Last week I wrote an article about how Shoney’s is starting fresh with a new decor, some new menu items and trying to get a fresh start. I received a gift card to allow my family and I to go out to eat and we were asked to visit the Shoney’s location in Nashville over by the Opryland Hotel/Opry Mills area.
We arrived right around 4:45pm so we were a little early for dinner so the parking lot was fairly empty. We could tell from the outside that some remodeling had been done, the shades over the windows were new, the paint was fresh and the entrance had been redone. Once we arrived inside the decor was really nice, of course I forgot to snap a picture. All of the tables and booths are new, the old dirty carpet that could not be kept clean has been replaced with large tiles for a real fresh and clean look, so far so good. We had three children dining with us that night ages, 8, 9 and 14. When we were seated we asked for kids menus for the two younger children and were told they did not have any, this is not good. We decided to look on the website from our phone, surely they have a kids menu online right? Wrong. We found the regular menu, but no kid items. When the waitress returned we asked if she could tell us what is on the kids menu and were told “Hamburger and Chicken Tenders”. Seriously, surely there is more than a burger and chicken tenders, but I guess we will never know.
We dined on a Tuesday night and they had an insert in the menu that featured a few steaks such as a 16 oz. T-Bone, 8 oz. Sirloin, half pound hamburger steak and a few others, also included with the steak was the salad bar and the hot bar that had all of your various side items, from green beans to mashed potatoes, to Macaroni & Cheese. My husband opted for the 8 oz. sirloin with the bar and my two younger kids ordered a cheeseburger from the imaginary kids menu and myself and my oldest daughter ordered the All American Burger with fries.
While we were waiting for our food we noticed the salad bar was open, but the hot bar with all of the sides was still covered up. We could see steam coming out from under the lids, but they were just not currently available. Our food arrived to the table at about 5 minutes after 5 and at this time the bar was still not available. My husband asked if it was going to be open and the waitress said they would open it in a few minutes. My husband finished his steak which as you can see in the picture below looked very good. According to him it was cooked to a perfect medium just the way he likes and was seasoned well. By the time he finished his steak, the bar was still not open and a mob of disgruntled, hungry customers was beginning to circle it. An elderly lady who had grown tired of waiting decided to remove the lid from the green beans and burnt herself and by this time people just started taking lids off and the manager came over and frantically started trying to get the lids out of the way and get the staff to put utensils in the food. We ended up with tongs in corn which was fun to see people try to serve with.
My husband was the only one to eat off the bar and he said the majority of the side items were good, but the green beans were very mushy like they had been sitting on the steam table for quite some time. The four burgers and fries the rest of us received were hot and fresh, the new buns are a nice touch and went well with the burger. we finished up dinner by sharing an Iron Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie topped with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and a Hot Fudge Cake, both of which were good. In this experience the food was quite good, the service and lack of seeming to care about the customers was just well below par which is what I believe has gotten Shoney’s to where they are today. Dinner ended up costing our family of 5 right over $50, which is pretty typical for when we go out to eat at a casual restaurant. My husband liked the steak enough that he would eat it again, but unfortunately the rest of the experience will most likely prevent us from going back because for that same $50 we can get food of the same quality or better with the added bonus of better customer service. Have you visited a Shoney’s since their “Starting Fresh” campaign began? If so what did you think?
Stephanie Rose says
We don’t have a Shoney’s that is local but I remember as a kid eating there when we were out of town and I loved their breakfast bar.