LongHorn Steakhouse — Restaurant in Round Rock

Today we tried to have a farewell dinner for my brother-in-law who is shipping out to the Marine Corps first thing in the morning. Knowing that we were a bigger party (8-9), we called ahead at 4:00pm in an attempt to give them a heads up that we were coming. After making contact with staff, the man on the other end of the phone advised that he was thankful that we called ahead, and to call back at 6:00pm to check in and make sure no one "forgets" that our party is coming. At 6:00pm on the dot, we called (as requested) and advised staff that we would be arriving shortly, after speaking to Brad Bell (managing partner), he advised that we were checked in and on the list. After checking with the host stand, we were advised that some larger tables were ahead of us and the wait would still be about 30 minutes. No big deal, we understood and waited patiently. NEARLY 2 HOURS LATER, I approached the host stand, and asked if they had an estimate on how much longer our wait would be. The host advised that our party was next, and they were just waiting to clear off tables. No big deal, we continued to wait. After approximately another 30 minutes, we approached the host stand and spoke with the host again, before we could get an answer as to how much longer it would take to clean off the table, Jessica Strozier (Manager) rudely interrupted mid sentence, and snapped rudely at us something to the effect of "I ALREADY TOLD YOU IT WAS GONNA BE HOURS". Dumbfounded, I looked at her confused as I have never spoken to this woman in my life. It was at this moment that I explained to her and asked her "We were told 30 minutes, two hours ago, and then told we were next and were just waiting on tables to be cleaned. That was 30 minutes ago. How much longer are we going to have to wait for these tables to be cleaned?" Jessica Strozier replied rudely "I already told you, HOURS..". With it nearly being 9:00pm, I advised her that we would be leaving, as we had already waited over 2 hours, and were being told we still had "HOURS" left. Jessica Strozier continued to stand there with a snarky expression on her face, and sarcastically stated "Awe, I'm sorry to hear that." Now being frustrated due to the absolutely horrible customer service and communication being displayed by Jessica Strozier, I asked her to provide the number for her corporate office. Jessica's demeanor immediately changed as she appeared to be caught off guard and flustered. Jessica fumbled around on her phone for a few minutes before jotting a phone number down that was COMPLETELY UNREADABLE. This was an obvious attempt to deter a phone call to a supervisory figure. Typically, we eat at this restaurant once a week, and this was absolutely positively the worst experience at ANY longhorn steakhouse we have eaten...

I stopped for dinner at Longhorn after a family member told me how much she and a friend enjoyed their meal the other week. The short version was that she said the meal we experienced on Monday night wasn't at all what she experienced.

Service. Very off. We went long periods without seeing our server. In fact, we almost left while waiting to be acknowledged after being seated. We finally had someone come by to take our drink order. Then both the salad and entrees took forever to show up. We also had to request the bread that other tables were getting. While our server was friendly, she was rarely seen.

Food. Definitely needed improvement. My sirloin was on the rare side of medium and really didn't have much flavor - either in terms of seasoning or even tasting grilled. The fries were standard frozen food service fries. The grilled mushrooms I got were probably the best thing I ordered, but they were more like sauteed mushrooms than grilled. My dining companion had an even worse experience with her chicken fried steak. The steak was over fried -- almost like it was either fried twice or left too long in the fryer. Her brussels sprouts were overpowered by the honey sauce on them. The mashed potatoes were literally cold, as evidenced by both the taste and the fact that the giant glob of cold butter placed on top of them didn't melt at all.

To top off the meal, our check had a link at the bottom to pay from your phone. That sounded easy enough, especially considering our server's long absences. Scanning the QR code on the receipt didn't lead us to a link to pay, but to download their app, which then required signing up for. The process was so convoluted that waiting for our server to come back and run the credit card was actually easier.

I don't doubt that the good experiences others have described are accurate. But this huge inconsistency between those experiences and mine on Monday night are why I'll...

👍👍 Fathers day. We had lunch. I had chopped steak and mashed potatoes with a salad, my wife had a burger and a salad. The place was packed with folks enjoying the day, the staff was great and the food was very good. Good overall experiece. The last few times we have eaten here, it reminds me of the Longhorn of old. Good food, good staff and a good atmosphere.

😃😃 Update.5/1/2022 We had the Texas Tonion for appetizer. I had a salad. I had Salmon with a baked potato. My wife had a strawberry salad with some shrimp from the wild west shrimp appetizer mixed in. This is her own making and she said it is very good. The waiter was great. All and all a good experience. I have written some negative reviews in the past. The last few times we have been here it has been like the Longhorn we used to be accustomed too. Good food and good service. The one thing they could bring back is a salad made with iceberg lettuce. Thier mixed green salad is ok and one of the managers said it was more colorfull. To me, I think there is nothing better than the iceberg lettuce. It is cold, crunchy and has a better taste. Also they could do a better presentation on thier salads. They aren't very eye appealing. Other than that, all is well.

😀😀Update: 12/31/2021 5:08 PM We stopped by for early dinner. Server Mariana was great. We both had chopped steak; salads and I had the house mac and cheese. The food was all very good. We have always enjoyed the atmosphere here. Hope this carries over to 2022.

🌞🌞 11/12 Today we had Wild West Shrimp for an appetizer. They were good. The service was good. Server Courtney was polite and professional. My wife had a maverick ribeye sandwich and I had chopped steak with house mac and cheese. They were good also. Last but not least we both had garden salads. They were good and cold and the best part is Longhorn finally brought their thousand island Dressing back. 👍👍. Happy days...