Fast food fans in Las Vegas seem to be getting excited that a Steak 'n Shake is being built inside the South Point Casino (a few miles from me). Apparently, this is a big deal, as it is the first they are building so far west - most of the others are in Florida and some parts of the Southeastern US.
I mean, I am quite happy we have In 'n Out burgers here - but always happy to have another good burger joint join in the mix.
Anything special that has made the Steak 'n Shake restaurant chain a cult favorite?
The greasy fried sides (onion rings) are well-executed.
Like most chains, a lot’s dependent on QC. I’ve been to a few in ghetto-y neighborhoods with the attendant staffing, and there have been QC, cleanliness problems.
We had one local for almost ten years. It closed around 2003. I ate there maybe ten times a year.
Burgers were good. I never found the fries very good. Shakes were expensive but good. I think they were made the old fashioned way with real milk, fresh strawberries etc.
Supposedly, they used a better grade meat for the burgers.
It’s a bit disingenuous to call it a fast food chain, if only because you pay for your food after you eat. Yes, they offer hamburgers and fries, along with some other things that you’d find in a fast food restaurant, but they don’t operate as one. They serve their food on porcelain-style plates, not on trays. You have a waitperson take your order, after which the food is cooked. There’s nothing “fast” about it.
As for the quality, it really depends. I normally enjoy it, but I had to complain about the quality of food in one that I went to in another state - it was apparently supposed to be the same stuff, but it was just not done correctly. The fries are different than most places, which a lot of people don’t like, but they have actual onion rings, very creamy coleslaw, and excellent hand-made shakes. The burgers are definitely better made from better meat than your average fast food ones, but the cooking method used just isn’t a good way to get a great tasting burger. They’re good, but I much prefer ones I cook myself. I’ve had the chicken strips a few times, and those are reasonable as well but nothing special.
Overall, they serve good food, but you definitely pay for it. They do offer specials on just burger & fries, but those are not the reasons I go there. It’s normally $10 after tip for a shake, double steakburger, and sides of onion rings and coleslaw. I consider it worth it, but not enough that I’d go more than once a month. I normally only go there when traveling or up at some god-awful hour on the other side of town and need food - most locations are open very late, if not 24 hours.
Wiki and IME suggest to me that the more precise term would be “casual dining” (not take-out oriented, table service, with plates/cutlery.
Another fact I liked about SNS was that they had the hot-peppers-in-vinegar hot sauce bottles. Not a reason to eat there in itself, I just love that stuff.
Weird fact unrelated to the food: The guy now running the company has made the decision to convert the corporate structure into a conglomerate a la Berkshire Hathaway, using a bunch of spare cash to acquire companies in a bunch of (potentially unrelated) industries. The ticker symbol changed from SNS to BH (Biglari Holdings, after the guy’s name) and they did a reverse split that pumped the share price way up.
To me other than the Milkshakes it is an average fast food place. It has a drive through window, burgers and fries are pretty standard, salads are iceberg with standard dressings. None of the local ones are particularly close to me so I don’t frequnet them. Not someplace to go out if the way for.
The fries are “skinny fries” which turns a lot of people off. Me, I like 'em, especially with the cheeze sauce.
They’re pretty good. The shakes are very good indeed, and real shakes, as opposed to nondairy frozen stuff whipped full of seaweed thickeners. Their burgers are tasty, but they’re very thin and fried to within an inch of their lives - which gives them a nummy almost burnt crispy edge, but overcooked in the middle for my (rare) taste.
I’ve also only been there once, but I thought the fries were limp and disgusting and I’ve had better burgers at Burger King. Not impressed at all and the husband only found the shakes (prefers malts anyway) only adequate.
I’d say that’s appropriate for this burger style (which I actually do love, even though I’m normally a fan of rare or raw meat.) Steak & Shake is perfectly acceptable. It’s no In N Out, but they’re not quite trying to be the same thing.
For me, the skinnier the french fry, the better. It’s been a long time since I’ve had one of their shakes, but I remember them being pretty good too. I wouldn’t want to eat the burgers all of the time, but once in a while, those thin patties hit the spot.
On the question of whether they’re “fast food”: they have a fast food element, in that they have a drive through and you can walk in and order to go (fairly quickly). And then they have sit-down table service. So they’re both, more or less.
And it’s definitely a midwest chain. Originated in Normal, Illinois and they’re all over the place in Missouri.
I like them occasionally, but don’t eat there often (especially since my wife went vegetarian). Unfortunately the one that’s less than a quarter mile from my house is terrible.
This is what I grew up with - they’ve been in business a VERY long time in these parts. They really aren’t a fast food chain - the drive-through is a fairly recent innovation, and most people around here refer to using the drive through as ‘Steak and Wait’ because it’s sloooow - even the drive through food is cooked to order. It’s really a diner. Yeah, you can get carry out, but you’re going to wait just as long as you would if you chose table service. They had curb service, complete with carhops on roller skates, as late as the 1980s.
I’m not a shake drinker, but I love everything else - the ‘long sliced’ pickles, the mustard relish, the pepper sauce on the tables, the thin ‘fork fries’. They are very much a regional thing, originally limited to Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Florida…and there’s an intense loyalty to them in that range. Locally, they do far better business than newcomer Five Guys, which I find to be absolutely awful.
Yes I’ve been there. It makes me want to puke. A bacon cheese burger is covered in liquid cheese flavored sauce. Who the fuck pours liquid cheese flavored goop on a burger? The fries are toothpicks that are always cold. The place is pig sty with horrible servers that didn’t give a fuck. Save your money and a possible hospital visit. It’s the worst shit hole I’ve ever had the displeasure of stopping at. The one in Madison was open about a year and that was a year too long. Kitchen Nightmares should have done an episode on the place.