| Succulent Steaks and beautiful decor make this Cupertino steakhouse special |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 992
Reviewed: 1/31/2006
Rating: 9
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600th restaurant is a big milestone for jatbar so we decided to hit Alexanders Steakhouse. Known for high powered business lunches and steaks, the lowly jatbar founders quietly walked in to do our specialty and eat. Near the entrance of the restaurant is a display case of beautiful cuts of dry aged steaks (picture 3). For non-meat eaters, its probably a disgusting site but as a serious steak eater, I almost teared. If you're not familiar with dry aging process, its basically the drying out of a meat to intensify the meat flavors and allow the fibers to break down to become more tender. Some places will do it for 21 days but Alexanders ages for 28 days.
As you wait for a table you can lounge by the large fireplace or at the red wood bar, mahogany or cherry, you get the point...this place is expensive. I dont drink wine but for you winos, they have a monster selection of wine. I was a bit worried we might have been under dressed but figured what the hell its lunchtime. We were promptly seated and proceeded to be blown away with the service.
We cant compare this service to the smaller mom and pop places but if other restaurants are reading this, Alexanders Steakhouse should be your benchmark. They go far beyond the call of duty when it comes to service. The water was filled constantly and none of us at the table ever had to ask for refills. I also dropped a salad fork on purpose on the floor but no one saw it because it landed way under the table. The waiters had a lot of personality and made ordering quite fun.
I wussed out on the $100 Kobe steak and went for the more affordable $43 New York Steak cooked medium with a side of mashed potatoes $6. While waiting for the food, one of the waiters convinced us to get the bread and thank gawd for that suggestion. 3 types of bread, 3 words to describe; excellent, fresh, and delicious. Did I mention the service was oustanding?
I think Alexanders knew we were on a timed lunch and brought out the plates very quickly. Terry and Eddie got the seafood trio and the plating was beautiful but worried me a bit since there were very little on the plate. I went for a steak and super holy cow, my New York steak was HUUUUUGGGEEE. What a thick cut of steak!! The menu says 22oz, I say it was larger and Im embarrassed to say I ate the ENTIRE THING. They did the old butter trick, place a tab of unsalted butter with some chives and let it melt all over the steak. I quickly removed it and continue to marvel at my lovely plate. The steak was cooked perfectly and my 1st bite was heavenly. Its a lean cut of meat but very tender. Towards the bone, I got a piece of the loin or fillet which melted in my mouth. The mashed potatoes were very good but I dedicated most of my effort towards the meat.
My lunch rang in at about $70 and was completely satisfied with everything about the entire experience. Although my review of the steak might have been glowing, Ive been to a lot of steakhouses and will say that Alexanders did not serve the best steak Ive ever had. It was super good but I think the taste fell short of a 9. When you add the outstanding service and atmosphere, I believe an overall restaurant rating of a 9 is well deserved along with a 25% tip. Thank you to Alexanders Steakhouse!
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Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 724
Reviewed: 1/31/2006
Rating: 9
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Alexanders was the perfect venue for Jatbars 600th restaurant. Fancy, high quality food. We knew this going in. With a $100 Kobe steak on the menu and its glorifying description which includes 'Expense It!' we figured Alexanders was the place where The Man closes his big deals. We had to see this place for ourselves.
We arrive in the jatmobile and the place is not too busy. We are in casual dress for lunch and don't feel out of place. OK, maybe a little, but no one gives us any second glances.
After scanning the menu, which is on the small side but has a decent variety, I settle on the $21 Seafood trio. I figure that should fill me up. At the last minute, I decide to add French Fries to my order. I had to experience for myself, what a $6 order of fries tastes like.
And water to drink. :)
The wait is a bit longer than normal, but not unexpectedly long. In the meantime, another waiter comes by with a sampling of breads and makes small talk with us. The waitstaff is definitely friendly and quick to entertain.
Or maybe it was just us. Perhaps we didn't belong here. haha.
Anyway, we sampled the breads. The french bread was my favorite, the walnut wheat bread my least favorite. It all was accompanied by a rich whipped butter which was flavorful. Thankfully the bread selection was small because I was looking forward to my monstrous seafood trio.
And it arrived. At first I thought they brought an appetizer to the wrong table. I think the food quantity was equivalent to a taco or two. I smiled thankfully like this was something I fully expected. 'Looks wonderful!'
After the requisite pictures and muffled chuckles, I began to dig in. I first went after the 3 tiny scallops. They were surely full of flavor and the pesto like sauce was tangy and pleasing. Hey this isn't too bad.
Then I dug into the fish. Wow, this was the highlight. It melted in my mouth. The mayo sauce underneath it really sealed the deal though. Combined with the mushrooms, fantastic. I could have eaten a whole plate of this.
The prawns finished off my plate. The 2 prawns were huge. Like you would get in a honey walnut prawn dish at a chinese restaurant. But the breading was very thick and not too greasy. Maybe it was a bit on the dry side, but really it wasn't a problem because I could dip it in the little drips of siracha and that added a bit to it.
Thankfully I ordered the fries, and was able to sample some of the mashed potatoes that Jason and agent Eddie ordered. Mashed potatoes were among the best I have had. Definitely freshly mashed and extremely well whipped. Who knows how much butter and other flavor-inducing sauces were mixed in. Fully worth the $6 though.
Fries were a bit of a letdown. They were pretty decent. Not enough of an improvement over the fries at a place like Loris or Chilis to be worth the $6 for them. Definitely go with the mashed potatoes. More food and better tasting. With the mashed potatoes and french fries I was able to fill up. If it wasn't for the sides, I'd be going to In N Out after this meal.
What I should have done was go with a dessert. The dessert selection looks most impressive. I can see myself returning here again, even with the high prices for lunch. And next time I'll update my review with a dessert.
So Alexanders is expensive, that is a given. But not much more than a good sushi lunch really. At least if you stay away from Alexanders Kobe beef. I think the experience here was much better than a normal sushi restaurant. Service second to none. The building itself was very modern and interesting to look at. You feel like a million bucks eating here.
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Reviewer: ne00
Total Reviews: 165
Reviewed: 4/13/2006
Rating: 8
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Summary:
Soup, $6
Drinks, $5
Sides, $12
Steaks, $90
Unfortunately, this is not a MasterCard commercial, as the dinner was not priceless. The best part of our meal was desert at Q-cup in Cupertino Village, mango ice cream on ice.
My friend was turning the bend, so I decided to treat him to a nice meal at Alexanders Steakhouse in Cupertino. The once hip fashion park is now fashionably empty and run down. We arrive at 6:30 and the place was just starting to fill up. Our host seats us and our waiter brings us our menu. We decline to see the wine list; instead, we order two sodas to start our meal while we glance the menu.
I was considering ordering the filet minion, but since that is what I usually order at a steakhouse I decided to splurge and order what my friend wanted to order. My friend wanted the 26 oz dry aged porterhouse. The porterhouse topped with escargots, garlic, garlic butter, shallots, and croutons. He ordered his medium and I ordered mine medium well. I also ordered an order of steak fries and an order of mashed potatoes. My friend proceeded to order another order of mashed potatoes but our waiter stopped us by saying, “the portions here are large and typically it is enough to share among two people, plus the steak fries will be more than enough for the two of you.” Knowing what the serving size already looked like based on jatbars photo we decided to stick with our waiters recommendations.
Our waiter mentioned that cooking my porterhouse medium well would take 45 minutes and if we wanted to order some appetizers or salads to much on while, we wait. Having read Jatbars review about having to pay for bread, I decided to go with the soup of the day, which was asparagus and cream. A few minutes after we ordered, they served us some bread. Bread turns out was free with a side of soft homemade button with shallots. There was a variety of bread, some with walnuts in them and some just crispy warm rolls. The first batch tasted fresh. The bread was easy to devour among us. The wait staff asked if we wanted more bread and butter and we immediately took their offer. The second batch of bread was just room temperature.
The cream of asparagus was served while we were devouring our bread. The asparagus and cream are blended together, as there were zero pieces of actual asparagus in the soup. Bits of bacon was found floating within the soup. The soup was in a large sized bowl and served hot. The soup tasted excellent with plenty of flavors on its own as well as from the bacon pieces.
Our steaks arrived, along with our mashed potatoes and steak fries.
Mashed Potato: My first few bites tasted salty. As time went on, I became accustomed to the salt, and I had a soda to wash the salt away from my palate. The potato was very creamy with soft peaks. If it were not for the extra salt, the mashed potato would have been excellent. I bet it is very fattening as well with extra cream and butter, but that is what makes it so good. If you are a big eater, one plate of mashed potato is not enough. Our waiter asked us if we wanted to order another plate and we declined, as we did not want to wait. Our original thinking of ordering one plate each would have been the best option.
Steak fries: This was essentially three large potato wedges, baked, garnished with seasoning, and served with a homemade version of sour cream and chives. We paid $2.00 per potato wedge. Brilliant! This is worse than having to pay 0.50 per onion ring at Johnny Rockets.
Steak: My friend seemed to enjoy his porterhouse, but mine seemed a bit over cooked. His porterhouse was very pink and he ate it all in less than 15 minutes. I felt mine tasted well done as I could not even taste the difference between the bones, which side was the filet minion? It tasted all the same to me. I did not see a single ounce of pinkness within my steak. Usually when I order medium well at Black Angus my steak comes out tender and juicy, but tonight it tasted try and the outer part was charred so it tasted crisp and bitter. I cannot imagine what well done would taste like.
Maybe my steak was too aged to order it medium well. I feel our waiter should have given me a notice or disclaimer, similar to stopping us from ordering another plate of mashed potatoes. I was not impressed with my steak. At least my friend enjoyed his, but he did say that House of Prime rib would have been better value and the steak here, although expensive is only a notch better than Black Angus.
Service was good in certain areas through the night and lacking in other. The wait staff was awesome when it came to drink refills. Our sodas were not even 1/3 finished and the staff would bring us a new glass of fresh soda with ice. Our waiter was not where to be found after the one initial stop and check when our food was served to us. The waiter for the table next to us was excellent, right on top of things.
We actually learned a great deal about Alexander Steakhouse eavesdropping on the waiter explain to the patrons sitting next to us. Alexander Steakhouse is a steakhouse with Japanese undertone and influence. The executive chef is half-Japanese and half American. I do not know if we had a bad waiter or if the waiter at the next table was being generous because the patrons ordered bottled water (big bottles of VOSS, probably costing $8.00 a bottle considering a small bottle costs $5.00) and wine. The next table received the full treatment, from recommending wines, appetizers, main courses, deserts. The waiter gave them a run down of the menu as well as the history of Alexander Steakhouse. Their waiter even told them the other choices of meats not found on the menu as there were several choices to choose from.
I was not feeling my steak so I had a hard time finishing it. The wait staff came and took my steak to back into a small stylish Asian style to go box. Our waiter stopped by and dropped off two desert menus. I felt that was strange, as we were not asked if we wanted to look at the desert menu, it was just assumed we wanted to order deserts.
The post meal menu looked interesting, as there are a few choices of desert ranging from $6 to $18, along with coffee, several types of specialized tea, and even cigars. I wonder if we ordered a cigar if we could just light one up at the table (not that we would). We declined desert, received our bill, paid our bill and proceeded to Cupertino village for a 2.50 treat of ice cream on ice.
Ice Cream on Ice: Home made mango ice cream over crushed ice and sweet condensed milk over mango pudding topped off with mango bits and sweet syrup sauce. For $2.50 this was the “priceless” part of the meal as it was heavenly good.
Pluses: wait staff on the ball with bread and drink refills and no dress code (but have some decency at least).
Minuses: smaller cramped parking lot but bigger over all mall lot, not all choices of meat on the menu, order up to medium or you will regret it.
Conclusion: Will need to come back again to spend a fortune and try some other cuts. I am optimistic my rating will increase by 0.5 points. Although over all service was good, the food did not do it for me.
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