Steiner Ranch Steakhouse — Restaurant in Lakeway

We booked a table for 7 people on August 10 at 7:15pm to celebrate both our son and son-in law’s birthdays. The reception was like a circus when we arrived at about 10 minutes before our booking time, and we checked in at the desk. After waiting patiently until 7:30pm we asked when we would get seated and we were told it would be a few more minutes. 15 minutes later we asked again for a timeline and were informed that there was a glitch in the booking system and another party was seated at our table, and they were working on a solution. Another 15 minutes passed and still no table so we asked to see a manager. Jason came to assure us they were trying their best to accommodate us, but they were waiting on a couple of tables that were on dessert, but it could be a while. Although Jason was reasonably apologetic he made no effort to placate the inconvenience of waiting 45 minutes; not even the offer of a round of drinks while we waited. I suggested that some drinks would help with the wait, which Jason was about to organize, as the table became available, so we moved to the dining room, 60 minutes after our booking time. During our 1 hour wait we discussed calling some other nearby restaurants to see if they had availability, but we agreed to stick with it; BIG mistake! The first round of drinks, which Jason offered to comp, took another 20 minutes to be served. Appetizers and entree’s were ordered and the appetizers arrived in reasonable time, and the quality was as we would have expected. I had been looking forward to the prime rib, but Stephen, our server informed me that it was sold out, which, if we’d been seated in time, would not have been the case! We all finished our appetizers, salads and soups at around 9:15pm and ordered a bottle of Stag’s Leap Cabernet to accompany our now highly anticipated steaks. The bottle was drained, as were our glasses by 9:55pm, but no entree’s had arrived from the kitchen! At this point our patience was definitely wearing thin, so I asked to see Jason, but I was told he had gone home (lucky guy!), so another manager, Steven, arrived at our table to deescalate what had become a very tense ordeal, rather than a pleasant double birthday celebration. He offered to comp the appetizers, which was appreciated, but he completely missed the point that it was 10:00pm, our entrees still hadn’t been served and it was way passed our grandson’s bed time and certainly way too late for him to be eating dinner! Steven’s disinterested demeanor and lack of eye contact was the last straw, so I told him that he should consider comping the whole meal, to which he replied that he wasn’t authorized to do that. I asked him to find someone who was, but we never saw him again after he left the dining room throwing tray stands into the corner of the room and crashing around in a rage! The entrees eventually arrived a little after 10:00pm but way too late to eat and enjoy, so the food was all boxed and bagged to take home. The final bill for this disastrous evening, even after the first round of drinks and appetizers being comped was still $822 (including 20% tip), over $100 a head! We reluctantly paid the bill and left with 3 bags of ‘takeout’...

Update August 2025

We had a much better experience at Steiner Ranch this visit. Still not 5-star, but much improved. Food this visit was the buffalo quail legs appetizer. The dish would have been much better if the buffalo sauce was served on the side with the gorgonzola dressing. The excess sauce on the quail legs made the breading soggy, not crisp. NY strip and grilled snapper entrees were both very good. Steak was cooked perfectly, the fish was a nice size, adorned with a nice portion of lump crab. Sautéed mushrooms were delicious. Plenty of leftovers! Nice visit!

Update January 2025

One of our worst experiences at SRS to date. Let me say up front, it was a normal evening dinner crowd... not busy! But we did hear from the staff that they were already sending waiters home when we sat down at 6:45pm.

Service 2 stats... JJ was our waitress, missed a meal course when serving, brought the wrong bottle of wine, attentiveness came and went, charged for a dessert we didn't want. We had a guest for a birthday, didn't want the gratis bread pudding usually given for a birthday, just wanted a couple of scoops of ice cream. Got the bread pudding anyway, and charged for the ice cream!

Food 3 stars... very little lobster in the $12 a pop "lobster butter," several toppings way too salty (very common at SRS!), entrees served after appetizer... kitchen out to lunch, we missed soup and salad, steaks were OK, but also salty, mash potatoes unremarkable, bacon wrapped scallops small, stuffed shrimp undercooked, topping salty (a theme emerging), other sides blah!. They push the $35/$25 PER OZ wagyu steaks... cannot be worth it with as poor as the food is in general. Even a great cut of steak cannot overcome poor presentation, just glad we didn't get suckered into the wagyu!

Wine List 2 stars... exceptional list, outrageously priced. Thank goodness I recognized the waitress brought the wrong bottle to the table before she opened it. Would not have enjoyed the battle over not paying for what she brought!

A very subpar meal at an over the top price. The value simply is not there for the cost. Skip dinner, go to the brunch, drink water or tea. Thanks the only value to be had at SRS! Cannot recommend anything else.

PS Jackie did a great job on the piano, but too loud for the small dining room, we couldn't hear the waitress!

Prior Review

Stopped by Steiner Ranch Steakhouse for a mid-afternoon lunch/dinner, very disappointing ... Jesse, our waiter, was awesome! Let me say that upfront... maybe it was the time of day, but there were no menus with the hostess, no wine list, no cocktail list, all were seemingly AWOL, and it took almost 15 minutes to get the menus. We had several specialty cocktails, a bottle of wine, it was a hefty tab. That said, much of the food was a miss... the chicken fried lobster tail, was over cooked. An expensive Wagyu filet was very salty, as was the sauteed mushrooms served on the side. A tortilla crusted flounder was "over-crusted" more cornmeal than fish. Perhaps it was the lull between Sunday brunch and dinner, not sure. In any event, for the price you pay at SRS, everything should be on point. A very...

My husband and I came in for our anniversary Saturday 4-28-24. We have never been more humiliated or angered by a dinning experience. My husband is black and I am white and Mexican but white passing. Imagine taking your wife out for a fine dining experience and being treated like Pookie at the BBQ joint in the hood because this was our experience. Our server Tony literally dabbed my husband up like they were homies playing ball. He leaned up against the wall by our table the entire time. The table next to us two white couples had the same server and were spoken to respectfuly in complete sentences. The language we recieved "yea alrite.. i gotchu..naghh...bet..its good" We get it Tony "You're down" but in truth that was one of the most degrading, insulting, and racist experience in 20 years of being in an inter racial marriage. My husband is one of the most humble and respectful christian men you could ever meet. He has a professional career and is an honest hard working family man. For Tony to treat anyone with such a stereotypical attitude based on their race is absolutely appalling and disgraceful. Other guest around us were getting a fine dining experience but we were stereotyped. Ive spent a lot of time in fine dining establishments and never had this happen before. This was insulting, shameful, and unacceptable. In addition to the racist services there were serveral other issues. When we ordered our drinks i specifically ask for drink recommendations that were not soda and non alcoholic. My husband doesnt drink. He was only suggesyed unsweetened tea. And I asked ahain thats all you have? Tony responded Ill bring you a good drink dont worry. Only to bring my husband a frozen fruity alcoholic drink. My husband doesnt complain ever so he kept the drink because he said he could barely taste the alcohol and it would be fine. Ask for menus suggestions Ordered two rebeyes per suggestion. A ceaser salad and a french onion soup. Never recieved the soup and asked Tony if he could order me a different salad because the ceaser tasted only like mayo not ceaser dressing. I eat ceaser dressing several times a week. Tony suggested just taking ut off the bill. I explained that I did want a salad but the dressing only tasted like mayo and could i order another salad "sure what do you want" I dont know can I see a menu. This was our first time there. Tony looks at the menus he is holding "I have a wine list and a dessert menu." I guess letting me see the menu again was too much to ask. So I said well i love most salad. "What kinda dressing do you want" Im not sure what do you have? He list a few and I pick one and he brings me another salad. I asked for a togo box and when Tony reached fir my plate to box my food I said Id rather box it my self. Ive always thought it was gross for someone to touch my left overs. But he insisted and took my plates from me regardless of my request. We paid and he took this as another opportunity to dab...