steakhouse 85

the best upscale steak in central jersey. when a fellow steak-belly recommended that the 4 of us go to new brunswick for steaks to celebrate my wife's 40th birthday i laughed. 'arthur's is a good steak, but it's not really the atmosphere i'm looking for... and by the way that's north brunswick not new brunswick'...

'not arthur's,steakhouse85, a ny style steakhouse', he replied. i laughed again... ny stylesteakhousein new brunswick? ha! riiiight! but we decided to give it a go.

and i am very pleased that we did.

the atmosphere is what you would expect from a classic beef house. well dressed and mannered staff, nice cozy dark corners, quiet live jazz music, candle lit tables and a more than adequate bar display worthy of a grunt-n-growl as you pass by and see your favorite bourbons, and scotches surrounded by intriguing labels not as familiar but equally as tempting.

the menu has all the ny staples, as well as some interesting additions. the tableside beef presentation is ala morton's with the waiter pointing to the different cuts of beef and the supplier where they get them from.

we started with a round of bourbons for the boys, and cocktails for the ladies.
(4) appetizers:
fried calamari - tasty, cooked perfect and the red sauce while simple, was surprisingly good.
warm mozzarella with prosciutto and tomatoes - very good.
roasted oysters - very tasty and fresh.
jumbo lump crab cake - excellent - all crab, all flavor and all gone really fast.

a $25 bottle of hahns estate meirtage from the short list. 2 glasses of house chianti and dinner is served.

(2) 24oz tomahawk chops - 28day dry aged prime rib served on the bone encrusted in blue cheese and garlic with a nice redwine reduction. both cooked to perfection and extremely tasty and filling.
a petite fillet and a cowboy ribeye for the ladies both cooked to perfect temperature and taste.

(4) sides - mac and cheese was the rave in the star ledger review... it's good, maybe even real good but the broccoli au gratin trumped the table's side dishes which also included creamed spinach and potatoes au gratin - both good but no match for the cheesy lightly brown-crusted broccoli au gratin.

full bellies all the way around so dessert was liquid.
3 espresso and one double. a wild turkey and a frangelica both on the rocks. while the owner stopped by twice and wished a happy birthday, there was not an offer to buy a drink or a dessert. not a disappointment but overhearing him buy appetizers for the table next to us begged the question - "are they special?"

steakhouse 85 offers outside dining below street level as well as a much lighter menu including burgers, salads and fish options. all of which would have reduced the overall expense.

the pace was perfect without a rush and the food all around was above everyone's expectations. a bargain at just over a hundred per person w/gratuity?? not exactly... but a good value overall when considering the food experience and atmosphere.

add it to your list of places to try... it's on mine to go back.

bad steaks with an attitude. i travel a lot for business and am always looking for a great steakhouse. i had heard that there were a number of good reviews forsteakhouse85, so i went in with high expectations. accompanying me on the trip was a co-worker who has gone through culinary school and has a highly trained palate, and another friend who lives locally. we were excited about having some good steaks, but were in for a bad experience.

highlights of the evening: i ordered a bottle of cabernet, and was very clear in my order. the waiter came up and spent several minutes trying to talk me into a different, more expensively priced cabernet, and apparently was going to go through his spiel on the other wine regardless of which wine i picked. we asked him if he had even tried the bottle we ordered and he had not. so, strike one.

second, my co-worker got a dry aged delmonico and the waiter tried to talk her out of ordering it. he asked in a condescending way if she had ever had a dry aged steak. which of course she had, and explained this. i told her she should tell him of her culinary school experience, but i believe she thought that was a waste of time given the preceding wine episode. when the steak came out it had a rancid flavor, and when i tried it, i had to agree. we both have a lot of steak experience, and we both felt we got a bad cut of meat. strike two.

finally, another man came up to us (apparently a manager or some other higher function -- but he never identified himself or his title). guess we were supposed to be impressed by the fact that he had a nice white shirt on, or that he probably was only a few years past drinking age. he took an attitude right from the start and said that's how dry aged beef tastes at this time of year, or some other lame excuse. he then said "i'm not trying to get in an argument," which was the first time anyone had mentioned an argument. in fact, my co-worker was extremely polite (much more so than i would have been if it had been my steak). she told him she'd like a rib eye, and then he just kept talking right over her. he then asked if he could get a different steak, and named off several including a rib eye. bottom line: he was more interested in being pedantic and condescending and less interested in listening to the customer. strike three.

i should add that there should have been a comping of the whole steak. that's what good restaurants do. i've seen similar types of things happen at morton's, donovan's, ringside in portland, etc. and the attitude is that the customer is right. atsteakhouse85, it seemed like they were more interested in making money, and it would be easier if they could just figure out how to stop having to satisfy "the pesky customers."

i can safely say that i won't be going back, and i'd suggest the same for discerning diners. if you want to go to a place where they insult you, i'd suggest ed debevic's in chicago, since the insults are part of the fun and dining experience rather than just bad service.

first time. private party room 16 people. warm greeting and seated promptly...scallops w/ bacon, plump and moist, cowboy rib complemented with tangy sauce, all excellent finished with warm apple cobbler, vanilla ice cream..birthday cake just ordinary...service excellent, owner or manager stopped by to thank us for choosingsteakhouse85, and asked about food and service...

perfect dinner. my wife and i celebrated our 10th anniversary last night atsteakhouse85 - everything was excellent - the service was perfect the food was cooked how we requested, we had two of the specials and they were both unique and tasty. i had the filet and it was excellent - altough their steak 85 sause was not much to talk about- it was not cheap - with drinks, appitizers and desert and coffee we dropped a little over $200 for the two of us - but it was worth it - i will definitely go back.

krusty669. obviously this person doesn't likesteakhouse85. he already has one review posted that explains how he feels. why does he feel the need to post another useless comment?

really. worststeakhouseever been too. why does it take so long to cook a steak?


-----22 oct, 2009-----

not good at all. well unfortunately i had traveled to new jersey for business and stayed near this eatery. i had taken a walk and notice that the exterior was quite nice so i decided to stop in and enjoy a steak. the funny thing is when i asked about a steak place to eat earlier at the front desk of my hotel, they never mentioned this establishment and i thought to myself this may have been an oversight but now i know why. once i was seated i had waited approximately 10 minutes to get waited upon and the service was friendly and courteous. i had actually ordered my food quickly and had ordered a salad which in turn took 30 minutes to receive. i had made my waitress aware of my displeasure of waiting for a salad and her response was there was a large party that was taking up most of the kitchen's time. i thought, shouldn't management notice this but i found out later on that this is probably not something that this particular establishment's management staff would have the wherewithal to notice. i proceed to wait for an additional 45 minutes, on a tuesday night, for my steak and mashed potatoes at 8:00 o'clock in the evening. i finally chalked this up to a loss and decided to pay for what i drank and ate. i spoke to the hostess and she said she would get the manager. the gentleman who came to speak to me happened to be in a flannel shirt and spoke to me in a manner very unbecoming of a person in a business who serves the public. i told him i had been waiting for over and hour, an hour and 15 minutes to be precise, and that i would like to pay for the items i had consumed and leave. this individual had told me, in a flannel shirt and dirty jeans mind you, that this is a high end steak house and that it takes a while to cook a this particular steak and that this wasn't applebee's. the laws of physics must be different in his establishment but over an hour is a bit much in my mind. miraculously my food was ready just right then and i said fine i would take it to go and then he never came to apologize or say good night or kiss my rear-end goodbye. to the individual in the flannel shirt and dirty jeans who was supposedly the manager, i know why your place was so empty, because everyone who wanted to eat was at applebee's. finally i asked for my steak to medium not charred, maybe that's why it took an additional 45 minutes, hmmm

steakhouse 85, new bruns, nj.steakhouse85, new brunswick, nj: we were expecting much more after seeing the s/l review of 3-1/2 stars. the ambiance and service were good but the steak - not so much. when you have "steak" in the name of the restaurant and they charge high prices the least to expect is a good steak. i brought it to the attention of the owner, matthew, that my steak was full of grizzle and he said "oh i've had three restaurants and never had any trouble" and proceeds to gave us his card and said he'll take care of us the next time we come in. well mathew, there will be no next time. in my estimation a good businessman would not have discounted what we said about the bad steak and would have given us ½ or full price off the bill. oh well, if we want good steaks we'll to stick to peter lugar or ruth chris.

unpleasant experience. i usually don't give bad reviews, however, i feltsteakhouse85 particularly fell shorty and here's why. we waited an hour before we were even waited on. we sat, without even being offered a glass of water. finally we were waited on and the food took another hour to arrive. when it did, it was mediocre. the steak was okay, but not a two hour wait good. not even close. we had also gone to hear a jazz trio play, but we were seated where we couldn't hear them, they were placed oddly right at the door, not in the actual restaurant. by the time we finished eating and went to hear the music, we heard only two songs, which were great, a very fine jazz trio. that was the highlight of our experience. sorry to say, we won't be going back.

beautiful place.steakhouse85 has been open for probably about 10 months now and i've been frequenting since the doors opened. every time i go there, the staff remembers me greets me with a big smile and usually a hug if they're not too busy. the servers are great, they're knowledgable about the menu as well as the wines and the beers (which aren't your every day tired out beers that i can get at the bowling alley) they have personalities and actually care about the restaurant. i would recommend making a reservation for the weekends because i gave it a shot on saturday night and i had to wait a little while. so unless you're ready to hang at the bar for 30 minutes, call ahead.
i'm going to have to be honest and say they have the best quality steak and seafood. sometimes the other entrees get lost in the sauce after the presentation of the steaks but there are plenty of other great items besides the beef. cocktails are awesome, portions are big and family style sides. also, if you're on a budget (which most of us are) go on friday night for date night! they have a $99 prix fixe menu for a couple oh, and live music. 2 apps, 2 entrees, a side dish and 2 desserts including a bottle of wine. how they make money off this i don't know.. but it's awesome!

not so great. steaks were good though not amazing, (7.2); came out luke warm. a better ambiance, experience and quality steak can actually be found locally at chain ruths chrissteakhouseabout 15 minutes away in princeton on rt. 1. if you want to spend this kind of money on a great steak and take a ride, go to peter lugers, sparks or the palm in nyc. sides were substandard and service was unrefined and very slow to say the least. tables were plastic and had holes in the middle for umbrellas, not a joke. our table was also placed about 2 feet from another couple which is not exactly romantic when there was ample room available. this is not what i expect for a $100+ pp. meal. owner "matty" terranova seemed more interested in shaking hands than taking care of his customers when these issues were brought directly to his attention.

great experience!. we went tosteakhouse85 for valentines day. this is a first rate steakhouse. you won't find any better in the city. beautiful atomosphere for a special date or special occassion. hardwood floors, fire places, very romantic.
food was excellent as was the service.
we will return.