| Steaks and American cuisine for fine dining at the Fairmont Hotel |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 992
Reviewed: 10/26/2006
Rating: 9.5
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Doug and I headed off to The Grill on the Alley in downtown San Jose. The restaurant is located at the Fairmont Hotel situated across the Cesar de Chavez Park. Valet parking is offered but you might find metered spots around the park. I'm also ashamed to valet my sub 4K car as we weren't rolling in Doug's g-ride. Reservations for lunch aren't needed but dinner might be a different story, call just to be safe.
With most reviews at jatbar, we tend to stay with the mom and pop establishments, bargain spots, and occasionally we'll splurge on the higher end restaurants. The Grill on the Alley is an expensive restaurant with a plush atmosphere; dark oak, leather booths, fine tablecloths, private dining room, gigantic bar with top shelf alcohol for all the shelves, high-roller status, serious goods for sure. Were the prices justified?
Bread (picture 6) - ball shaped bread with a crispy outer shell leading to a sourdough cushion. Served with unsalted butter, great tasting bread but be sure to save your appetite.
Red seared ahi sashimi (picture 7) - Coated with 3 types of sesame seeds and served with ginger, wasabi, and cucumber? Fish melts in your mouth, one of the best I've had. Light tasting appetizer and repeat order for sure.
A lump crabcake (pictures 8, 9) - consists of 99% crab meat. oh my flippin gawd, this appetizer is incredible. I order crabcakes often and most places with add potatoes, bread crumbs, and other fillers. Grill on the Alley gives you all crab meat with light seasonings over a ridiculous cream sauce. It's an expensive appetizer at $12.95 but GREAT seafood always comes at a price. I would easily order again.
Noteworthy filet mignon (pictures 10,11,12) - their most famous cut and possibly the best filet mignon I have ever had in my entire steak eating lifetime. I've eaten at the major steakhouses in San Francisco and Grill on the Alley tops my steak list. The beautiful cut of meat is about 2 1/2' tall and a generous size. Cooked medium pink with flawless grill marks. Meat so tender, I could use my fork to cut through it. Full-flavored meat and mixed with the Bordelaise sauce, becomes an unbeatable steak. Sitting on top of the filet was deep fried onion strings, looks nice for plating but didn't do too much for me flavor-wise. $36.96.
Distinct texture is the 1st thing I think of for the potatoes. It wasn't mashed with lumps but more of whipped airy potato foam. It was decent, I guess Im more of a mashed type of guy.
Impressed and not to be outdone with their food, the service was terrific. Our waitress was friendly, entertaining, paced our food properly, and doesn't hurt that she was cute ;)
Excellent ratings all around. If you're looking for a high-end dining experience, The Grill on the Alley is an outstanding choice. The lunch scene was quiet, atmosphere is super cool, food is amazing, you can;
- ultimately broker a multi-million dollar deal
- nicely stick it to your company and expense the entire meal
- order the filet mignon
- clean your friend's wallet out because you won a bet and your friend is buying
- show up on jatbar with a solid 9.5
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Reviewer: ne00
Total Reviews: 165
Reviewed: 11/18/2007
Rating: 9
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Grill On the Alley
The steak and seafood choices here are worth every penny. The filet mignon is cooked to perfection. I don’t believe I’ve ever had medium rare as red as here but the steak melted in my mouth like butter and it was so easy to cut the meat as well.
I took out my friend for his birthday and we reserved for three online. Upon walking into the restaurant, you enter the bar area and walk towards the back towards the restaurant. Tables are for large parties over eight and booths are for smaller parties. This was an excellent opportunity to take my photos without being seen.
First a waiter arrived and asked us if we had any plans after dinner and whether we were in a rush. Then he talked about the specials and made some recommendations to us before actually giving us the menu to look over. He emphasized that the steak and chops were the items to order. We were then assigned a waitress and menus were brought over to the table along with water. There are various offerings to choose from, but my friend and I decided on the 12 oz filet mignon (48.50), served with garlic, and chives mashed potatoes and sautéed mushrooms and spinach. The grill also offers a bone in 14 oz version of the filet mignon with all the sides and chocolate truffle. My third friend settled on a Mix Seafood Grill (44.50), which contains poached salmon, sea bass, crab cake, lobster tail, grilled veggies and risotto.
We start with fried calamari (11.95) and an order of the lump crab cake (14.50). While we wait, we munch on the bread, which has a nice crispy outer shell and white bread consistency inside served with unsalted room temperature butter. The bread tastes good but you should go easy since the wait is a little long. By the time we got to our main course, the friend with the seafood only managed to eat half of his plate due to over eating the bread in the beginning.
Our appetizers arrive at the same time. The portion of the crab cake is small but it is obvious that the ingredients contain mainly of lump crabmeat and very little filler if any. The outer cake is a little crispy but there is no denying that the inside is all crabmeat. The most expensive but the best crab cake I have ever had. The cream sauce under the crab cake is to die for. If the crab cake is a 9 on its own, the crab cake is an 11 with the cream sauce. The calamari is nowhere on the same level as the crab cake but is a good order. The calamari is tender and lightly breaded with a light marinara sauce. When I come back again I will try the popcorn shrimp over the calamari but the crab cake is a must order again.
Our main entrees arrive together. The portions are huge. I’ve never had filet mignon this thick before, my steak must have been over 3 inches thick. I had a little difficulty cutting the steak because it was so thick. The filet mignon had a beautiful red center that cut and tasted like butter. I was not fond of the layer of blue cheese on top but was able to remove the cheese layer without residue. I wished they had added a bit more of the gravy to the steak but other than that, a touch of salt did the trick. The mashed potatoes tasted very much like roasted garlic. Good constancy with no garlic pieces anywhere to be found but tasted like I was eating garlic in every bite. The sautéed spinach left this dry aftertaste in my mouth that was even more evident with ice water. I was able to sample some of the seafood mix, the salmon was nicely poached, the sea bass was excellent, and the crab cake did not include the cream sauce like in the appetizer. The lobster tail was somewhat dry in some areas. The disappointing part about the seafood mix entrée was the risotto. It was evident that the risotto was not cooked right just by looking at it. My friend commented that it looked very much like white rice and tasted bland like rice.
Despite being stuffed at this point, but decided to try their dessert options. Several desserts were recommended by our waitress and I went with the peach cobbler with a scoop of ice cream, the birthday boy ordered the trio strawberry shortcake, and my other friend ordered the lemon sorbet. They make the desserts on site when ordered. The lemon sorbet tasted freshly made, tart with a hint of sweetness. The peach cobbler tasted fresh with a nice buttery sweet crust. I took a pie making class earlier in the day and must say that the crust was not up to par, but since it was a cobbler and not a pie, I’ll let it slide. The trio strawberry shortcake was shareable but would not be a repeat order. The biscuits did not taste fresh, instead a bit hardened from sitting out. The whip cream and strawberries on the other hand were excellent. I think we could have skipped dessert and probably gone elsewhere instead as we did not get to enjoy our dessert items much after being stuffed.
Service was excellent throughout the meal. Our waitress filled our waters when it was half full each and every time, she stopped by to check on us often, made pleasant conversation and very friendly in a genuine way.
With an order of Mojito, appetizers, entrees, and dessert, our bill totaled over two bills pre tip. The next time I come back, I’ll skip the dessert and load up on the crab cake instead. The filet mignon and crab cake are a 10 for sure, the service is a 10, the price a bit high but justifiable, but the dessert and side dishes were a bit of a let down. The Grill is between a 9 and 9.5 for me.
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