Getting a steakhouse dinner used to feel like a special event from the moment you sat down. There was a bread basket on the table, a dessert cart being pushed around, and you could size up the complimentary salad bar from your seat. Now, most of those little touches have disappeared — yet the total on your bill is still climbing. Here are the things that have vanished from the steakhouse experience that we miss the most.
Salad Bars
Practically every steakhouse used to have a salad bar, and it was always included in the price of your meal. You could find everything you ever wanted on it, from creamy pasta salad to sunflower seeds to sprinkle on your iceberg wedge. Now? Good luck finding a self-serve salad bar anymore, let alone one that’s free when you buy a steak.
Steak Sauce
Sure, you can still ask your server for a bottle of A1, but steak sauce — sometimes an assortment, and sometimes even homemade! — used to already be on the table. If they provided it, people would inevitably go through it much faster than if you have to ask for it. They might not even bring the bottle anymore, opting for little cups of the sauce instead.
Free Drink Refills
This isn’t just a change at steakhouses, but at many sit down restaurants. It feels particularly egregious to nickel and dime a customer when you’re paying $50 for an entree, though. We’ll take water over a $4 Coke, thanks.
Mints With the Check
So many restaurants used to do this, including steakhouses. The little plastic tray with the check and pen always included either Andes mints, or at the very least, those red and white hard candy ones. Clearly, the chocolate ones were superior, but frankly we’d take any type of free mint candy at this point.
Fancy Butter
Most steakhouses used to serve fancy butter with their bread baskets. Sometimes it was savory with garlic and herbs, and sometimes it was sweet with honey or orange. That’s an extra expense that restaurants don’t want to spend anymore, so they’ve gone the way of the dodo. (This is why so many people love Texas Roadhouse’s free honey cinnamon butter with their rolls. It’s a little blast from the past that goes a long way in customer loyalty!)
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Relish Trays
At some old school steakhouses, and especially at Midwestern supper clubs, relish trays used to be the norm. You’d get a tray of finger foods like cold veggies and green goddess dip, cheese spread, summer sausage, olives, and maybe even some pickled beets. Now, if something like that was delivered to your table, you’d think the server made a mistake because you didn’t order it. Truly, complimentary relish trays were the height of steakhouse chic.
Bread Baskets
Many steakhouses still seem to have a free bread basket on the table, but the quality has really gone downhill. Remember when there used to be three of four different kinds of interesting breads and rolls? And they’d even refill it? Now you’re lucky if you get one, because in some restaurants, the bread basket has turned into sleeves of crackers instead.
Crackers With Your Soup
Speaking of crackers, we’ve also noticed a distinct lack of oyster crackers and Saltines served with your soup. That’s a travesty in any restaurant, but especially when your meal is costing a small fortune.
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Salad Dressing Caddies
For steakhouses that didn’t have a salad bar, there was often still a really fun way of choosing how to dress your salad: dressing caddies. These held three or more salad dressings, and used to be delivered with your house salad. If they brought these out today, they’d be so delightfully retro.
Baked Potato Toppings
Ah, the good old days when your baked potato came with cheese, sour cream, and bacon bits. Those are definitely upcharges to your potato now, because steakhouses only want you to eat butter on your potato for some reason. Having to pay to get it “loaded” is what made us switch our default potato choice to mashed.
Side Dishes
We miss those classic steakhouses where you got to choose a potato AND a vegetable with your steak. Nowadays, you usually get one side choice only. In high-end steakhouses, generally you have to order everything a la carte, so nothing comes with your $80 hunk of beef. That just feels like a ripoff.
Birthday Desserts
When did steakhouses stop giving free desserts for a birthday or anniversary celebration? It was a thoughtful little touch that we always enjoyed. Now when we tell our server it’s a birthday and the check comes without a discount, we feel embarrassed for mentioning it at all. You think they’d give out Andes mints for special occasions with the check instead?
More From Cheapism
- The Best Under-the-Radar Steakhouse in Each State — There’s nothing more primal and alluring than the scent of meat cooking on the grill, and we’ve found some of America’s best steakhouses that will have you salivating for the best cuts of beef, starters, and sides.
- Iconic Old-School Steakhouses Across America Worth a Visit — The fine-dining steakhouse experience is a restaurant style forged in the last century — and it’s one that transcends the standard service levels of today.
- Here’s How Much Steakhouses Used to Cost in the 1970s — Let’s forget about today’s soaring beef prices and take a nostalgic look at old steakhouse menus and advertisements from the ‘70s to see what people paid for a steak dinner 50 years ago.
