Steak and a Smoke?

Lone Star Tavern

4713 Bellmead Dr

Waco, TX 76705                        

254-799-0027

Mon- Thur – 11:00am to 9:30pm

Fri – 11:00am to 10:00pm

Saturday – 4:00pm to 10:00pm  Closed Sunday

            This place is a local, family, owned and operated steak house that has been around for decades. Apparently my grandfather really enjoyed the joint and would take family and friends there rather often…. Which is always a good sign, since he really enjoyed his food (meat and sweets primarily).  I had heard of them before, but just never really got around to trying them out, never really crossed my mind in the past. After reading an article from WacoFork on them and having talked to a few friends about the joint, I figured it was about time to give it a try.

            When I first pull in, around 11:40, they weren’t real busy but I was pretty early. As I walk in I notice a sign posted that says they do allowing smoking inside, but OF course no pipes or cigars, just cigarettes. I’m not exactly a fan of dining and having to deal with stale or fresh cig smoke, but okay I here so lets eat. Next as you walk in, to the right there is a long row of different menus. Apparently instead of telling your wait-staff what you’d like and having them write it down, you circle what you want on them and then hand them to the staff. A totally different approach, but it seems to work, and it might actually make placing ordering more fluid when busy. Their menus are pretty basic and simple: plenty of steaks, potato items, and fried items.

            After sorting through all the menus I decided on going with Thursday’s lunch special: Chicken fried chicken with a salad and some yellow potato salad. We sat over in one of the corner booths, which obviously been under excessive use… a good thing though. One of the first things I noticed once sitting is a bottle of “butter” and a shaker with BACON bits! This is AWEsome… bacon makes everything better. I ended up putting it on my potato salad, salad and some in my pepper gravy…. Mmmmmm Mmmmmm. 

            The first thing I try is the CFC. It’s got a nice crunchy batter that sticks to the chicken breast. The chicken is tender and juicy, with plenty of flavor from both the chicken and batter. It was definitely one of the best CFCs I’ve had in a while. The cream gravy was very light on pepper, so I had to add some more for kick but it still had good flavor and consistency. The salad was alright and I liked their 1000 island dressing, it had a nice tanginess to it. The potato salad was my least favorite item of theirs. It had good consistency but it was a little light on the mustard and was too heavy on the onions. All I could taste after my meal was the onions from the potato salad… ugghh. Not a fan of that. They did  have nice freshly hot rolls, which is always a great addition to most meals. After finishing my lunch I stole a bite of my dad’s steak. It was fairly decent; it was tender and had good flavor, was cooked as asked, and I could taste the season salt and Worchester sauce they used to marinate it with.

            Over all, it was a decent lunch and by the time we left they were really filling up. If you are the type of person who likes to go out for a decent steak (from a Filet to a big ole T-bone) and potato, this is probably just the place for you. They have plenty of experience in the area and they have fairly decent prices. I’d also recommend the joint for a good CFC steak that’ll fill ya right up. I think I’ll go back again to try their combination plate; that way I can try their CFS and their sirloin steak with a baked potato, and some poppers.

 But eaters beware…. There is a good chance you will leave smelling like a raunchy ash tray.

If that doesnt bug you, then go for it.