Bates Steak House and Saloon
Bates Steak House and Saloon
433 East Broadway
Eugene, OR
(541) 683-3108?
Eugenified.com rating: 
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Quick Review: Stopped by Bates Steak House a couple of nights ago for their burger & brew special: $8.50 for a burger and a pint of beer. Imagine my surprise when my meal arrived with a hand-written note from the owner of the establishment.
The note read as follows:
“Dear Second-Rate Customer,
Thanks for visiting Bates Steak House and trying out our burger & brew special. Sorry that we can not seat you in the regular part of our restaurant and instead have to force you to sit in the “bar” area (Well, it’s basically a cramped sitting room in this old house, but we like to call it the bar). We hope you will understand that we can only serve you a second-rate (or maybe third-rate) burger for this price. As you can see from your plate, it is a small burger patty, cut in half, and lined up on a regular hot dog bun. (We thought it would be too insulting to a hamburger bun to actually use one). It also comes with a small serving of potatoes on the plate. If you order it well done, we will burn it. Again, we thank you for your understanding. While you’re here, take a look at our regular menu. Please be careful that your eyes do not pop out when you see our very high prices for a steak ($25-39). We know it is hard to imagine that such a smallish, roughly decorated place with slow service could possibly charge such outrageous prices. Just try your best. We look forward to your future visit and promise not to serve you second-rate food next time…we hope.”
OK, I lied about the note. There was no note. But, in effect, that was the message that was conveyed to me by the food and dining experience at Bates Steak House.
Summary: Worst burger in all of Eugene. Hell no, we won’t go.
Eugenified.com rating:
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March 20th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
I have eaten at Bates Steak House recently and was pleased with both my service and the food. Regular menu prices are based on a four course meal which includes soup served family style and an after dinner drink. I assume the Burger and Brew special was to reach out to potential new customers who don’t understand the pricing structure or go for the more informal college hangouts.
My husband and I each ordered a different steak and they were cooked to perfection. He eats his rare and they delivered both in temperature, texture and flavor. There does seem to be a contradiction between their fine dining menu and their more homey decor, but I had nothing to complain about. It is a dinner house, not a cafe or bar with a price range that reflects that.
March 21st, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Selling the worst burger in all of Eugene is a marketing strategy that needs some rethinking…
March 22nd, 2010 at 7:57 pm
We previously went here for the regular dinner menu (steaks), and enjoyed our visit even though it is a little pricey.
Unfortunately, Mr. Eugenified is dead-on about the burger special – we happened to be sharing the table with him that night. I had a non-special burger, which was good but twice the price. Mr E’s burger “special” looked like something from elementary school. Grade “E” quality hot dog bun, one beef patty in half, and not much else. It looked (and I gather tasted) awful.
Bad move, Bates. We probably won’t go back.
March 24th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
I’m a long-term Eugenean with an extensive history in the food and wine business — and I used to love the old Moreno’s Mexico restaurant in this building.
I went to Bates for dinner 2 or 3 times with my life accomplice. We liked the veggie soup a lot, and found the food pretty good overall.
But, when they pulled the oldest trick in the book and sent the $30 bottle of red wine out with a non-matching cork sticking out of the bottle, that was it.
Restaurateurs think people are stupid, and don’t know that they just filled up that empty bottle from some cheap bulk bag-in-a-box in the back room. There is a litany of ridiculous excuses for this dodge, and I’ve heard them all over the years. Most are variations on the 2 basic themes:
1. “The server is busy, so we just pulled the cork in the bar to save time.”
2. “The server is underage, so we had to have an adult pull the cork in the back room.”
My all-time favorite:
3. “Well, we had a couple of bottles of this open for by-the-glass service, so we just put them together for you.” (I always love wine that’s over the hill — maybe they could let it rot in the open air for a couple of weeks and charge me an extra service fee!)
Sorry, folks, there’s no excuse. Send out an adult with a sealed bottle who can do the job. I’m not paying almost 3 times the wholesale price to be served bulk switcheroo wine (or collected expired remnants) by a smirking nincompoop.
I complained to the server at Bates, who sent the bar girl out to feed me a line about having just pulled the cork. I don’t know why, but I felt like being nice and giving them a chance. The bar girl went back to her broom closet, and then I saw that the cork that came sticking out of the Terra d’Oro Zinfandel was from a bottle of some other winery’s Riesling. I asked to have the bar girl come back out, and this time (knowing the gig was up) she already had a new bottle in her hand as she arrived.
I swear to every power in Creation that the wine that came out the first time in the open bottle was NOT the same product as the tasty juice that emerged from under the fresh cork. Not the same wine, not the same grape.
And, they should NEVER have put me through having to ask twice! It’s the obvious, incontrovertible, and inalienable right of any restaurant wine buyer — who has already submitted up-front to economic rape for the privilege.
Bates will never take another dollar from my pocket.
Other Eugene restaurants that have done this to me over the years:
– Tino’s Spaghetti and Pizza House (Lilliano Chianti)
– West Brothers Barbecue (Adams Pinot Noir)
– La Oficina – “The Office” (don’t remember which wine)
– House of Chen (BV Coastal Cabernet)
At La Oficina, they gave me the “underage server” line. When I sent the bottle back, a woman well over the age of 21 came out with the sealed one. To me, this is the most odious of lies.
The folks at House of Chen actually admitted to me that they filled the wine bottle up from a bag-in-the-box (supposedly of “the same” BV product). I told them that this is a false and deceptive practice, and that if they sold it in a carafe at the same price, that would be honest. They didn’t get it.
How can you not “get” that filling an empty wine bottle with its nasty old bacteria-laden foil around the top to try to make it look freshly-opened is unsanitary and dishonest, not to mention ILLEGAL?
Dishonorable Mention: Stephanie Pearl-Kimmel’s “Provisions”, where my sweetie recently saw them serve a bottle to a table of out-of-towners with the cork already hanging out. She said the customers gave a noticeable look to one another, but said nothing.
They may have taken some extra fast bucks off of that group, but I’m an in-town lifer. That event takes Provisions, Cafe Marche, and the parent Marche itself off my list for good.
If people know that you’re intentionally lying to them and stealing from them, it doesn’t give them much confidence in what you’re doing to their food…
Down with Master Bates, his steakhouse, and all who swindle!
March 24th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Wow, good comment! I learned something today. Thanks!
May 7th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Went to Bates Steak house for Valentines Day spent a whopping $125.00 on dinner and it was HORRIBLE! The service sucks, the food is awful and not to mention WAY OVERPRICED! We left a comment card on the table about the horrible food and service and never heard a word. I tell everybody I know not to eat there. I can’t believe the place is still in business. I guess it will only be a matter of time. It was our first time and last time ever eating there. But I guess they will make it a while on us first timers and the high prices and switching of wine.
May 7th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Thanks for the input. I wonder if there is a good steak restaurant in Eugene? Maybe Boulevard Grill? I have never eaten there. The outside of their building looks like a nursing home.
May 13th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
Hey, I just got the “Master Bates” joke from Steve. That only took me 1.5 months…