Steamers BBQ — Restaurant in Winfield

🚫 RUDE OWNER, TERRIBLE FOOD, THREATENED WITH POLICE OVER HONEST FEEDBACK 🚫

I visited Steamers BBQ yesterday with a friend, hoping the new ownership would uphold the quality and service Tony Steamers was known for. Unfortunately, our experience was nothing short of disappointing.

We ordered to-go and took our food home. Once we opened the boxes, we were shocked at the lack of quality. • Fries: No seasoning. • Garlic Bread & Coleslaw: Bland and sad. • Brisket: GRAY in color with no smokering and somehow tasted gray too. • Burnt Ends: Dry and nearly inedible unless drenched in BBQ sauce, which I used my own cause none was provided

I spent around $35 on my meal (including a tip I now regret), and my friend ended up ditching his plate entirely for 99-cent ramen — which was miles better.

The real problem, though, came today when I returned to calmly speak with someone about the poor experience. I wasn’t aggressive, loud, or rude. I simply wanted to talk it through and see if someone would take accountability.

Instead, the owner was immediately hostile. He approached me with a confrontational “what’s the problem?” and quickly became dismissive and disrespectful. • He spoke over me. • Accused me of lying about what I ordered and how much I paid. • Kept repeating “our numbers don’t match what you’re saying” without even looking me in the eye. • Told me, “Sounds like your problem, not mine.” • When I declined to ask a nearby family if they liked their food, which he had told me to do so I stated “no I’m here to talk to YOU about it” I don’t even know why he’d bother to say such a thing as I’m sure they’d just like to enjoy their meal, he could’ve asked them himself to prove his point if he was so confident but of course he didn’t.

After he had enough of my honest opinion regarding this food he started walking away and said “I think you should leave” I said “are you serious is this how you treat your customers” and happily said yes while still walking away and after I tried to continue to see why he was so hostile and why so dismissive he continued to say “you should leave” even stated I should go before “it got bad” then shortly after threatened me with calling the police, not once had I raised my voice or had any malicious intent behind me, only time I raised my voice was once I was walking out the door I spoke up and said “have a good day”

Let that sink in: I came in respectfully, as a paying customer, just to speak about a bad experience — and he threatened me with the police instead of owning up to anything. Not a single staff member stepped in. No apology, no accountability, no professionalism.

I feel sorry for what Tony’s once-loved restaurant has turned into.

⚠️ If you value your time, money, or basic respect as a customer — avoid this place. They serve subpar food and treat feedback like a threat. AVOID AT...

Me and my buddy live near what used to be "Tony steamers" now it's "steamers bbq" we wanted to give it a try since we've grown up around Tony steamers and their hot dogs, my buddy got a brisket plate with a side of fries and garlic bread, he paid about $25 for the whole thing, I myself got brisket and the beef burnt ends alongside fries and bread and paid about $34 plus a tip that wasn't even needed, my buddy had his doubts about the place cause once we had sat down he saw our brisket get pulled out of the fridge which makes us think it was just microwaved, although they have revamped the interior and it does look nice it definitely does not match the food, my honest opinion would be that this could pass as dog food, there's no smoke ring on the brisket and even the bbq sauce could be better, like I'd drench this in sweet baby rays and it MIGHT be better, the burnt ends are chewy and not tender chewy to say the least, the fries had no seasoning on them and I could get better fries from McDonald's, the garlic bread barely even had a taste of garlic AND ITS GARLIC BREAD, overall I'm NOT HAPPY with this food and how the new owners are trying to turn this place into a bbq spot, it definitely seems like they're trying to save money with their products and it's definitely showing, I honestly won't be back for any of the bbq cause that's how disappointing it is and might not even be back for the hotdogs cause I don't know if I could trust it to be good or at least edible cause I'll tell ya what, this bbq is on the brink of not being edible or enjoyable, don't waste your time or money with "Steamers bbq" cause it's no where near on par with decent food, very...

They used to be so good. Today was a chicken parmigiana sandwich and breaded mushrooms. Mushrooms: not much flavor to them, plus an order consists of 8 mushrooms. Definitely not worth the money. I would be willing to pay the price for them if they were hand breaded and had flavor, not Cisco food.

Chicken parm sandwich: just okay. Normally it is breaded chicken; I asked if I could get a char-grilled chicken instead. The cashier was polite and friendly and said sure (she's the only reason for a 2 star). The guys cooking the food seemed confused and irritated with my order. Sandwich is served on a regular burger bun with mediocre sauce and cheese. It was just okay; on a better bun, better sauce it would be good.

So my other complaint: the fried mushrooms were done before the chicken sandwich was; so they were sitting, Sitting, Sitting. Lucky they were still warm, not hot, but warm.

I'm struggling with supporting them. I like supporting local places and have frequented them in the past. I’m also struggling with the complaints, comments and stares from the guys cooking, seems like they don’t want to be there. They used to have long lunch lines, but not any more. Judging from the food quality going down and quantity; customers are heading elsewhere.

So,...