Longhorn Steakhouse In St. George is Certainly a Steakhouse

Longhorn Steakhouse recently opened a location in St. George to the cries of everyone who wanted a Cheesecake Factory. 

All jokes aside, Longhorn Steakhouse has been receiving some positive reception on the local level. This intrigued me since St. George already has a couple of solid steakhouse chains to choose from. 

Décor 

The first thing I noticed when getting into the restaurant was the classic-looking decorations. When I say classic, I mean the carpet looks like it belongs to an old-fashioned national park themed restaurant like the Bit and Spur at Zion National Park.  

The silverware looked normal at first, but then I looked at the steak knife and I'm pretty sure I found the murder weapon for a game of Clue I was playing the other day. It certainly does a number on the steak though. I was able to cut through the fat of my steak with little to no effort.

Service 

The service was surprisingly fast for a location like this, but I think that’s due to the time of day. I asked my waiter if they knew when the best time to come in would be, and they said weekdays between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. were best if you want faster service.  

Sure enough, as soon as 12:30 p.m. hit, the restaurant was slammed with many potential carnivores.  

My waiter was very attentive, but they were almost too attentive. I would be one bite into my steak, and they immediately asked me how it is. That’s fine, but what’s a tad annoying is when they come back to ask a second time within the next minute.  

I was half expecting them to come back a third time and tell me how my car warranty was going to expire. 

Food 

I ordered the Wild West Shrimp, which was hand breaded shrimp with peppers and ranch, Honey Wheat Bread, your typical steakhouse appetizer, and the 12-ounce Ribeye with mashed potatoes. 

First the bread. Surprisingly, it was bread. I mean that in the best possible way, but the butter didn’t have any fun twist on it like you’d find at Outback or Texas Roadhouse.  

Wild West Shrimp was next, and man I wish I ordered the salad. Not just for my health, but because this was a lot for an appetizer. It’s definitely meant for a group of four, but other than that, the waiter recommended I get a good clump of shrimp and peppers on my fork before dipping it in the ranch, and it was great. Definitely too much for one person though, so keep that in mind if you’re going alone. 

The Ribeye was last on the list, and it was pretty good. One look at a picture of the steak and you can see the problem I had with it. The steak was resting in what I assume was a pile of its own fluids. To some, that’s actually a plus, but I felt 25% more dense in body mass after I was finished.  

Same goes for the mashed potatoes. Taking a spoonful of potatoes left a puddle of butter in the pile, but overall, the taste and purpose was still there. 

Conclusion

The folks at Longhorn Steakhouse know who their primary audience is. Big families who want to get a classic steakhouse experience with really strong flavors. It accomplishes what it sets out to do, but I can’t definitively say if it does any more than that.