Longhorn Barbecue — Restaurant in Spokane Valley

We just moved to town and was looking for a good BBQ place so we checked online and this place was close and had decent reviews so we decided to try it. We both decided on the buffet. It was $20 per person plus I think $2.50 for the drink. So $45, it did cost more because it wasn't self-serve everything, drinks are brought by staff, so add in the tip as well, which is an added expense for just drinks. It did seem pretty pricey but figured it was because of all the great meats. -Atmosphere- nothing exciting, but nothing horrible either -The staff was all friendly, our server seemed to see our empty drinks but ignore them, he was happy to bring more but always had to wave him down.

• spoiler alert* This review is based on the buffet only, maybe they just don't put any effort into it and the menu items are done better? Sorry in advance to this review, but I don't feed people BS in my reviews. Meats- 4- and sorry to say they were just not good, are the boiled and then put in oven to bake the bbq sauce on? No flavor but the sauce. I wonder about the people giving the buffet a good review?? Do they know no different? Have they ever made bbq themselves even? The sauces were ok at best, go to any grocery store and flip a coin to pick a bbq sauce and you will most certainly end up with a much better sauce. (even the dollar store would work) The clam chowder was pretty good...not "great", the sever said it won awards? green salad, it is pretty hard to ruin it, but honestly I did like the Thousand Island dressing, so this was both or our favorite part of the whole meal. (sad I know, expensive salad) -We didn't try the baked potato, more because we thought we should force some value down our throats and eat the meat. -Baked beans... umm, just by a can of Bush's baked beans or something and ask them to heat it up for you lol mac salad and cheese potatoes were just ok -The dessert- what dessert? All they had was a piece of white cake with funfetti frosting, which you can make better at home for like $2-3 for the whole cake. We each took a bite and left the rest, it just didn't go with the meal...just a super cheap easy way out of even trying to make something good for the clients. (if they are going to have just 1 dessert shouldn't they put in ANY effort into it? guess not) Nope, NO cookies, ice cream, brownies, jello, pudding, fruit salad or any kind, etc etc...nope nope nope, just plain old white cake. It truly amazes me.

Moral of the story: WAY WAY WAY overpriced for a VERY small buffet, (salad bars in some restaurants are bigger than this whole buffet) They honestly shouldn't even do a buffet here, since it is so small and just no effort put into it. Very low end bbq, no flavor...didn't even seem bbqed to us. Forced ourselves to eat it so we didn't just completely waste $60. Nothing was "horrible" so I guess it was like a 2.0 star buffet but more expensive and much smaller. Hence 1-star If people think this is good bbq, they need to try virtually any other place (now I say that, but maybe there is no good bbq in the area, so people think this is good?) I saw someone mention it has been around 50 year...maybe people grew up with this and was just raised that it was supposed to be good? Who knows? I know they won't change after 50 years, but felt an honest review from someone outside the area might...

Terrible service! Started out with a confusing takeout order. Missing items, overcharged for sides. Called once to talk about the missing item. It was never on the written ticket so we didn't get it. Didn't get charged for it so really not a problem, just had to share some entres. Not a big deal. However, when we started to look at the receipt we realized we were missing a side order we were charged for. Ok time to call back and get at least that refunded. Accidentally called the Airway Heights store and the manager there (Kim?) Really wanted our business back. We hadn't really enjoyed the food aside from two items and the missing/overcharged plus we live more than 30 minutes away from either store.

Anyway, the Airway store manager was willing to give a giftcard more than 5 times the cost of what we were overcharged for. Then she realized we didn't order from there. I apologized and proceeded to call the other store. Talked to their manager (Ray?). Explained the situation and waited on hold for a bit while he found the tickets. He tried to write down that we were missing the side and to catch us next time. I said we were not ever coming back because of the situation we had been through. He told me that I would have to come into the store in order to refund the card receipt. Well not when I live that far away I'm not going to. Besides, they should have a way to do it, especially when I had the card and itemized receipt. I asked why he needed me in person. He didn't answer. Told him I was for sure not coming in and he said, "Well you have a good night, sir." Like he didn't want to deal with the situation. At this point I became very frustrated and told him how the other manager was a lot more helpful and that he wasn't at which point he HUNG UP! What terrible customer service! Will never go back to this store even if we break down in the parking lot. In fact, if we did, I'd rather push the car back into the street and wait for the tow there!

As for the Airway Heights store, we will see. Still wasn't thrilled with the food so...

I want to say that everything was terrific but I can't. I gave it 5 stars because it measured up to what was advertised. It was a steak house and there where long horns on the wall. At 4:30pm there was only a couple people there eating so I can't really speak to the overall atmosphere.

The dishwasher that served us was attentive and polite. However somewhat lacking in table manners. When I told him I'd heard about the amazing buffet and asked when that would be available, he pulled the menu from my hands, turned it over and dropped his finger into the box that listed the dates and times. Later when my partner asked if a particular steak sauce was available, he rotated the sauce caddy, again dropped his finger on the ketchup, and said "This is as closes as you're gonna get." There was more, but I'm sure I've delivered sufficient examples.

The steak arrived on a pretty big plate with a baked potato on the other side. While I'm reasonably sure it was the correct size of steak ordered, I can't help but feel cheated because of the appearance of that little steak centered on the monster plate. A $25 steak and potato, paid an additional $3.50 for the up sell grilled mushrooms and onions,.. and there was still a lot of plate empty. Something about the presentation seemed really disappointing. (Just a thought, but would it really break the bank to toss something else on the plate to give the appearance that is a good value? Or perhaps elect to use a smaller plate.)

As for the flavor - it was a steak, it was cooked properly,... there was nothing about it to warrant having another at that price. The restaurant - it matched with the idea of a grand steak house. In all, not likely a place that I'll go back too unless I'm asked by someone else. Just my take on the experience I had on the day that I went to...