steakhouse 85

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 for steakhouse 85, 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 oftimegiven 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 thistimeof year, or some other lame excuse. he then said "i'm not trying to get in an argument," which was the firsttimeanyone 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. at steakhouse 85, 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.

this place is definitely overrated. went there on 12/20/13 for the date night special and it was more like fright night. most of the staff was friendly and attentive except for our waiter t. once t. found out we were having the date night special he was short with us. at at $90 per couple is not cheap by any means. i ordered the grouper which was pretty tasty but my husband ordered the pork chop which was dry. the sides that we had were pretty bad as well. we had the broccoli au gratin which was made with frozen broccoli and the brussel sprouts special which they tried to cover up the bad taste with a whole bunch of bacon. other staff besides the waiter would come and pour more wine and water but the waiter never came and asked us how was the food. this was the 5thtimei went there and the firsttimei had a horrible experience. i don't know if if was a different chef or what but this will be the last time.

the password is pretentious. 11/12/12....i have frequented this restaurant since matty opened it some
time ago, and i am disappointed to have to report that its quickly losing its once deserved allure. note that the steaks are still very good here, not excellent, not nyc quality, but prime. on a scale of 1-5 stars, the beef here is a solid 4. problem at this establishment is the service, (or complete lack of),
and the pretense. on a semi crowded sunday night, with plenty of empty tables, our reserved table was not available. got the "5 or 10 miinutes" line, i suppose that's their way of getiing you to spend additional $$$ beforehand in the bar, at this already pricey "$200.00 per couple meal" establishment. upon sitting down, our waiter anthony was unattentive as it took over 10 minutes to get cocktails from the bar, which was just steps away. i was tempted to just walk over and do things myself, but finally anthony showed up. pretense?
don't order the "colossal" shrimp cocktail, they are jumbo but you
are given 3 shrimp for $18.00!!!! down the shore, even at those pricey
tourist traps, ( shipwreck/riverhouse/709), a "colossal" shrimp cocktail=
6 shrimp for the same $18.00. when i am forced to pay such ridiculous prices,
sorry, but i feel like my intelligence is being insulted.
matty, this is church street in new brunswick, nj, not sparks, the strip,lugars @ nyc no need for the pretense. you guys are good enough, why try and appear to be something you are not?
back to the service- our sides of onion rings/fries and some bernaise
sauce for our beef was presented along side our appetizers when they were served. of course i sent it all back, and when i asked the manager if this is how they did business at this "$200.00" per couple establishment, he simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "it's a mistake", (at this $200.00 per couple
establishment). to his credit, the mgr did make the first round of 2 $11
vodka cocktails on the house, but that was not enough to quell my disappointment over the entire experience at this once surperb restaurant, which is now simply "very good". if you are really interested in a superior
steak dinner i suggest you stick with the establishments in nyc or lugars,
and while in nj, go to a good diner instead. on a scale or 1-5 stars,
overall this restaurant rates a "not so solid" 4. i won't be returning anytimesoon.

firsttimeout at this new brunswick steakhouse. first out, the ambiance was phenomenal. dark woods, great bar. delmonico steak was fantastic, my wife's stuffed whole lobster looked great, although she wouldn't share! ha! everything was absolutely perfect at this point... then the older maitre d started spraying cinnamon scented air freshener all over the place... my wife almost choked on the fumes! we then decided to skip dessert and bail out.. maybe nexttimewe will bring a gas mask and enjoy dessert! the dessert menu looked great.

steakhouse 85. went with a table of 9. we ordered a little of everything. i had a french onion soup which was good , served piping hot and alot of cheese. i had a porterhouse ordered medium and it was an exact medium and was really good, wouldve liked it a little more tender but no big deal. i tried oysters that someone else ordered, they were great but totally overpriced. everyone seemed to like the food. during our dinner allysa milano came into the restaurant and from that moment on we were invisible, to the point we couldve just got up and left without paying. the entire staff and half of the patrons literally disappeared. we waited an ungodly amount oftimejust to pay our check. if your gonna charge that much dont leave people hanging like that. food=great service=not

steakhouse 85, new bruns, nj. steakhouse 85, 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 nexttimewe 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.

a bona fide steakhouse. period.. steakhouse85 performed wonderfully for my wife's surprise birthday dinner this past saturday. i requested impeccable service & food in a private dining room and we were provided just that. as promised, mike piagitini and matt's entire team delivered a quality adult dining experience that others need to be aware of. frankly, there was an extreme desire to satisfy our group of 30 and they went out of their way to even help with the 'surprise' aspect of our birthday party - what a nice bunch of folks they are.

i admit that i'm not big on 'hoopla' when it comes to restaurants (and also admit this is the firsttimereviewing a restaurant) but, this dining experience deserves my 2 minutes to write a review and in a moment i will seek a similar site to do the same.

to me, food is not fuel, it's pleasure. i prefer steaks and have eaten at steakhouses in omaha, sydney, london, europe, smith&wollensky's, lugers, ruth's chris,sparks and many more nationally, and i am happy to declare that downtown new brunswick nj now has a bona fide steakhouse: steakhouse85

i'm not sure what the formal rating scales are for steakhouses, but my very satisfied family rates steakhouse85 with "5 mooos".

thanks again, steakhouse85...we'll be back soon.
brian

unpleasant experience. i usually don't give bad reviews, however, i felt steakhouse 85 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 thetimewe 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. steakhouse 85 has been open for probably about 10 months now and i've been frequenting since the doors opened. everytimei 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!