The Porterhouse — Restaurant in Hot Springs

My boyfriend and I had reservations for 7:30 pm and arrived about 10 min early. We were given the option to be seated at a table that was ready or to wait for the table they had reserved for us. We opted to go ahead and be seated. The restaurant looks very nice, neat decor, not too loud, not too formal.

It took a while (about 15 min) for the waitress to come to our table for drink orders. I ordered a glass of wine and boyfriend ordered water. By then, we already knew what we wanted to eat, so we gave the waitress our order. It took another 15 min to get our drinks. My wine tasted like the bottle had been opened for at least a few days. I was almost done with my wine by the time our salads came out. The salads were warm and soft - not crisp/crunchy like fresh salad is supposed to be. I had balsamic vinegar and oil for my salad. The vinegar bottle was sticky so I used my napkin to wipe the bottle off and it was really gross (see picture).

We noticed everyone around us had bread baskets but we were never offered any bread. So when our waitress finally walked by close enough for us to get her attention, my boyfriend asked if we could have some bread (by now we were done with our salads) and he asked her if I could have another napkin. She never asked if I wanted any more wine or if everything was OK and she walked away too fast to tell her about the dirty vinegar bottle or ask for more wine.

By now, we were sitting at our table for over an hour, which is not a huge deal, except that we felt forgotten. No water refills or asked if we needed anything, no status of our food, nothing.

When our dinner finally comes out, everything looked great! I also asked for a second glass of wine (which was a new bottle because it tasted much better). I had the 6 oz filet, rare. It was made perfectly and was delicious! The vegetables were not as good. They tasted like frozen vegetable stir fry, overcooked. The baked potatoes were good. The dinner rolls we finally got, were ok, not homemade, like we had seen in other reviews.

I hate leaving low star reviews. We really wanted to like this place! It felt like an off night or something. We just felt invisible and the food wasn't up to par (except the steaks themselves). Since we were only visiting Hot Springs, we likely won't be back to...

First I love the vibe! Dark paneling, rich textures-so comforting. We were seated immediately. Our server came and introduced herself, and took our drink orders. She never heard of my husband’s drink (bees knees) so we googled it and showed her. we all discussed it. She then informed us of all the specials. All sounded amazing. Since it was called the Porterhouse so we both were going to order steak.We ordered the shrimp trio and little neck clam appetizer, filet mignon with gorgonzola creme sauce, New York Strip with scallops. All came with house salad and the option of soup. I ordered french onion and my husband had lobster bisque. Our drinks were delicious and spot on. The rolls were yeasty and yummy. The salads were a yawn but our appetizers were delicious! The plump clams were in marinara and garlic. The toasted bread dipped in and all dusted with parmesan. The shrimp dish were huge and in groups of 3 all cooked a different way. The main event was the steaks-they melted in our mouths. Best steak I’ve had in a long, long time! Each soup was next level! French onion with a sherry touched broth and baked cheese. The bisque was creamy and the little pieces of lobster and chives added several layers of flavor. Our experience was what you would expect in a New York steakhouse. Shout out to our lovely waiter Amy. She was patient , funny, Intelligent and it was obvious she wanted us to have a great time. We both loved her. The support staff were top notch. Our empty dishes disappeared effortlessly. More bread was magically there when we needed to soak up the buttery, garlicky marinara. Amazing. My husband ordered the chocolate creme brûlée. Crunchy top and warm moussey center-a must try! We would come back to Hot Springs just for more steak here! Thank you for being here and giving us such a...

We dined at this restaurant on October 10, 2020. I will start with the positives. Atmosphere, bartender, and wait staff all good. We arrived for our 6:30 reservation on time and only waited a few minutes for our table. Had two people in our party not canceled out, our wait would have been longer. The hostess said they were not quite ready for us but when I told her that we were minus two, she said that our seating would be quicker. The gentleman pouring water was very personable. The bread had a good taste but burned on the bottom. It took a few minutes for our waitress to get to us but she was nice and immediately took our appetizer order, which promptly arrived and was delicious. Our soup and salads came next after a pretty good wait but they were also good. Then nothing. Our waitress came back at 8:00 and told us the kitchen was trying to serve a big table and was behind but we would be next. She looked frustrated and said the kitchen had it together the night before but not tonight. Tables of people who came in after us were already eating dessert and some were leaving. When we finally received our food my swordfish was dry, my fiance's ribeye was thin cut and well done (he asked for medium), my daughter loves salmon but said hers was tasteless, and my grandson's steak was so rare he wouldn't eat it. He and my fiance traded meat. The rice pilaf had hard kernels in it. The meal was a big disappointment and not worth the wait. We thought about sending my fiance's steak back but we had already sat there for close to two hours. On her own, our waitress gave us a 10% discount but when I asked for the VIP discount to be added, she checked and was told no. We left hungry and mad. It was not worth the time and money. We would have been better off going to a franchise restaurant. Will...