Steak ‘n Shake

Quick Read: I know it’s a chain and know what to expect, but I’m sorry to say this place went downhill.
This location used to be seriously clean, the food was hot, and the service was friendly. This was a go-​to location for a quick and inexpensive bite to eat. Went with my parents for dinner tonight and was pretty shocked at the change. Burgers were lined up completed near the grill (explains the cold and stale taste), fries were frigid, employees were too busy chatting with each other as opposed to cleaning up the large amounts of trash even including a used napkin and milkshake glass by the register counter. I used to work in the service industry and normally I’m pretty forgiving of employees, especially when it comes to having a rough shift but this is ridiculous.

This place was better than we expected. The burgers are pretty good for a fast-​food type burger. The cheese was perfectly melted and they had a great flavor to them. The only thing I did not like are the skinny fries. I like the hand cut all natural fries much better. The item we loved the most are their milkshakes! I had a Nutella milkshake that was so delicious. The service was fast but the place looked like it could be cleaned a little more often. It kind of had that «sticky» feel.

Steak and shake can be counted on for burgers and etc at all hours of the day. This is convenience at its finest, and all the employees here seem very happy to serve.
My personal favorite is the melted sandwiches they have because they are hard to make incorrectly or so I’ve heard.
This steak and shake in particular is easy to get in and out of, but its always greasy and filthy all around the whole place. Don’t believe I’ve ever been to a very clean one but who cares

Great food great prices and the best servers ! My server Hollie is bubbly and always has a smile on her face. She really deserves a raise for all her attention she pays to taking care of you

Yeap 1 star!
Located across Plant high, one of the best schools in Tampa. Getting back to Steak n’ Shake, this used to be my place. My friends and I always hung out for their shakes and amazing brownie sundae.
I came for a brownie sundae which is one of my favorite things here. Warm brownie topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, fudge sauce, peanuts and cherry. OMG! It’s so damn good! Reminds me of my teenage years.
I haven’t been here in a while but this time was nothing special. There was a weird stench when you walk in the door, I had to discreetly cover my nose. It was awful! I changed my order to go because I couldn’t stand the smell.
I won’t be back!

If you don’t «understand all the negative reviews», well… you probably eat at Steak ‘n Shake a lot. I stared at the menu for I don’t know how long trying to determine what differentiated each burger. The sauce. It’s the sauce. Otherwise, they’re all tiny burgers with a ton of shoestring potatoes next to it. This is a good place for those folks who don’t want to get all gussied up and have some fancy eatin’ at McDonald’s. Most of the customers had a «I made a mistake» look on their faces. Service was good enough. The cashier had super dirty, greasy hands when she rang us up. The burger is high school lunch room quality. The atmosphere feels like someplace in your workplace’s basement, where you only sit down long enough to inhale your food before going back to push a button over and over again.
I wanted to add (because my best buddy reminded me) that the cleanliness of the facility left much to be desired. Since so many other reviewers had already mentioned it, I didn’t think that dead horse needed to be kicked any more.
I will never return to this, or any SnS locations. So, for those of you that can’t figure out what all the complaining is about… more bad food for you!

I suppose it could be worse, that’s why two stars. I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich and was brought grilled cheese. To add insult to injury the cheese was no where close to melted. As I was waiting for my food I noticed garbage and food on the ground. The booth walls are dirty and our drink cups look like they were washed in dirty water. So instead of allowing them to correct my meal I simply returned it. If my daughter wasn’t so hungry, I would have returned her’s as well.

Only giving this «location» 1 star since I had to. I’ve been to plenty of Steak ‘n Shake drive thurs and never had any issues today is a different story! My husband and I and my father ordered 3 #1’s with everything on the burger with cheese fries all 3… With 3 cokes… Nasty black hairs were scattered on the cheese cups. Meanwhile we get to the window and she said she only charged us for 1. The lady was rude, unprofessional and made me question «I wonder when was the last time they had a inspection. No gloves, no nets. Gross There are plenty of other options around that will get my business.

This review is really for our waitress Cassie/​Casey, she was excellent, she took our order, when she saw we hadn’t been helped when other waiters were just wandering around. She checked in on us. She was super friendly and nice, and really elevated the Steak and Shake experience.
The burgers were good, they are west coast, thin patty burgers. I thought the toppings could have been a little fresher, and they were very cold, which didn’t work great with the burger. I wouldn’t definitely come back.

Well my whole family loves steak n shake, so since im from phoenix and we dont have any steak n shakes out there, i HAD to try it. Now the food was good as i expected, but the service was absolutly terrible. We ordered and the waitress never came back to ask if we wanted a refill on our drinks. She actually brought us plates that were very dirty, stuff stuck to the sides and bottoms of the plates, and had to ask several times for clean silverware and plates. The waitress seemed bothered when we made such requests, so that was very upsetting. Now my wife and kids and i will be eating steak n shake again just NEVER at this location again.

I don’t normally write reviews for chains but I’ve never seen anyplace more unfairly maligned than Steak and Shake’s internet presence. I’ve been a regular customer for oh about 15 years covering 5 – 6 states, and the food is consistently good. The shortcomings here are the same companywide, service and cleanliness. But I’m not one to complain about a random napkin on the floor or unbussed tables, and any issues I have over service usually vanish as soon as they drop a chocolate malt and a triple steakburger in front of me.
The food here is simply fantastic. I’ve circled the menu 3 – 4 times and never been served anything that was below standards. I especially love the steakburgers, chili, and seasoned fries. And this place is the ultimate in late night binge-​a-​thons. When the vampire in you takes over, this is the place too be. And the selection of shakes and malts cant be beaten, the only thing they’re missing is a pineapple shake and when I see that on the menu I’ll put up that 5^th star. Oh oh, and that red velvet cake milkshake? I would be violating terms of service if I tried to describe that thing, so I’ll just say its the best thing I’ve ever had… in a glass. Case closed.
BTW, I recently tried the 7×7… no I didn’t finish it but I gave it the old college try. My server just laughed when I asked for a box to bring home the unrecognizable remnants of that beautiful tower of fried meat and cheese that I had rightfully massacred trying to fit that thing in my mouth. I’m a regular at this location, it never disappoints. 4.5 stars

I am a south Tampa regular at this location, I do not know if it just tonight or what, however I received about 50% of the sauces i ordered, my frisco melt wasn’t even cut in half and they gave me no napkins still four stars because I know they usually are amazing. I was just highly disappointed I ordered a sweet tea and they me sprite I mean come on…

Have not been here in a long time; don’t usually care for fast food style burgers but it was really good today! And their fries are the long and skinny ones and delicious, not greasy. Kids eat free on the weekends. Also excellent milk shakes. The service is always questionable, it’s the luck of who you get!

Worst service ever. Never got any water or napkins.
Waited an hour for our milkshakes. When customers complained to the manager, he blamed everything on this new server guy. Even if it was server’s fault, manager should’ve taken full responsibility.

I’ve always loved Steak ‘n Shake. It’s your run of the mill diner-​style fast food.
The cheeseburgers are a small step up from the McDonalds of the world, but for about the same price. The menu seems to have expanded lately, too! Lots of exotic burgers are popping up, like the Jalapeño Crunch and the Guacamole Steakburgers. I was never a big fan of chili growing up, but as my palate has expanded I’ve come to love it and Steak ‘n Shake’s version is pretty great. I always get it as a side with my burger. However, I learned not to get it to go after having the styrofoam container melt and get chili all over my car. I guess it was a little too fresh! The district manager was very sweet after I told him what happened and even promptly sent me a gift card to make up for it. The wait staff has always been fast at this location in my experience as well.
Let’s not forget the shakes! My favorite is chocolate for a classic treat or Oreo Mint Cookies & Cream if I’m really gonna go all out! Cheap, easy, delicious. Steak ‘n Shake is simply my kind of meal-​on-​the-​go.

Went back to try again and WORSE this time around!!! Waited 15 minutes at the drive through, screwed up my order 100% and tried to feed me a piece of «meat» that was see through. I went back in, manager was unapologetic and did not care that my order was incorrect and took so long. Ended up going to PDQ and calling corporate to complain. Horrible food, horrible service and Horrible management!!! Permanently lost our business and will be sharing our distaste with friends by word of mouth.

Steak n Shake has the best fast food hands down. We go here a lot after long nights of racing since it’s open ²⁴⁄₇. The $ 4 Menu is pure genius! Most of the time I get the double steakburger with cheese and it’s more than enough. The chili is outstanding and I am always trying to recreate the taste at home. The shakes are delicious and great with your meal or after for dessert. Usually I stick with a classic vanilla. The best part is Steak n Shake mails out coupons all the time and allows you to use more than one!
We had a mishap with some poor packaging on a carry-​out order once and let the manager know. He gave us a gift card to replace the meal and was very apologetic about the whole thing. You may not think of fast food places as having good customer service, but Steak n Shake goes above and beyond to make their customers happy.

So, instead of take out, we thought we’d eat in. My husband reassured me that eating in is better, you get what you want and they treat you better…
Well, not the case tonite.
First, we sat in a 2-​top booth and waited and waited. And during our wait realized there was a huge puddle under our feet slipping as we sat there.
Finally, our server came and we told them about the ¼″ deep puddle and they promptly moved us. That was good.
We ordered waters, mine without ice and with lemon on the side. Well, the water showed up with ice and the lemons were the most disgusting lemons I had ever seen.
Got the water replaced without ice.
Ordered our meals, mine came to me fine. I ordered apple sauce in place of the fries. I got a Musselmans snack pack of apple sauce. I suppose I should be thankful. It was just unexpected.
And my husband’s steak burger came with none of the fixins it’s supposed to; lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, mustard nor mayo.
And neither of our milkshakes showed up.
So we asked about the milkshakes and the steak burger’s missing fixins and off back to the kitchen our server went. Our server seemed a bit annoyed at the kitchen for this foul-​up.
She brought all the fixins on the side, which looked nice, nothing rotten. But no milkshakes.
I was done with my burger and applesauce and my husband was just starting into his and finally a milkshake came along.
HIs was a chocolate malt. I tasted it. It was nice. Mine still hadn’t shown up. When it did, I started in and tasted. And tasted again. Something was amiss.
I tasted a little more and low and behold, it was a banana milkshake. If I had ordered a banana milkshake, it would have been good. Except I ordered an eggnog milkshake.
Oh boy. So, it got returned. And I waited and waited for an eggnog milkshake.
And while I’m waiting, eyeing my husband’s milkshake, I noticed the glass was chipped all over one half of it. Some were pretty sharp edges. Not sure if it was broken for some time or just happened recently, but he was ½ way done with it before we even noticed. He could have sucked up glass in his straw or if he were attempting to drink directly from the glass, could have cut his mouth!
NICE!
When the replacement eggnog milkshake arrived, we pointed it out to our server. She appeared a bit shocked and advised the manager.
But not once did we hear her say «I’m sorry». All we heard was how «they’ve» been doing this to her all night. Multiple excuses. No apologies.
Sad.

I’m not sure whether this place deserves the second star, but I’ll give it for the hostess who was super nice and really tried to help us out. Long story short: they have no idea how to handle a crowded restaurant and the manager was totally clueless. They ended up giving us our meal for free for pretty much no reason.
We were on a lunch break from a business seminar and didn’t have a ton of time. We debated the drive-​through, but assumed we’d have time for a quick sit-​down meal. We informed the manager when we walked in that we were a little pressed for time. The place was busy (Saturday afternoon), but not crazy. We waited 1 minute for a table. The hostess (told us she wasn’t our server) saw we were in a hurry, so offered to take our order. She ended up being really nice about the whole situation, so we tipped her on the way out. The order was submitted to the kitchen within 5 mins of sitting down.
After we had finished our drinks and waited a total of 15 minutes, we asked to change it to a To-​Go order. We didn’t have time to eat it there. The kitchen had trouble finding our order to switch it… because they hadn’t even started it yet. So much for being in a hurry. It was at least 10 more minutes before they brought our food to the counter. My dad offered his credit card, but the manager made some excuse why he couldn’t process it. I would have just thrown down $ 20 cash, but he said just to take it for free. «But you better pay me $ 1,000 next time!» he says (in a serious tone).
Best part of the story: as we were leaving, the line to get a table was long. The elderly woman at the table next to us said to her friend «We’ve been here 45 mins… do you think they lost our order?» I don’t know if it’s the kitchen or just a drive-​through priority, but they need serious training on how to manage the restaurant. Food was ok, milkshake was decent. In general I like these restaurants, but I’m not touching this one with a 10-​foot pole next time.

I was dragged here by my drunk friend who was celebrating her birthday who was badly craving a grilled cheese sandwich. I don’t mind eating at Steak n’ Shake, I mind the disrespectful entitled drunks who have tendency to dine at these establishments late nights.
I am still chuckling from a late night message I received a from a fellow Elite Unilocaler questioning my dining choice for that hour. Ahem. you know who you are J!
It was just past midnight, so luckily the place was not too overcrowded. There were parents with kids (why God why?). Once again, yes school is out, but shouldn’t they be home asleep? There were also some high school kids and then also several men going through their midlife crisis phases sitting at the dining counter.
Kim was our server. She was very sweet and attentive and very easy to make conversation with.
My friend finally ordered her Grilled Cheese sandwich, with fries and a side of pickles. The Grilled Cheese Sandwich looked amazing. It was grilled on Texas Toast! The fries and the pickles seemed soggy. Ms. Drunky McDrunkerson was incessantly complaining about the fries and pickles and she continued to shove them down her throat, then cleaned her plate!
I ordered the Three-​Way Chili. Yes, although it did not look aesthetically pleasing, it wasn’t too bad. I had been craving spaghetti for weeks, but I have been trying to cut out carbs. Why not have some here with a «little something something»? There were an overabundance of chili beans, but I dealt with it.
My friend ordered a Cookies and Cream Milkshake, but it took some time to make because they were short staffed. The manager was so kind to make one for her.
Yes, It isn’t my idea of fine dining, but definitely a good place for a late night snack!