"The Prime Rib" Steakhouse has been a Baltimore staple for 46 years. It is the original Prime Rib Steakhouse out of the 3 open. The other two are in D.C. & Philadelphia. It was opened in 1965 by the BeLer brothers with the vision of a 1940's Manhattan "Super Club". They are known for their Dry Aged Prime Rib & Fresh Seafood. The decor is Black & Gold everywhere from the walls to the tables, to the bar, & even the black & gold leopard print carpet! The Waitstaff is decked out in tuxedos. Even the bus-boys were wearing tuxedos. It reminded me of a high society club that is very picky of who they let in. There is a piano player in the main dining room, and I am told a bass player joins him from time to time. Now, I have been in fine dining establishments before, but I have to admit this was a little over the top in my opinion. But that is exactly what the owners were going for when they designed the restaurant.
When I first moved to Baltimore, I worked for a company that owned all of the Ruth's Chris in Maryland. So I was introduced for the first time to USDA Prime Dry Aged Steak. And boy was I hooked. I don't know what it is but a dry aged steak cooked rare/medium rare just melts in your mouth like a slice of butter on a hot piece of toast! Its like the epitome of food. To me there is nothing better than a properly seasoned, properly cooked piece of dry aged steak. So of course, I asked all of my baltimore friends, "Where can I get the best steak in Baltimore"? Time & time again, the words "Prime Rib Steakhouse" were spoken back to me. Unfortunately for me, I never got around to going in the 10 years I've lived here. Then 2 weeks ago my in-laws came home from a night out at dinner & they brought back leftovers. They had just been eating at the Prime Rib & came home boasting about how good it was. They said the Prime Rib was excellent. The Cesar Salad was great for a "non egg based" cesar dressing. The one complaint they had was that the Lamb Chops were sub-par. Normally I would just take my in-laws word for how good a restaurant is because they have such good taste. But this time my wife, who is 5 months pregnant, pretty much sealed the deal by the way her face was lighting up like a lightning bug under a clear summer sky as she was devouring my father-in-law's leftover prime rib. So I started thinking to myself, "Man this place must be really good. We have got to go there sometime & sometime soon"! Lo & behold, Monday the 16th I check my personal email & I see an email from Groupon. And what happens to be the main deal they are offering??? If you guessed a deal for the Prime Rib Steakhouse you would be correct! The deal was you pay $50 for $100 worth of food & drinks at the Prime Rib. With my 4 year wedding anniversary coming up on May 18th, just two days away, I jumped on the deal & reserved our table for 6:30pm on the 18th. If I told you my mind & mouth weren't watering like Niagra Falls over the next two days I would be lying & probably get struck by lightning! Just ask my co-workers for proof; They'll tell you how much I talked about going! I was finally going to get to taste the mighty Prime Rib Steakhouse's Dry Aged Prime Rib.
6:35pm (yes we were late, Baltimore traffic what do you expect) we pull up in front of the restaurant & the first check mark gets jotted down in my mental notebook.....Free Valet Parking. Now for those of you not familiar with Baltimore City, there is NO WHERE to park unless you are willing to pay $30 to park for 2 hours or risk getting a parking ticket/possibly towed. So free Valet Parking at a restaurant in the city is a God send. We walk in, meet with the Maitre 'D and are promptly seated in the room without the piano player. We are seated at a nice little two person table. The chairs are leather & very comfy. Checkmark # 2 in my mental notebook! As soon as we are seated the bus-boy comes over, fills our water glass & places some butter & warm bread on our table. Not many diners in the restaurant at this point so of course the staff was very much on point. Unfortunately the first negative check mark is jotted down in my mind because I was not given a choice of tap water or Bottled Spring water. Now I know most of you are thinking "Really? REALLY? Bottled Spring Water? Can you be anymore picky"? Well I'm sorry but when I go to a restaurant of this caliber I like to drink Figi Water. To me it is the only water I have ever drank that has not had the added taste of chemicals or additives. I love Figi Water & would have loved to be offered the choice & I wasn't. The server comes over & describes the menu for us in full detail. Looking at the menu prices, I am very glad we got the Groupon because, WOW. This place is more expensive then the other fine dining steakhouses I've been too. In his description he actually changes my mind in what I was going to order. Now I LOVE steak. One of, if not my most favorite dinner entrees. But I also LOVE Chilean Sea Bass. His description of the Sea Bass swayed my decision. Luckily for me, my pregnant wife reluctantly agreed to share her prime rib with me. So we ordered some appetizers, salad, our entrees, & sides.
We started with the Escargot (I know I know, snails...yuck) & a cup of the Lobster bisque. The escargot came out in the shells still & came with some metal clasps that reminded me of a cross between pliers & tongs. If any of you have seen Pretty Woman, think about the scene in the restaurant where she accidentally slings the escargot across the room trying to hold it w/ the plier/tong things. Thats exactly what me & my wife were thinking was going to happen to us! In regards to the actual taste of the escargot, they were just ok. They were cooked in a garlic butter but were over-powered by the amount of butter. Not much garlic which was a little disappointing. The Lobster Bisque was a big disappointment for me. It tasted like a regular lobster bisque except most fine dining establishments like this add a few nice size chunks of lobster meat. Mine only had very small pieces, kind of like the leftover bits & pieces of lobster. Very disappointing. After our appetizers there was about a 10 minute wait until our salad was brought to us (this 10 minute wait happened after every course). A little long of a wait in my opinion. We shared a Cesar Salad. It was made with a non-egg based dressing which was great since my wife is 5 months pregnant & should not be consuming raw egg. Unfortunately the dressing had no flavor. It tasted like Oil, Vinegar, & Lemon juice.
So far the meal had been a little disappointing. But we still had the entrees & sides to come. I was hoping the Prime Rib & Chilean Sea Bass would make the meal worthwhile. Our server described the Sea Bass as incredible & one of the best things on their menu. He even said when the Yankees are in town to play the Orioles, Alex Rodriguez & Derek Jeter always order the Sea Bass without ever looking at the menu or hearing the other specials. So I was really looking forward to it. When the entrees arrived we were quite pleased with the portion size & the way everything looked. The Prime Rib was on the bone & HUGE. It was cooked to a perfect medium rare. It was served in its own Au Jus & with thinly sliced pieces of horseradish. The Sea Bas was thick & larger than a normal portion of fish. It was served with a sauce on the side of sauteed tomato, onion, & capers (to me it looked like marinara sauce). The sides we ordered to share were sauteed mushrooms & sting beans sauteed in tomatoes & onion (again, looked like marinara sauce). First bite of the Sea Bass & sauce had me a bit puzzled. The sauce, while good, definitely tasted like marinara sauce. The Sea Bass, unfortunately, had no flavor. It was as if they didn't even season it with salt & pepper. Disappointed! The first bite of Prime Rib & horseradish was just as disappointing. The Prime Rib also had no flavor & the horseradish tasted like thin strips of cardboard. The sting beans were over-cooked & mushy with the "marinara sauce". Thankfully the mushrooms were pretty good. I looked at my wife and said, "My mood just went from a kid waking up on christmas morning excited to open my first present to that same kid opening the first present & finding a lump of coal"! She nodded her head in agreement. I was so disappointed. SHOCKINGLY disappointed. Here I was, eating dinner at a so called 5 star restaurant I had been told had the best Prime Rib in Baltimore, thinking we should have stayed home & ate dinner at my In-Laws house. Luckily for us with the Groupon we only had to dish out an extra $50 for the dinner.
If you ask me, I would not be recommending Prime Rib to anyone in the near future. While the food wasn't "horrible", it wasn't "great" either. Unfortunately, to me, the food tasted like something a novice chef could put together & cook in their home. Not great tasting, but not terrible tasting either. From friends & family I have spoken to since our dinner Wednesday, it sounds to me like the Prime Rib had a so called "Off Night". For their sake I hope so. I won't be rushing anytime soon to test it. Especially for the prices they charge! If I had to rate the meal as a whole from 1 to 10, I would give it a 5 & would tell you to save your money & go to Outback. For half the cost you can get a meal equal to, or if not better than the meal I had at the Prime Rib.
- Your Average Joe Food Critic
Figi water carlos.......you are so picky...I never knew a virgo could be so critical!
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