Harvey John's Steakhouse — Restaurant in Angier

What a great place in good ol' Angier!

It was great dining at the new restaurant in our area. It's hard finding anything in the area, let alone, a nicer place. It's right beside the butcher market and it was easy to find with their pretty lights on the roof. Below I'll go into detail of our great experience that left us wanting to come back with even more folks!

Food: We really enjoyed everything we received! They came to the table right away with a fresh parker house roll with falvorful butter. The salad bar had a few more options and variety than other salad bars I've been to in the past, but everything was very fresh! The orzo pasta salad was very flavorful! I hope that's always on the salad bar. We also ordered the special appetizer of the night, which was the spinach and artichoke dip with grilled pitas. The portion was HUGE. We were nearly full from our salads and appetizer before our meal arrived. It was very fresh and had tons of spinach in it. We would get it again. For our entrees, we ordered the herbed chicken dish and the filet. The chicken dish was probably one of the best ones I've ever had at a steakhouse. I don't eat beef, so it's sometimes a hit or a miss when ordering other meat options at a steakhouse. Not with Harvey Johns! The skin was crispy and flavorful throughout the meat and the risotto underneath was cooked to perfection! My husband ordered the filet and mashed potatoes. They came to the table and torched the butter right in front of us. The steak was cooked perfectly and my husband was able to cut the steak with a fork. He said the mashed potatoes were a little thinner than what he prefers, but the flavor was good. We were too full for dessert but they had a few options if you wanted something sweet at the end of your meal. Overall, the food was incredible. The menu is smaller, but they are still learning what menu items need to be on rotation or permanent. Food was a 9/10!

Drinks: We ordered two drinks while we were dining. The Gentleman John vodka cocktail and the Pops Old Fashioned. The Gentleman John was the perfect tea cocktail. It tasted like summer in a cup. It had vodka, peach liqueur, tea, and lemon. Almost like a twisted tea, but way fresher. My husband got the Pops Old Fashioned. He did end up having to send it back because it was overly sweet. We didn't see on the menu that they also had a regular old fashioned. He prefers less sweet drinks, so that was kinda on us, but they took it off the bill and got him a different drink. They were very understanding! The next drink he ordered was perfect and he really enjoyed it. Drinks were a 8/10!

Service: The service was outstanding! From the greeters, servers, runners, and even the owner. Everyone was really friendly and professional. Our server always refilled our drinks, asked if we had any questions, and cleared our table when necessary. The owner/chef came by the check in to see if everything was cooked right. He was friendly and very appreciative of the kind words and business. Service was a 10/10!

Price: Many are saying that the prices are too high. Coming from someone who loves to try new restaurants, including steakhouses, I think the prices are spot on. At most upscale restaurants you have to pay for drinks, appetizers, salads, entrees, and sides completely separate. Here, you get a salad bar, entree and potato side all included in the price. The only place that does anything similar is Angus Barn, which is nearly an hour away from this location and is more expensive. Cocktail prices were in line with every other nice restaurant too. I'm fine with paying good money for good quality, and this place had the perfect match for the price vs quality given. Price was a 9/10!

Overall: Amazing first experience here. From the staff, food, and overall quality, you can't beat it in this area. We can't wait to return, order new menu additions, and bring others with us. We're so excited to finally have something good in the area other than fast food and mexican food! Thank you Harvey Johns for a great first impression....

I've been so excited to try this restaurant since before they opened. First interpretation of the menu before going was that Harvey John's would be a Sullivan's-style restaurant. It is not that, but after going, I don't think that's what they were aiming for. The restaurant is a bit lower tier than intimate dining. A few notes-- -Drinks: I tried The Willow Storm. It was very well made. The signature drinks are well thought and priced like any other comparable restaurant. I also tried the Gentleman John, as recommended by the manager, however I don't believe I can attest to how it should actually taste due to the manager grossly over-pouring a few of the ingredients and missing the tea entirely (I had the bartender add this after noticing). -Food: I committed the crime of ordering something other than a steak during my visit. I went with the prosciutto stuffed porkchop with risotto. The dish was plated well. Good portion, and the risotto was delicious. The gravy that was included wasn't my favorite pairing, but that may come down to preference. Something I didn't love was the buffet salad bar. Going into this experience with the expectation that I'd be at a higher class restaurant left me a bit puzzled as to why I had to self-serve anything. Definitely takes away from the experience that I expect at this price range. On the other hand, it was stocked well enough to make a decent salad. (Also, I thought buffet anything was out since 2020... 😷) -Service: Let me start by saying that Tiffany was 5+ ⭐️. She isn't currently a part of their regular staff and it was her first night in the building, but she was wonderful. Now onto why I gave a low rating... as I said before, I went into this thinking it was a finer dining experience than it actually is, but the wait staff could do with a bit of refinement on their professionalism. It sounds like this place had a bit of a bumpy start with some disagreement between the co-owners, and is having a hard time retaining staff. The fact that I have this information from their manager shows just how messy this place currently is. On that note... the manager was d.r.u.n.k. and actively drinking/pouring herself and other staff drinks openly at the bar. She was slurring and cussing up a storm. She was actively "trying to get fired". It got quite taxing to talk to her after a while, as it does trying to hold a conversation with anyone who's intoxicated, but oh did she want to talk to me because she could not even fathom how a woman could be trying to enjoy a meal all by herself (what century are we in again?!) I don't expect she'll be there much longer. I hope that someone ensured that she made it home safe, but honestly it's an embarrassment to the establishment that no one stepped in to get her to stop her behavior and/or send her home. Mr. John (owner) was onsite and friendly with guests. He was definitely turning a blind eye on how his manager was behaving, and was engaging in conversation about the struggles that the restaurant is having around guests. It's just not a great look on his part to say the least. -Final thoughts: this place has great potential! Partnering with the local butcher shop to ensure top quality cuts of meat is a great move. The signature cocktails feature several NC spirits. I love to see a restaurant show up for other local businesses. I don't know how feasible it is to price down the menu due to this, but the prices are too high for the quality of service that is currently available at this establishment. Also, the owners have the staff TIP SHARE 🥲 just please get rid of this. Pay your employees a fair wage (I don't know how much they are making hourly), set up a tip out system with set percentages to your bartender/busser/host, and let your servers keep their hard...

We really should have gone with our initial instinct that a steak house at this price point that is next to a thrift store with the steaks supplier being Carolina Butcher Shop was not going to be an exceptional experience, but we had to learn for ourselves. I do not know what we were thinking as we decided to try this place for our 20th Wedding Anniversary dinner mistake #1. This probably because we were too lazy to go into Raleigh to Sullivans, or 42nd Street Oyster Bar, for this price point we could easily have gone to a better restaurant with better atmosphere. Upon entering it was so bright that it was almost blinding, and had no ambiance to its atmosphere in addition to this we noticed that there were some metal patio table and chairs as I was considering a corner tabler and my husband said, "I really don't want to sit at a patio table covered with a red tablecloth" and that is when I realized there were some of these table and chairs other than there nicer wooden table and chairs, at this price point there should never be outside furniture used in the dining room. I cannot say a bad thing about the staff they were all kind and attentive, the food for the most part was ok nothing overly wow though. At this price point I expected the wow factor if you are charging there prices in downtown Angier than you need to deliver like Raleigh which this did not. Our steaks were tough I have had better steaks from our local IGA butcher or for dining Long Horn Steakhouse. I did initially say something to the waitress and than told her to leave it alone as maybe it was just that first piece, but than my husband spit a piece into a napkin and felt the same way as I. I said ok the desserts looked good lets get one to share and our waitress informed us that she was out of everything except for the Oatmeal stuffed cookies which she gave to us more because she was trying to give us something knowing we were not having a great experience as we expressed how we felt about our steaks. The oatmeal cookies were shaped liked tacos and stuffed with frozen whipped cream they tasted like thick cardboard that had been laced with an oatmeal tasting spray with frozen cream it was really not even ok. All and all we decided that either we go into Raleigh if we want a fine dining experience or we do no go. Harvey John's has no business charging like they are a fine dining experience they are not they need to move far away from the roach infested thrift store and get their steaks from a better source. They have a better chance of seeing God than seeing my husband or myself in...