My family & I decided to drive from Lawrence,KS (approximately 25 miles from Topeka) to the Topeka Steak House to try something different from our usual routine. Little did we know that this would be a wasted trip. We arrived at 6:30 p.m. on 7/8/00. We knew the wait might be long because it was a Saturday night. We were seated immediately, however, it took the waitress forever to come greet us. We were not asked about appetizers or, just our drink request. We also requested a few minutes to decide on our dinners. We waited quite a long time to get our drinks and even longer to have our order taken.
The prime rib was on special so I decided to try that. My husband ordered the 16oz. sirloin, both medium rare. Our daughter opted for the 4oz child's sirloin & my son have the ground sirloin kids' meal, both medium. We waited over 10 minutes to receive our salads, the standard iceberg lettuce with carrot & cabbage shavings in it. We consumed those and then waited until 7:51 p.m. to receive our meals.
Our food arrived and looked okay. The rolls were cold. My husband received a 16oz prime rib instead of the sirloin he ordered. Since, we did not want to wait any longer as we were very hungry, he ate the prime rib, pausing only to tell me that it had quite a bit of fat. My 10oz prime rib was also about 5oz of fat. The flavor was adequate by itself, perhaps a little plain. The aus jus was delicious, although that may have been the extreme hunger talking. My daughter was satisfied with her 4oz sirloin and ate most of it. My son devoured the ground sirloin, although I suspect that was also hunger more than taste. Our drinks were filled frequently and I was very pleased with the attitude of the woman who refreshed our drinks. However, the same could not be said of our waitress, who not only did NOT apologize about the delay in our order, but barely acknowledged our existance. I had to get up & inquire about the status of our food before we were served.
After we finished the meal, I went up to pay for our food. I did request the manager to let him know that the service was less than adequate. He came out & proceeded to tell me that we did not come in at 6:30 p.m, that they keep a log & we came in at 6:54p.m. He then proceeded to tell me that our order was clocked in at 7:16p.m. Despite my complaints about the service, the manager did not once express any regret about our bad experience at his steakhouse. I was treated as if I was trying to get out of paying for our meal. Not once did any apology of any sort come from his lips. When I called back to get the name & address of the owner of the restaurant, I spoke with the same gentleman, who still argued with ME about MY experience at his restaurant. Needless to say , we will NEVER return there and will actively discourage friends, family & anyone else who would ask us about Topeka restaurants, from coming there.