Lone Star Tavern and Steakhouse

Amazing service, friendly staff, great food (loved the catfish and chicken fried steak). Came here a few times during a business trip to Waco and would happily go again.

Raw chicken fried steaks way to much crust .sent it back got grilled chicken it was half cooked. There are no lunch items only dinner stuff. The waitstaff could not care if you are there or not.

This place is a dive. It’s loud and crowded. But the ribeye was very flavorful and tender. The wait staff is what you would expect, friendly, but very busy.

Service was good but don’t order the meatloaf. lunch special wasn’t special. 7 Oz sirloin wasn’t anything special either. Place was clean. Need to focus on the food.

We had a great ribeye with an order of onion rings. Great steak. The rings they brought with our order had a few ‘crunchies’ which were great. A moment later they brought us another fresh hot order because they thought the first order was not right. No need. Very good service. The Moscato Lemonade was a hit too.

I thought this was very tasty. Popped in on our way back to Houston. Ordered a ribeye and it was cooked as requested and delicious. Service was attentive.

The place seems to have been remodeled. It’s nice in there. We were seated at the table and asked what we wanted to drink. She brought us our drinks. Nice lady. Then they brought us shredded salad. Different. Ranch or Thousand Island dressing from a squeeze bottle. For your orders you just circle them on the paper. We ordered onion rings. When they came out they were more like over deep fried batter rings. They don’t really put enough onion in there. I ordered a 22oz sirloin steak rare (that’s how I like it). There wasn’t a whole of seasoning to it that I actually had to use A1, and if your eating a good steak you shouldn’t need sauce. All in all they could use some better chef’s.

It stated with a shredded salad. Only lettuce and a squeeze bottle of dressing. No tomato, no cucumber, just shredded lettuce.
Ordered the special of the day. Rib Eye. Very tender, but had it not been for the seasoning there would have been no flavor at all. Baked potato, not one pad if real butter in the place. You could have a squeeze bottle of butter flavored grease. (there’s a theme of squeeze bottles here.) Beer was cold but no choice of size, only the big margarita glass which froze a good ¼″ of the beer. Not good for the beer .
All in all, once is enough in my life time to eat here.
There are many other places to eat.

Had lunch here the other day. Grilled chicken on jalapeño cheddar bread was delicious!
Highly recommend them for catering. I’ve used them twice and they did an excellent job both times.

ok for the good. had a coupon card that they did not know about and they honored it anyway. so top marks for being stand-​up people.
for the bad: so two people got one strip done med and one ribeye done med rare. the ribeye was fine as far as tenderness but was cooked rare. it was OK none the less. The strip was inedible. I really have never seen a steak so tough and dried out. it was so tough that could not stick a fork in it to transfer to another plate. it was really cooked med however. the potatoes had been kept warm so long they were yellow throughout. While I am not a fan of squeeze butter on each table, I get it and that is fine. the pouches of sour cream — I get that as well. but the strip steak was simply the worst steak I have ever seen. the waitress never once came to check on us. the app ordered never appeared.
honestly for the exact same money, go to Texas roadhouse for better steak for same money. it might be a chain but will be good.
the real tragedy is I used to cook at the lone star tavern in 1979. back then it was in Texas monthly magazine, and the people started lining up at noon with lawn chairs to get a meal. it was standing room only. today just poor food and poor service. note to management, when the food and service is that bad, the free app coupon for a future visit wont make much difference.

Was looking for a non-​commercial, Texas country steakhouse, and the location, décor and clientele had my wife, her sister and I sold upon arrival, and there was not a hint of smoke inside. The menu system is a little different; you are handed a paper menu and a pen and circle what you want like you’re at a sushi restaurant. The prices listed were a little steep, but — for a good meal — it didn’t concern us too much. Each entrée comes with a salad and choice of one side. For appetizers we ordered beer battered onion rings and fried mushrooms, and for the main course the wife and her sister ordered the 8oz ribeye with mashed potatoes, and I ordered the 8oz chicken fried steak/​8oz sirloin steak dinner combination with a baked potato. I figured you couldn’t go wrong with CFS and a steak on the same plate, especially when both were pretty well reviewed. Overall, the meal was pretty good. Onion rings tasted like homemade and the mushrooms were battered in a catfish-​style cornmeal/​flour batter; both were good with the only complaint being that they needed a little more salt — no biggie. As a previous review mentioned, the salad is just a bowl of shredded lettuce; the same used on their burgers. Salad dressing is provided in plastic squeeze bottles; one ranch and one thousand island, and tasted fine. The only thing of note when the main course arrived is that the steaks are incredibly thin — I mean THIN — about ¼″. The steaks were cooked as ordered and very tender, though. The sirloin had a slightly sour undertone, which made me believe they either used lemon or lemon pepper in a marinade, or the steak was bad; not the most appetizing thing to be thinking about while eating, but I have an iron stomach and it didn’t bother me; I’m pretty sure it was just the seasoning. CFS was good and better than most I’ve had in the area. Dinner rolls have to requested, and they were just okay. Overall, the meal was enjoyable and we all got stuffed. The only complaint was when the bill arrived. I am not one to worry about paying too much money when eating out, as long as the overall quality of the meal matches the price; that is why I wasn’t too concerned with the multiple reviews saying this place was overpriced. I now know what they were talking about, though. Our bill was split, with the wife and mine having the mushroom appetizer, one bottled beer, one sweet tea, and both of our entrees, and the total cost was $ 44. The sister-in-law’s bill had the onion rings and 8oz ribeye meal and was $ 23. At a quality steakhouse, I would say that is about right, if not a good deal. Quality steakhouse this place isn’t, though — it’s a small, country, dive restaurant with food to match. That is where this place falls ridiculously short — VALUE. It just isn’t worth it, and doesn’t make sense — the price is not justified in the least bit. It’s like going to Waffle House but paying for Outback. Because of that, there is no way I will be going back here again, not unless they dramatically increase the quality of their meal or drop their prices (doubtful either will happen).

Super Divey. Best CFS in McClennan County by far. Dress down, load up and go get yourself some old school Texas grub.

One of the Top Chicken Fried Steak’s in Texas, (Up there with Mary’s) Hand cut Fries, Homemade Ranch, cheap cold beer. Awesome Nostalgic Atmosphere. What else do you want.

This place is amazing and screams authentic Texas steak house. If you want fancy, then go to Ruth Chris. Appreciate this place for what it is. No frills, but you aren’t paying for those here. Highly recommend if in Waco area. A classic.

Time-​warp back to 1978. This place was like an ashtray. Even Flo the waitress was enjoying a smoke. My burger was horrible and greasy.
I expected Smokey and the Bandit to walk in at any time.

i ate here tonight nosmoke where I was I loved the food its not an uppity restuarant it is a homestyle steak house and I will be back!

Back in the day… When I was little and we came to Waco to visit my grandparents and my great aunt… This was the best place in town to get a perfectly cooked steak and all the fixins.
But, then you have to remember that sad word, reality… and realize that the day is 2010…
And it is so DAMN smoky in the place that if you step more than one foot in the door, they could be feeding you cow patty steaks and you wouldn’t have a clue…
Someday… our nation will wake up and BAN smoking in all locations other than a person’s own home, with the windows up and the doors closed…
Until then, don’t come here unless you want your steaks marinated in cigarette butts.