Steak and Shake: Elizabethtown, Kentucky Restaurant Review

On Thursday November 16, 2006, My Sister and I went in to the Elizabethtown, Kentucky Steak and Shake. We were greeted promptly and seated by the manager with a smile. He was very friendly and funny.

Our waitress, Theresa, then came and, with out a greeting, and asked us what we wanted for our drinks. We both wanted a chocolate milkshake and a glass of water. She then turned and walked off with out a thank you or a smile.

Now we were sitting in the back of the restaurant and the kitchen was in the front. While we were waiting for our drinks we heard her yelling from the kitchen at how incompetent another server was. It took her about ten minutes to get our drinks and at this time she only brought our waters not our milkshakes. When she finally brought the water her exact words were, "What do you want". He tone was very annoyed, and unfriendly. My sister ordered a turkey melt sandwich and a garden salad, both with no tomato and fries with a side of cheese sauce. I ordered their grilled chicken salad with to tomatoes, and a side of fries, her exact words were "That comes with ranch and honey mustard dressing and that's what you are getting on it." As she said this she turned and walked a way. My sister and I just sat there with our mouths open and said, "Who does she think she is, to treat us this way?"

We wait about 15 minutes for our food. The entire time we heard her yelling in the kitchen about how she has to do everything herself and nobody else knows what they are doing. When our food came, another server brought out the food. My sister's salad had tomatoes on it, while my salad came with no tomato like asked. We still didn't have our milkshakes but we dug in any way. My sister's cheese sauce for the fries was cold and had a film on it. My salad had both the ranch and honey mustard dressing, now mind you I hate honey mustard to begin with, and on top of it the dressing was very runny and watery and the salad looked old and was very soggy.

We were at least 75% done with our dinner when she brought out our milkshakes. This was the first time we had seen her since she took our orders, she set the milk shakes down and then walked off with out asking how our food was. It was then my sister and I decided we weren't leaving her any kind of a tip. We both took a sip of our milkshakes and they we mostly syrup, they were so gross and almost undrinkable. I don't think either one of us finished more then one fourth of the shake.

I decided I wanted Teresa to know we didn't like the service and left her one penny on the table and we went up to pay. The manager was running the register and asked how our meals were. We said they could have been better, and then went on to tell him about the waitress, and her poor attitude. He apologized left and right up and down and gave us 20% off our meals and promised he'd talk with her. He also gave us a comment card to fill out and send in. I had also noticed on her name tag it had said 'Service Trainer' and I told the manager how my sister, who is in the military, and I were in the restaurant at least once a month if not more. We had never had a problem until today and if Teresa was indeed a 'Service trainer' and was training other waitresses and yelling like she was, that we would never return and we would make sure everybody knew. He said that it wouldn't happen again and for us to come back and give them another chance and promised it wouldn't happen again. We then paid our bills and left.

This restaurant normally has very good food and average service, this was the first really bad experience we had here. We won't be going back for a while that is for sure.