Sagebrush Steakhouse

I am generally not one to complain, but . . .  The experience of eating -if you can call it that - at Sagebrush Steakhouse this evening was awful. When we arrived, country music was blaring into the parking lot from the outside speakers, and it was no quieter inside. That set the tone for what followed.

There is no fresh fish or seafood at all, according to our sweet young server, because it would spoil. What, we're a few hours from the Atlantic, sitting amidst countless rivers and lakes, and you don't even have a catch of the day? I know it's a steakhouse, but if you're going to offer several fish and seafood items, one or two should be fresh.

My husband ordered a cup of chili as one of his side dishes, but they kept it under the warming lights and planned to bring it along with his entree, until he asked for it. He ate about half of it, and said it was average. My side salad, on the other hand, did arrive in proper sequence, and while it was nothing superb, it was definitely edible, and a very large serving.

The entrees arrived while we were still eating said chili and salad. A few minutes later, our sweet young server returned to give us more water, and asked how everything looked. Not how it tasted, but how it looked. I'd not yet tasted either my baked sweet potato or my medium rare, 6-oz. sirloin, but we said fine. The sweet young server did not return until much later, after I'd set my plate at the edge of the table. Even then, she did not ask how we liked the food. As she was picking up the plate, I pointed to the barely-eaten sweet potato and said, "That was disgusting." Both she and my husband looked at me in surprise. I told her it was extremely overcooked. Her response? "I'll let the cook know." Not, "I'll take it back and get you something else."

What was wrong with the sweet potato? It had obviously been baked some time earlier, probably days, and had probably sat in the refrigerator or freezer until I ordered it, at which time it was reheated, and served with a scoop of butter dusted with brown sugar. By the time I received it and took one of my two bites, it was the consistency, and probably the taste, of baby food.

At least the steak was edible, though actually a bit undercooked. But it was sirloin, after all, not known for being a stellar cut of beef. My husband's grilled chicken was mediocre, properly cooked but rather bland.

When the bill arrived, we were charged the full amount. At the very least, I expected to be comped the menu cost of the sweet potato. Needless to say, the tip was much smaller than the 20%+ that we usually leave. We will never go back to this poor excuse for a steakhouse.

Friendly staff ...Sagebrush food.

Keep driving...service was horrible and the food sucked. Your better off going to Chili's or Apple bees.  We were seated and no waitress ever came over while 2 waitresses kept on walking by. I finally went back to the 3 hostesses and told them. Finally the one waitress that kept on walking by us came to us and apologized and blamed the hostesses. Everything took forever to get, rolls, drinks, even the ketchup! All we got were hamburgers and the chili was gross. It seems more like locals go there so if you are driving by on the highway (which we were) keep looking.