Steak ’n Shake — Restaurant in Portage

This location has gone through serious decline in the past few years of eating here. This used to be somewhat of a tradition between me and several friends that we would always go to Steak n Shake as an end to our Saturday nights. Today, however, is a totally different experience.

We will start with the drive thru. This is arguably this location's weakest link. The Taco Bell down the road is only slightly better and I've waited up to 25 minutes for my food with only a single car in front of me there. It also takes forever to get acknowledged when you pull up and even then, the person taking your order is inattentive and their tone gives you the impression that they hate their job and don't even want to be there. There is no enthusiasm or impression that they put any effort into their job. This is evidenced by the fact that you can order a bacon and cheese double and they will forget the bacon. I mean, it's only in the name right? Or if you ask for light ice in your drink and you get a cup filled to the brim with ice. That's light enough, I guess. Absolute lack of effort and just not caring about the job you are supposed to be performing. Additionally, the screen that most drive thrus have that show you your order? That screen has been broken for as long as I can remember. Where is the maintenance and repairs?

Eating inside is better, but only due to the fact that you typically get your food quickly and that if your food is wrong, you don't have to drive back to the location to get your order fixed. The positives end here. The wait staff tend to be having conversations of varying degrees of their personal life that you can hear from most seats in the restaurant. Relationships, drama, who slept with who, etc. I don't care to hear this. These are not professional conversations that need to be held in a restaurant establishment. If you really must have these conversations, make sure not to broadcast it to the entire restaurant. I'm sure the other customers don't care either.

As far as the food goes, the food is a saving grace. It's always fresh. I've never had a poorly cooked meal even if the order wasn't correct. The drinks, pop specifically, always taste flat. I opt for the shakes that are always pretty great. There was one occasion where it took over half an hour to get shakes when the restaurant was not busy at all, but this was a one time occurrence.

The management is also terrible. From what I can tell, there is only one manager. A blond woman with curly hair. She is by far one of the laziest women I've ever seen. On one visit, there was only one server taking care of a whole section by herself looking obviously overwhelmed. The manager did not lift a finger to help. Instead, she was busy having more restaurant inappropriate conversations with other off the clock employees. This by far is the most unacceptable thing I have ever seen from management staff in any restaurant ever. Completely irresponsible to both her employee and her customers. Disgraceful.

Overall, the biggest problem with this location is the staff and management. Most of them have no motivation to perform their job with at least half the effort required. There are some good employees, but they are the minority. The only thing I see making a change in this location is a complete change of staff. This complete lack of motivation and laziness has ruined what used to be a great...

My 6 year old and myself had a long appointment and don't eat out much so We decided to go there for lunch. We got all our food. I ordered tea so She had to make it then when it was done added a little bit of sugar out of a bag and used another cup with ice to make it colder. It wasn't good. It didn't even taste like sweet tea. The lady asked how was everything and I said good because it was. I didn't drink that tea or get anything else. I was just waiting until I left to fill it up for My son and I to share. We got done and I asked if I can get another drink because I didn't like the tea and the lady that first helped Me came up so She was about to but I had to back up to figure out what My son wanted and by the time I went back to tell her She was telling another employee I'd get it if She gave Me the "Damn" cup. I'm just like wait did you just say that? She said something I couldn't hear. I told her that was really rude not even nessesarry. I asked to speak to a manager and She said She was the owner and I said wow. Never mind I'm good. I don't even want anything. At that point I didn't want her to even touch My cup. She walked away right before I said that. I did rebuke her in the name of Jesus. She has a horrible spirit. She should not be working in anything to do with customers. I was very happy and having a good day but that's how demonic spirits works. I guess My light irritated her demons. Anyways someone needs to do something about her. Ask the one that said She was an owner 12/10/24 and let her explain. That was ridiculous and very unacceptable. You don't know what peace are going through that's why I still tried to be nice but She's straight demonic. She didn't like Me for a reason and that's a problem treating someone you don't know the way She did with My 6 year old son next to Me. I won't and don't have anything good to say about this location. My daughter has an appointment tomorrow and Wednesday were going to go there for lunch again but I'd NEVER step foot in that energy again. God bless! I'm praying for that store. It was ALL good until She disrespected Me the way She did and...

I want to start off by saying that I’ve been going to Steak N Shake since I was a little kid and I’ve always loved it. The decor, the service, the cute glasses that the shakes used to come in, but now I am starting to despise it!! It may just be at my location in Portage, IN, but the food is not good anymore. I’m not sure if it’s just the people preparing it or if they are not making sure it’s not old, but I’m not sure. My first complaint is that everytime I go, they are either out of shakes, chili, or even both half of the time. Everytime I go, they always get something wrong with my order. This time I went, today, is where I had to draw the line. I pulled up, and was not even greeted by the cashier.. I was told “what can I make you”. Ok sometimes if people are in a rush I understand, so I order my combos and am surprised to see that they did have shakes this time to my surprise! Then I go to order my chili, it’s my favorite around, and of course “we are out of chili”. This cashier was very short with me, I seemed like a problem to this girl. So I pull up to the window and I’m waiting and waiting, this girl doesn’t even come and greet me or take my money until the food is ready. Then she again doesn’t say hi, just waits for the money. Mind you, I wasn’t even told the total at all, so I gave her money and i guess not enough because she had to tell me she needed more. I said thank you so many times and not one response from her. Very rude. Not even a have a good day, that’s so disrespectful. To top it all off, I get home to eat, and my hot dog bun has mold on it, my fries tasted very weird like the grease needed changed or something, my mother’s garlic burger was a regular burger that looked like it was sat on, and all of our medium fries were half full. The only good thing about the meal were the shakes that we actually got this time. I am extremely disappointed in the service and the quality of our food.. and I don’t think I’ll be back for a while until I know that they are...