Scotch & Sirloin — Restaurant in Wichita

My birthday dinner celebration! Meal 1: (Evening special) beef tenderloins (asked for medium), 2 shrimp, rosemary baby potatoes, and French onion soup/Meal 2: ribeye, twice baked potato, French onion soup

We walked in for our reservation right on time. The manager acknowledged my birthday and when our waitress came to take our drink order, she too acknowledged my birthday.

Drinks were brought out and delicious. French onion soup brought to table steaming hot along with bread loaf a few minutes later hot from the oven. The meals were both brought out within minutes after this.

Meal 1: Beef tenderloins were rare, shrimp were over cooked, potatoes were done. Waitress was informed, apologized and took the plate was taken back to the kitchen to book the beef tenderloins to medium. The plate came back out super hot to the table. After cutting into the beef tenderloins a second time, the outside pieces were grilled to medium and the inside pieces were still at rare. Again the waitress was informed. She agreed and said she would take them to the kitchen to have chef grill them again for the THIRD time. The manager came over the informed us that the chef was going to make a new plate and the executive chef was going to supervise was going to supervise the cooking. This was a $60 meal.

There is absolutely NO REASON there should have been a THIRD time these went back to the kitchen to be grilled again. It took 25 MINUTES for the plate to come back out. I was done eating by the time my friend's meal came back out. When it did come back out, the shrimp was overcooked with an iodine taste, but the beef tenderloins were medium. (NOTE: The table behind us also had to send their steaks back to the kitchen to have grilled again.)

Meal 2: The ribeye was cooked to medium as requested and rest of the meal tasted good.

When the ticket came out to pay, the waitress informed us that the manager had taken the drinks off the bill - basically a $20 discount for having to grill beef tenderloins 2x and fix a new plate. When we explained the situation to the waitress again, she said she would talk to the manager. She came back with the revised ticket with an additional $10 off. The manager couldn't/wouldn't even come over and apologize or comp the $60 meal that the chef & executive chef couldn't get right the first, second, and third times.

It was my birthday. The manager and waitress both knew. Neither of them offered a complimentary dessert or anything. Very disappointing. However, at the same time, after the experience we had, the whole evening was a disappointment at one of Wichita's finest...

The food was immaculate, no complaints there. Our server, Bianca, was not.

Bianca, if you’re reading this, here are my points of feedback from someone who also spent 10+yrs in the fine dining industry. 1a) look at things before you bring them to the customers table. If something is obviously wrong, get the kitchen/ bar to fix/measure it before you bring it to the table. Don’t “go to bat” for us when we say it’s wrong. We shouldn’t have to tell you that something is a taster sip of scotch, and obviously not a double. 0.5 ounces looks very different than 2.5 ounces. 1b) this goes along with not bringing out things that are obviously wrong: take responsibility for issues your tables experience, rather than providing excuses or shifting blame. Just say “oh yeah that’s not what you ordered, I’m so sorry and I’ll be right back with it.” People aren’t dumb, they can tell. Treat them that way. 2) show every table in your section the same level of respect and service, especially if they’re right next to each other. Obvious preference for one table, then dismissiveness/avoidance for the other will make the other feel singled out and intentionally ignored. 3) if you’re going to box up a customers food then box up everything they paid for. If someone ordered sides, or sauces that cost extra, then those should go in the box. If you don’t have to-go ramekins, just ask “is it ok if I put this with everything else? I don’t have a container for it so it might mix with other things. Is that ok?” That would be better than just throwing out the food they paid for.

I might not be surprised to see these issues at Red Robin, but they weren’t right for a place like Scotch and Sirloin. These are basic things that should be a given.

Normally I never go below a 20% tip, and let it go up from there. You were the first 18% tip we’ve given in many years. If I hadn’t been in the industry so long and didn’t know what it’s like to be in FOH as a server, we might have...

I wish I could give the Scotch a higher rating than three stars because it has long been a well-known local spot. But, unfortunately, I think 4 stars is a stretch. The atmosphere is pleasant, and with a great improvement of the interior and exterior since the remodel.

My visit on April 11th for my mother's birthday was a success only because we enjoy "fine dining" together. Otherwise, the food ranged between unacceptable to good.

We ordered the bacon wrapped, grilled shrimp as a starter. You could have bounced it across the floor and shot a hoop with it; obviously, far too done. We mentioned it to our server, a nice enough woman, but who appeared uncomfortable and clueless about addressing the complaint. Because of that fact, and despite paying $21 for 4 average sized (nothing jumbo about them, seriously) chew balls, I left it alone. The salad was tasty, but basic. I thought the ribeye steak was good, but it wasn't evenly cooked at the requested temp. The variety of side dishes was good and the ones we had were tasty. What was surprisingly disappointing was the flavorless "Oscar" I requested as an add on to the steak. My mom didn't think either the steak or topping were flavorful enough for her. I did like that you could share a steak, particularly because they have such large sizes. I cannot say that the price met it's value during this experience. Point in case, the $9 glass of house zinfandel I requested is usually about $6/glass at other restaurants that serve it around town. That's because you can buy the very same brand for about $7 a bottle retail. It's really kind of tacky to speak of prices, which I don't think I've ever done before now. But, for an expensive meal, I almost felt cheated, which in turn keeps me thinking...