After a year of deliberation I finally decided to give the Girve's Brown Derby a try. I remember the late 80s as a boy and when my Mom and Dad would take me and my sister there it was always happy times. Today nearly 20 years later a true Girve's B.D. I am happy to carry on that tradition once again with my girlfriend, so happy in fact I do plan on bringing my Mom back if I get the chance as well. Dad will be there in spirit, though I am sure he was today.
Immediate upon walking into the entrance, I noticed beautiful wooden doors. When opening them the aroma of wood fired steaks swirling up your nose is a welcome scent. Ambience is upscale, yet comfortable. Dark colors with beautiful tables and booths and bar area. We were seated instantly as on this particular Saturday around 1pm the restaurant was dead. I thought that might be a bad sign, but I discovered the true Girves has only been open since about October 2011.
We privvyd the menu online before our arrival. I was a little nervous because of some of the previous reviews mentioning high price, and well the menu was listed without any prices. There were some specials such as $2.00 off appetizers and drinks due to the time of the day, but I do believe the prices are in line with that of any quality steakhouse.
For appetizers we ordered onion strings and French onion soup. The strings were a heaping pile and portion, especially given the $2.00 off....tasted good and the dipping sauce was a horseradish type which tasted excellent. The soup my girl had tasted very good. It was light on Salt, but ingredients cooked well. Next we had salad which I found to be a little perturbing due lack of dark greens. I am definitely a romaine, spring, and spinach kind of guy and the iceberg ingredients seemed like a cheap cost cut to me, I even thought it might be bagged salad.
Dinner for her was boneless Rib eye; I had the same avec half rack ribs. The steaks were both ordered Medium; and were cooked superbly. Nothing like flame chars on any meat if you ask me. The meat seemed to have a salt seasoning on it but was excellent. My rib addition was just ok. It seemed like it had been sitting out awhile or maybe even re-fired. The BBQ on it was sweet zesty, but overall meat did not seem fresh for the rib. Nonetheless I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. The waitress did a good job and up sold us after we both knew we were stuffed. We went with Crème Brulee and it was the best I have ever had. Total came to about $77.00 and I think given the overall quality and what we had was worth it. I definitely hope to come back.