Every time I go to a restaurant and order a steak I’m always disappointed and know I can do it better. I’ve concluded that’s because it takes too much time to cook a great steak. Especially a thick ribeye or strip cut, you need a hard sear and then low and slow to let the fat render and all the sinew and muscle fibers to break down. Restaurant steaks are always half inedible because they cook it too fast bc customers are waiting, it looks good but rarely tastes great. Anyone else?
by nickyc_1
37 Comments
It really depends on the restaurant. I don’t order steak at a restaurant unless I am going to a steakhouse, because it is generally better at home. The ones who can execute though, are generally worth going to.
I feel like this must be area dependent. I live in nyc and unless you’re ordering steak from like, a diner or a Tex mex place, I’m usually very happy with what I get.
That being said I don’t order steak much because of the expense and because the difference between a well prepared restaurant steak and what I can do at home is marginal. I’d rather pay someone else to prepare something tedious, that requires ingredients I wouldn’t normally buy, etc.
Blueberries and steak
Some of the best steak places will pre cook them via sous vide and then it’s just a quick sear before serving
Honestly I think a big factor is how traditional grill marks are rather than an even Maillard reaction to restaurant
honestly the only I order steak outside is because they come with sauces too annoying to make and sides i don’t wanna pour an extra hour into
Looks Amazing ! Enjoy
I agree, but for me it’s because I’m spending a crazy amount of money on choice or an even crazier amount on prime, just to get medium rare when I ordered blue rare. For the same price I can get A4 wagyu and cook it exactly how I like it.
I feel like you must not have great restaurants near you.
They can – go to Keens or Lugers. It’s fun to play chef but you go to a place that’s been doing steak for 100 years they have access to the best cuts, best materials. They’ll do better
Getting good at making steak at home really allowed me to open my restaurant ordering palette – used to default to a steak every time, but now that I can do just as good, I’m ordering lamb, duck, loads more fish. We still and always will do an anniversary steak restaurant, but also that tips over into ‘shit I’d never make at home’ territory.
There’s a steak restaurant not far from me that does fantastic steak and is one of my favourite places to eat if I’m celebrating.
I think steaks at home are usually better because I’ve literally never seen a place that does reverse sear or sous vide which I think it mandatory for thick steaks unless you like huge gray bands or blue rare. But hey if you like unevenly cooked overpriced meat, be my guest. Maybe you live somewhere that you cant get a little smokey in the kitchen, I feel your pain.
I fully agreeeee! For the price, I can do damn near just as well and tons of flavor. Give me an Australian wagyu cut and we are talking some serious at home steaks. I’ve only had a few out at a restaurant that blew my socks off but the price was over $100
You’re going to the wrong restaurants!
That’s an anniversary breakfast right there
I say this all the time. I would rather spend money on something that I know will be better or more work than what I want to do at home. I can’t remember the last time I ordered steak at a restaurant
You’re going to the wrong restaurants.
Interestingly enough, the two best steaks I have ever eaten came from high end seafood restaurants. Better than Morton’s, Ruth’s Chris, S&W’s, Peter Lugar’s, etc.
Just my 2 cents….
Nice looking meal great job
YES! THANK YOU! Every time I have been to a steak house (low tier to high tier) I am always so disappointed! Cooked to fast, under seasoned, and overpriced. I can cook a shitty cut and make it 10x better at more than a quarter of the price. I am convinced steakhouses are just for business meetings lol
I mean if you’re on a Denny’s budget…. Like picking up sushi at a gas station. Lower your expectations.
Just depends on the quality of the restaurant
Every time I go to a restaurant I get disappointed when I order any steak too man. It’s like I’ve shot myself in the foot by getting good at cooking steak. I’ll just have a chicken Alfredo or something.
I disagree with this assessment, but it depends on what kind of restaurant you’re talking about. If you mean a mid range place where they’re slapping it on a flat top, you’re definitely right. A dedicated home cook can absolutely match or beat that. They’re juggling dozens of tickets, and your steak isn’t getting any special attention.
But when it comes to high end steakhouses, I’d push back. They have access to real industrial broilers that can hit 1,500°F+, creating a sear that’s impossible to replicate at home. I can’t compete with a $25,000 piece of equipment that would take up my entire kitchen. And I’d disagree with the idea that they don’t invest the time. Those places invest an incredible amount of time in preparing a steak. They have the connections to procure the very best cuts before I even get a look at them, then they dry age them and do all kinds of prep work that I don’t do.
back in the 90s my favorite steak house (Great American Restaurants in the DC area) were already doing reverse sear.
Just remember, they are probably cooking several orders at once.
You are just doing yours.
Excuse? No, just why that can happen.
Waffle House steak and eggs 🤤, but it’s not meant to be a “good” steak. It’s the runny yoke goodness. I do order it medium rare, but you know!!
Probably has a lot to do with the seasoning used, and your personal expectations.
restaurants have professional cooks, and professional equipment. Steaks should be better than a home cooked one… but they aren’t
since buying a sous vide, I can cook better than most high end steak houses and that is why i don’t eat steak at restaurants
it’s worth it if the steakhouse has their own in-house dry aging program, and also a shitload of amazing sides. those things are more difficult/a hassle to do at home. otherwise, it’s simply more worth it to just cook it at home by yourself for wayy cheaper.
The more steaks you cook, the harder it is to perfectly cook them.
When you order at a restaurant, you don’t have one single person focusing on your steak and little else. It’s generally a team doing a lot of multitasking. It takes a lot of extra work, skill, methodology, and equipment to pull it off.
My local Brazilian steakhouse does a great job with steaks, but they can do so because they have the equipment to get a really nice sear on the steaks, and because the rest of the food is the buffet section where it is mostly cold and not made to order. The result is excellent steak at a reasonable price: $50 a person, AYCE, last time I went. Taurinus Brazilian Steakhouse in San Jose, CA, for anyone who is wondering.
Applebees makes a better ribeye then most Steak houses iv been to.
Looks awesome
Many restaurants keep steaks in a sous vide and then flash fry to order in order to be time efficient.
This can sometimes effect the texture of the steak in ways that some people dislike.
Maybe that’s what you’re experiencing?
It’s also because the quality of the meat will always be far off from the price you pay vs buying from a butchery. Need to account for rental, labour and other expenses. Unless it is a very specialised steakhouse, the chefs are not “dedicated” about cooking steak. The only reason I pay for eating at a steakhouse is the ambience, service and the crust.
Where are you going for steak? While I agree that I can make a steak at home “just like I like it,” there are several places in Chicago that make an incredible steak, even if it’s not the exact way I’d prepare it.
Try a decent restaurant.
Or if you think you’re better than people who do it every day for a living, open your own place and prove it to the world.