Ruth's Chris Steak House — Restaurant in Fairfax

I chose this place as where I took family to celebrate my birthday dinner, as steak was a typical treat for that occasion. From literally the moment we were seated to the time we left, the entire waitstaff catered to us with attention and focus on the occasion that I cannot help but highly recommend this location... they provided me a happy birthday card signed by the entire waitstaff, the table was decorated and the menu was personalized. This attention to detail was a great touch.

The food options are quite extensive, steak-heavy, but still had options for non-steak eaters (I cannot comment on the variety or quality of vegetarian options). Their menu let's you build a app-entre-side-dessert combination, with substitutions. The burrata mozzarella was exquisite and creamy; the potato leek soup and lobster bisque were excellent. The sauteed kale was a bit on the saltier side, but still good. The side of mashed potatoes were very creamy the consistency was good, which was a great complement to the entre.

I got the 16oz ribeye medium-rare, and it was extremely good; there was a great deal of tastes and textures in the same piece of meat, and I can't think of a single bite I didn't like. I tried a bit of the ravioli dish and 11oz filet, and both were delicious.

For the dessert, they gave mine free for the birthday, but the entire table shared. I got the equivalent of the chocolate molten lava, and the few bites I had were good. But, I ended up switching desserts with my neighbor and got the banana creme option. It. Was. Amazing. The presentation was great (it was flambéd, and the sugar melted into an intricate pattern on the plate) and the flavors were smoky and banana and worked well together. One of the best desserts I've had at a steakhouse.

For drinks, I stuck with manhattans (the cocktail menu one was really good and I didn't have any problems with the combination of flavors).

The waiters were attentive and answered questions with ease. They were also engaging in conversation (instead of being aloof and disengaged).

I highly recommend...

Great and bad, so read to the end for the great aspects of our visit. I know the bad is most important to people, so I’ll start there. The misses and I ordered the NY Strip (M) and Ribeye (MR), and they failed to meet expectations. My Ribeye was closer to well done than medium rare, but it was definitely a challenge to assess the cooking strategy. One side was charred (hit it with my knife and it sounded burnt) with the other side barely cooked and probably cooked toward a medium as it sat on the 500-degree plate. The challenge as I attempted to eat it was whether to say anything since it probably was close to medium rare when it was placed on the hot plate, but the top was way overcooked, and the meat tasted like leather. My wife’s NY Strip was cooked similarly, but was closer to medium…maybe even closer to medium rare, but the meat was still much tougher than it should be for the quality/price. If I had to guess, I would say neither steak had any marbling, and I find it hard to believe the meat was a prime cut of meat. I’m a steak person and throw steaks on the grill at least once a week, and I’ve never had a steak come out like these did even if they were overcooked or were purchased from Walmart. I'm not even sure if any seasoning was added to the meat...really not a good taste. I’m not sure what else to say on those cuts of meat. Now for the great. Everything else about the experience was phenomenal. Chris did a great job taking care of us. The ambiance of the restaurant was amazing and a great choice for date night (as it was for us). All the sides tasted amazing, and the overall experience was great (minus the steaks). I left a good tip because the steak issue had nothing to do with Chris or the experience. I will go back again and try the steak (my wife is likely to switch to the fish just to be safe though), and if the experience is better, I will retract...

My wife and I went on Valentine's Day weekend 2022 (review updated). The Atmosphere was great, we got checked in quickly, and our interactions with the staff were excellent.

• Food: the complimentary bread and butter were great. I had the beef carpaccio appetizer, prime NY strip steak, and a side of lobster mac and cheese. Individually, they were all excellent. However, the portions were way too big! The three dishes I mentioned would be sufficient to satisfy two people, and I wasn't able to enjoy the lobster-mac as much as I would have liked because of that.

My wife ordered a steak cooked "blue", but it came back solidly mid-rare. The manager quickly replaced it and all was fine.

• Service: the front of house staff were excellent. It felt like I had a well oiled machine buzzing around me. Our server took the time to explain some details about our dishes when we asked, and made a good wine recommendation (even though the wine list was overall kind of uninspiring; not his fault though).

• Miscellany: the plating of the dishes seemed to be a secondary concern. Not messy, but nothing fancy. My steak plate was heated to 500 F to keep the steak warm (which I appreciated), but something about how it was heated or handled led to it appearing quite spotty and spattered with grease that looked almost burnt-on. I didn't try to see if it wiped off though.

• Value: if you told me "grade-B dinner at a fancy steakhouse", my expectations would have matched the night exactly. That said, the price tag it came with put it in competition with other places where the overall experience has been absolutely stunning (like 2941, or Patowmack Farm), so that lost it a star from me -- it just didn't have the outstanding bang for the buck it charged.

I would certainly go again, provided there was some sort of price change, or I had...