Tony's Steakhouse and Bar — Restaurant in Alton

I'm giving this restaurant 3 out of 5 stars, not because the food was horrible by any stretch, but because there are problems that, for the price of the restaurant, shouldn't be a problem.

First, let me start by saying most of the food was delicious.

We started with the asiago cheese dip. It comes with pita bread rather than chips, which, to my surprise, was absolutely delicious. I ordered the strawberry spinach salad with my entree, but it came out early. I didn't realize it came with blue cheese, which often throws me off, but to my delight it was fantastic. The poppyseed dressing was creamy and sweet, and the strawberries made it a perfect pre-entree salad.

Now, as great as all that was, there were problems. First off, from the moment we were seated, in a small corner near the stair entry into the dining room, we began smelling this awful stench. I couldn't place the smell immediately, but eventually, I recognized the smell. It smelled like wet, moldy laundry that had been sitting for days (or weeks). It wasn't consistent, but it seemed to come in waves. Eventually, we realized it was from the kitchen door behind me. When someone would walk out, the smell would come with it. Our server said it may have been the smell of steak and seafood mixed, but I love that smell; this was not that. After I mentioned it to our server, she explained the restaurant building used to be an old laundromat. Well, that explains why it smells of old moldy laundry, but... Seriously, this has never come up before?

Now, I've been told I'm a bit of a "meat snob". I prefer to call myself a steak connoisseur, though I'd also say I'm no expert butcher nor chef. I just love cooking and eating a good steak. The first thing I noticed when we sat down was the kosher salt on the table. Good choice for steak, but it should be applied BEFORE you cook the steak, not after. So it's odd that it's on the table, but oh well.

I was slightly disappointed with the steak selection, given that this restaurant is a steakhouse. There's a Ribeye, a Filet Mignon, and what they're calling a Pepperloin. I've never really heard of a pepperloin, so I had to look this up. I didn't order it, but from what I could find, it's essentially a beef tenderloin, all cooked together, then sliced, with their peppercorn seasoning. I could be wrong about how they cook it, but the menu description didn't really explain.

Ribeye tends to be a bit more flavorful, so I decided to go with the Ribeye. The menu states that it's a choice-grade steak. I would expect that a nice steakhouse would have a prime Ribeye if it's one of the only steaks they're going to offer. That's just my opinion, though. I did ask if there was anything off-menu, but there wasn't.

So my steak arrives and it's cooked to PERFECTION. I could tell they knew how to cook a steak. It had a compound butter on it, but I'm not a huge fan of having butter on my steak, so I moved that to the side. Unfortunately, when I bit into the steak, my shoulders dropped. This steak, as perfectly cooked as it was, had NO seasoning. None. The website's main picture is a steak covered in seasoning. I did not get this. I didn't even taste a hint of salt. I asked my waitress what kind of seasoning was used on the steaks, but she didn't know. She returned a few minutes later and said, "Just salt and pepper." Yea... Well, no, it didn't get that. If someone sprinkled any on, it wasn't enough to even be noticed. I didn't want to cause problems or make a scene, so I just left it at that with the server.

So while the steak was cooked to perfection, and the majority of the food was absolutely amazing, there are problems that I wouldn't expect when spending $150 on a dinner for two.

Ultimately, I could just be a "meat snob" as I've been told. But between the unseasoned steak, the smell of moldy laundry, and the unmentioned slow service, I just can't give Tony's a perfect score as much as...

My wife and I took my mother-in law to dinner tonight. She has loved Tony's for over 50 years. Tonight, that changed. When the tab came, she pulled out a Gift Certificate for $50 to buy her granddaughter's meal as a gift for graduating grad school. We were surprised when the waitress returned to say they couldn't accept the certificate with the old Piasa address anymore. I asked why and was told a very interesting story. It seems when Tony's moved, keeping their old identity (phone number, web site address, among other things), they were now a new business and no longer accepted those certificates. I asked to speak to the manager. The manager, Adriana, informed me that when they moved, they published that this location would only accept certificates from the old address for 2 yrs. I asked where did you publish this information of this new time limit to gift certificates. She told me it had been on the front door of the building and on their Facebook page. I asked her to show it to me, but was unable to pull up the internet on her phone. So during Covid lockdown, that was her definition of public. I informed her that it was illegal to not honor the certificate. She then said fine, call the cops. I asked for her manager, which she said was Paul, who was not in tonight. So, we paid and left. Since getting home, I have spent 30 minutes scouring the Facebook site. The only mention of certificates and time is on Nov 19, 2020, which announces certificates never expire. I will be calling Paul to get a refund for the $50 certificate as I am less then enthused to make a return visit. In the meantime, I would suggest Adriana review the federal regulations from the Credit Card Act of 2009. Certificates are to be honored for 5yrs from issue. The issue date was Nov 17, 2018. Oh, and the manager's story that this Tony's is a new company. If so, why are you using the same phone number, website address, Facebook site, reference the family history in the about section on your website with no mention of change of the company, and kept in the updated logo reference to 1954. The Alton area has two historic family run restaurants that I have been introduced to since moving to the area. I have been to Tony's a number of times. We had my older daughter's wedding party their a few years ago. I hope this disappointing experience my mother-in law and I received isn't shown on a regular basis. If so, Alton will be down to one in the near future. This will letter will copied to my Twitter, Yelp, Google, and any other relevant social media site that has a listing for...

Flew from across the globe to take my mother out for her 60th birthday. She wanted to go to Tony’s since she hadn’t been in years and I had never been.

My mother’s dish (pasta) was dry and undercooked (hard noodles). They brought more sauce to help remedy but by the time it arrived everyone was already finished with their main course. It was a big bummer that happened to the birthday person.

At the start of the dinner, the waitress asked if we wanted sparkling water, still water, or “Alton’s finest tap”. (Kind of icky wording trying to convince patrons to avoid tap and not showing any hometown pride.) I ordered sparkling and the waitress basically insisted my grandma tried their still water, which she was clueless to what it was, but accepted it. At the end of the night the bottles of water were on our bill, $6 each, & she never mentioned they were at a cost. I found that to be quite deceiving.

I also made a reservation for our party of 7, they stuck us at two separate tables in a back dark corner next to the restrooms. This was a huge disappointment as we walked past many round tables that would have perfectly accommodated our party of 7 (at 4:30pm, it wasn’t even busy.)

Lastly, they offered my mom a desert, on the house, & it was the sloppiest slice of tiramisu I’ve ever seen, served in a bowl. However they served a slice of cake to others at the table with fanciful orchids and syrup on the plate etc. Her tiramisu was the most haggard cut I’ve ever seen just carelessly dumped in a bowl. They didn’t even sing Happy Birthday to my mom, which they do at that establishment because we overheard the entire staff singing to a table outside of the annex they had forced us in.

This all being said the steaks were good, espresso martini was excellent, and the Cesar salad was good, but I don’t know that any of my family will be back for a long time after that “birthday dinner”.

I think the server knew we were less than pleased and offered a free shot of booze to everyone as a digestif, which was nice but only 3 of the 7 of us drink, and I’m honestly shocked it wasn’t...