Steak 'n Shake

"This is a warning to any unsuspecting customers who think they are going to easily get their own soda at Steak and Shake now. Good luck. Had my first experience with their new scan your QR code for soda deal. I have purchased a Western BBQ burger combo here 4 times in the last two weeks (I know probably too many times but I realy enjoy it). Each time I am spending over $50 for my families food (I always leave a tip also). I have been going to Steak and Shake a lot since they switched to self service kiosks a while ago. I have always liked the food and the shakes but the service before the switch was pretty terrible and I didn't have an hour to wait for some poor overworked server to eventually get to me to take my order and then wait another hour for them to bring me my food. Enter self service kiosks and instantly I had a new favorite quick service restaurant to go to. I stop in tonight and everything is going great until I go to the soda fountain and try to get a drink. I am waiting in a line to get a soda, which I thought was unusual, not a big deal but I remember thinking why the people in front of me couldn't operate a soda system - its 2023 - who hasn't poured a soda for themselves by now. After a couple of minutes I thought - I will help them - they obviously don't know what they are doing. I offered my assistance and they accepted but we could not get the soda to work. After a few minutes a very nice guy came out from behind the counter and offered to help us. He explained that they had just installed a new system that involved scanning a QR code for every soda you needed to pour. You have a two hour time limit and can get two refills with each QR code - I have no problem with limiting refills - in fact I think one refill would be more than fair. Two hours in which to get a refill is plenty of time and more than fair as well. While I feel that the limitations they have instituted are fair, I do have a few problems with this new system. First off, out of the last 4 visits I made here, this was the first time a receipt printed out - the receipt printers are always out of paper. Second, there was no warning at all - I didn't even bother looking for a receipt, let alone a QR code, because the receipt never prints out. I had to walk back over to the Kiosk to get my QR codes and receipts after the young man who helped me pointed out that they were needed to make the system work. Third, even the worker who was helping us ( did I mention how great he was - I'm serious - he was super friendly and helpful, and had probably been doing this all day) had a hard time getting the QR codes to scan. Fourth, when I went back up to get a refill and (now being an expert) scanned my QR code, I received the flash indicating I was good to go and get the refill but I had not taken my lid off previous to scanning ( rookie mistake) and by the time I got the lid off and tried dispensing the soda It was to late and I only got a splash of soda (darn it). No worries, I still had one refill remaining and I now knew to take my lid off first - I've got this - Nope - somewhere along the way in this ridiculous process, I had apparently used up my second refill (darn it again), not to worry I said to myself, I still have three other QR codes and I just want one Dr Pepper - How could I possibly fail? After another 5 minutes, half a cup of Dr Pepper, and 4 used up QR codes, I gave up and left. I don't think I will ever go back, at least not as long as this ridiculous system is in use. I get that there are people who abuse refills and I know it's extremely difficult for a restaurant to make a profit now days but this new system is not efficient or customer friendly. By now ( if you made it this far - I'm impressed and thank you for reading my entire review) your probably thinking, wow this is a really long review, why is this so long when It could have been much shorter. This is about how I felt after spending more than 20 minutes trying to get a soda and half a refill when it should have taken less than a minute at the most."

"The food is passible, but the drink dispenser now requires you scan your receipt in order to start working. The scanner hardly works, has limited uses, and only lasts for a few seconds. You have to rush to fill your cup, and it can easily scan the receipt multiple times, removing your limited uses. Will not be returning until this is gone."

"The burger & fries were way too salty. We couldn't even finish them. They no longer have table service so this was an unexpected new experience for us. We put in our own order at the kiosk. When our name was called, we went up to the counter to pick up our food & milkshakes. We got our own soft drinks. When we were done, we took our trays & rubbish to the designated area. The thing that really bugged me about it all is that we were prompted for a tip when we placed the order. We're happy to tip for service but there was none of that here. Pretty brazen of them to ask! The milkshakes were delicious which is the only reason for the second star. We made a mental note to decline the whipped topping in the future though because they've switched to a low quality imitation topping. It wasn't good. We'll miss driving through for milkshakes now & then and we're definitely done with the dine-in experience."

"I went through the drive through and they read back my order and still forgot my burger. The one that they did give me was burnt. I will never eat hear again"

"Had an amazing time at steak n shake and was so happy to find one still open! The frisco melt is just as good as I remember!"