Steak ‘n Shake

Worst ever. Slow service. Rude employees. Poor service. Stale food. Waited for 20 minutes to receive cold burgers and fries. I adore steak and shake. Detoured off of a road trip to get it — so disappointed.

I hate to have to write this review. The Marion S’n’S has been a staple of my dining for more than a decade. In high school, it was one of the few late night hangouts in the area that my friends and I could frequent. And before she passed away last year, there was nothing my grandmother loved more than a chocolate shake from Steak ‘n’ Shake.
But over the last couple of years, the service here has just gotten strange. I think there’s a lack of quality training going on, and I haven’t had a visit in recent history in which nothing weird or unexpected happened. Try going through a drive-​thru at 11:30 at night and having to pull up and wait 10 minutes just for a milkshake because, according to the woman taking orders at the drive-​thru, she was the only person on staff who knew how to make a milkshake. Or dining in one night and being told to have patience because every position in the store is training that night. That particular night, I ordered a cheeseburger with bleu cheese on it, and the bleu cheese was still in a perfectly round, frozen blob in the center of the burger.
My wife and I popped in here for a visit on the 4^th. The restaurant was busy, but not crowded. Our waitress appeared to have never done her job before. I told her what kind of burger I wanted, and she immediately started to walk away without asking me if I wanted fries or if I needed anything to drink. I had to stop her and make her come back just so I could get a Coke. That was the last time she visited our table for a long time.
Our food was brought out by a manager, who also offered to get me a refill. After my wife looked at her burger, she realized that the waitress had never asked her what she wanted on it. She just had a plain, dry cheeseburger sitting there. Mine had lettuce and tomato, but nothing else. We also realized we didn’t have silverware or napkins at our table. We waited for our server to come back, but instead the manager visited us again and said he would get us some napkins.
Finally, our server came back by the table with napkins and pretty much threw them on the table and kept walking without even looking at us. Then she came back by about a minute later with an even bigger stack of napkins and once again just kept walking. During most of our time there, I could see our server standing around in the kitchen talking to other servers rather than checking on her customers.
After all this, we realized that we had never been given a check so we could pay. We had to wait until the manager returned to our table again, and then he said it was his fault because he forgot to bring the check out. Kind of strange that we got better service and more attention from a manager than we did the server.
My suggestion if you’re craving Steak ‘n’ Shake is to hit the drive thru and avoid going in. You may have to wait a little longer than expected, but you won’t have to worry about horrible service.

Don’t eat here. Missing food from order. Than drive thru worker literally threw the bag at us. No sorry for the mistake or anything. Told us her job was only to hand it out the window, not check it

One word for the Steak & Shake in Marion-​HORRIBLE. It doesn’t get much worse than this! Have been there a handful of times– usually by someone else’s suggestion– and it is consistently awful. Unfortunately, late at night it is the only game in town. Worst experience– no exaggeration– last time I was there, I waited 1 hour and 15 minutes for my food. There were only two of us and we only ordered hamburgers and French fries. Service is awful and the restaurant is usually disheveled and looks like a tornado just blew threw… not very clean.

Food was good. Service bad. Order not right. Ordered shake in a Togo cup and it came in a glass. Ordered chili to come before my meal. It didn’t. My husband was out of soda for half his meal. they weren’t busy but if you caught their eye they would look away.

My family and I decided to have dinner at steak n shake. When we walked in an employee was cleaning the doors and walked back in at the same time as us. We stood waiting to be sat while servers just stared at us. We watched as one of 4 dirty tables was more important than us. We watched as servers chatting at the server station was more important than us. We watched as mopping the floor was more important than us. Each employee at one time or another made eye contact with us and yet after 5 minutes of waiting to be sat in a near empty restaurant we turned and left. I then tried to call multiple times to speak with a Mgr but no one ever answered the phone. I ended up calling the Carbondale store to complain

More often than not this store is pretty good. Shakes are usually just right and the Frisco is the sandwich your looking for. Sometimes you can tell the night shift is less motivated if you drive up. Waiting Staff are usually nice. We use to head up to this store after the bar scene. Waiting staff had more patience with customers than deserved sometimes after the bars close. Chili five way isn’t too shabby either. Enjoy.

We don’t frequent Steak n Shakes but after 5 hours in the car we wanted that sit down /​fast food mix. The Steak n Shakes in the Chicago are are very slow to respond… getting a table getting service, getting food.
Not this one!!!
I walked in, the waitress seated me right away, asked if I wanted something to drink while I waited for the rest of my party which was walking in the door which then she got all of our drinks. In only a few minutes, we got our drinks and Latricia was taking our order. Very friendly service. We were only waiting about 10 + minutes then the food came with a drink refil. Normally at a Steak n Shake you’ll wait 20 — 30 minutes, which is why we don’t frequent. Awesome service for this place. We thank the staff for their fast service and Latricia for the hospitality.

Have breakfast here most weeks with my grandma. The scrambled eggs are more like an omelet, as they’re scrambled in a bowl but untouched on griddle, so they’re whole. Bacon is usually crispy. Biscuits are good and gravy was good but lately tastes like a mix. Hash browns are good – true diner hash browns. Pancakes are also good. Burgers are tasty but greasy. Fries are very good when hot but very thin so they cool quickly. Shakes are great!

Hire competent servers. Start serving hot food. Oh yeah… Speed up you service! For a place serving cold burgers, we should at least get them quickly you’d think?! Next time I will drive to Carbondale from Harrisburg to eat at Steak ‘n Shake!

Just went through the Drive thru to order a shake but the gentleman at the window was very nice.

Great shake!

It doesn’t get any better than this. Good burgers, fast service, nice staff. Getting so they know me by name and always have the coffee ready.

So many great burgers, plus now they have similar choices as hot dogs. Great place if you like either.

If I had a nickel fro every time I have eaten steak and shake I could by a house. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve went at 4am after staggering out of bar I could buy a mansion. I know that doesn’t make sense but you get the point, This place is awesome. I love the shoe string style french fries, the oh so tasty burgers and the milk shakes are to die for. It can get pretty interesting on a Friday or Saturday night also. I highly recommend it.

On my trip to the midwest, trying Shake n Shake was top on my list. Only cus Marc Summers claims it «best burger» he’s ever eaten, in an episode of «best thing i’ve ever eaten» on food network.
So my perception of this place was wrong, I thought it more like Red Robin, or Applebees, but actually its part restaurant/​diner (ala johnny rockets), and part drive thru. Naturally, prices are cheaper than Red robin, or applebees, and that’s fine with me. It was packed on a Tuesday night, so it says something right?
I tried the wisconsin butter melt– this butter-​soaked buns, topped with carmelized grilled onions, double patties, cheddar (what else), all to make sure you clog your arteries and get fat, like those wisconsin residents. LOL. The buns could not have used the butter, and the burger would have been awesome. instead, it felt too greasy and soggy. Patties are thin, not my favourite (i love thick patties, having been spoilt by Father’s Office’s «best burger ever», Islands, and The Counter;s burgers, in CA), Also, i keep comparing Steak’n shake to In –n-​Out. For variety, Steak wins. Freshness, value and flavor, slight bias for In-​N-​Out. But they are pretty close. And any place than can fill the in n out burger void in me, I likey.
I also tried their fries– Shoestring style, their Onion Rings, Both good,
But here is where my solid 4 stars gets cemented: Their shakes! I tried the cookies n Cream, and Double fudge chocolate. I LOVE chocolate, so i LOVEEEEEE their Double fudge. This shake should be illegal.

Just like the other Steak’n Shakes I’ve been to, which is a good thing. Good burgers, shakes, and open at 0300, which helped when I needed to pick up coffee before heading to my St Louis flight early last Sunday morning. My family and I also enjoyed a lunch here on Saturday, which doesn’t happen too often, here in IL or elsewhere, now that us kids are grown up. A hearty thanks to Steak’n Shake!