kirby's prime steakhouse

food much better than service.. hostess seated us promptly. despite being nearly empty at 5:30 pm, she sat right next to another couple. staff were behind frosted window for 15 minutes in what appeared to be a meeting. ourwaiterwas slow to arrive. thewaiterfor the adjacent table was prompt and rattled off the daily specials. ours was preoccupied and simply placed the daily special card on table and walked away after brief introduction. he was friendly, but offered mediocre service. food was outstanding. both steaks were cooked to perfection, tasty, and presented beautifully. wife's came with 2 sides not mentioned on menu. wine menu is extensive. prices are a la carte. we prefer creative chef to put meal together. overall, very good.

another fine meal at kirb's for our anniversary. just a great experience- again. our favorite place.


-----01 nov, 2010-----

a great meal!. went in for a celebratory dinner sunday night. reservation at 630, attendance was sparse. immediate seating and attendance. wait staff was great,waiterexceptional (arash). agree with previous comment on bread serving, it came after menus and selection of our appetizer. ladybird oysters were succulent, sourdough bread (when it came) was hot.waiterhgad answers for every question that was asked of him and there's nothing i could point to that he wasn't spot on about.

sunday is 1/2 wine day. so with our $20 (hah- like getting a $1,000 gift certificate for a new mercedes) freebie gift card that came in the mail, we ordered what was normally a $105 bottle of enroute pinot noir. for $52.50. anyone who purchases wine in restaurants knows that restaurant pricing is typically 100% above retail, so 1/2 off results in a purchase at retail. deal! i've never bought a $100 bottle of wine, anywhere, anytime, but $50 seemed ok for a $200 meal. so we did. and now i am a "forever" fan of this fantastic wine (just ordered 6 bottles that with shipping ended up being $60 ea).

back to the food. salads were good, not great, but the bleu cheese on mine was fantastic. wife ordered the beef torneaudos with bearnais on the side- perfect. i ordered the special smoked 16oz. ribeye- perfect. . hot, extremely juicey with a side of mashed potatoes included. also ordered a side of sauted spinach that was beautifully done- just slightly wilted. mmmm.

only finished 1/2 the ribeye and will enjoy it again tonight. we had some untouched dessert at home so passed on dessert, even with that, ourwaiterbrought us a complimentary (a little more than a shot's worth each) of sademan port- that was a fitting end to a great night.

i will admit to smelling just a whiff of old smoke in there, but it was not a bother after 5 minutes. my wife is extremely smoke sensitive and she didn't even notice it.

just a fine, fine night out, only a few minutes from the house and a new favorite of ours! 1604/stone oak continues to grow in fine dining.

btw, arash mentioned that in the 3 years they've been open they've only had 2 or 3 people turnover in the entire restaurant. that speaks very highly to quality ownership, management and a loyal clientele. feed me like that and you'll see me more sundays!

outstanding service and food. pampered from the moment we walked in the door.  the pepper steak (filet) was outstanding as was the crab cake.  waiter served us complementary dessert wine along with our cherries jubilee cheesecake, which was also outstanding.  not inexpensive, but worth every penny.  i'd rate them ahead of bohanan's as the best prime steakhouse in the area.

tone it down please. kirby's has outstanding food and drink. my last trip was just to meet friends in the bar for cocktails before going to a show. we sat at the far end away from the live music but the 4 of us were literally driven out by the loudness.

mr. manager, please give some thought to whether the band could tone it down a little. it's really impossible to carry on a conversation when they are playing.


-----08 apr, 2014-----

fave. now that they have chased the smokers out of the bar area, this has become the place i take out of town visitors for dinner. seems to be slightly less expensive than bobs chop and bohannans, but maybe that is just me. excellent bartender, but drink service in the restaurant can be a bit slow. good menu items but the daily special can be expensive so ask for the price before you order.


-----16 mar, 2011-----

smoke. i admit to just detesting cigarette smoke. i don't understand why a place as nice as this has to continue to allow it, albeit just in the bar.

ate recently with a friend. steak with horseradish and salmon stuffed with lobster. everything was great.


-----19 jan, 2011-----

holiday. took a friend to dinner there before christmas. the food was very good, but of course like most places in sa which pretend to be upscale it was over priced. we had a goodwaiterwho had too many tables to attend to. a pretty good wine list, with many selections being affordably priced. my main complaint was the noise. that is the fault of the architect, not the kitchen.

my my husband and i really enjoyed this place. it is expensive but is classy and well put together & is nice for a special occasion.. we had a greatwaiterand the food was delicious starting from the soup, appetizers, all the way to the main course. excited to go back to try the wine bar--

all of the food we ordered was fantastic (house salads, peppercorn steak, filet mignon, sauteed mushrooms, mac & cheese)! steaks were cooked perfectly. mushrooms were great, but the mac & cheese topped with fried onion strings stole the show! the wine list is very extensive from full bottles, to half bottles, to by the glass. ourwaiterrecommended a wine to us after we told him that we do not enjoy dry wines. he let us both sample the wine (without us asking to) to make sure we liked it and we were pleasantly surprised that we both liked it. service was very good. candlelight and live music playing added a fancy touch to the evening. although the food was great, the entrees were still quite pricey. we will keep kirby's in mind for "special" occasions in the future.

thank you, mr. leonard. being originally from dallas, i've been going to a kirby's since i was a kid. this location is an awesome addition to the series. to call kirby's a chain is just not accurate. although they do have signature dishes at their 5 separate locations each has a different chef driven menu, so your experience will differ at each location. (i'm actually not a huge fan of the woodfire grill location in dallas now. just too casual for me.)
but i'm a huge fan of chef javier davalos and the san antonio kirby's. all my favorites are here, and then some. 3 things stand out for me. fried asparagus (how good is that!), the maryland crab cake, and the tournedos bearnaise. a rich, decadent meal, accompanied by one of the fullest by-the-glass wine menus in san antonio.
the atmosphere is dark & intimate (hence my poor photos - i refuse to use flash in a restaurant - sorry 'bout that), with rich steakhouse genre textures throughout, but no more so than ruth's chris or fleming's.
service is indulgent, with yourwaiterwanting to give you the benefit of his training, management always makes a visit, and yes - prices are high across the board. you can get a cheaper steak in san antonio, but rarely at this level of quality and execution. for most of us, a night at kirby's is a treat that should be experienced on those special occasions when only a truly well-executed steak dinner will do. it would really surprise me if you or your date came away truly disappointed.
special note: kirby's went completely smoke-free on august 1st. (nice move, mr. leonard!)

had fun at kirby's. a recent visit with a large group of customers was not a problem for the wait staff at kirby's. everyone seemed to be pleased with their dinners. the wait staff was adequate, not outstanding.

the food was good but was "regular" steakhouse fare. nothing unique. kirby's has "and seafood" in its name, but when thewaiterwas naming off their specials not a word was said about the seafood. most of us read between the lines on that one.

i ordered the prime rib and was really looking forward to it. thewaitercame back 15 minutes later to tell me that they were out of it. one would think that in an upscale resaurant like this that thewaiterwould be informed of items that were not available.

great wine list. overall rating 7 - 10

it's not that we disliked the food but it was way overpriced. we have done a few fine dining establishments in the city and the food here just didn't match the price. the drinks were good and ourwaiterwas very friendly and knowledgeable about the products they sold. he really made the evening enjoyable!

should i, shouldn't i?. only way to do this particular review is with the "plus and minus" method:

minus---walk into place and feel, smell and see the tobacco smoke. (smoking still allowed in this restaurant).
plus--beautiful establishment, cozy table for our anniversary, very romantic.
minus--no bread served..i did ask if it is even served and was brought to us after our appetizers were served, which took approximately 20 minutes.
plus--crabcake appetizer delicious! full of crabmeat also, not that yucky filler only with little pieces of crabflakes.
minus--after asking about the lobster bisque's ingrediant of alcohol and stating i don't drink, side dish of mushrooms brought were soaking in red wine.waiterdid apologize and brought another side dish of newly sliced mushrooms, but they had absolutely no taste to them--not even sauteed long enough to become a little soft. (i could have gone back in the kitchen and put some butter, garlic and salt added while i sauteed these myself)..
plus- steaks wonderful and very tender, even though i had my steak medium well.
plus--anniversary card presented bywaiterto us, along with dessert that read "happy anniversary" on white chocolate piece.
overall, i prefer morton's to this, but may go back just because of the "anniversary wishes"..