Prime Steak + Raw Bar — Restaurant in Burlington

I really wanted to be able to give this restaurant 5 stars. We came here on a Saturday night for the first time. The ambiance was warm and inviting. Our waitress top notch, very friendly and great service. This is where it all ended. We ordered some oysters on the half shell $4.5 each. The smallest oysters ever! When they are like that, make them half price so not to insult the customer or give extra. I ordered the steak and king crab surf & turf $120. My steak was gristly and my king crab looked more like a large snow crab leg (like the ones you get in the grocery store), a top notch restaurant should never serve lower grade seafood. My husband ordered the 16 oz ribeye $98 plus the cost of a side. The ribeye came served on his plate cut into strips (never seen that before). My husband took one look and said there was no way that was a 16 oz cut of meat and they cut it up and separated it on the plate to make it look larger rather than advising they were sold out and suggesting something else. The sides were very good, mashed potato's and carrots. The wine also good. Funny thing is, when I looked at the pictures online of other peoples reviews, it was like a totally different restaurant. Our oysters, meat and crab legs were nothing like the pics. So either the reviews are fake or they are very inconsistent. After spending over $500 on a dinner, one would think that you would leave the restaurant feeling satisfied and happy. We left feeling disappointed and unhappy. This is not a first class restaurant and we will...

We went to Prime last Saturday night with a couple of friends for dinner based on their recommendation from a visit about a year ago. I say this because since then, the restaurant has recently changed owners and increased in size. This became apparent as they appeared to be going through some growing pains. One of the tables was adjacent to the door to their open kitchen which meant that anyone sitting there was subjected to the bright kitchen lights in an otherwise dimly lit room. We started with a glass of wine, however, I noticed my glass was chipped after I had pour some of my carafe in, so I had it replaced, but they brought an empty glass and said they'd bring out the replacement wine shortly. It was about 6:30 at this point and we ordered our appetizers and mains and let them know we had a show around the corner at 8pm. 1.5hrs should be enough time we were told. It was not. And the wine took too long to be replaced. I will say the food is really good. The Soba noodles are complex and delicious. But after our apps were done, we waited until 7:45pm for our mains, and even then I had to remind them that we had needed to leave soon. Given the price of the food and that we had paid for tickets, we were stuck either rushing and expensive meal or missing the show. Once the mains arrived, again they were delicious, but we'd have appreciated more than 15 minutes to enjoy them with our drinks. We may have even gotten dessert, but sadly we had to dash.... ...

I came here for my 26th birthday with high expectations, but unfortunately, it turned out to be a major disappointment.

From the start, we ordered a few classic cocktails (such as New York Sours and Manhattans), which should be staples at any bar. Shockingly, they couldn’t make them properly, so I’d recommend sticking strictly to what’s listed on their menu.

While staff did attempt to fix the situation, the General Manager’s approach was defensive rather than understanding. His comment of “we all have different taste buds” came across dismissive—if a drink is made correctly, taste buds shouldn’t be the issue. An apology and acknowledgment would have been more appropriate.

As for the food, it was just okay. The Beef Wellington was one of the weakest we’ve had, especially when compared to Black + Blue. I also ordered a rare steak, but it came out blue rare. At that point, there was no sense in complaining further—I simply boxed it and took it home.

To close out the evening, the GM (Kris) privately apologized to one member of our group, saying he was embarrassed about how things unfolded. While we do appreciate that, the apology should have been made to the entire table, not whispered to a single guest.

Overall, the prices here don’t reflect the quality of food or drinks. For the cost, I expected much more in terms of execution, service, and professionalism. Sadly, this experience fell far short of a memorable birthday...