Maybe this popular restaurant had an off night

We arrived at Steve’s Steak and Seafood just after 6 o’clock on a Saturday night and accepted that we needed to wait 30 minutes on the list, as there were at least 30 people waiting to be seated. A good sign, I thought. Twenty minutes in, I realize there are at least five empty booths that were not getting filled. Odd, but could be a server issue, I thought. After another 25 minutes, we were seated at a table that had been empty the entire time. Strike one.

We ordered the ribeye for $19.95, the filet mignon special for $14.95, the filet and shrimp for $17.95, the salmon for $14.50 and the recommended grilled shrimp dinner for $16.95. While the shrimp prices are on par with most of the local seafood places, the quantity of food on my shrimp platter was not. The baked potato was small, the slaw came in a tiny paper tray and the grilled shrimp were scattered around the edge of the plate. The salmon platter was a fair price for a fair meal.

The steaks were less pricey than most steak restaurants but the quality reflected that. The ribeye fared best, arriving at the requested done-ness, but one of the filets was medium rare rather than the request medium-well and without the shrimp that should have come with it. Strike two. We sent it back to finish cooking and get the missing shrimp.

When it returned, the meat was just as rare (we said it was fine because, at this point, it was an hour and a half since we ordered it) and only three fried shrimp had been added to it. As the filet prices were three dollars apart, that means the shrimp were a dollar each. Granted, those shrimp saved this review from being a two star but we were not happy. Strike three.

On the upside, our server was very kind and accommodating. When we left, the cashier asked us, “How was everything?” but when we responded with something less than enthusiasm, she didn’t follow up to find out why we weren’t happy with our meal.

Obviously, this place is popular enough not to need this review, but I’m surprised they are able to keep them coming back if this is what everyone experiences. Perhaps it was an off night. I hope so.

This story was originally published March 8, 2018 at 1:29 PM with the headline "Maybe this popular restaurant had an off night."