Barn Door Steakhouse's South Forty Banquet Hall — Restaurant in Odessa

I've lived in Odessa for about a decade, yet had never been to this restaurant despite having heard good things about it. We walked in the front door, nobody at the hostess station, literally stood there for about 4 minutes before somebody even came around the corner to greet us. After we were escorted to our table, are drink orders were taken, when they returned, the waitress proceeds to tell us that the restaurant is out of prime rib and out of all fillet steaks (interesting strategy for a restaurant that claims to be a steakhouse 🤔 ), so we ordered a chicken fried steak and a chicken dish. About 10 minutes ago by, the waitress returns to inform us that they are also out of chicken (seriously, it took the kitchen 10 minutes to realize they didn't have something?), so we looked around the menu to find something that was not prime rib, not steak, and not chicken (not a ton of options past that). At any rate, the kitchen service obviously ended up being very slow, the chicken-fried steak (which the menu claims "might be the best in Texas") was bland beyond bland and the lack of most menu options made it very difficult to order in the first place. Only brightside I can give the place was that the ambiance was nice and the staff was friendly. However, due to everything else listed above, I really cannot understand why management did not just put a "closed" sign on the door for this day, fire the kitchen manager, and reopen once they were actually prepared to become a functioning...

Seriously what happened to this beloved restaurant a premier hallmark when in Odessa. I have had multiple meals here for as far back as I can remember. Many birthdays, anniversaries, meetings and just a lunch or supper. I have always bragged on this place to anyone here for the 1st time. Just as tonight our guests were going through the area. I can understand the price increase. For that matter what hasn’t gone up except for your pay? Our server Caleb was busting it as best he could. But what I noticed he was hampered by the rest of the staff. Slow cook, bartender, and others assigned to insure everything was timely and right. If anything our experience was a bust. To a point I don’t have enough time to state it. I’ll next time go down the street to the Marriott restaurant. New ownership don’t let this iconic restaurant go. Get back in the game or...

New to Odessa, I was eager to try all the cool places everyone says are popular. This steakhouse was one of them though I love all the history and western atmosphere the manager lady was grumpy and visibly upset at her staff. Not busy Saturday early evening. As we sat she slammed down a pile of menus on the table next to us as to call the attention to the guys off to the side to help her push tables together. I ordered a 8oz sirloin because I never finish big steaks, and I ordered it Medium. I attached a picture of what I got. It was hard and shriveled. I picked it up like a hockey puck. I tried to eat it and not complain but eventually my husband said “just send it back” hopefully this helps someone in making their dinner choice, this was just...