Arnie's West Branch Steak House — Local services in Ravenna Township

After being told by several people that I needed to go to Arnie's for a fantastic steak dinner, I was completely disappointed. Let me preface this review with the fact that I am a meat cutter, and have a large knowledge base about everything steak related. First, there was no bone in rib steak selection. Even though this is always my top choice, it was not a problem, because this is a steakhouse, and should accordingly deliver a great steak eating experience. So I chose the boneless rib steak. When the steak arrived, there was quite a bit of juice on the plate, which made me think that perhaps it was not rested properly. I ordered the steak to be done to medium (approximately 140 degrees internal temp). I cut the steak in half, and sadly realized that it had not even reached rare doneness (125 degrees). It took about 7 or 8 minutes for the server to come back. She asked how it was, and I showed her the steak. She apologized and I told her that I would take one half home with me, as I could bring it up to the proper temperature when having that the next day, and that she could take the other half back and bring it up to medium. She then returned with that half steak. I saw it was brought up to medium based on the color. However, as I was cutting into the steak, I realized it was rather difficult to do so. And as I began to chew the steak, I realized that it was not tender in any sense of the word. I had to chew each bite for at least a full minute. There is no other explanation for this toughness other than the fact that this steakhouse must be using select grade beef, which is the lowest, below choice, which is below prime. I am shocked that I paid $55 for a select grade delmonico steak at a steakhouse. To put it into perspective, a 24 ounce select boneless rib steak would cost the restaurant approximately $5 to $10. A choice boneless rib steak, about $10 to $15, and a prime boneless rib steak, maybe $20. I decided not to cause a stir and tell the restaurant my thoughts, but instead write this review to save you a trip, a terrible steak eating experience, and a large chunk of money. However, if this restaurant does care about producing a great steakhouse experience, I would expect them to respond to this review...

This was myself and my husband's first time going there and what can I say except....A+++! BEST STEAK'S WE HAVE EVER HAD! (and believe me...we are meat-eaters! LOL) I had the ribeye and my husband had the porterhouse. Steaks were like butter...cooked to perfection, piping hot...didn't even have to wait that long.

Let me start at the beginning...we went on a Wed night (4-yr wedding anniversary) and almost didn't get a parking spot (Yes it was a Wednesday and they were still that crowded!). Walked in, were sat immediately and though we did have to wait a while before the waitress came over to take our orders (even drinks) I didn't mind because she was very busy and the atmosphere was nice. It's a small, homey type place. No bells and whistles but the table and floor were clean.

We didn't drink any alcohol so I can't comment on that but I can say that they give you big glasses of iced tea or lemonade and such with free refills. We ate the calamari for an appetizer and it was very, very good. I would say #2 best calamari I have ever eaten. Could have been a bit crispier but it still tasted very good.

We then got our steaks/baked potatoes and then they brought us a basket of their bread with butter. Bread was warm and the butter melted on it very smoothly. The busboy came and removed our plates in a fast manner throughout the meal and we weren't bugged to death by our waitress.

Only drawback was she forgot our sauteed onions for the steaks BUT she made up for it by bringing them to us when we mentioned we didn't get them and then didn't even charge us for them! (Nice touch by my standards).

We were stuffed like Christmas turkeys after eating so I can't comment on how the dessert tastes...BUT I did see the cheesecake and it looked soooooo goooooddddd. (Should have packed my extra stomach!)

All in all....2 THUMBS UP FOR US! Can't wait to go back again...prices were reasonable, food was EXCELLENT and the best part? They are right down the road...

We were so excited to try Annie's, we had always heard AMAZING things about this place. We went there tonight for the first time and the second we walked in the door.. horrible attitude from the hostess. She made us go back out to our cars for one minute until they texted us (which was great the wait wasn't long). After sitting down, the waitress came and took our drink orders. When she came back to take our food orders, we ordered just normal stuff... nothing special and she walked away with a SERIOUS eye roll. For our appetizer, we ordered the cheddar cauliflower buds... they were good but there was no cheddar. I was drink root beer which I had finished and she came and took the empty bottle but quickly walked away before I could ask for another drink. About 10 minutes later, she came back to our table and I asked for another which I did get finally. My husband ordered the tuna and scampi which was really good, he also ordered a French onion soup as that was one of the side options... that was good too. Our meals were delicious, my chicken parm was AMAZING. The food is why there are two stars instead of one. When we got our bill, we were charged for our French onion soup that we were told was one of the sides to choose from. When we told the waitress she said that there was an upcharge for the soup and that she just hadn't told us. We were just like, ok.. whatever that's fine. But honestly, she should have removed the upcharge since she didn't tell us and admitted that she didn't tell us. All in all, it's not somewhere we wouldn't go again as the food was really good. The customer service just needs improved BIG TIME.. if I were the manager, I would work on training the staff to be friendlier and to not have such an attitude towards the guests. We were very nice and just couldn't understand the coldness and the...