The Stix Icehouse — Restaurant in McKinney

I've been to The Stix Icehouse numerous times just for dinner or brunch with friends and can't recommend it enough in terms of food, drinks, and atmosphere, but in addition to that, we recently threw my sister's surprise 40th birthday party here, and the experience was beyond amazing.

I absolutely could not have planned the event without Veronika's help. She was so knowledgeable and friendly from the first email inquiry I sent, all the way through to her follow-up email after the event. I didn't have the slightest idea how to go about making menu selections that would accommodate our guest headcount, much less their preferences and dietary restrictions, but she guided me through the process with ease, and all of the food choices we had at the party were such a hit. She recommended that I meet her onsite to test out my computer with their TV for a slideshow I had prepared, and I was so glad she had the foresight to do that, because it required an additional cord to work properly. On the day of the event, everything went off without a hitch because of her thoroughness. She was also there to greet us when we arrived and helped with brainstorming the best setup for where our photo-booth should go, etc. I was so grateful for her guidance and help!

To say that our server, Dymond, was friendly and attentive is an understatement. She went above and beyond to engage with our guests and make sure they were taken care of at every turn. She found the perfect balance of being next-level amazing at her job, while also feeling like one of our party guests because she was just so much fun. We couldn't have hand-picked a better server for our party, and I'm pretty sure my family was ready to adopt her by the end of the night lol.

We opted to have a designated bartender for our event, and it was one of the best decisions we could have made, especially because we were fortunate enough to get one as amazing as Mary. She was so personable and fun, but also very knowledgeable and made the most amazing drinks all throughout the night. Long bar lines are one of the most frustrating parts of any event, but that wasn't the case with ours. I was consistently blown away by how quickly Mary tended to each and every guest and their drink orders.

We couldn't have asked for a better location or a better team to celebrate my sister's 40th. We're so grateful for The Stix Icehouse and their staff who went above and...

Good food? Hardly! Ordered the $15 patty melt… first off that’s a ridiculous price for a patty melt to start with. Service was incredibly slow despite what looked like dozens of employees lurking about. But back to the patty melt. One of the earmarks of a patty melt is that it’s grilled so the cheese melts. The menu said it would be on Texas toast, and they weren’t kidding: it was literally lightly toasted bread that was almost white still. It had an obviously pre-made patty of meat that was a little “off” like it was too old. Horrible flavor. The cheese wasn’t even melted! It was like they threw together this nasty sandwich and tossed a slice of cheese on it and called it a day. We sat on the patio and I was happy that they had a play area for kids, but the kids didn’t stay on the play area, they were running around on the patio deck between the tables much of the time. We were trying to see / listen to some friends performing but had large groups of people standing around in our way because they were trying to pounce on nearby tables as they opened up. Very annoying. Felt like someone was standing over us as we ate. I guess they have noise issues with the neighbors because the acoustic guitar music was turned down so low it wasn’t enjoyable. Haven’t been back since and I probably won’t be.

Edit September 2024 - Gave them another shot, when I came to see a friend of mine perform there. I ordered a burger and my daughter’s boyfriend ordered the patty melt like I talked about in my first review. I could hardly believe it, his sandwich looked exactly like the one that I had. Lightly toasted bread and a couple of slices of cheese that weren’t even melted. I took a photo of it this time. Oh, and that red thing that I’m showing you? That’s the burger I ordered. Don’t get me wrong I like medium rare steaks, but this isn’t a steak and it’s not even medium rare. It’s just a half step above...

After shaky 1st visit, we decided to try again and we're so glad we did. We picked our table and were immediately greeted by our server Maddy. We started with the Rae's ranch water and a summer smash and ordered the fried jalapeños for appetizer. The drinks were good but the appetizer had us excited. It was a huge plate of perfectly fried slices of fresh jalapeños! 1 out of 6 were spicy. I love spicy so it was a nice surprise to get one with heat! Lol. The next round was hot lips and watermelon crawl. Again both solid, but the hot lips was my favorite drink of the night! Highly recommend this one as it had the perfect amount of heat, sweet, sour, backed with tahin. For entrees, we ordered the chicken fried steak which comes with green beans and mashed potatoes. My girl had the "Your my boy blue" burger. Order the CFS if you are seriously hungry as the serving is quite large. It was excellent but couldn't come close to finishing. My girl enjoyed her burger and I can't leave out the fries which are crinkle cut style. They were cooked perfectly and I couldn't stop stealing them. Lol Maddy our server was great and everything flowed nicely. Pace of meal is very important in a dining experience and she did an excellent job. Ask for her when you go! We also got a chance to meet Erin and Manny (gm) during our visit. They made sure everything was great and both were so nice. We had an incredible time and I conclude the shaky 1st visit was a one off and not how things are usual done. I highly recommend coming to Stix and look forward to...