LongHorn Steakhouse — Restaurant in Mesa

Let me start by saying I'm somewhat of a food snob. However, I'm willing to eat at the corner diner or a downtown specialty restaurant, I just want good food, decent service, and clean.

We arrived early (3P) for a party of 6 to get a table; 330P was our meeting time and no reservations are taken. We were seated immediately, which was great, but it took over 25 minutes before a sever came over to see if we wanted a drink...no hello, my name is xxxx, welcome. The joint was maybe 1/4 full and there were plenty of workers.I should have known this was the beginning of bad service, especially after seeing the adjacent booth complain to the manager. There was obviously lack of communication between the teen seating folks and what server had what station...the manager on duty, well he appeared clueless. Tables seated after us received meals before we got bread. Nothing worse than seeing food runners with hot meals lined up their arms...they carried three salads in a hand/arm, with one bowl sitting on another salad. Doubt this practice meets health standards?

Many tables sat with dirty dishes and cleaning rags sitting...carpet disgusting and bathrooms in need of desperate update. One table left 30 minutes before us, and uneaten dinner plates sat at each place setting, even though now at 530 and the place had filled. Honestly, like Fiesta Mall, this place should be razed.

This is the "Olive Garden" of steak houses...if you like OG, you'll probably love this place. This is not Steak 44, Durant's, Burbon and Bones, or even the Keg or Firebirds...but I knew that. With all this said, I had one of the higher priced steaks, bone in ribeye ($32), medium rare, with broccoli, and Caesar salad. The steak was cooked properly, came out seasoned well, and was hot...broccoli is what it is and acceptable. The Caesar was bland and forgettable, although it had plenty of dressing and parmesan shavings. With my soft drink and tip, I was out the door for $46. Compared to the upscale steak houses I mentioned, that would not get you any ribeye, let alone side and salad. The others in my party all said their food was tasty. The server tried to make up for lackluster service by providing a nice (double) dessert for our birthday friend, plenty to share. I left 20% tip (normally I'd leave 25%) since not all service issues were on her...ultimately, it's the manager, and if they can't see what's going in his restaurant, maybe they're in the wrong line of work.

Better than Texas Roadkill, but not as good as Outback, Black Angus...all similar pricing. Summary, food was above acceptable, ambiance poor due to dirty tables and carpet (really, how do you clean and disinfect carpet to standards), and our lackluster service. I'll only return if asked by a friend...

My husband and I visit this location frequently and this is the first time that we’ve ever had any problems. Our problems started from the very beginning. Our name was on the list and then we noticed that there was an empty table in the bar area, which is open seating. The table was still dirty so we waited so that it could be cleaned, we waited for approximately 10 minutes next to the table and all the servers just walked right past us, we were never acknowledged and nobody ever came to clean off the table so we decided to sit in the main dining room where we expected to get better service. Our waitress, Ariana was not very friendly and seemed bothered. My husband and I both ordered ribeye steaks cooked medium. My husband’s steak came out rare, it was very red, but he decided not to complain about his steak. However, my steak was cooked well done so we tried to find Ariana because she had not come to check on us. We could not find her so another server took my steak back. I waited a very long time for my new food to come out, by this time, my husband had already finished his meal so I no longer wanted mine so I asked another server again to cancel my meal because we could not find Ariana. Ariana came out eventually and said she would take my meal off of the ticket, remind you I never received the steak so obviously she would. I never got an apology and she never tried to fix the problem. At this point we asked to speak to a manager “Mark”, he never introduced himself to us, we had to ask another employee what his name was. Mark was not very helpful or professional either. Mark said he would look into what had happened and he never returned to our table. I am very disappointed in the quality of food and especially the quality of service that we received, and I can only hope that someone higher up sees this review and talks to the staff and management at the Mesa location. I feel like the situation could have been handled differently by our server and manager, so that Longhorn’s does not lose a faithful customer, but sadly it was not. And for the record, the restaurant was not that busy at the time that we visited, the servers were just standing around talking and laughing...

Darden you still do pretty darn good – very good. And pretty consistent I might add. Longhorn Steakhouse, specifically the Alma School Road, Mesa location – do a darn good job. It is practically impossible presently to not find corporations operating restaurants that can essentially offer or deliver 1) amazing service – they emphasize it: I give it 4.0 , 2) an excellent attention to detail especially in hospitality – excellent table service: I give it 3.5, 3) cleanliness, hygiene and comfort in their décor, amenities and lavatories – carpets clean and didn’t see smudges on glass: I give it 4.0, 4) an abundant and/or varied food and/or product menu: I give it 4.5, 5) consistently appetizing offerings: I give it 4.5, 6) a sincere customer service: I give it 4.5, 7) unique, innovative or specialized menus: I give it 4.0, 8) value and price of meals: I give it 3.5, and most of all, 9) the inert desire of one wanting to return, again and again for the experience gained: I give it 4.0. These are some if not most of what my basic requirements are when visiting one of these establishments each time. Then more specifically comes, of course, the food. On our last visit we devoured some really good Spicy Chicken Bites. A superbly prepared parmesan crusted Spinach Dip along with the perfectly prepared Three Dons Margarita. On various previous occasions we enjoyed their excellent White Cheddar stuffed mushrooms, terrific Steakhouse wings, fab Firehouse T-Bones and Flo’s Filet is always utterly well made. This is just the tip of the iceberg of our tastings at Longhorn Steakhouse. My wife and I do not pretend to be professional reviewers but are most definitively connoisseurs of excellent foods whether a fine upscale cuisine, middle-of-the-road common eats, or a low-end fast-food joint. In this way, I have developed a to-the-point method for determining the personal worthiness of each establishment visited as noted in my opening. Simplified, each requisite noted for the establishment visited best scored by my highest score offered. Longhorn Steakhouse Mesa scores a 3.5 of a potential 5.0. Take note the peripheral score of 3.6 does not represent the food’s 4.5 rating....