Monarch Lounge Steakhouse & Package Store

We drove from Sioux Falls to Renner to try a new place, my grandparents had eaten there before and said it was good. We went on a Saturday night so apparently the whole town had the same idea. Our wait was 20 minutes ( no big deal) and get seated. Salad Bar had the usual stuff and 2 soups which were fine. I ordered the cod and Jumbo Shrimp and my partner ordered the NY Strip Steak. My cod was VERY bland and overcooked, no seasoning at all and the "Jumbo shrimp" were medium at best.  The portion size was also very small for $16.99, I am still hungry less than a half hour later. The NY Strip Steak was not trimmed so there was quite a bit of gristle. Our server was nice however we were not impressed. The fries had obviously been cooked in many times over used oil and tasted like fish. We will not be going back, for what we spent the outback would have been a better meal.

The Monarch steakhouse has had a reputation of being a great place for steaks.  I had not been their for many years and wanted to try something different on a Friday night.  The atmosphere is "small town" in that you walk in and seat yourself. A server soon came and took our drink orders.
I decide on a NY strip steak, which was the special of the night. With the entree comes salad bar, and choice of potato.  The salad bar had several different kinds of pasta salad, potato salad, as well as the usual lettuce, and various toppings and dressings.  There were also 2 kinds of soup.  
Everything on the salad bar were fresh and tasty.  
Unfortunately the steak was well below average.  First off  usually when a steak is ordered medium, there should be an obvious pink in the middle of the steak, but it was brown to nearly brown throughout.  I notice on the 1st bite that it did not have the usual flavor of a good NY steak.  After a few more bites it became obvious that their cooking method is to only sear briefly the outside of the steak , and then finish in a microwave.  Because of this if this had been a quality cut, the microwave sapped the flavor right out of the steak.