Woman opens her LongHorn Steakhouse to-go container. Uh, why is the steak the same size as the butter?
If you plan to get takeout or eat at a restaurant, even a casual-dining one, chances are you’ll end up paying somewhere in the $20 to $40 range. Yet, customers swear portions are getting smaller while prices keep climbing.
The phenomenon is called shrinkflation, and many restaurants and companies have been accused of participating.
For example, one InnovAsian customer said their General Tso’s chicken weighed much less than expected. A McDonald’s customer reported returning to the fast-food giant after many years to have the Filet-O-Fish, which was a childhood favorite of hers, only to be shocked by how small it had allegedly gotten.
A third person shopping for Halloween candy even said they were considering handing kids cash instead because of how pricey candy has become compared to how much you actually get.
Recently, a woman called out LongHorn Steakhouse after opening her takeout box and being stunned by what she saw.
In a TikTok post that got over 127,500 views, TikTok creator Sofi (@sofiacabralxo) simply photographed the takeout box, letting the image speak for itself.
“LongHorn, count your days,” she wrote in the video’s text overlay.
She added in the caption, “Why is my steak the size of the butter container.”
The photo shows a mostly empty container with a small steak, what looks like butter in a cup, and a foil-wrapped potato.
Sofi never disclosed exactly how large a steak she ordered, though viewers guessed it was 4 ounces.
Commenters Think It’s a Kids Meal
Though the TikToker doesn’t confirm this, many viewers thought the tiny steak looked like a kids meal.
“4oz sirloin for kids but you have grown people getting them and then wanting to complain,” one commenter wrote.
Another agreed that it looked like the kids’ sirloin. “Looks like a kids sirloin cooked to hell,” they wrote. “Lmaaaaaao they changed the size to 4oz rightfully so!”
However, another viewer thought the comparison with the sauce cup made the portion look especially bad.
“thats a 2oz sauce cup. . . and its bigger than the steak,” they wrote. “I’d be going back ASAP because abso…lutely NOT.”
LongHorn Steakhouse Customers Have Complained About Portion Sizes Before
This isn’t the first time a LongHorn Steakhouse customer has complained about the size of their meal.
One man on TikTok recently showed what he got after ordering a 6-ounce filet mignon while dining in-house. The steak looked almost as small as his thumb.
Another TikToker posted a video of a grilled chicken salad they had ordered to go. The salad itself looked fine, but the portion of chicken was shockingly small.
At least one steakhouse worker, though, says customers don’t always realize how small certain steak portions can look once they’re cooked. In a Reddit post, the worker recalled serving a woman who ordered a 6-ounce sirloin while her friend got a 12-ounce one. The customer complained that hers looked tiny and pointed to her friend’s much larger steak.
The worker explained that the 12-ounce steak was supposed to be twice the size and added that steaks can shrink as they cook because they lose moisture.
The Mary Sue has reached out to LongHorn Steakhouse via email and the TikToker via direct messages for comment.
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