Cowboys Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Ontario

I took my mom to this restaurant for her birthday. The following are the pros and cons we encountered:

Pros:

1. The decor was as you'd expect, and the restaurant was in the condition you'd expect given how old the building is at this point
2. We showed up shortly after they opened for lunch, and they were not busy - we were seated promptly.
3. The wait for our order was reasonable.
4. The food was nicely seasoned, and pretty good overall.
5. The lunch specials are a good value.

Cons:

1. The service was not what you'd expect. My water remained empty without a refill. After delivering our entrees, the waitress did not check back in with us until my mother had finished eating and was waiting for a box, and I had about 4 bites of steak left on my plate. Given the restaurant was not busy when we arrived, nor when we left, this was concerning.
2. Both my mother's and my steaks were cooked medium to medium well. We had both ordered medium rare. While my steak had a tiny bit of pink in the absolute center, it was grey everywhere else. If the waitress had checked back in, I do not think I would have sent my steak back, as despite being overcooked the flavor was still good, but it certainly was not as juicy as I wished it would have been. It would have been nice to have been able to relay the information to the chef, though.
3. Nitpicky, but: the upcharge for vegetables instead of the standard sides was supposed to be $2.00 according to what I read on the menu - I ordered double vegetables and ended up with a $5.00 upcharge. By my math, this does not compute.
4. The menu prices are probably a little higher than most people really want to pay in Ontario, Oregon - especially for overcooked steaks.
5. The mens restroom, while clean, has some items of maintenance that probably should be addressed, and it does give some concern when you notice this.

Overall: I will probably return. The food was pretty good, and I want to see if maybe they will do better next time - as the potential seems to be here. However, if I do return, I will certainly only order from the lunch specials menu, and I will be more mindful with my tip. I should have given a much smaller tip given the waitress did not perform as she should have, and the lack of service was the most disappointing part...

I really had high expectations. I really don't know where to begin, so will start with, we had reservations for 6:00pm We were seated right next to the door which didn't lend itself to a quiet conversation. We ordered fried green beans for an appetizer. I ordered the ribeye my friends, the finger steaks and a sirloin. We ordered, tea and pops for drinks.The green beans were one big glob stuck together, so the nibble factor was gone to be replaced with ripping, and tearing apart. Then the main course...there was a film on the gravy because it had sat too long. My meat was not hot. It was not trimmed properly and was over 25% fat, the silver skin was not removed which means I couldn't cut it and I couldn't eat it. I ordered medium rare and it was definitely rare. My friend's finger steaks were the worst either of us had ever had.. There was no seasoning, they were also rare and extremely tough. The meat had an off flavor, like it had been in the fridge one day too long. She didn't eat them, and we both boxed them up to feed to the dogs. This is no joke. It's exactly what happened. Our glasses were never filled without asking... it's her job to ask us if we want or need. We left a generous 20% tip, but none of us want to return. Nyssa has better steaks and better service. I imagine with a couple of beers it all would have tasted better. I eat out a lot. There are much better steaks to be had. The finger steaks were just the worst ever. I want to emphasize...

Front of house service has been great both times we went. Last time in they let us know there were only 2 people on the floor so might be a little bit of a wait time. I guess I assumed she didn't mean in the kitchen. Food came out at-least 1 hour after we ordered.

Burgers were less than impressive. Very salty and over seasoned and for that price put some quality veggies on there. There was like one piece of lettuce that was wilted, tomatoes paper thin and pickles that looked like they came straight from McDonald's, one of the burgers had onions on it the other didn't. Bottom bun was soggy probably due to the fact veggies were placed on top of the patty not under it. Best part of both burgers was the cheese.

We had a nice little Sunday planned lunch then a few errands to run. By the time we got out of there it was time to go home and do chores. We came in at 12:30 and left at 2:45, only 20 minutes of that was actually spent eating. FOH was nice and apologized multiple times but dang sure didn't discount our food any! Be nice if the food quality matched the prices or at least the level of service out front. Both those girls could've easily been drowning on the floor and handled it...