Ponderosa Restaurant Forced to pay for steak that was incorrectly cooked. Would not adjust bill. Salina Kansas

In most restaurants, it takes 20-30 minutes for your steak to ARRIVE TO YOUR TABLE. Yes, steaks take longer than most foods to prepare due to food safety standards. There is also some time needed to return the steak to the kitchen, explain to the cook how it needs to be re-cooked, cook the steak, and re-deliver it to the table. Do you honestly expect the cook to drop everything he's doing and put all the other customers on hold to slap your steak on the grill IMMEDIATELY and literally run it over to your table in a minute's time? If so, such thinking is unreasonable.

Most cooks will expedite your steak as much as possible, especially if it were already cooked incorrectly, but you still need to have a reasonable amount of patience as steaks DO take a while to cook as compared to other foods. If you were in a hurry, you could have ordered something that requires far less cooking time (i.e., chicken nuggets or other similar foods that arrive pre-cooked and frozen, and are simply tossed in a fryer for a few minutes).

Ponderosa isn't Ruth Chris, you're not going to get a good steak no matter what you do. As for the person that wanted it rare. NEVER order a rare steak at a place like Ponderosa, or any cheap-o steak house. I managed a steak house many years ago, and you would be appaled if you knew where that meat came from. The managers buy wholesale meat from the back of trucks late at night to increase their profits. That meat could of come from road-kill for all you know.

Bottom line, especially to the OP, don't expect champagne on a beer budget.

I had a similar experience at a (long defunct) Ponderosa years ago. I ordered my steak "extremely rare". Twice they brought me a sort of medium. When I asked for my steak as I had requested it they tried to comply, but watched me like a hawk to ensure I did not consume any of the rejected steak. It was odd, if that was their concern they should have removed the rejected meat once I asked it to be replaced. Why would I ask for a replacement if I was willing to consume over-cooked meat?

Like you, I watched my sister consume her steak, but I never got one I could eat. Unlike you, I did not have to pay for it. Ignore the idiot who thinks you should patiently wait for 20-30 minutes, as I'm sure you are aware, not even the well-done folks want their steak grilled that long. Honey, you should have let them call the "steak police". If you can't get a good steak in the heartland, what's the point of a steakhouse anyway?

Any steak that takes 20-30 minutes to cook is too well done to even eat. Most steaks, if ordered medium rare, take approximately 10 minutes to cook. The fact that his dining partner was done by the time he got his steak was unacceptable. They should have gotten the steak out there much faster than that. Now you expect the dining partner to sit while he eats his entire dinner? Bad service.

Any steak that takes 20-30 minutes to cook is too well done to even eat. Most steaks, if ordered medium rare, take approximately 10 minutes to cook. The fact that his dining partner was done by the time he got his steak was unacceptable. They should have gotten the steak out there much faster than that. Now you expect the dining partner to sit while he eats his entire dinner? Bad service.

Any steak that takes 20-30 minutes to cook is too well done to even eat. Most steaks, if ordered medium rare, take approximately 10 minutes to cook. The fact that his dining partner was done by the time he got his steak was unacceptable. They should have gotten the steak out there much faster than that. Now you expect the dining partner to sit while he eats his entire dinner? Bad service.

Any steak that takes 20-30 minutes to cook is too well done to even eat. Most steaks, if ordered medium rare, take approximately 10 minutes to cook. The fact that his dining partner was done by the time he got his steak was unacceptable. They should have gotten the steak out there much faster than that. Now you expect the dining partner to sit while he eats his entire dinner? Bad service.

You sent the steak back, and in return they were cooking you a new steak. It takes a while to cook a steak, 20-30 minutes in most restaurants to be exact. Asking them to re-cook your steak and then telling them to forget about it after the steak is already on the grill is highly inappropriate.

No one said that you had to eat your steak in the car "going down the road." You could have eaten it there in the restaurant, regardless of if your dining partner was already finished with his/her meal. It sounds like you simply changed your mind and did not want the steak and the accompanying bill.

You ordered a steak, and you got a steak, cooked to perfection I might add. "Changing your mind" does not factor into the equation. There is no rip off here.