If this was located in Austin, "Austin Land and Cattle" would have a really close competitor, but they aren't so ALC still holds my #1 Austin steakhouse.
Where do I start. The bar area when waiting for a table resembles an upscale night club. It's loud, packed, hard to get close enough to the bar to order a drink. It was probably the part of the dining experience I didn't enjoy.
When our party of 4 was seated things started looking up. Our waiter was great and very knowledgeable. We all had questions about the steaks and when a couple of us asked him to pick for us he sounded like Alton Brown (why he was picking the steaks for us that he did).
He did not steer me wrong. He told me I would enjoy the Bseball Sirloin because of the thickness and my preference to have it cooked medium rare. He couldn't have picked better for me. The peppery crust and thickness was perfect. The taste was out of this world.
I was relieved that no one in my dinner party requested steak sauce. I get so embarrassed when I am in a nice establishment with great cuts of meat that is seasoned just right and someone drowns it in crap sauce. My ex-mother in law drowned her prime rib in ketchup once - need I say more about her being an ex-mother in law?!
The place was super packed but our food location engineer was absolutely awesome. I look forward to my next trip up in a month or two.