I looked through the archives of this site and was shocked to see that Steak n Shake has never been reviewed on this site!  Of course, it may have something to do with the fact that the one in Ypsilanti is one of the worst in the nation and I have no clue how close Todd is to the ones in his area.  I know there are NONE in VA, which really pisses me off.  So I knew when I went back to Springfield, MO for leave, I would definitely have to make a trip to Steak n Shake.  Why?

Maybe it’s because the five best S n S’s in the country are here due to the fact that the owner of the company lives in Branson, MO.

Maybe it’s because I’m a former employee and I know the standard of service to expect from the place.

Maybe it’s just that I love burgers made from grade A steak cuts rather than ground beef.

Maybe it’s the shoestring french fries or the hand-dipped, home-made Milkshakes.

Maybe it’s…

BEAN CROCK!

Anyway, for a brief history of the place go here, I’m not making this any longer than I have to…

So for our little culinary jaunt to our oldtime haunt, Amy Went with a classic fave…

The Mid-westernly famous Frisco Melt!!!

In case you have trouble reading image captions, that’s a Frisco Melt.  Two Steakburger patties with swiss and cheddar cheese, 1000 Island dressing, and lettuce on sourdough bread.  She also got cheese fries.  In fact, this is pretty much all she ever orders from Steak n Shake.  For her drink, she went with a Vanilla Dr. Pepper (that’s right, you can add cherry or vanilla flavor to your drink at no charge!).

So what did your bespectacled and currently enbearded author order?  Well, usually I go with a Mushroom n Swiss Steakburger with Fries and a cup of chili and have a chocolate shake, but I was feeling a bit adventurous and saw a new menu item that caught my fancy!

The Western BBQ Bacon Steakburger!!!

Yes, once again, I’m doing a review where I ordered a BBQ Bacon Burger.  What can I say?  I love them.  This one wasn’t outstanding but it was pretty good.  It had french fried onions on it, which was pretty tasty.   I used to eat entire cans of that stuff like they were potato sticks.  Anyway, digressing. I also got a cup of chili with cheese and crackers.

Oh yeah, I got this with my meal too...

For my beverage, I got…

A Hershey's Syrup Special Dark ChocolateMilkshake

Oh yum…  Seriously, that was an amazing shake!  I don’t know if it’s worth $5, but it’s a damn good shake (100 pop culture cool points to the first person other than John or Todd to name that quote).

On the subject of their shakes, they have over 20 different varieties of milkshakes.  I mean, it’s half their name, so one would expect some quality and variety, am I right?

Here’s a few pics I took of their selection…

These ones are candy inspired...

Some classic shakes: Chocolate, OrangeFreeze, Strawnana side-by side, Root Beer Float, and Turtle sippable Sundae

They have your regular shakes in Chocolate, Vanilla, Mocha, Strawberry, Spec Dark, and an

Orange Freeze which is made by mixing vanilla ice cream with water and orange flavor instead of milk.

Then they have the specialty shakes such as Butterfinger, Cookies n Cream, Cookie Dough, T urtle Nut Supreme, Mint Cookies and Creme, Double Fudge, Peanut Butter Cup and Banana Split.  These are called Sippable Sundaes.  They also have strawberry and raspberry smoothies.  My favorite thing they do with their shakes though, is the Side-by-Side.  You can take two flavors of shakes and have them side by side in the same glass.  Create flavors such as Banocolate, Strawnana, Chocnilla, or MochaChocolate.

Another thing I like about the location I went to today is the fact that if you sit at the counter, you can see the food being made on the line.

View from the side

ORDER UP!

So if you’re ever in any of the states from Texas to Pennsylvania (excluding LA, VA, NJ, and MD), check this place out for a fun, nostalgic, good food served fast experience.  And if you want the best service from Steak n Shake, come to Springfield, MO.  Seriously, I scarcely had time to think “where’s the food?” when it was in front of me.  Excellent service. I leave you with some pics of my kids playing with the fold up cars  they gave us.

Amelie's car

Steak n Shake
Various locations throughout the Mid-West to East Coast

http://www.steaknshake.com/