Prime Serious Steak — Restaurant in Florida

We got off to a roaring start, ordered the fried calamari (excellent by the way) and while waiting, the plate of popovers was dropped and the salad (house, not the Caesar) was prepared by our server Mark. Since they were out of the Prime Rib (the reason we came here) my wife ordered the Surf & Turf instead and I ordered the Ribeye.

The turnaround time was decent, which is good because we were ravenous. When the plates were dropped on the table with our entrees, that's when things turned the other direction.

Before I comment on the food itself, I must say that the presentation (food on plate) was so underwhelming; I'm not a huge stickler on such things, but it was almost comical. Yes, the food ordered was on a plate, period. The wife's S&T (Filet and Lobster Tail) looked like two strangers avoiding each other on a subway train during the pandemic. My Ribeye and Double-Baked potato at least filled more of the smallish plate, but I'll explain why when I address the actual food.

Let me get the asparagus out of the way, which was exactly what we did with it from our table. The spears were FAT, the kind you'd never purchase from the store to bring home: probably why they were overcooked. They mystery-sauce made the already unappealing plate even worse. Collectively, we barely finished a third of one spear.

I won't comment on the wife's entree, since I'm nit a big fan of Filet and rarely eat seafood out. Here's the issue with my ribeye, it was AT BEST, 3/4 (more like 5/8”) of an inch thick, which is why that 16-ounces filled my plate. I would have preferred (and should have been served) a smaller piece in circumference but at least 1.5 inches thick. Maybe the line chef pulled the meat off at medium-rare, or even a bit earlier for the rest-period, but by the time I had eaten a quarter of the meat, there was NO RED VISIBLE AT ALL! The remainder of the steak was consumed as cooked medium-well. What an absolute waste of money. The word "SERIOUS" doesn't belong anywhere when referring to this establishment.

The letdown kinda ruined my night, in the regard that I had always told my friends that I moved to a food-desert as far as Port Charlotte is concerned, and I was hopeful, especially getting off to a great start, that this experience was going to change that sentiment.

In full disclosure, I am a native of South Florida, but I spent more than three decades in NYC, which will spoil your culinary experience. Serious Steak? Yeah, Peter Luger, Wolfgang's, Kean's, all well established (Luger since 1887) institutions. For you NY'ers, the experience I had was more like Tad's.

Back to the drawing board. We will come back to this place, ONLY because my wife loves her Prime Rib. Me, I'll stick with the salad and some popovers. Ptthh. Two Stars only on account of...

We had guests from Alaska and we had been bragging about Prime Serious Steak. We told them about how great the food is and how there is a butcher shop onsite and they even bring you these big steak knives on a magnetic board! We gaged about everything! Unfortunately we were let down from the start. It was a Thursday evening and we showed up at 7:30pm - 6 of us. There were several tables open so it didn’t take long to get seated. Then we waited for about 10 minutes to get water, and then we only got 5 glasses. We were not offered cocktails. The waitress took our order after we requested another glass for water. We ordered 3 appetizers. The appetizers were served but we had to wait for the waitress to come back by because nobody had any silverware. After about 5 minutes she returned and we asked for silverware. Another 5 minutes passed and she returned with silverware. The appetizers really good, onion brick, ahi tuna, and a bowl of lobster bisque! Really impressed with the onion brick! After we finished appetizers we sat for another 10 minutes waiting for the waitress. We didn’t understand what was taking so long because the restaurant was basically empty. She showed up, look around and asked if we were ready for salad. We said “yes please”. After the salads were done she took away the plates. Then we received our dinners, however nobody had a steak knife. Again we waited for the waitress to show up. 10 more minutes goes by when she shows up and asks how everything is. I told her nobody had a knife. She didn’t say a word just turned and left. Another5 minutes later she shows up with a handful of knives, no a cutting board like times before. We didn’t see her again for about 15 minutes. At this point there are only 4 or 5 tables in the restaurant and we see waitresses cleaning up, but not her. Our guests were disappointed in the size of their lobster tail and my wife received a medium rare sirloin when she asked for medium well. I told her to send it back but she didn’t want to make a scene with our guests here. My drunken sirloin was tasteless and I agreed with our guest - the size of my lobster tail was very small. We were all finished and wanted to just leave. We waited and waited and finally saw her at about 8:50. You can see by the receipt that we didn’t get checked out until 9:14. All in all this was a major waste of money and time and my wife and I were embarrassed that we brought our guests here. What has happened to quality service? Where is management when all of this is happening? Do they only show up for weekends to make sure everyone is happy? I am so disappointed at the quality and service! Attached is a picture of my wife’s steak and a picture of...

Our waiter Kelly went above and beyond to make us feel welcome. Give that waiter a raise, PRONTO. Super professional & food recommendations were spot on.

On the other hand....

The host was not accommodating at all as we showed up at 7 when they closed at 9. Even saying we would make the staff feel uncomfortable for coming late. For us, it felt like they didnt want to wait on a couple with a small child. She took the time to ask other servers if they would be willing to take my small child, myself, and my fiance. It seemed that more than 1 server did not want us for reasons that were not explained but, but maybe obvious since we had a 2 year old. Once we were seated, we got sat at literally the 1st table to the left of the front door. Getting sat there wasn't a problem, but the run around put a bad taste in our mouth. Could've been a newer host to the industry. Then, the conversation between my partner and the host about a high chair or booster was prolonged to a point of tension. Although, on the way out, she was kind and held the door open for us and said goodbye with kindness. So that redemption broke even.

Yes, he's 2. It wasn't a problem for us, and the waiter we eventually received after 10 minutes from being sat, in a less than half full house, was very accommodating. We even saw a table walk in as we were seated get sat very immediately, so with simple observation, it was clear there was some discussion who did or didn't want to wait on us, based on the back and forth walking from the host stand and tables and seeing the talking between staff. We did get a few looks from FOH staff before being sat. This is obviously a nicer restaurant with quality food, so I get it. But we spent money nonetheless. Our son loved his 6oz with sweet potatoes.

**DO NOT GET THE BEARNAISE. PROBABLY THE WORST SAUCE I HAVE EVER HAD WITH AN EXPENSIVE FILET.

The peppercorn sauce was exceptional. Also, the wine reduction with the wellington was very nice.

With that being said, Kelly took exceptional care of us. Fried shrimp, wellington app, and Pino Noir were solid. A nice cheesecake to finsih was worth it. The waiter was kind and patient, and I would recommend this specific waiter for your experience. The food was above par, and we had an overall pleasant time. He gave us a run down of the specials and was efficient on all levels. I can't express my gratitude enough for his service! He and the quality of food made the night worth it all. Thank you,...