Food Network at Cattleman's Roadhouse

The Food Network was at Cattleman's Roadhouse on Hurstbourne Lane today filming a new show hosted by Kix Brooks, of Brooks and Dunn country duo, about steak houses across America.

Ew, that place is horrible. I went there once and couldn't even be talked into going back to give them a second chance.

The Cattleman's in Shepherdsville is usually pretty good.

That's certainly not our experience there, the times we've been we had a very nice meal at a reasonable price for a steakhouse! The fact they are a local place makes it that much better.

I wonder if all of the steakhouses featured on this series will be this type of steakhouse or if they will also feature some high-end ones like Jeff Ruby's?

My wife and I ate there once. We though it was okay, but the steaks were more on par with Ponderosa than Texas Roadhouse. I would have to think it was more a marketing deal than a legitimate look at local steakhouses.

Richard, that was exactly what we compared it to when we ate there- Ponderosa! The sides seemed like reheated frozen dinners, the gravy was gelatinous and over-salted, and the beef was tough and flavorless.

The sides seemed like reheated frozen dinners, the gravy was gelatinous and over-salted, and the beef was tough and flavorless.

Sounds like many family dinners when I was a kid.

Wow. These reviews are kind of shocking. Bill Hisle has done a great job with Cattleman's. Maybe this one location is struggling for some reason. The steaks at the one in Shelbville are top notch as is the rest of the restaurant experience. I may not be the Jeff Ruby type, but Cattleman's is generally my go to for a great steak house experience.

Growing up in Shelbyville, I've known Bill Hisle and been going to his restaurants for years (his bistro on Main Street was THE place to go after church). He is a good guy, and I'm with Ronnie, the Cattleman's in Shelbyville is a real solid deal for dinner.

Growing up in Shelbyville, I've known Bill Hisle and been going to his restaurants for years (his bistro on Main Street was THE place to go after church). He is a good guy, and I'm with Ronnie, the Cattleman's in Shelbyville is a real solid deal for dinner.

Ha! I wonder how many times you had brunch there and I was in the kitchen churning it out? Who knew we would one day grow up to be the Presidents of the Future!

[Robin Garr]

Growing up in Shelbyville, I've known Bill Hisle and been going to his restaurants for years (his bistro on Main Street was THE place to go after church). He is a good guy, and I'm with Ronnie, the Cattleman's in Shelbyville is a real solid deal for dinner.

Do you guys think there's any chance that when they decided to expand into a mini-chain, they might have had problems scaling up, so the Hurstbourne spot isn't reflecting the quality of the original? That's not uncommon ... I'm thinking about ... um, what was the little place out in Henry or Trimble County that opened a couple of "down-home" eateries in the city that quickly failed?

Wow. These reviews are kind of shocking. Bill Hisle has done a great job with Cattleman's. Maybe this one location is struggling for some reason. The steaks at the one in Shelbville are top notch as is the rest of the restaurant experience. I may not be the Jeff Ruby type, but Cattleman's is generally my go to for a great steak house experience.

Holy crap... Ronnie I never knew!! Greatness travels in the same circle bro.

I think it may be more of a hit or miss situation with the unit on Hurstbourne. It could possibly be related to how busy they are too. The couple of times we've been there they weren't very crowded but some friend of ours went when they were crowded and didn't have a good experience either. The only thing we weren't impressed with was the salad bar but those are kind of a dying breed anyway.

Growing up in Shelbyville, I've known Bill Hisle and been going to his restaurants for years (his bistro on Main Street was THE place to go after church). He is a good guy, and I'm with Ronnie, the Cattleman's in Shelbyville is a real solid deal for dinner.

Do you guys think there's any chance that when they decided to expand into a mini-chain, they might have had problems scaling up, so the Hurstbourne spot isn't reflecting the quality of the original? That's not uncommon ... I'm thinking about ... um, what was the little place out in Henry or Trimble County that opened a couple of "down-home" eateries in the city that quickly failed?

That is almost always a problem with expansion. You can't be in all places at all times, so you have to turn some of it over to someone who is not you and that always opens the door to inconsistency in standards. No one ever realizes how hard it is to enforce those standards across multiple units. It is brutal, but I know Bill and Stuart, and they have the best tools to meet that challenge. I just hope they are aware of these problems and can address them.

I didn't see any real operational problems the time I went; it was relatively slow but the service was fine. As someone else mentioned, the sides all seemed like everything was prepackaged and reheated. It wasn't anything you would attribute to having a bad night.

For the life of me I can't remember the name of the place to which Robin referred; they had one in Fern Creek and one of my kids worked at one way out on Preston Highway for a couple of days. It will come to me about 3 a.m. The Fern Creek one has been a series of Mexican restaurants since the original place closed down.