget it and requested our receipt back. The moron tried to say they had to keep it! We snatched it out of her...

This place I will say is very clean.. However the people working in it aren't very sanitary not washing hands between glove changes not changing gloves period... NO FOOD HANDLING LICENSE wish they at least send someone to properly check... Crew members sitting in the dining room watching their cellular/wireless devices for a solid hour and a half from what I've personally seen before getting up and helping or checking on other staff.. An older gentleman approached me at the front desk calling me his bro while asking me about my morning not even in uniform remind you I'm a 60 year old women not his bro...mean while before all this while waiting him and another Manger was talking very unappealing about another coworker loud enough Everyone in the back was able to listen in and make a very discriminating opinion... clean is good but not when the staff are useless... I will honestly say today 9-17-23 not only the service but my food sucked it was a old grease bun rock hard on the bottom I watched them use a old patty off the edge of the grill for my sandwich not to mention my frys must have been sitting for 10-15 mins as well they pretty much felt like moosh do better steak n shake.... if I had a real option I'd give 0 stars very poor...