Rustic Oak Cabin Steakhouse & Catering — Restaurant in Monroe City

If you want a microwaved steak this is your place. Warning: Fairly detailed story. The main takeaway is inconsistent service, manager who mocked me for adding bleu cheese to a steak, and as I said above - manager admitted microwaving a steak like its normal. Mortal food sin for any steakhouse. Fried Cheesecake is totally awesome though.

I have no idea how this place has the reviews it does. Service was a mixed bag. I could see some servers being friendly and moving with a purpose. Some, like the one I had, did not possess these traits. My girlfriend ordered the Brisket sandwich w/ a side salad. The server had to be reminded twice about the dressing after the food was brought out.

I ordered the house kc strip w/ bleu cheese crumbles medium rare. I don't know what temp it was when i came out. It seemed some parts were closer to well done and others actually at med rare. Totally flavorless. It was one of the most weirdly cooked steaks I've ever encountered. After trying a few bites I told the server she could take it away, and politely explained the issues I had with it.

When paying at the register the manager (owner maybe? Older woman who was definitely in charge) asked me about the steak and someone had pulled one of the cooks out from the back to watch our conversation from a distance. Which felt super weird. After explaining what I felt was off about it, she told me it was probably the bleu cheese (because that affects a consistent steak temp?) and then told me she had microwaved the steak to melt the cheese. Microwaved. A. Steak. That explained why it was so jacked up. She did not offer an apology, discount, anything generally considered courteous from a customer service standpoint. Merely she dismissed it as my fault for getting bleu cheese crumbles with a steak. Because I'm a big weirdo and its not like that's a common option at a lot of steak houses.

Anywho. I'll never go back. Not because of the food. My girlfriend's sandwich wasn't great, but it was passable for its price. And the fried cheesecake is effing amazing. I've worked in restaurants and get that mistakes happen, but if the person at the top takes such a casual approach to customer satisfaction and thinks microwaving a steak (at a place with 'Steakhouse' in its name) is just the way you cook things I think that shows a lack of standards. Maybe this was a one off. Maybe its because they spotted us as tourists and figured it didn't matter. I honestly don't know what the...

We’ve been coming to Rustic Oak for the last several years and have always loved it. Unfortunately, after having a terrible experience for the last 6 or 7 times in a row, we will likely not be coming back due to the staff and horrible service.

So here’s the good— The food here is fantastic! They have a wide variety of items available on the the menu. The atmosphere is very cozy and feels like grandmas cabin.

The bad is the service and the wait. In a service driven industry, attitude is everything, and the team at Rustic Oak has the wrong attitude. The staff at Rustic Oak seems bothered every time someone walks through the door and asks for a table. Last week we watched the staff openly discuss whether they wanted to take a to-go order over the phone 30 minutes before the kitchen was schedule time close in the middle of the restaurant… Tonight the girls had a family walk in 1 hour before closing and they made them wait 45 min before seating them just in hopes they would leave.

To get a refill we had to flag down one of the two servers and ask for refills which still took 10 minutes to get. Every visit takes well over an hour and sometimes up to 2.5 hours after being seated. Tonight there were only 4 tables seated and it still took 30 minutes to just order out food! We’ve experienced bad service in the past so we try to be patient and plan for a long event but for burgers and wraps and pasta it isn’t acceptable to wait that long.

However the real problem is the staffs bad attitude and failure to do the simple things like refill drinks and clear plates away from the table. Basic food serve 101 hasn’t been taught to the wait staff and it shows. We haven’t seen a manager in or owner in months.

I know everyone is short staffed so we are fine with waiting, but not a bad attitude. We will choose to take our business elsewhere...

Update with reply to response: We've visited this restaurant many times in the past and this has never been our experience #1. #2 I know what catfish is supposed to taste like, don't insult me more than your staff already has. The catfish was nasty, nothing like the catfish we've ordered in the past from YOUR restaurant or like any other catfish I've eaten in my life. #3 I do understand that the unruly children were not the fault of the restaurant. However the child was opening the emergency door and your staff did have to intervene. The children were creating an unsafe environment for your staff, so yes you could ethically intervene. Please don't condescend to me, I understand ethics.

Worst experience we've had ever coming here. Food was overcooked, staff didn't care. While paying the cashier asked how our food was Ani shared our issues and she completely ignored me. I asked her why she asked since she ignored me and her response was, "I was counting." $30 for an overcooked ribeye that didn't even taste like ribeye, just burnt charcoal. And $18 for cajun catfish that was slimy mush. Was my husband's first time and he wishes never to return.

Furthermore, another family came in and their baby was screaming a blood curdling scream for our entire meal and their toddlers were running around the restaurant and one staff member actually had to scold them for their behavior while the parents did nothing about their screaming baby or their unruly toddlers. I realize this is out of the control of restaurant staff, but when the experience of everyone else in the restaurant who is their with their families is being affected, something...