Branco Steakhouse — Restaurant in Érdi járás

It was the first time we had been here. Since we live in the center of Budapest, we are used to the steak restaurants there, but this suburban steak house had a completely different atmosphere, more similar to American restaurants, by which I mean the offer and the environment. We chose Tatar beefsteak as an appetizer, and we asked for Dallas and Mississippi sirloin with fried sweet potatoes and steak fries as the main course, for which my partner drank red wine (unfortunately I had to skip this as I drove).

POSITIVES: The restaurant is open until 10pm, which in their case means that it is possible to order until 10pm, not that by 10pm they are already throwing us out of the restaurant because they want to close. We arrived an hour before closing and had the opportunity to have a comfortable dinner.

Delicious food, quality ingredients, good seasoning, large portions.

Large garden and interior, making it suitable for events with many participants.

Nice staff.

It’s easy to find a parking space near the restaurant.

Lower prices than downtown steak restaurants.

A large bowl of peanuts prepared as a snack on the table, which we really appreciated as we arrived terribly hungry.

NEGATIVES: Instead of salt and pepper mills, ground spices are made on the table, which would bother me less for other dishes, but I think it is unworthy of a sirloin.

The wine offer. There are only 3 versions of dry red wine, of which only one can be ordered per glass and not with a full bottle. Given that this is a steak house, it specifically surprised us. By the way, the house wine was okay.

One of the two sirloins was fried more than the baking grade of choice. The other, however,...

We are regular customers since more than a decade now and we were always happy with the quality, the quantity of the food as well as how we were served. The food is great and made just right and served nicely. The prices are high compared to other, but non-steak based restaurants, but the quality you get for your money is absolutely worth every single penny. They are friendly and helpful, they are in to little surprises should you want to celebrate any event in the restaurant.

Some observations, though…

Waiters are switching tables or at least it was not crystal clear who is serving which table, so this could be improved. A HUGE improvement area comes at pay-time. If you decide to pay with card (as most of us do in the 21st century) you have to go out to a little boot where a nice lady will try to figure out which was your table, and only there you can use your card as waiters take only cash. Last time we had to queue for nearly 10 minutes just to pay. This is something that ruins an otherwise positive lunch or dinner. Definitely something to change, hence...

Revisited this place after ten years and the experience was horrendous.

The menu had no dietary options. It's 2023 and at least the few seriously allergic ingredients should be listed.

The drinks menu didn't contain any wine options. Maybe it's just me but I'd like to have a glass of red with my steak.

We've ordered three steaks, they all came out wrong. Asked our waiter(s) about what he thinks of the cooking and he wasn't able to tell the rarity either. Got one steak that was supposed to be medium, it was rare instead. The other steak that we've ordered medium to well done came out well done. The third one came almost blue instead of rare. Waited fifteen minutes for a check-back. We sent two steaks back, and to their credit they took it off our bill, the overall experience still left us gutted.

Avoid it until they sort their house out.

Hospitality should be about us feeling like guests instead of paying customers. That's coming from an ex-waiter myself with a good couple of years...