Steak ‘n Shake

The Carbondale location of Steak ‘n Shake is the worst location of this chain that I’ve ever been to.
The food is pretty average and consistent with the rest of the chain. It’s fast, it’s greasy, it’s cheap, and it’s open ²⁴⁄₇. You ultimately get what you pay for. I usually get a grilled cheese melt and fries, with a shake. The shakes are really why I come here. I like the birthday cake flavor because it has chunks of cake in it, but the cookie butter one is a close second.
The problem here is the service. It is ALWAYS slow. When it’s crowded? Slow. When we are the only table? Slow. It doesn’t matter. The servers always seem bored and annoyed when people come in to eat. Last time she got my order wrong, but never came back into the dining area, so that was nice. There’s usually something wrong with the drive thru as well– it’s not a speedier option. One time we tried to go back more than once that night, but one time the computers was down, the next there was a delivery truck parked in the drive thru unloading product, and then when we finally got to the drive thru, I got the wrong shake.
This is a good place for the drunk ²⁴⁄₇ factor, but not much else. There’s better restaurants in Carbondale for sure, and even on the same street.

Sitting in the drive thru as we speak Dec. 7^th 2015 at 1:40am… WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!!! This is one of those moments where I’ll assume the only reason ur treating me bad is because we’re black… Came down to support some family at the local university… Afterwards we decide on food before heading to the hotel… We stop at steak and shake… We make an order… My room mate (in the car) ask for an Oreo shake… When we go to the window we are greeted to pay and receive beverages… This rude ass middle aged guy is our server… My room mate sips her shake and says the chocolate in it is too much… We honk the horn to get our servers attention to ask if we can get the shake w/​out the chocolate sauce… He proceeds to tell us THATS WHAT YOU ORDERED… ITS EITHER THAT OR NOTHING… Really?! We proceeded to get a refund and here I am creating this post… Worst service ever… We were apologized to by the manager… But that guy will surely retire at steak shake… His rude demeanor will get him no where…

Been eating Streak n Shake since the sixties. This site in Carbondale is horrible. At least half of all my drive throughs have been wrong or food missing. Can’t tell you how disappointing it is.

We’ve always been S&S fans and customers, especially the Cdale store. We have no idea what has happened but this store has gone downhill quickly. Every time we’ve visited it seems to get worse and worse since our previous review. Last fall, on a Friday night, with SIU running full blast and the annual Cdale/​Murphy football game in town we were meeting friends at this S&S. It was closed! Later, from a server, we found the health department had forced them to suddenly close. (Can’t imagine the lost revenues on a Friday night.). Upon our most recent visit, Sept 6, 2015, we were in a party of seven and we had to wait to be seated because only two servers were working the floor and a majority of the tables needed busing. Once we were seated, our server was very apologetic for our waiting to be greeted at our table and drink orders taken. Upon looking around the restaurant we noticed other customers had that «wonder what’s going on» expression on their faces.
We counted the number of tables that needed busing and there were twelve (12) with dirty dishes sitting waiting to be picked up. Shortly after we were seated two other customers were seated in a booth next to our tables. They had to request menus and after a period of about ten minutes they simply walked out because no one had came to their table.
When we were finally able to give the server our order we had to wait the longest we’ve ever waited at a S&S to receive our food. (approximately) 35 minutes. The order was incorrect. My burger was the crispiest burger I’ve ever eaten. The fries were cold and soggy. Actually if we had not waited so long we would have reordered. Fortunately this is a 24 hr S&S so we could have reordered and hoped the food would arrive before sunrise. We opted to try to eat what was served and leave.
After we were served we noticed one of the servers left the building leaving only one server on the floor. (At one point a guy in a blue shirt came out and started busing tables. Assumed this was a manager type but not really sure). About 15 – 20 minutes later we noticed the server that left was returning with another S&S server. They had noticed us watching their entrance. Once inside the other server (whom we had not seen in the store earlier) approached our tables and in a very loud voice asked if «everything was okay and did we need something». Her approach was aggressive in nature and she seemed to be waiting for us to say anything negative about the food or service.
Upon completion we paid the bill. The cashier asked the «was everything all right» question and when I said «no» and told her about the cold and overlooked food she apologized. She offered to adjust our bill but I told her «no» because we wanted this store to stay open and S&S needed the
money. I told her we’ve always looked forward to this store but in the last year it has really gone downhill and we probably will not return. She asked if we’d be going to the Marion store and we said probably not because they’re both in the same region.
Steak and Shake management needs to investigate and make a lot of changes quickly. The facilities are dirty. The staffing are overworked and some have a could care less attitude. The food is not cooked correctly, by S & S standards. We will NOT be returning to this S & S! We have always loved this store, but we have lost that love of the Cdale Steak and Shake! Sad but true. Visitors to SIU do not know how bad this store is so they fall prey to patronizing and not knowing how GREAT this store USE to be.

Was an hour to get our food. Fries bad. Tasted like cooked ibad grease

This is a great spot and has been for years. The menu has expanded quite a bit since I first started coming here, and the newer items are for the most part inventive and yummy, but I can always rely on the old standbys like the bacon and cheese double and their wonderful chili. The service can suffer a bit when it’s slammed, but that’s true anywhere and there are few places that offer such yummy diner food at such reasonable prices.
I don’t understand the negative reviews as I have never had a bad experience and I’ve been coming here since it opened!

At 1am had to wait for order to be taken at drive thru and then after waiting 5 min the order is wrong. How do they make a wrong order when there is no one there? Next time I will dive to Marion for McDonald’s.

Worst service I have ever had in my whole life. They got every single piece of our order wrong (down to the fries). EXTREMELY unprofessional. And the food isn’t even good to begin with so.

I love Steak n Shake, just not this one. The service is no good. The waitress was short with us and definitely a bit rude. She only came to our table twice– once for the order and once to drop off the bill. It took literally 30 minutes for our order to come out (2 grilled cheese kids meals and a single steakburger). Ridiculous!
On the bright side, it is open at 2 a.m. when nothing else is. I guess I can’t complain too much because that automatically makes it the best service around at that hour.

I had a patty melt with fries and a strawberry-​banana shake. It was okay but it must be eaten as soon as it’s brought out. The shake was extra good. More like 2 ½ stars. Prices are reasonable and they also serve breakfast 5 – 11.

It’s pretty hard for me to compare Steak and Shake to In-N-Out…I have to stay true to my Los Angeles roots. BUT S&S does a pretty good job.
The meat patty is thick and juicy (that’s what she said), flavorful and the fries are always crispy. The price is great… but the service and cleanliness of this place is not! Service is very slow (even when it’s not packed) and the place can be grimy at times. The waitresses are always courteous and you definitely can tell that they are trying to do a good job. It just sucks that the place looks dirty sometimes.
Clean up this place so patrons can enjoy your good food. Gracias!

Believe it or not, today was our first visit to Steak ‘n’ Shake. Fantastic milk shakes and really good burgers. The fries and onion rings were very good too. We’re now hooked on S&S!

Really good shakes and some good cheesy fries!

This is a good place to come to if you feel like being at a sit-​down place at 4 am after a night at the bars. What you see at S&S is what you get. There’s nothing special about this place, but the servers were decent. Be careful if you have been drinking near that borderline. Police patrol this place fiercely.