Been to a lot of steak places over the years and went with a group of friends (5 of us) and heard quite a bit of build up from my friend who is local.
Visited the Yelp! page for them and felt pretty good going it (4 out of 5 stars and hundreds of reviews - good potential). The reviews set me up to expect 2 things - 1) an expensive visit and 2) so-so service.
The place was busy on a Wednesday at 9p! pretty impressive!
We were sat without 2 of our party and the waitress came over suffering from allergies and croaked out a greeting. We said that there would be 2 more and would decide on a wine maybe when they came. I looked over the wine list as we were seated.
Our other friends came in and were seated right away. Waitress returned and I said we were talking about the bottle purchase - she insisted that she would take those orders and shut me down from talking to our friends about wine! She was definitely pushing cocktails before the meal! - Strike 1 (I was paying!)
We ate a few of the plastic-wrapped crackers with the pimento spread (unremarkable) and we then placed our orders. My fiancee and I decided to split a ribeye (my fav cut) & shrimp scampi. We asked if there was a split charge and if we could have it split in the kitchen - yes to both. I also ordered the french onion soup to see if it justified the $2 up charge - but when it arrived it was not cut in the kitchen as promised (no big deal - but Strike 2).
The steak was cooked perfect - I got the baked potato loaded and my fiancee got the mushrooms. Delicious sides. The scampi was delicious and heavy on the butter - it was in a pool of standing butter... nom, nom.
There was a rim of fat / gristle around the steak though and tender? no - not really. I;ve aged beef at home before and the claim of 21 to 30 days wet-aged beef was not represented in the cut I got. Not tough as shoe leather, but not as tender as a ribeye aged 3 weeks in my opinion. Swing and a foul to the bleachers...
The third strike came when the waitress tried to strongarm me into a 'Mandatory Minimum Tip' of 20% - taking the time to point it out on the bill and making sure I understood it. Really? 5 people, a bottle of wine (not on the 1/2 price bottle night) and a Mandatory Minimum tip?!
I enjoyed visiting B&B, but go back again? Really need a reason. The Rat-Pack decor was fun, but not for the price & quality we got. The help was less than interested in my comfort than her mandatory minimum tip. Should have left the tip at zero and refused to be strong armed - didn't.