Mom's out of town for Thanksgiving so what do two grown men do??? They go out to eat! This choice brought us to Ben & Jacks in Old Town. I've eaten at Peter Luger's in New York but never one of Ben & Jacks spin-offs so I was excited to try it.
The dinner started off at the bar for a cocktail. Guinness on draft is always a good idea but in a 10oz glass doesn't quite seem right. The Stoli and Tonic I ordered was great but again the glassware made for a short pour. When the check came, almost 22 dollars for the beer and cocktail. I don't care how high-end you are, that's absurd pricing.
Continuing on with our drink pricing fiasco we were moved from the bar to our table where we ordered a bottle of Panna for our flat water...Always a good choice when a restaurant serves it, but as we came to find when the check came, 10 dollars was the going price for that liter of water. Did I mention the word absurd?!? I don't know if they are trying to recoup all of their start up fees in 2 weeks but at this pace they just might! Moving on to the wine choice, it seemed to be a little bit more reasonable as we saw a bottle of the Raymond Cabernet priced at 18 dollars a glass which would have ideally put the bottle at about 70 dollars, I say ideally because the wine list at the bar didn't have a price by the bottle for that wine ...I thought nothing of it but was definitely ready to try it and get some food in our tummies.... Things looked like they were looking up!
We then moved to the table promptly after drinks and were met by our server. No specials given outside of the Thanksgiving Day Pre-Fix menu so we just ordered off the menu. Dad started with the Oysters on the Half Shell ($13.95. Great flavor and plenty of horseradish and cocktail sauce to season! I wasn't so luck with my Baked Clams($13.95). These little neck clams were 6 to the plate and just that....LITTLE! While the flavor was decent, the portion could definitely use an adjustment. I also found it a tad overwhelming that the server moved my clams from one plate to the other and then seasoned with the extra white wine reduction. Maybe it's just me, but I don't like being served like that. Sprinkle some pepper, grate some cheese but no touching the food...
Well now to dinner, and good thing I was still hungry after the appetizers because the Prime Ribeye($45.95) I ordered was massive. The bone-in rib eye was done perfectly medium with a Gorgonzola reduction I requested on the side. Dad got the same with some sort of Au Jus... His ordered Medium Rare and again perfectly done. As a side we shared the German Potatoes(13.95) Kind of pricey for a side but good overall flavor.
After the meal absolutely no room to try a dessert so we asked for the check. When it came I opened it and almost gave back all my food. Not for pricing of the steaks but the pricing on the water and the wine. The Raymond Cabernet came out at $90. I don't know who is doing the math in the accounting office but you're definitely in line for a raise!
Long and the short of it...steaks were phenomenal, Antonio the server was great but everything else was mediocre at best. Too many staff members running around and seemed like a lot of disorganization.