Fantastic. A go-to place in Buffalo. A little foo-foo upscale so put on your sweater vest, but relaxing.
Fabulous food (we had a three-course restaurant week special and loved it):
M - Steak and eggs, cheesecake
L - Butternut Squash Risotto, chocolate cake
Both absolutely awesome. M has a nice fitting wine (and given the slip (we'll know what that means)). If you are there during restaurant week, please treat yourself! If you have the time and money, it's a very nice place to eat without having to suit up.
Price - $$$ (Maybe on restaurant week you can get it below $50 for two, but really, don't short yourselves)
Value - Above par. Definitely worthwhile.
Showing posts with label steak. Show all posts
Showing posts with label steak. Show all posts
Friday, February 24, 2012
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Carlyle (Shirlington)
A higher-end casual restaurant we somewhat frequent, , especially to celebrate special occasions, located on the marquee corner in Shirlington. This was the first DC-area restaurant we ate at.
Still haven't tried the brunch, but hear it's great.
Cost
$$$
Cleanliness
Clean
Service
Good service (more times than not -- this may be slipping...grrrr)
Pluses
Filet mignon - some of the best anywhere.
Crab cakes - some of the best anywhere.
And that they occasionally offer the two above together...GOLD!
Outdoor seating
Location
Minuses
Price makes it prohibitive. But for the special nights, this is a nice place because the food is excellent.
No upstair bathroom (minor but annoying)
Overall value
Good for a nice night out. They make the food well and seem to use good ingredients. Service and seating can be tough on the busy nights. Go during non-peak hours.
Still haven't tried the brunch, but hear it's great.
Cost
$$$
Cleanliness
Clean
Service
Good service (more times than not -- this may be slipping...grrrr)
Pluses
Filet mignon - some of the best anywhere.
Crab cakes - some of the best anywhere.
And that they occasionally offer the two above together...GOLD!
Outdoor seating
Location
Minuses
Price makes it prohibitive. But for the special nights, this is a nice place because the food is excellent.
No upstair bathroom (minor but annoying)
Overall value
Good for a nice night out. They make the food well and seem to use good ingredients. Service and seating can be tough on the busy nights. Go during non-peak hours.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The Warehouse Bar & Grill (Old Town Alexandria)
Steak and seafood place in the middle of Old Town, white tablecloth, yadayada (pricy). The tables are tightly packed. Mostly steak or seafood fare. Bottom line: This place is NOT a destination point...
Caesar salad -- bland bland bland. Leafy, but no tang or zest. Adding table pepper just made it a black pepper salad...
Baby Spinach, Gorgonzola & Spicy Glazed Pecans salad -- probably the highlight of the night. Slices of Granny Smith apples made nice sweet and sour contrast, though sweeter apples may have been more appropriate (or have both).
Surf-n-turf -- Medium rarefilet top sirloin came out medium well, dry, dry, dry. Crab cakes were good enough, though likely a Cisco special.
New York Strip -- Medium was medium(-ish). 14 oz. "cab" strip with cracked black peppercorn bordelaise and creamy potatoes --- More like cracked black peppercorn on a bed of steak and hardened potato dome with negligible creaminess (though, the potatoes were a'ight because of their "potatoyness").
To remember:
Cost
$$$ > $50 WITH a free entree...
Cleanliness
Not notable...though, the better half said it best: "It felt like there was 'secret dinge'."
Service
** - Notably sub-par
It is unacceptable at a fine dining restaurant like this one that the server who brings water would not only reach over the food while pouring (heaven forbid he use his other hand to pick up the glass...it's not THAT fancy of a place by any means), he didn't care when his pitcher was millimeters from the food.
That neither steak were cooked "to order" either goes on the server or the cook, but I give the benefit of the doubt to neither. Both were sub-par.
Pluses
Crab cakes were edible enough, but there are much options elsewhere. The pecan salad was very tasty.
Minuses
Nearly everything else.
Overall value
A bargain at twice the price... Ugh!
The Carlyle is much more consistent, with better service, spacing and much better steak-n-cakes(TM) (<< I've claimed this!). Old Ebbitt's crab cakes blow these out of the water. Grace (Ft. Worth, TX) is on a whole 'nother level in terms of...well...everything. The Carlyle is much better at the same price point.
Caesar salad -- bland bland bland. Leafy, but no tang or zest. Adding table pepper just made it a black pepper salad...
Baby Spinach, Gorgonzola & Spicy Glazed Pecans salad -- probably the highlight of the night. Slices of Granny Smith apples made nice sweet and sour contrast, though sweeter apples may have been more appropriate (or have both).
Surf-n-turf -- Medium rare
New York Strip -- Medium was medium(-ish). 14 oz. "cab" strip with cracked black peppercorn bordelaise and creamy potatoes --- More like cracked black peppercorn on a bed of steak and hardened potato dome with negligible creaminess (though, the potatoes were a'ight because of their "potatoyness").
To remember:
- Either the cook doesn't know how to cook steaks or else the server does not want to bother with clarifying if the order was "medium rare" or "medium WELL" like confusing the two is not a problem...
- Everything is in a sauce!
- And the sauce was like thickened drippings (to use an actual culinary term would validate it). The research chefs at Cisco would be proud.
Cost
$$$ > $50 WITH a free entree...
Cleanliness
Not notable...though, the better half said it best: "It felt like there was 'secret dinge'."
Service
** - Notably sub-par
It is unacceptable at a fine dining restaurant like this one that the server who brings water would not only reach over the food while pouring (heaven forbid he use his other hand to pick up the glass...it's not THAT fancy of a place by any means), he didn't care when his pitcher was millimeters from the food.
That neither steak were cooked "to order" either goes on the server or the cook, but I give the benefit of the doubt to neither. Both were sub-par.
Pluses
Crab cakes were edible enough, but there are much options elsewhere. The pecan salad was very tasty.
Minuses
Nearly everything else.
Overall value
A bargain at twice the price... Ugh!
The Carlyle is much more consistent, with better service, spacing and much better steak-n-cakes(TM) (<< I've claimed this!). Old Ebbitt's crab cakes blow these out of the water. Grace (Ft. Worth, TX) is on a whole 'nother level in terms of...well...everything. The Carlyle is much better at the same price point.
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