Lariat Steakhouse

Been here a few times now and each time it gets better and better! The food was amazing as always and Kim our server is the best we have ever had! As busy as she was she knows the true meaning of great service with a smile! Thank you Kim for giving us a great night out!!

My husband and I frequent Peoria often however had never had the time to eat at Lariat.  We decided to go on New Years Eve. What a letdown!

There were four of us and none of our steaks came as ordered. I ordered medium well and it come out very well done! Well my cousin likes hers that way so we exchanged steaks thinking maybe I got hers.  No deal...they were all over cooked.  Also they serve steaks on these sizzling platters....two reasons why this is not the best idea...1. Your steak continues to cook, and 2. both me and my cousin burned our fingers! The room was very dark and we just didn't see the metal parts of the platter nor were we warned by our server.  My cousin's thumb burn was pretty painful and they offered a burn salve which took about 10mins to bring.  Hmmmmm? Never had to have burn ointment in a restaurant...seems like a problem. Kudos to the salve...it worked quickly!

Also, my baked potato seemed like it had been baked early in the day and warmed for dinner.  Hubby and another cousin chose the rice. They weren't told that it would be wild rice..neither of them ate it. Although I did like the rice.  We also ordered sautéed mushrooms which were horribly mushy and over salted.  

Two items were delicious...the starter Goulash soup, and steak fries!

Warning...cocktails were missing liquor (or so it seemed). I ordered a Cosmo and received a glass of cranberry juice with lime!

We have enjoyed steak dinners at several restaurants (Alexander's,  Jim's Bistro, Longhorn) in Peoria and have never had such a bad experience. Recommendation for Lariat...SEASON your steaks.  All we tasted was chewy, dry, tough meat disguised as ribeyes that tasted like the grill.  Expensive flavorless steaks! How does a steakhouse that has been in business for so many years destroy Ribeyes???

Our server was good other than the time it took to bring the burn ointment.  We did leave her a nice tip...the food wasn't her fault!

One funny note...we got ToGo boxes just because too much money had been wasted.  I just couldn't take mine and left it on the table.  Well, our bus girl ran out the door to bring my steak...we all yelled Oh No! We laughed all night about the stalker steak that wouldn't go away!

Food:  Prices online do not reflect those on the current menu. The bread was fantastic with the honey butter as well as our appetizer of cocktail shrimp. However, steak ordered "medium" came back very rare and had to be sent back.  Food was placed on our table by a server, then removed after the waitress said it was the wrong table, then returned after she determined it was the order for our table.  

Atmosphere:  We were seated in what looked like an overflow banquet room, even though the main dining area was empty.   Should have been told at reservation time that main area was unavailable.  One of our chairs felt like it was being kicked every time someone walked behind it (floor board problem?).  

Service:  Wait staff was friendly, but see food comments.  

Overall: Ultimately our experience at Lariat's was a little unsatisfying considering the feel of the place didn't really match the prices that we saw on the (paper) menu that doubled as my placemat.