My friends and I go to Steak n Shake sometimes…the service is sometimes crappy but normally we don’t go there when we are on a time schedule. We like to sit and smoke and chat afterwards usually so it’s not a problem. But it does always take forever to get the check, it seems. We also used to have some friends that worked there in high school, so they were always good servers.
Yeah, that was always a pain, especially when there were three or four cars in the drive-through.
As far as I can tell, people go to Steak-n-Shake for the same reason some people go to Starbucks to pay $5 for a $0.50 cup of coffee.
Who was it that said: " A fool and his money are soon departed."
I liked their burgers they were good. But certainly not $10 worth of good.
And their french fries FCOL! What the hell is that all about? They look and taste like those shoe string potatos from a can.
Oh, and the one time I went; the service I got sucked as well.
Huh. We only do drive-thru, but the service is always excellent. I can understand the order taker, they’re cheerful and fast, and the food doesn’t suck. My biggest beef with them is that they’re expensive for fast food.
I’ve been to the Steak&Shake near the Indianapolis Convention Center once. I will never go there again, despite attending a convention at the center once a year. Awful food, awful service.
Fries are good when they are piping hot: they remind me of funky independent drive-in places common in upstate NY awhile ago. But when they aren’t hot they’re just meh.
And I had a horrible service experience with them yesterday. There were 4 people in the drive-thru and each of them took several minutes to get their order. Which makes sense because they seemed to be shortstaffed so I am not blaming the staff, but I AM responding to the survey I got on my receipt 
Generally, they have faster service than other places that cook to order. But sometimes they are just plain slowwwww.
Tips:
Chicken tenders take something like 4 minutes from the time you put in your order to fry up completely, and so are one of the slowest things you can order. Milkshakes can as well, especially if there isn’t a dedicated fountain person (and there usually isn’t).
Chili and baked beans are some of the fastest, as they just need to be put into their containers.
Chili MAC, on the other hand (also Chili 3- and 5-way) is put in the microwave for a minute or two to heat the spaghetti.
Chicken breasts (for the Chicken Melt sandwich and the taco salad with chicken) also take a while on the grill.
Steakburgers (singles, doubles, triples, melts, whatever) should all take a similar amount of time, as all the patties are being done at once.
Sometimes the lunch and dinner rushes can actually be quickest, as they generally slap down 20-30 patties at at time, and keep doing that until the rush is through.
Little tip: “Steak burgers”? Hamburgers.
True dat.
Please enlighten an ignorant Yank who’s never been anywhere near Nashville.
What’s a “Steak and Shake”? I can’t imagine a steakhouse serving milkshakes, and “Steak” sounds too pretentious for a hamburger joint. What sort of place is this?
Go for pretentious. It’s like a 50s burger joint.
Basically a diner-type restaraunt. They serve “Steakburgers,” which, like bup said, is just a hamburger, only with maybe slightly higher quality meat. Which doesn’t matter because the burgers are so thin (like Wendy’s thin) that in cooking them they lose any higher quality taste they might have had.
I usually just go for the cheese fries and ice cream.
Oh, and whenever I feel like pretending I’m invisible.
Bean crock.
Gawd, I wish we had S&S in Denver! [drool, drool] I go when visiting relatives in St. Louis, usually around Christmas. Since I’m on vacation, I have the luxury of going any time of the day I want and I know to avoid lunch hour like the plague! Oh, those French fries!!!
They don’t actually serve any steak. Just sandwiches and ENORMOUS shakes, with a kind of '50s malt shop decor. Not bad but overpriced, yeah.
Sounds like Johnny Rockets up here where I am. JR’s stuff is good but expensive.
These people saying S’n’S is expensive must be used to eating out of dumpsters or something. The place isn’t anywhere in the vicinity of expensive.
The comparison to Johnny Rockets is apt from a style and menu standpoint, but Rocket’s has a higher quality of food with bigger portions and costs about twice as much as Steak n Shake.
Steak n Shake might be pricey if you compare it to McDonalds Dollar menu, but by any other measure I can’t fathom how sitting down for a burger and 2 sides, while being served albeit poorly, with a drink for a whopping $8 is expensive.
Not really expensive, just mildly overpriced for the quality of food you’re getting.
Well, in regards to the first example you mentioned with the lady waiting 10-20 minutes, and then getting served for free - sounds like a good deal to me. I’d take that over getting served right now and paying for it any day.
I’ve been to SnS twice in two states. First time took 35 minutes inside to get our order. Second time, we went drive-through figuring it woud be quick. Heck no! 40 minutes if it was 10. Never went back.
I go to Shake and Steak a lot (around once a month) and I’ve always been surprised at how fast the service is. Usually I’ve barely finished the chili when my burger and fries come out. I’ve been to three different ones and the service was great at all of them. Maybe I just got lucky?
I’ve never thought of it as a fast food place, more of a sit-down diner that just happens to also have a drive-thru. I would say that the food is comparable to a place like Denny’s or Eat’n’Park, only cheaper. And I really love the skinny fries. And that sauce on the Frisco burger and chicken melt. So good.
I’ve still never had a shake there though. I’m not a huge ice cream person and they seem overpriced.
Except for the singing and dancing waitresses. I went there once with my family on vacation and I would never go back. It was embarrassing for everyone.