OT- High End Steak Restaurants, Worth It?

Call me an unsophisticated country hillbilly but I'll take Outback over Ruth's Chris. IMHO, the steak is better at half the price.

I would like to try some place like Peter Lugers. Those that have been there say it's definitely worth the ultra high price.

I like prime rib at Bully's. A classic old surf and turf place. Some of the Chargers would eat there Not ultra expensive. Plus they have tables.

It's been a fair length of time since I have ordered steak in a restaurant. The ones that come off my grill these days suit me fine.

Had a ribeye grilled on a swinging grill in Mexican Hat, Utah recently. Place (Swingin' Steak) has 3 steaks and a hamburger on the menu (plus Texas toast, pinto beans and side salad). In the middle of f-ing nowhere.
Highly recommended.
http://www.mexicanhat.net/

Rarely do I leave such places disappointed. Partly because in such places I'm picky. Most of the time when I eat out I'm an easy customer and very patient with mediocre service.

When I'm paying a premium I expect a premium product along with premium service and atmosphere. Here I'm not an easy customer. High end places should have few issues and those few should be resolved quickly.

If all you're concerned with is food quality then forget it. With a little practice and some good quality beef you'll turn out just as good or better than you can buy.

The steak house I have ever been to is Gibson's in Chicago. in short yes it is worth it. A filet mignon and lobster tail with a baked potato will run you about $100 a plate. That steak there is awesome! If you going to really experience steak it's gotta be filet mignon.

Haven't been to one in a while but it depends on the place. Some of the best steaks I've had were not at high end places. Plenty of places in the midwest and even once in Tennessee.

There's this steakhouse in downtown San Diego in the Gaslamp called Greystone. I went there with one of my rich friends four years ago when I was living there and he treated the entire party to dinner. I remember eating an $80 Filet Mignon dinner. Delicious but expensive.

I've been to three of the "top 5" in Louisville, as allegedly voted by local residents. Stoney River, Cast Iron Steakhouse and Del Frisco's. All three were worth the price. The latter two are local. The others are Pat's Steakhouse and Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse. I'm pretty sure Pat's local, but I'm not sure about Jeff Ruby's.

I've also eaten at two Ruth's Chris places, and didn't consider either of them worth the price. Fortunately, I wasn't paying. RC doesn't even appear in the top 10, being beat out by such venerable eateries as Texas Roadhouse and Logan's Roadhouse. :)

It's not worth it but sometimes I nonetheless treat myself or a dancer to a dinner at a high end steakhouse.

I seldom order a steak when I go out to dinner because I can cook one just as well at home. Instead I usually order something that I rarely cook at home like prime rib.

I recently paid 65 for steak at a famous steakhouse. The 25 steak I bought at Outback was far better in my opinion.

Fuck no. Go to a butcher, buy the freshest most expensive cut you can and cook it yourself.

I haven't been to a steak house restaurant ages.
not a big steak eater but I do like filet mignon.

I don't care for the way they are often cooked. overdone on top, not done enough in the middle, extra spices or whatever seasoning added and I don't want any seasoning.

end up never going out to eat steak unless it's for work and someone else like the company pays.

I have enjoyed Omaha steaks ordered by phone delivered to the house. a relative cooked them up. one steak like a filet mignon is not enough meat for me, I like two.
lately I have enjoyed eating sirloin ground beef hamburgers or sirloin ground beef meat served in different dishes. if I cook it, in sloppy joes or with spaghetti if not in plain hamburgers. sometimes added as a pizza topping.
What I don't understand is why the grocery store rates the meat as fattier at 90% but if you cook equal amounts sirloin to lean ground meat, the so called leaner meat always has more grease.

Oh yeah, getting invited to a mexican BBQ is the best. Grilled carne asada is great.

The carne asada is great but the beans keep falling through the grill. :)

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

One of the things that you are paying for in a high end steak house is a high heat cooking method that just cannot be replicated at home or in mid-tier places like Outback. The high end places cook steaks with heat of up to 1500 degrees, which gives the blackened outside while still keeping the inside red.

But even better cooking methods won't hide poor quality meat. In my opinion, the best judge of a steak house is consistency of good meat over multiple visits. Ruth Chris can be very hit or miss in my opinion. Same with Smith & Wollensky. i have also had a lot of mixed experiences with a lot of local places that bill themselves as high end steak houses.

Honestly, my most consistent positive experiences have been with the Capital Grille. For mid-tier steak joints, I am a fan of Longhorn and they kick the shit out of Outback in my opinion for around the same price.

I'm not a steak eater, but if I do go to a steak place I get a filet I like it with the horns knocked off, it's ass wiped, and without seasonings, so they are all pretty much the same to me.

On the rare occassion we go for steak we will go to the Capital Grille, which is the most consistent among the expensive. next tier is texas Roadhouse, but being a New Englander we have a lot of small, local places that can blow you away and more importantly some are b.y.o.b so we can get a great meal for two for $80.00 at one of them compared to $250.00 at the Grille.

Peter Lugers in Brooklyn my favorite hands down expensive but so good also Okeechobee Steak House in West Palm Beach Florida never had a bad meal in either one

Abe & Louie's (Bos), The Saloon (Chi -closed), Ruth Chris (DC), and Don & Charlie's (AZ) are among my favorites due to the whole experience (food, company, shits & giggles). My palate doesn't sense the difference of the level above, but my wallet does! I give props to Longhorns and Texas Roadhouse over Outback as well. KC is on my list for a steak quest visit!

Don't know about elsewhere, but Outback in Louisville hasn't kept up with the competition, and might even have lost a little. Inconsistent cooking, over seasoning and less than tender cuts of things that *should* have no trouble being tender.

Texas Roadhouse, Longhorn and Logan's are all better than Outback here.

I usually stick to the high end chains as I most often end up in them for business reasons, but some of the local joints I have hit:

Nick & Sam's Dallas: Part of their gimmick is to bring the meat out and let you pick the one you want, but I have always found the meat to be a little lean. A medium rare bone-in ribeye should be fairly tender and flavorful, but theirs lack a bit in those departments.

Folk's Folly Memphis: Almost the same comment I had about Nick & Sam, except that I only visited this place once.

Bobby Van (multiple locations NYC): Way over-rated in my opinion. High end prices for middle of the road steak. They picked their locations very well, including one close to Wall Street, but I'd rather travel a bit more than pay those prices for mediocre steak.

Prime Grill (NYC): This one has surprised me. It is a kosher steakhouse where observant Jews can eat. I have eaten there a couple of times and, in both cases, the steak was fantastic. Since it is a kosher meat place, there are no dairy products, so au gratin potatoes and creamed spinach are not among the sides and obviously butter is out too, but they have enough other good side options.

There have been some others, but those are the ones I can remember at the moment.

I go a steakhouse in Toledo ( of all places) . They use the same high heat and dry aging that all the big chains do and the result is fantastic. Best part is it the price. Dinner for two w/sides, drinks and wine is never more than $150.00. It is in an old civil war era hotel right on the river. It is called Oliver's. I won't shill for clubs but I will shill for this place.

In an even littler town near my little hometown there is a steak place that used to be a brothel. Excellent steak done well, and lots of "atmosphere". :)

The most memorable steak I've ever had was in a hole in the wall restaurant in Hermosillo Mx. It was a rib eye cooked over mesquite and was so large that it was overlapping the meat platter it was served on. This was in cattle country and the price was ridiculously cheap.

Fellas, thanks for all the cliff notes. For midrange places, Longhorn has often been more convenient for me. I've been basically happy with Flos Filet option, though one place seemed to habitually undercook the salmon when I took the surf n' turf option. For more localized chains- haven't been to Texas Land and Cattle in a while, but was basically happy with it. For the more localized midrange place, a long ago Tuscl review actually put me on to a place that I've had the best London Broil (sliced strips, not the thick slab you get in some grocery stores) anywhere. It's Loehmanns(sp??) tavern in Essington PA, near PHL airport and ~3-4 blocks from Lou Turks stripclub

ABSOLUTELY...NOT worth it. Their high end because 1) their in high end areas of interest: NYC upper Manhattan (not harlem), Los Angeles, Las Vegas, etc, etc. 2)they provide EXEMPLARY atmosphere that no downtown location can offer, due to the overpopulation of lower class-homeless people there and 3) their rent is through the roof in comparison to your mortgage and that's comparing to an upper-middleclassman.
Their steaks are bird food compared to even Applebee's and their portions are known to be garbAGE. Their not that hard to cook "quality"(???) medium rare-medium well steak. They just have such a hard time because they have so many orders and half of them are adjusted orders to what's on the menu. That and chef's in high established restaurants have an ego to match a CEO in a lexus. They think that their mere presense let alone cooking food for you should be revered and yet bitch about how shitty the manager treats them.

You're personally better off cooking your meal at home. If you prep ahead of time (that's the luxury of a chef in the kitchen, ingredients are an arm's lenght away on a heated stove/grill), it should take you no more than 20 minutes top. This is considering that you're cooking a medium-whatever steak with basic sides, fancy visuals not included.

I don't know where the OP lives, but in most of the most revered of revered cities, any high end restaurant, or even a diner, you go to, they're not giving you a lot of steak for even $30. They'll give you thin piece of steak only a starving African child (please forgive me for the crude comparison) could appreciate. Not even the 150lb American man can be satisfied without a bunch of sides....on the side.

As in practically everything else in the world, the higher-end you go, the more you get to diminishing returns. If your framework for "is it worth it" is along the lines of "a $100 steak should be 5 times as good as a $20 steak", it's definitely not worth it. But if you're willing to live with diminishing returns, I think high-end steakhouses are "worth it" as an occasional treat. Even if money weren't much of an object, the really high-end steak houses aren't so much better than the steaks at other high-end restaurants here, that they're worth the premium. My best filet ever was from a really well-regarded French restaurant at maybe 1/2-2/3 the price of the filet at a high-end steakhouse.

I don't think there's remotely any comparison to Outback ... just not in the same league, to me, in fact I can cook a far far FAR better steak at home, for less money, than Outback can.

The expensive chains all suck. Well, maybe except the Original Morton's in Chicago...

If you're ever in Las Vegas and want decent food and service, by all means hit up The Golden Steer. Places like Smith and Wollensky's or the Morton's Franchises aren't just overpriced, the food and service are terrible.

I like steak but don't like having it too often – for me to eat a steak at a restaurant I gotta be in the mood to eat steak – to eat it at an upscale steak place; I gotta be really in the mood and very hungry – I *do* often like their sides and breads.

I ate at Smith and Wollensky's last summer and Gibson's last winter. I thought both were overpriced and not really any better than the chain places. They were basically charging to be in a more upscale restaurant with waiters in full garb. I'm actually a redneck that prefers the chain places like Texas Roadhouse, Outback, and Lonestar.

You guys must be going to some different Texas Roadhouses and Outbacks than I've been to.

I seldom eat steak -- I'm much more of an ethnic food guy (Vietnamese, Thai, Indian, Middle Eastern, Greek) -- but I agree with sinclair that Texas Roadhouse, Outback, and Lone Star are just fine. I was disappointed by my one visit each to Ruth's Chris and Longhorn.

In my city the best steakhouses are St Elmo's, Sullivan's and the downtown Ruth Chris. Shula's should be avoided at all costs. About all the other high end steak places fall into the same middle tier. The only badly mis-cooked steak was Capitol Grille missing a a medium well with a flowing blood red medium rare. Among the mid-level chains Longhorn has bested Outback. Much of the value my dinner companion and I experience is the other elements, shrimp cocktail, lobster bisque etc. Really are a couple still need to try but hard to work them in when have St Elmo's and Sullivan's available.

I feel they are worth it.

The only premium steakhouse I ever went to is the Cattlemen's Steakhouse near Fabens, Texas, which is near El Paso. I have vowed to go back if I ever go back to El Paso.

As for restaurants like Outback and Texas Roadhouse, they're all right for what they are, but I could do without some of their atmosphere. Frankly, the one time I had steak at Applebee's, it was good. As long as I don't do steak at IHOP again, I'm fine.

Sign at the Waffle House "World's Leading Server of T-Bone Steaks." Do you believe it?

A few years ago, I stayed in Council Bluffs, IA (right across the border from Omaha) for a small gaming convention. I asked the girls at the front desk where I could get a good breakfast. They told me at the truck stop across the street. Where could I do my laundry? At the truck stop across the street. This being Omaha, supposedly a steak town, I figured I'd treat myself out one night, so I asked them where I could get a good steak.

"At the truck stop across the street."

Yeah. I never did bother to find out. Never bothered to find a steak house either.

@PhantomGeek: Why did you not try the truck stop? Over the years, I've found that many of these truck stops have some of the best food on the highway. Was there something else about it that was unappealing?

Awesome:
Lowry's
Chicago Chop House
Gibsons
Weber Grill

Overrated:
Shulas
Ruths Chris
Morton's

Have any of you all tired the Brazilian Churrascarias where for a fixed price they keep bringing different cuts of meat to your table – the two I know are Texas de Brazil and Fogo de Chao – I actually prefer one good steak to pigging out Churrascaria style; but if one is ever in a serious carnivore mood a Churrascaria can be a good place to hit.

Never head of the Brazilian Churrascarias. Is that a Cali thing? An absolute terrible expensive chain (which everyone knows of but few go to) is Cipriani. Or at the very least the one in NY. Their steaks are god awful and bland. You pretty much pay to stare at your date in the delicate lighting of a room with cheap cooking. I was fortunately lucky enough to go there as a guest because I couldn't STOMACH overpaying such ludicrous amounts for small cuts and less attentive cooking. The best thing about it is the decorative plating they do with the food.

Plus it was restaurant week so they must have gotten a deal but we still racked up the bill.

@papi, yes. We even had a spit planted vertically in a stand with a large piece of Brazilian style BBQ beef, which you slice off with a large carving knife and serve the table. It was ok, but I wasn't a huge fan of the seasoning. It's also definitely an experience best suited for groups rather than one or two people.

@Estafador: You keep railing about small portions at high end NYC restaurants, but we are talking about steak houses here. If you had been to one of the steak places that have been brought up in this thread, you would know that portion sizes are not an issue. An $60+ steak is usually quite large and most of the sides in these places are pretty big. If there is one thing I cannot complain about in leaving a high end steak house, be it chain or a more local joint, it is leaving hungry.

@PhantomGeek-
I have lived in Omaha for nearly 20 years and I still wonder what the answer to the question of a good steak house is. I know they had some places that used to be good which closed up. FWIW, Warren Buffett likes Gorat's Steak House, which is a prime destination for the Berkshire Hathaway weekend. OTOH, I have heard it's disappointing. Also, people in Council Bluffs have hostility towards Omaha, except when it comes to taking Omaha's money.