Wednesday 22 October 2014

RESTAURANT REVIEW: STEAKOUT MEAT HOUSE

There is a new steakhouse that has opened up in the city centre that at a glance looks really good. With a prime location on Granby street it's in an area that's always had delicious food so I had high expectations. Me and a few of the guys went to check it out.

NAME: STEAKOUT MEAT HOUSE

LOCATION: 14 GRANBY STREET, LEICESTER, LE1 1DE


PRICE: It's part of a chain with 5 other branches in the UK with a similar 'walk in' only model to Nandos, and it kind of falls in line with those kind of prices you'd expect. Steaks obviously cost a little more (I paid £16.95 for a 12oz sterloin and a side) but it was largely pretty reasonable. They had a range of steak burgers that were all about £7 and then obviously sides were separate. Steaks ranged from £13.95 for an 8oz rump to £29.95 for a 12oz rib eye.

The sides were all over the place in terms of price though, you would never believe it was a chain. It was almost frustrating trying to work out what you wanted because there was no logic at all. The mixed grill was hidden in the appetizers menu at £11.95, onion rings were £2.95 while mozzarella sticks were £3.95. Soup however was £5.95. It literally made no sense. in terms of affordability it was literally exactly what we expected, nothing notable. 5/10




ATMOSPHERE: Some screaming little twat child did his best to ruin the ambiance but that being said it was fine. Imagine being in Nandos, except the staff who work there are playing Beyonce's greatest hits album (at a notably low bitrate) out into the restaurant. This was punctuated by spells of the music being turned off, and the click of an ipod wheel going out over the speakers. There isn't ever really an atmosphere in these chain places is there? 4/10

The burgers were nothing to write home about given that this is a meat house


DECOR: We got sat in a booth right by the front door so I didn't really get to have a nose about and a good look. Thinking back I should have just gone to the toilets or something. From what I saw it was very nice, it's all very modern and clean, especially the front of the restaurant. There was an odd wall with about 100 little cow ornaments on these little metal shelves. In short they looked shit. Also, they had tried to do the whole bric-a-brac odd chairs thing, but it didn't really come over as all the chairs were new, even if they were odd. My chair was really uncomfortable. 5/10






FOOD: The food really left something to be desired for me, it was so so average. Nothing had any real personality. The sides were poor and unfulfilling, I'd go as far as to say they served us the worst onion rings I've ever had. These awkward breaded pieces of shit that kept snapping, served with vinegar (?) The chips were just anything and the salads were undesirable. The coleslaw was just a thick glob of mayo that I didn't even bother touching. Their 'veg' from their side menu was a routine carrots and peas, no danger of getting any delicious med veg here. The actual steak itself was really delicious, I must say. I really enjoyed it, it was cooked and seasoned to near perfection, but the gloopy lukewarm pepper sauce they served with it did it's best to ruin it for me. The presentation was on point but that was about it. Also they don't serve alcohol at all and all soft drinks are 250ml bottles, no refills here. Also no deserts menu. 4/10




SERVICE: The service was the one redeeming factor. I'm guessing given that they've not long opened they haven't grew sick of their jobs yet and the guy who was taking our order was pretty safe, we had a good laugh with him. There was one annoying loud dickhead floating about who used to work in Soar Point, but aside from him and his very presence being annoying they were pretty on point. All up until our food come out and they had all a load of the sides muddled up. And they decided to just rename everything for a laugh as it got served so we had to kind of guess and work out what belonged to who. 5/10 


CONCLUSION: Between 5 of us our bill came to £75 and we were all far from impressed. Like I said, the actual steak itself was really nice, but I'd expect it to be at £18 for the steak alone. It was a really unfulfilling experience, and even if me and the guys had of gone somewhere else like the Frankie and Benny's in the highcross I'm sure we would have had a better time and a better meal for our money. I don't even particularly like F&B's but if you put this place in that sort of price range and category with those kind of places it's really going to struggle if they continue to trade at the standard we met on Sunday. I was completely underwhelmed and unsatisfied and I won't be going back any time soon.

FINAL MARK: 23/50

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