Wolfgang's Steakhouse — Restaurant in Mandaluyong

I've been to fine dining establishments where you're served seven courses paired with wine, while looking out at the sparkling waterfront while enjoying the soft jazz playing in the background. (This was in Aria in Brisbane and in Monti in Singapore, for anyone curious.)

When I compare the prices we've paid for in Wolfgang Steakhouse compared to those fine establishments, I only have one conclusion: the rent at Podium must be very expensive.

The restaurant was packed with so many tables that you had to squirrel your way through. The restaurant was loud and confined. You could hear the cacophony of every other patron inside.

Service was clumsy and the staff obviously not trained up to fine dining standards. The servers lacked in many areas and overcompensated in a way that rubbed wrong. For example, we were offered table wine— red or white. When my partner asked what kind of wine they have (for example, a syrah? A pinot noir?), the server just kept repeating "red and white". The server mumbled his English, too. We barely understood him.

We had to clear our own plates and cutlery to make way for the food. No one lifted a finger to do this for us. They servers just stood there expectantly, waiting for the table to clear itself so that they can set down the next dish. The bread and butter dish were not cleared until long after the meal was done.

Yet they intrusively asked us if we wanted more wine, often interrupting us while we were conversing, or while my partner was on his phone. They tried to put away my wine, even when I wasn't done with it. They spilled wine on the tablecloth each time they poured it onto the glass. They served the steak in front of my partner, then asked as an afterthought if he wanted it cut up. He said yes, and they whisked the steak away.

And the steak? We've had better for a fraction of the price. That Wolfgang's claim to fame is that their beef is "USDA" and "chilled, not frozen" is laughable compared to the live-shipped, wagyu beef you can get elsewhere. The biggest insult is that they seem to weight their steak with the bones included. A 900-gram rib-eye steak is much smaller when you include the weight of the bone. Oh, and the steak was served charred, not seared.

The rest of the food was a hit-or-miss. The key lime pie, I kid you not, tasted like undercooked egg custard with the uncomfortable tang of rust, or blood. The cheesecake is of the same quality you'd find in Starbucks.

I can actually list alternatives for their food, where you can get the same or better quality for a fraction of the price:

• steak = Brotzeit or Tweedle Book Cafe • dinner rolls = Anya Resort • key lime pie alternative = Toby's Estate • New York cheesecake = Starbucks

The only food I enjoyed there were the fudge sundae, which I can get anywhere else, and the creamed spinach, which isn't really worth going back for.

The prices are laughably expensive, almost insulting. They charge you almost the bottle price for a glass of inexpensive wine. They don't print prices per glass on their menu, almost as if to expect you to buy an entire bottle, even for dessert wine! In fact, the menu items and serving sizes seem to be intended for a group in mind, not a romantic date. You are forced to spend more, because they don't really cater to single, appropriate portions. Oh, and they charged us separately for the steak sauce, too.

Suffice to say, this place is priced like it's a waterfront five-star restaurant, when in reality it's just a packed family restaurant inside a mall. Would not return, would not recommend.

We went to Planet Grapes a few days later to remove the bad taste in the mouth that this...

It’s not that often that you get a gathering of old friends who are so singularly minded about having good old Sunday steaks for brunch. But that’s what happened.

The dry aged steaks here are exceptionally good (aside from the fact that they are also exceptionally priced) but the whole ceremony of their arrival with the smoke and sizzle was worth it? Of course!! the whole gastronomic experience is not only about the sights but definitely the sounds of melted butter being bathed and jumping off the hot plate which they were served. That was something which I quietly look forward to in every steak dinner but seldom get.

They were done just right because medium rare demands that there be a requisite amount of jus but that’s challenging because dry aging does leech away a fair amount of the fluids within the meat. It runs the danger of being too dry. But this was fine just nice with the right amount of charring from the searing process.

But I have two complaints. One is that my knife was not really keen and it couldn’t cut through a bit of the gristle that was in my tenderloin portion… what was that doing in my tenderloin in the first place??!!

Second, we were probably so dulled and enraptured by our wonderful eating experience that we did not check our bill carefully and we were billed for the mash potatoes that we were not served.

Anyway bottom line question, will we be back? Yes very likely. The steaks here were wonderfully curated and deliciously done. Price point wise it is quite exorbitant for most people in the Philippines.

But then again this was never really meant for everyone so that’s why it’s exceptional because...

Great place for a special night. My family and I ate here for my brothers birthday because he loves steak. I booked a table using zomato app and the process was so quick and easy. Ambience is, as expected, fancy and just apt for a nice steak and wine dinner. Staff were very cordial and accomodating. We ordered porterhouse steak for two, ribeye, mashed potato,steamed broccoli, beef barley and french onion soup, and beverly hills salad. The porterhouse was just said to be good for two and the waiter suggested that it might not be enough for the 6 of us but boy was he wrong! The serving was really big and the meat was so tasty and soft. Plus we had other dishes also so looking back i hope we didn't order the ribeye already. And taste wise, it's porterhouse ribeye. Mashed potato was soooo creamy and so good. Perfect with the steak. Beef barley and french onion soup was just ok. The salad... i won't order again. Hehe. Too much green bellpepper. Anyway, ambience and food alone.. i'd give it a 5. Just the small unfortunate details of the night bumped it to a 4. When we came in we were asked if we wanted water and the waiter gave us the option of still or sparkling. Eventually we consumed 4 bottles of still water amounting to 900+php! :( of course that was our fault, we could've asked for house water but since that was the only option presented it slipped my mind that still water in this kind of place costs a fortune! The staff also surprised my brother with key lime pie (complete with birthday song of course) but it was included in our final bill. They mistakenly charged it to us but when i pointed out the mistake, they...