801 Chophouse — Attraction in Tysons

I like to begin my reviews with the positives, so here are some of the awesome things about the place.

1: They have incredible cuts of beef. Their wet aged or dry age cuts all look incredible, and the wet age Ribeye, my choice for the evening, was superb. There aren't many ribeyes I've had which have gotten close to this in terms so quality, preparation, and flavor.

2: The selection of sides and the quality of them are both outstanding. Tons of variety for a good option for anyone and everyone in your party. They also have adequate portion sizes, making them a good value compared to other fine dining establishments.

3: Excellent bourbon and wine selection, which can pair with anything on their menu.

4: Very cozy atmosphere. In some ways it's a classic steak house, in others it's an upscale lounge atmosphere with good lighting and suave seating.

Now, for the negative, unfortunately.

It was my birthday and we were told that this place had "Excellent service, but the food can be a bit underwhelming at times". We found the exact opposite.

Our service did not prioritize us and instead prioritized the "script" of what was being sold to us. Our server made a large effort to do the meat presentation, and then was very busy doing the same presentation at each of his tables. This presentation takes close to 10 minutes. This is 10 minutes, add four tables, and you have a server spending 40 minutes of the evening away from each of their tables. This means that, in theory, the restaurant should have back waiters constantly surveying the floor to get the guests water refills, clear plates, and get new drinks ordered.

This greatly impacts the flow of the meal and then adds more pressure onto the server. I don't necessarily hold him responsible, because I don't think it's his fault. I think the structure should be: "Would you like to hear about our cuts tonight?" instead of an immediate "I have to now run through this well rehearsed script about expensive cuts of steak that you may or may not want to purchase."

Then, as we got closer to the end of our meal the actual responsibility of our server showed up. We were left dry in our glasses for 5 or more minutes on three separate occasions during our meal.

We had dirty plates in front of us for close to 30 minutes.

We had ordered cookies to go for my complimentary birthday dessert and these cookies were delivered to the server side-station instead of our table. We had to remind our server about them prior to leaving.

The structural issues out of our server 's control should NOT be held against him, as I mentioned. But it is important to highlight criticisms that are within his control so that he can...

Went to 801 Chophouse for my birthday during their soft open a couple of weeks ago. Normally I avoid restaurants during soft opens because they're usually trying to get it together, and something usually disappoints....but not here! Again, it was my birthday and I have been watching their socials waiting for them to open. When we got there the table was decorated, there was a menu signed by the entire staff wrapped in a bow, plus a free note pad! While that was cool and all, the food and service were truly next level. Our server John was outstanding. You can tell that there is an intensive training process, and he was so well versed in all of the items. They even cart out raw cuts of all of the beef/lamb offerings and explain in great detail the difference in meat, the aging process, marbling, etc. A nice touch. He made some great suggestions as well. It is old school, classy service which is something I miss these days. The steaks and sides were cooked to perfection and it was truly one of the best meals I've had in recent memory. Also, the person I assumed was the manager on site/sommelier was named Dani. She was amazing, extremely personable, brought out several wines for us to choose from and explained about how large their on-site selection is. So extensive in fact that they did not have the list printed for that first week. Turns out she is the COO for the 801 corporation and was there for the launch! Very impressive. (By the way, the French red she recommended was absolutely wonderful.) And as a final touch they boxed up a complimentary birthday dessert to go, what a wonderful experience. I know the Tysons steakhouse market is pretty competitive, but this place is a cut above. Prices are on par with other restaurants of their type, but great food and flawless service isn't cheap. There is also a happy hour, multiple event rooms and a Sunday supper coming soon.

I could not be more impressed and will...

My husband and I went to 801 Chophouse on a Tuesday evening for our anniversary. It wasn’t busy and they seemed to be pretty well staffed. My husband had added a note to the reservation that we were celebrating our anniversary, so the hostess sprinkled confetti on the table before we sat down. It was a nice touch, but it would have been better had the server recognized that we were celebrating and said something. The food was mostly good. My filet mignon was overcooked, which was disappointing. After dinner, the server asked if we would like the dessert menu. We of course said yes because we were celebrating our anniversary. He brought us the menu and warned us that if we ordered one of the soufflé desserts to take into account the 20 minutes for them to make it from scratch. He then left us with the menu to discuss. We decided we would order two of the other dessert options that wouldn’t take so long to prepare, but then our waiter did not come back to take our order for another 20 minutes. What if we had wanted the soufflé?! By the time he finally came back to take our order, we were tired and needed to get home to relieve the babysitter. So we said we would pass on dessert, even though we had fully planned to get order some. The waiter seemed annoyed with us and grabbed the menu in a huff. We paid and left, feeling pretty disappointed in the whole experience, and especially that our waiter’s negligence had prevented us from getting dessert. There was no excuse for the waiter not to be attentive, seeing as it was a quiet Tuesday evening. Unfortunately, we will not be going back to 801 Chophouse because of this experience, even though it is very close to our home and would have been a nice addition to our rotation of neighborhood...