My husband and I visited a Steak N Shake restaurant last weekend for the first time in decades. I honestly don't even remember what the last time prior to this weekend was like. I would think I would remember those fries, though, if they are the same as they used to be. Honestly! Shoestring potatoes doesn't begin to describe the long teensie things they serve. Looks like the kung-fu elbow dude got a little too excited about his chopping. Aside from the less than desirable fries, the food was very good. Really tasty sandwiches and the prices are low.
Steak N Shake fries are always so thin. I always wonder how they get them cut so tiny, but now I know, it's the kung-fu elbow dude! LOL Thanks for that, it made me chuckle.
We have a Steak N Shake here, too; but it is not close to the part of town that we live in, and we have never tried it out. They do send out flyers in the mail for specials, and it looks like they have good prices, and if we were in that area of town, we would probably try it out. I do hate the little skinny fries ! Actually, my favorite, which are very hard to find, are the curly fries that they make with the machine that cuts a potato all into long curly strips. Sometimes they have those and call them "spicy fries", and those are good , too. I still remember the real fries we used to get that were actually made from a freshly cut potato and not a frozen processed one.
I've never been to a Steak N Shake chain before, but I'm pretty sure a chain opened up relatively close to me in my area. I was planning on checking it out, but if it seems like the food isn't worth it I don't think I would want to make the trip. There are other places I would rather try I guess.
Yeah. I like the curly fries, too. And the waffle fries. At home, though, I make my own. Home fried potatoes don't taste anything like their frozen cousins. There are very few places I can think of that actually serve real fried potatoes anymore. Some of the steak houses do, I believe; and visiting one of those is a real rarity for my husband and I these days. Fortunately, I'm not crazy about them anyway.
Their sandwiches really are very good. And I think a lot of people must like their extremely skinny little fries or they wouldn't be serving them. I just personally don't care for them as much as another kind. I feel like if I were going to make my potatoes that small I'd bite the bullet and go straight to hash browns.
I hate their shoestring fries as well, they don't retain their heat and get ice cold really fast. I feel like I'm eating stale potato chips when I eat them. They probably do that so they can serve freshly cooked fries fast - instead of cooking up a bunch of regular fries and having them sit under a heat lamp. I do really like their sandwiches though, and especially love their onion rings. My favorite is the Frisco Melt. Cost-wise, they used to be a little more expensive than your typical fast food joints for a combo meal - often in the $7.50 range as opposed to $5.50 at most other places - but it was worth the extra couple dollars for better quality food cooked fresh to order.
Yeah, I agree with you. I think they probably do make those fries small in order to get them out fast, but they do get cold quickly. They remind me of the potato sticks you get in a can. Next time, I will definitely be trying the onion rings. And a different variety of their delicious sandwiches. I got the garlic slider plate this last time, as I've got a weakness for those little burgers.
I've been going to Steak N Shake more frequently these days since I moved near one, and someone gifted me a $25 gift card there. Their $4 menu is reasonably priced if you remember to bring your own drink when going through the drive thru. I usually keep bottled waters in my car, so I'm good with that. It's actually not a bad deal considering that most fast food places these days like Taco Bell are ridiculously over charging for their sodas ($1.98 for a small soda!). Aside from the gift card, the other reason I've been frequenting there is that we go through ice cubes a lot, and the trays in our freezer aren't enough to keep up, and I was surprised to find out that Steak N Shake will sell you a bag of ice for only 99 cents. So for the meantime at least, while I am using up this gift card I am also saving on bags of ice, which are normally around $2. As I mentioned before, I do like their hamburgers, but I don't care for their fries. I did recently also try out their breakfast menu, which I didn't like at all. I had the breakfast taco, which was hideous, it was tiny and tasted totally processed. I also had their Sausage Egg and Cheese bagel sandwich, which was OK at best, but it tasted like it was cooked on a really dirty grill. Their hash browns were the worst, they looked like they had been cooked in rancid overused oil - grey-ish brown instead of golden, soggy, and they too were loaded with salt and preservatives. I'm guessing since they are open 24 hours, they probably don't clean the grills and change the oil until after breakfast but before lunch, since they don't seem to get much of a breakfast crowd. They also really need to work on their order times. On one visit to their drive thru I waited nearly 30 minutes, and there were only two cars in front of me. I've worked at sit-down restaurants where we had to get people their appetizers within 7 minutes and their entrees within 15 - 30 minutes is not acceptable for drive thru fast food. Even with them cooking the food to order, those patties are so thin and their fries are so thin, it should only take a few minutes tops to make an order.
The Steak N Shake chain is not in my area. What part of the country do they service? It does not sound like a place I would want to visit even if we did have them in my area. We have checkers which sounds a lot like the Steak N Shake, I do not go to those chains because the food is mostly fat.
Oh yes, I totally agree about the Steak and Shake fries. they are nasty. Now their burgers and shakes are very good, and worth it to buy. You can get some good prices during their happy hour times. However, I much prefer Sonic, even if they cost a little more. The difference in the meals in noticeable. Steak and Shake needs to do something about that fry situation.
The burgers and fries at Steak 'N Shake are pretty greasy, and not very satisfying. The shakes, however are great! There are many flavors of shakes to choose from, both traditional flavors and others that you cannot find at other establishments. I would recommend the shakes at Steak 'N Shake, but not much else.
