4 Restaurant Chains Rumored To Use Frozen Steaks

When you dine out instead of making your own meal, there's a trade-off: What you gain in convenience, you lose in terms of knowledge and control. Customers rarely know exactly how their orders are made, and more restaurants rely on frozen food than you might guess — even for "premium" items like steak. We've rounded up four popular chain eateries that have been rumored to use frozen steaks.

Now, frozen meat is not a culinary sin by default, and restaurants that use it don't necessarily intend to trick customers out of a good meal. It's possible to cook a tasty steak while it's still frozen, and at chain restaurants, freezing foods prevents ingredient spoilage and food waste; id kitchen efficiency for faster service; and help cooks create consistent-tasting dishes at every location. Given the high cost of steak, it only makes sense that affordable, fast-casual chains might use frozen cuts. However, quality can still be all over the place, as evidenced by the restaurants we're covering today.

As you might imagine, none of the chains listed below have built their business on steak. Various reviews, testimonies from self-proclaimed employees, and other evidence suggest that their beef comes out of the freezer. These pieces of info don't replace official confirmations from the companies themselves, but they can help you decide if you really want to order that cheap piece of meat.

Most diners at IHOP probably spring for its famous pancakes or omelettes, but the chain also offers T-bone steak, country fried steak, and sirloin steak tips on its breakfast and entree menus. While the steak tips are a beloved customer favorite, the other two items have been subject to rumors and complaints about the beef possibly being frozen.

On Reddit posts about sad-looking IHOP steaks, self-professed former cooks for the chain have written that the T-bone steaks are shipped frozen in bulk, thawed in the fridge, then cooked to order. Other commenters speculate that the steaks were frozen due to their appearance: gray and unevenly cooked, almost as if they were boiled or steamed instead of grilled. Ice crystals on the surface of frozen meat can indeed melt and cause it to steam once it hits a hot surface.

Meanwhile, in a review on TikTok, a creator said that IHOP's country fried steak "tastes frozen ... like a TV dinner type of steak." A commenter on the video wrote, "Used to work at IHOP ... the steak is pre-battered frozen steak and thrown in the fryer baskets." This claim has been repeated by a Reddit user in a thread about how the dish is made. While the steak tips could very well be frozen, we imagine the smaller yet thicker pieces are less prone to overcooking than the thin slabs of T-bone and country fried steak. Thus, the latter two may be dishes to avoid ordering at IHOP.

Ruby Tuesday may be a restaurant chain that survived bankruptcy, but that hasn't spared the casual eatery from criticism regarding its steaks. On Facebook, a self-proclaimed former employee alleged that "Everything there is frozen, cooks mash your steak to cook it faster," while other online reviews and comments remark that the steaks have a displeasing texture, as if they were frozen and then microwaved or boiled. But the most solid piece of evidence takes us back to 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In early April of that year, Ruby Tuesday announced that it would begin selling goods from its restaurant pantries directly to customers who joined its rewards program. Called "Ruby's Pantry," the temporary venture was meant to help consumers buy bargain groceries, pre-prepared foods, and even toilet paper without going to the supermarket, thus making social distancing easier. As seen in an official Facebook post by the restaurant, frozen 6-ounce sirloin steaks were among the items on offer. Another post, which appears to be written by a Ruby Tuesday employee advertising the service, showed the frozen steaks in their packaging.

It seems highly plausible that the 6-ounce top sirloin entree on Ruby Tuesday's menu is made with the same frozen cuts that the restaurant once sold out of its supply closets. The chain also offers ribeye, T-bone, and New York strip steaks, none of which were part of Ruby's Pantry, frozen or otherwise. If the sirloin is frozen, more expensive cuts could be, too.

As evidenced by Cracker Barrel's disastrous logo change and the resulting internet uproar, folks take their love of the country cooking chain extremely seriously. Therefore, we want to say that just because the country fried steak might be frozen, that doesn't mean it's terrible. Breaded, fried, and topped with sawmill gravy, this Cracker Barrel entree is popular enough to spawn tons of copycat recipes, yet according to self-professed employees, the real deal doesn't start with fresh beef.

Several social media users who claim to have cooked for Cracker Barrel say the country fried steak (aka chicken fried steak or CFS) has always been made with frozen, pre-breaded meat, despite customer speculation that the restaurant switched over from fresh at some point. "The chicken fried steak hasn't changed in years," one Reddit user wrote. "[It] comes in frozen and [the] grill cooks fry them." A commenter in a different thread concurred, writing, "Been with Cracker Barrel 20 years. CFS has always been a frozen patty shipped to stores."

A few negative reviews for the dish have noted that the steak definitely tastes like it was previously frozen, but with more fans than haters, we can't say the CFS is a definite Cracker Barrel dish you should avoid completely. However, if you get the "ick" from steak that may have been fried straight from the freezer, try any of the chicken options towards the top of our ranked list of popular Cracker Barrel entrees, like the Smokehouse Grilled Chicken or Saucy Chicken Sandwich.

Waffle House offers a few steak dishes: A T-bone & Eggs Breakfast combo, a similar Sirloin & Eggs plate, and a more upscale Delmonico Steak & Eggs dish. The chain brags that its steaks are USDA Choice, a beef cut grade that's far from shabby, but that has nothing to do with whether the meat is fresh or frozen. In a Reddit thread about Waffle House's meat products, a user wrote that the steaks arrive at stores frozen, while another commenter added, "The red meats are usually injected. It's a way to give frozen products a fresher and better taste."

Customers have also complained online about sirloin and T-bone steaks that tasted subpar, leading to speculation that they were previously frozen. Another diner who wrote a online review allegedly witnessed Waffle House employees pulling steaks out of a freezer. That said, the chain's beefy breakfasts have a cult following, frozen or not. The Delmonico Steak & Eggs is one of the best things to order when visiting Waffle House for the first time, but the T-bone is also a customer favorite. 

According to fans on Reddit, the T-bone steak is thin and far from steakhouse quality, but tasty nonetheless. "It's probably my favorite thing there," one fan wrote, while another commenter said, "They are really good if you set your expectations appropriately." Waffle House even claimed to be the top seller of T-bone steaks back in 2011, and while the statement was rather informal, there's no question that the dish is iconic.