Steak 'n Shake — Restaurant in Locust Grove

We went on a Tuesday about 3pm. The place was very busy! Several positive, negative and neutral comments are as follows: POSITIVE - The food was great! I ordered the guacamole steakburger (which comes with fries) and a chocolate brownie milkshake. Yummy! The waitress was nice, seemed to interact with us quite well. The waiting time for the food to arrive at the table was good. About 20 min. I had expected a longer wait time. NEGATIVE - The drive thru was very, very slow and cars were wrapped around the building. Not enough parking space in the lot. When we drove down the first row looking for an empty lot, we couldn't circle to go up the second row due to the drive thru line blocking the space! Finally found a space! There is a BIG opportunity to make the drive thru more efficient. Next improvement- the ladies restroom. Two stalls only, paper on the floor, sink counter area very wet. Two employees were in the restroom, one just standing around looking at her cell phone. Other employee asked if she was on break. The first responded "I have to get away from all these crazy people!" Hmm.. Is she referring to me as a customer being "crazy"? That type of comment should NOT have been made in my presence. My other comment, if the restroom is being used by employees, then there should be no excuse for it not to be clean. Next improvement - Lots of employees working in kitchen area. Noticed some that needed a little direction. In other words, standing around doing nothing or seemed to be lost. Customers were at the register placing to go orders. Long line at register. Seems if you sit at the table to eat, when finished you have to pay at register. You have stand in that long line to pay. Not good! NEUTRAL Comment- Observed three individuals that seemed to be managers or supervisors. (They were dressed differently) One was sitting in a corner, reading something. Another was standing near the register reading something. Both individuals did that for quite some time. Third person, not sure what that person was doing, just got a glimpse when he walked to the front. So let's recap, busy restaurant inside and drive thru, some employees not busy or seemed lost, management reading in customer view. Sounds like a great opportunity for...

Service - good. Timing was a little slow due to being busy. As a former server, I get it. However, a word of caution for single customers, or anyone in general - don’t leave your table once you sit down. They will pre-bus even if you literally just sat down, and waited to order before going to the bathroom for any reason. I came back to see my server panicked when she saw someone busing our table when I had to leave it with my kids to wash their hands right after we ordered. Whoever was prebusing my table threw a dirty spoon in my FULL cup of coke, and I didn’t see it till I drank my coke half way down. No, no one bothered to remember they did that, nor be willing to compensate for that nasty discovery. I shouldn’t have to ask for any compensation. It was brought to my servers attention, but the manager did not get notified.

Food - good, fries were cold even though it “just came up”.

Atmosphere - very loud. Parking is atrocious. Tiny spaces. Good luck if you have a truck like we do. Anything over the size of mid-size, honestly. If you happen to find a spot somewhere in the middle, you may get stuck waiting on the drive thru line to calm down because the people around here are either completely oblivious to common courtesy of NOT BLOCKING AN EXIT WAY (I ran into this problem trying to park in a big enough space that, realistically, only mid-size cars, MAX, can fit, or someone failed parking lot 101 in their further education courses by making it impossible to navigate UNLESS the drive thru line is non-existent.

And I despise the “Pay at the counter” rule. I have kids. One is a baby. I want to ease of checking through my server so I don’t have to gather us all up to stand in a long line when all I want to do is simply leave when I get up. Get rid of this old, inconvenient...

I worked here for 3 days, last Saturday, Sunday and Monday. They train me on Saturday the bussiest day of the week to start off. By Sunday I had one table which was fine because ther server Jasmine training me was a great help and very positive. Come Monday i have tons of tables. Extremely busy, my 3rd day and with the exception of 1 waitress, no one would help me with learning to type orders. (Which affects customers) I made one mistake on a ticket and needed it to be fixed and Carlos, manager on duty decided to yell at me... with no regard I hadnt been properly trained. Later in the evening one of the waitresses decides im not getting any tables so I can help her bus her tables and help her customers. I believe her name was Hannah. All the while Im doing all the side work at $2.13 an hour. And let me mention that the time that hannah did sit my tables before this she gave me all the hispanic customers saying they were poor tippers. Ha, they were all great to me! I wouldn't eat here ever again either. The entire place is nasty. No one cleanes. There were several instances that make this place a hostile work environment as well. Ive contacted the health inspector and corporate waiting on a call back. This location wont succeed. They will never be able to keep employees, which is probably why there is so many complaints about slow service. Most people are new. I will say the GM, Glomar was a great manager and worked her tail off. When she isnt there the other managers are horrible. Waitresses were taking unused silverware and reusing them for the next customers. Im a fanatic about washing my hands and hardly saw anyone else washing. Cooks dont wear gloves. Please just be careful. This place is a salmonella, food poisoning...