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.

It's been many years since we were at the Lone Star. We went for lunch the other day and it's was excellent. We both had the Chimichanga's and they were huge and tasty. I could only eat about half of mine my husband did manage to eat all of his. The waiter had told us they were large. I found the filling to be really tasty and the chicken was tender. I would definitely order it again. My only negative comment is about the chips and salsa that they serve for free. The tiny dish with the salsa is very awkward to use and the salsa could use a little more cilantro and spice for my taste. The server was friendly and pleasant and we had good service. We will be back .

May be nice to have a smaller option for the enchiladas I felt bad that I could barely make it through one and a bit of the second there were 3 very filling. Margarita choices are interesting and pretty reasonably priced. Service was friendly. I commented that perhaps they may want to consider adding chili to the menu it would be a great fit. Was also surprised how warm it was inside didn't seem like their AC worked very well. Was the first time ever I have left an almost untouched glass of wine was just too hot inside to be able to finish it and wasn't able to get it to go like some of the other places in the area.

If it were not for the friendly service this place would get a completely failing grade from me. Food is beyond expensive for its quality and even the quantity of what's served. Fajitas for two barely served one and the fixings had the look and taste of food that had been prepared hours earlier. We ate outdoors and the patio is next to a busy road with so many flies it was ridiculous, so I won't be going back any time soon.