Lone Star Texas Grill - Ottawa

Seems like the fajita chicken and beef were cooked from frozen. Nothing seemed marinated, and it tasted like spices and liquid smoke flavor added after on the outside of the meat. bland as F. Wasn't this all cooked on a mesquite grill before? No longer it seems. The beef wasn't much better, gristle B cuts. As for the fajita fixings, the wonderful micro-shredded cheddar cheese is long gone, replaced by larger corn starch coated cheese shreds. The lettuce, tomatoes, salsa are served in bottle cap portions. Want Guacamole? It's extra$ now. The classic, grilled steak and chicken fajita plate for two is now $59.99. Oh and its no longer a pound or ½ pound portions. Any mention of the actual serving size or weight was removed from the menu. So yeah, smaller portions, higher prices. Combined with 2 drinks, tax and tip, I'm out $110+ date night. Can't help feeling like they're miking all the good food and service reputation they cultivated years ago, with 23 locations and growing. Now its just another mediocre chain restaurant with cowboy boots and $13.99 margaritas. A 22oz Bud is $10, a 18oz Stella is $11. You can almost buy a 6 pack for that price at the Beer Store.... at least, it seems for now, the salsa and the tortillas haven't changed.

The drinks came fairly quickly and the wait staff were fairly attentive and very pleasant. The majority of the group ordered fajitas and they seemed to take longer than normal to arrive. I realize the protein part of the dish has to be cooked and there were a lot of us, but it wasn't like there were a lot of other types of dishes to be cooked. Now, I like fajitas, but they had ribs, which I like a lot and don't often get. So I ordered the rib chicken breast (I don't discount that my food may have delayed things for the fajitas). The food was excellent, except for the beans, which I found a bit on the bland side. And the portion was large enough that I wasn't able to finish all of the curly fries. One last thing. It is this chain's schtick that if you show up on your birthday, they will make you wear a large sombrero and the staff will surround you, singing a raucous and loud version of happy birthday. This is not an unavoidable issue if you are the birthday person--just don't go on your birthday or don't let anyone you're with know. But it can be a bit distracting/off-putting if you're not part of the birthday group. Again, not really a criticism, but something to keep in mind if it's an issue.

Ordered takeout with my family that was in from out of town. We tend to do take out these days as opposed to eating in as restaurants seem to be short staffed all the time. Not there fault but will avoid the waiting on being served. Been going to this location since they opened up in the 80's. We usually spend $250-$350 on our orders. Last time the Ribs had no seasoning but a blob of bbq sauce on them, the fajitas were not seasoned properly and the Queso was oddly grainy. I did call and speak to a Manager and she really didn't care about our experience. She just said thanks for letting me know and bye. I won't go to this location again. Really I keep going here for Sentimental reasons but when management doesn't care... I guess I shouldn't either. Sadly disappointed.

First off,our server was not attentive.the food we ordered not timely.we ordered steaks that were not cooked right.the mushroom side had lemon in it which was gross.the garlic mash was bland.we sent the mushroom`s back and asked them to be cooked in garlic butter like they should be.by the time the new oder of mushroom`s came we were pretty much fed up and done,after my sister found a hair in the food.the manager in my mind quick enough to fix thing`s.we were so frustrated.the food was comped but with no care or concern.we will never go back.

No hot sauce for Fajita 's, forgot side dishes of rice and beans. Meat portions smaller than before. Restaurant had medium traffic and our server was always hard to find. Our server could only tell us these items unavailable . Slow service. Not worth it.