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| - I chose Bobby's for the combo of live jazz and steak - perfect for our anniversary dinner, which is very special to us. We always dress up and don't worry too much about the bill. And for $36 per steak, I expected a level of quality and service that we had experienced at places like Morton's. Ah, no. Not even close.
I made the reservation on Yelp's Seatme and specified that it was a special occasion - our anniversary. We arrived promptly and asked to be seated near the live musicians. Not possible - the entire upper level was reserved for a private party. We gladly accepted a booth (round table) on the ground floor instead, and we could hear the music clearly but still hear each other. Noise level was just right. My first hint that this wasn't an upscale restaurant was when the hostess seated us and laid the two large menus on the opposite side of the table and left before we had scooted into the booth. So I got up and reached across the table and retrieved the menus.
The waiter buzzed up to our table and said, "Anything but water to drink?" We had barely got the words "Diet Coke" out of our mouths before he buzzed away again. For the rest of the evening, he buzzed by the table at top speed, a stressed-out look on his face, no smiles, no friendly greeting, no warmth at all. When I asked him to take our picture because it was our anniversary, I could see his hesitation and hear his sigh, telling me by his actions and expression very clearly that he was too busy for such nonsense. He did it anyway, reluctantly - snapped one quick shot with no flash (my fault), didn't say congratulations or acknowledge our occasion in any way, and sped away again.
When I placed my order, I got confused between the NY strip steak and the rib-eye, and he sighed again and wasn't helpful but almost argumentative - clearly stressed and rushed. We asked him whether bread would be brought to our table, and his clipped response was, "It's on its way." When it didn't show up after a reasonable time, I asked again, and again he snapped, "It's on its way." Finally, we got a basket of very good chunks of french bread with garlic butter toasted on.
My small caesar salad ($6) was delicious, despite the big slab of anchovy across the top. That was a first - quite unappetizing to look at. My large baked potato ($6 as a side) had that slight off flavor that indicated it had been sitting in a warmer for a while. My NY strip steak (10 oz. for $36) that I ordered medium-well was cooked well done, with only the tiniest bit of pale gray-pink in the very center, and had very little flavor. Nothing about this $36 steak was melt-in-your-mouth tender or flavorful. Although I tried to eat it, I ended up leaving about 3/4 of it on my plate. I was trying to chew a piece when the waiter sped by and asked how everything was and didn't wait for me to chew, swallow, and reply, but sped off again after my husband said his was fine.
At one point between salads and entree, I asked the waiter to take another photo of us with the flash, and he waved to the waitress who was refilling our drinks and snapped, "I think she'll do it" and walked off. She did. At no time did anyone ever acknowledge our anniversary.
When the check came, the waiter asked if I wanted a box for my leftover steak, and I said, "It really wasn't very good." He asked what was wrong, and I said it was overdone for being medium-well. He started to say something, as if he were ready to argue with me over the meaning of "medium-well," but must have thought better of it. Instead he said he'd talk to the manager. When he brought us our check, they had removed the cost of the steak. The manager never came to our table to chat with us, ask how anything was, or apologize for the quality of the steak. We were never offered the dessert menu or a look at the dessert tray.
I tipped a full 20% despite feeling like we'd been rushed, ignored, and treated with a cold shoulder throughout the meal. I will never go back. There is so much the staff could have done to show us a good time, and simply being friendly would have been a great start. I couldn't wait to get out of there and head for Cheesecake Factory to finish off our meal. And like always, at CF we were greeted and treated like valued customers, not rushed, and felt welcome.
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