Broadway Prime — Restaurant in Burlingame

If you're like me, you're reading the reviews to see if this place is as good as House of Prime Rib, in my opinion it's just as good as HOPR. Portions, flavors, selection is practically the same. The main difference is atmosphere and presentation. If you need to know more read on.

Went for dinner here a few days ago. Called and made a reservation, they didn't take my name down which I thought was weird, but when we showed up we got seated within 5 mins. It wasn't too busy and there were open tables.

I was craving prime rib, but didn't want to drive all the way to S.F just to have dinner and drive back to the South-bay. Let alone deal with driving into S.F find parking. HOPR has valet but at $10+. I've heard about BP for quite sometime but I forget that it's there. So we finally made a visit. It's conveniently located not too far off the freeway.

Price: they both have the same three cuts, for the sake of it I'll just say small, medium & large. BP is cheaper by a few bucks compared to HOPR. Small $44 vs $48.65, Medium $47 vs $51.85, Large $53 vs $56.85.

Atmosphere: HOPR all the way. Broadway prime even though looks and felt like an old spot, it just didn't feel historic old like HOPR.

Waiting area: HOPR wins, they just have a better lounge area and more space. BP does have a waiting area it's small but the bar is right there too. We didn't get to experience it much cause we got sat promptly.

Cocktails/Wine: HOPR just seems to have a better and more extensive wine list. BP does have wine and did have a full bar, but I did not see a cocktail list but we did order a Manhattan and it was good, but missing the cherry garnish. HOPR cocktails are spot on.

Food: They are both just as good and have very similar selection.

Service: both friendly and fast.

Experience: This is where HOPR wins all the way. Eating at HOPR is an experience in itself. From checking in, sitting in the lounge , having some bar snacks, and order drinks while you wait to be seated. Ordering your food, having the the salad assembled and tossed table side, to watching them wheel up the meat cart and carving your order, scooping your sides, and watching them assemble your fully loaded back potato. At BP there's none of that. Everything is done and plated in the kitchen and they bring your order out to you and they do it quite quickly.

That's kind of the main different between the two. BP will definitely fulfill your craving for prime rib. I've done HOPR many times, so I don't care for going to HOPR unless it's convenient for me. That's why I would go to BP to satisfy my craving and not deal with parking and reservations, but if I was taking someone for the first time, then I'd go out of my way to go to HOPR so that they can get the full experience at least once.

side note: we packed some of our left overs to take home, and our server gave each household some extra sides to take home. cream corn, cream spinach and mashed potato. Which was very nice of them. It was late so maybe they were getting rid or food or whatever, but it was very welcomed. Your...

I would definitely have to say that if Lawry's is an A in terms of food, experience and ambiance, Broadway Prime is a C- or C+ at best. The reviews on Yelp for Broadway Prime are not too amazing, but my dad's friend highly recommended this restaurant. Since we wanted to experience "fine dining," we headed over without a reservation. Luckily the wait was only about 10 minutes. And this is pretty much what I got out of the whole experience:

Ambience - restaurant is located on a small street that is reminiscent of Pasadena's Old Town. Parking is right outside of the row of restaurants and shops, but you don't have to pay after a certain time, which is nice. The restaurant is pretty dim with lots of tables cramped into a space. I feel that the restaurant is trying hard to make the guests feel like they're at a five star establishment, but it doesn't completely work since the waiters are communicating in Chinese - if I were to walk in with a blindfold on, I would probably guess I was at a Chinese restaurant. Tables seem too cramped, the silverware and everything on the table seems to be half-heartedly placed. It just doesn't scream finesse. But it's not a big deal. Our waiter was nice and we were given a booth seat where we actually sat across from a table (awkward) and basically listened to them complain and talk rudely to our waiter as if they were the kings of the world.

Food - you're able to order the prime rib or New York steak in different selections of meat sizes. Each plate comes with a side: creamed corn or creamed spinach; potato and salad. There's also complimentary bread, but it was nothing special. Tasted hard and cold. Salad was okay - had egg inside and the dressing was sweet, but I'm pretty sure it was tossed awhile ago because the lettuce was limp. For the meat ... the prime rib was nothing spectacular. I've had better. But the New York steak was great! Smelled good, tasted juicy and provided a really good chewing sensation. For the side dishes ... creamed corn tasted nothing like the thick, rich creamed corn at Lawry's. This creamed corn tasted weird. The potato ... we had garlic and traditional mashed potatoes as they ran out of baked potatoes. Honestly, I could not taste the difference and thought they both tasted a little sour and artificial. The Yorkshire pudding was okay.

tl;dr - I wouldn't recommend this restaurant if you're looking for a fine dining restaurant experience. I would come back for the New York steak, but because the prices are so expensive ... I'd rather go to another restaurant or cook some steaks at my own...

So it’s a special occasion, my bestie came to visit us from Asia. He loves prime rib so much. We decide to go broadway prime to show off how good it is. And sadly it was really awful experience we had at that night. First we order three orders of prime ribs all medium rare. We also ordered a ginger ale. The ginger ale came and the waiter said it looked weird and asked my husband to try it. It turned out to be club soda. My husband changed his order to a Sprite. This time it came with tiny bits of black spec in the glass. The waiter brushed it off and said it was coffee grind as if that was acceptable. Then my friend from Asia got his prime rib. The prime rib was basically rare. It was hard to cut with a steak knife and it bled. It was completely different temperature from the two other steaks we have at the table. We told the waiter and the waiter said he’ll put it on the grill. Wouldn’t that change the whole point of a prime rib? He said very fast, a few second will be ok. He basically convinced us that grilling a prime rib is ok. It came back like a well done steak with grill marks. That was again unacceptable and we sent it back. We got another order of the prime rib and it was cooked to medium, ok whatever. But then we ordered the Broadway cut which was supposed to be thick and this new steak was cut about half the thickness and just tasted old and about to go in the trash if not served tonight. It probably should have gone to the trash a few nights ago. Steaks aside, the cream corn and spinach all tasted spoiled and sour. They tasted like they’ve been sitting under the heat overnight, nowhere close to being fresh. The garlic on top of the garlic mashed basically looked rotten. The popover is burnt and super dry. Btw the male waiter’s fingernail is longer than Cardi B okurrr. The only good thing was the baked potato, and that’s it. After that the waiter felt bad and gave us a bottle of red wine but we just left it at the table because we can’t be bribed. Please think again if you want to go there, I think they changed owners because a few years ago broadway prime...