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Lonestar Steakhouse & Saloon has a "country" atmosphere, plenty of seating, a full bar, and big menu with a wide variety of steaks. Sunday-Thursday: 11am - 10:00pm Friday-Saturday: 11am - 11:00pm **Large parties of up to 80 are welcomed. Overall Rating: 6.5 / 10 Location: 201 South Wildwood Dr. Branson, MO 65616 Phone: 417-336-5030 Parking: There is plenty of parking available all around the restaurant. Cost: Kind of high - three of us ate for $62.38 (tip not included). We did order a Filet Mignon Queso appetizer which cost $7.99, and two Sweet Teas which cost $2.50 a piece. Would I go back again?: Based upon this experience, no. However, I have eaten here several times before and received great service and a great meal. This particular time that was not the case. _________________________________________________________________________ I was not at all impressed with the service or meal we had. I chose to take my mom and her boyfriend here (who came down to visit) because of the great service and meals I have had in the past. Needless to say, they were far from impressed. My guess is that the entire restaurant was short staffed, but that's no excuse. When we walked in, we waited for at least a minute before being welcomed by a hostess. Once we were seated our server greeted us about a minute later. We ordered the Filet Mingon Queso appetizer which was very good, and came out right after our drinks and warm bread were delivered. Once we placed our entree orders it took over 10 minutes to get two regular salads and 28 minutes before our entrees hit the table. It was a long wait - I can understand 17 - 20 minutes, but not 28 minutes for three entrees which consisted of a Medium Chopped Steak, a Medium Well Sirloin (which was cooked Well Done), and a BBQ Chicken Breast. The food did not come out very hot and tasted okay (not great). Lastly, our server, Dino, checked back about 4 or 5 minutes after delivering our food and only provided us with basic service - putting forth minimal effort. (Read below for a detailed review of the service we received.) Again, I was far from impressed with dining experience we had at Lonestar. I'm hoping it will be better next time I go! _________________________________________________________________________ Complaints:
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Bar and Decorations
Features
Lighting and Seating
10oz Chopped Steak (Medium), Baked Potato, and Broccoli
Sidewinder Chicken with Texas Rice
Texas Trio (BBQ Chicken Breast, 6oz Sirloin, and Grilled Shrimp) with Steak Fries
I hope this review was helpful! Keep in mind, the restaurant was semi busy and probably under staffed at the time. In my opinion, whether a restaurant is busy or not is key to any dining experience.
Who in their right mind goes to a steak house and orders a CHOPPED STEAK or a SIRLOIN or CHICKEN???? You, my friend, apparently love to waste money and complain. Order a real steak. Your server didn't pay any attention to you because he thought the same thing....
ReplyDelete"In my opinion, whether a restaurant is busy or not is key to any dining experience." Spare us all from your crappy review. Learn what to order when going to a restaurant that specializes in Italian, or seafood, or STEAKS. Lone Star STEAKHOUSE. You ordered ground-up beef parts.
So if your server disagrees with your menu choice, you expect them to treat you badly? It doesn't seem you left scathing commentary on any other reviews; just this one...why's that my friend?
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I think it is safe to assume that the initial comment above was most likely posted by an employee of Lonestar (possibly our server on this particular night - I don't know, that's just my guess). Anyways, I want to make it clear that it is not my goal to "waste my money," "complain," or provide bad reviews of restaurants in Branson. If one were to read through any of the reviews I have written, they would clearly realize that instead my goal is to provide honest reviews of restaurants in Branson. So with that being said, try taking the negative aspects of the Lonestar review as constructive criticism and accepting the fact that not every restaurant experience is going to be promising or satisfying. Afterall, if that were the case then what would be the point of even reviewing restaurants?
ReplyDeleteNow as to your main point, "Who in their right mind goes to a steak house and orders a CHOPPED STEAK or a SIRLOIN or CHICKEN????"
---I believe if we were to do a study on the number of guests that ate something other than a Ribeye or a Filet when going to Lonestar (or any other low-end / middle-class steakhouse) we would discover that close to 80% or more of the guest order something other than a Ribeye or a Filet (which is totally fine). In addition, I would venture to say that of the 80%, a majority of them are probably "in their right mind." Now, we all know you have to be extra careful when assuming, and so I would like to state why I assume what I just stated: (1) because I am someone who is "in their right mind" and I went to Lonestar and I ordered a chopped steak, (2) because I worked at a steakhouse for 3 years and know that a majority of guests don't always order a Ribeye or Filet, and (3) because it's common sense (people, in general, don't particulary like spending over $20 on a meal). So, my friend, to answer your question - a lot of people "in their right mind" go to a steakhouse to order a chopped steak, a sirloin, chicken, or something else available on the menu. That's
the whole point of a menu, isn't it? To give people options. People like options.
Now, as for the other portion of your comment, "Order a real steak. Your server didn't pay any attention to you because he thought the same thing....Spare us all
from your crappy review. Learn what to order when going to a restaurant that specializes in Italian, or seafood, or STEAKS. Lone Star STEAKHOUSE. You ordered
ground-up beef parts."
---In all the past times I have eaten at Lonestar, I always ordered an 8oz Filet. Which I must say is usually very good, but I thought this time I would order something different - in hopes of it being just as great and having the good service I usually receive. So, 9 times out of 10 I do order what a restaurant "specializes" in but not every time, and that is because this is a site for everybody (even the people who you refer to as not being "in their right mind" - people who order something other than a Ribeye or a Filet at a steakhouse). I guess I learned my lesson though, huh? :)
---As far as my server giving me terrible service because of what I ordered, I think the Anonymous comment above states it very well. If every server treated their guest based upon what they ordered then there would be very few successful restaurants. Again, because 80% or more of guests usually don't order the most expensive items on a restaurant's menu. Also, read any of the other "crappy reviews" (Why such harsh words, my friend?) I have provided and then tell me that what I ordered reflected the service I received.
Continued.
ReplyDeleteClearly, I could go on and on and on but I'll stop now. I really do appreciate the anonymous comment - it was one of the highlights of my day. I welcome any and all future comments and will be sure to provide feedback to the good, the bad, and the ugly. Again, thank you and I hope that all of these reviews are helpful to both the staff and guest of the restaurants in Branson, MO.
I've worked at Lonestar in Branson for 3 years, this will be my fourth season; in that time I've been through several menu changes, and have been witness to a very wide array of menu items that you would apparently be considered "a waste" of money. We even have several regulars that come in on anywhere from a seasonal to a weekly basis, and most of them don't order "real steaks".
ReplyDeleteThe very thought that someone's dining experience should be based on the type of food they order is, to me, completely absurd and laughable. As a server, that's a great way to ensure that you not only don't make any money but more than likely don't have a job for very long. Every single person that sits in your section deserves to be treated like they are the only guest that you care about taking care of, regardless of what they order to eat. I've been serving for a long time, and I can't imagine ever basing the quality of my service on the type of food ordered; you don't have any idea the circumstance or taste preferences of the of the person ordering the food. Maybe they don't care for the marbling on the ribeye. It could be they're allergic to beef so they order the chicken (our chicken is quite good, btw, although we're a "Steakhouse"). There is also the possibility that what they ordered JUST SOUNDED GOOD; tell me you've never been in the situation where you saw something that just sounded good. So I don’t know where you think it became your place to tell ANYONE to “learn what to order”. They can order whatever they please, and should be assured that they will receive top service regardless. You should be humiliated that you brain even produced such an ignorant notion.
I would say the same thing for any of the restaurants I've worked at. If I had given someone bad service at a certain Italian restaurant just because they ordered all the soup, salad, and bread they could eat do you think that would have gone over well?
Over the years I've had the pleasure of working with what I believe are some of the best servers in the business, and there are several of them working right beside me Lonestar now. I can promise you that thinking quality of service is based on the type or price of food you order is not commonplace. Whomever wrote that first comment is either not a server or is apparently a very poor one. I earnestly hope it's no one that I work with. Because as embarrassed as I am that we as a staff did not provide an excellent dining experience on this occasion, it would be even more of an embarrassment for someone to be trying to make excuses to justify our shortcoming. Unfortunately, this time, their “crappy review” wasn’t so flattering to us. Every server knows that despite your best efforts everything doesn’t always happen perfectly the way it should. All you can do is be humbly mortified, take the experience and criticism and learn from it. As the reviewer stated, this is not the service they are used to experiencing, and I sincerely hope neither they nor anyone else ever experiences it again. I can appreciate what they are trying to accomplish here; to give an honest review of places to eat around town so that tourists have a place to see opinions on different places to eat. Let’s not forget we’re a tourist town. In our line of work word of mouth is the number one way to both generate and lose business. This was a great opportunity for us to have free positive advertisement; sadly, we blew it. That’s not the reviewers fault, and puts the pressure on us to not only produce enough positive feedback from others to counteract this review, but to ensure that we never receive another one like it.