CUT 158 Chophouse — Restaurant in Joliet

Update: This situation was rectified when I emailed the restaurant directly with this exact review. The manager called the next night & apologized profusely. She said she spoke with the staff to verify everything, that our waitress had been put on leave pending retraining, and they wanted us to come back on them as an apology. Our group agreed. As the manager greeted and seated us, she told me they would be giving us a $400 credit for our meal to use that night. Waiting until we were walking to our table to tell us that was a bit unnerving, but we still sat to enjoy our meal. Our previous waitress was serving other tables, but we had a new, gem of a waitress. The only issue with our meal was one lobster tail coming out undercooked which was replaced quickly. We enjoyed our meal (above the cap) and left without incident. I'm going to restate that the food is absolutely phenomenal here.

I'm going to preface this by saying the food was absolutely delicious. However, the service was so bad, we left deeply offended. Two orders of six came out incorrectly. This was from Friday, December 11th, and it was not busy.

One filet was ordered rare and brought out medium-rare. When brought to our server's attention, she said, "No. That's rare," then walked away without letting our friend speak. He also ordered mashed potatoes, which he didn't receive until he told our waitress. She brought them out 10 minutes after the rest of the meals arrived and the other order was fixed.

The second order was surf and turf (steak medium) with scallops (she confirmed it by repeating the order back and said, "The scallops are delicious! Good choice!"). A lobster tail was brought out with the ordered 8 oz filet - when the server was told, she said, "I didn't hear that", and took the plate back to the kitchen. 5 minutes later, she returned with a 4 or 5oz end cut filet and small stainless ramekin of drawn butter on the full sized dinner plate. She said the scallops would be out shortly and walked away before I could ask about the steak. When she came back with the scallops, I commented on the steak size change - she shrugged and walked away. It was cooked medium rare, but I chose not to say anything.

We let it all go, choosing to enjoy our meal instead. When the bill came, we gave three cards for the three couples (first family dinner since Covid). The bills were paid, we sat and talked for about 10 more minutes, then left.

It was raining outside, so we ladies waited under the awning while the men grabbed our respective vehicles. About 5 minutes after we went outside, our waitress opened the front door and literally berated us (door open so other patrons could hear everything) saying we only returned two of the three signed receipts. She kept going on and on, while the other ladies told her all receipts were returned. Wishing to stifle the scene the waitress was causing while standing in the doorway, I told her I would go back in with her to look at the signatures to figure out which one was missing.

As we briskly walked through nearly the ENTIRE LENGTH of the restaurant, she was literally yelling and repeating herself over and over while every customer in place stared at me. It was incredibly embarrassing. About 3/4 was through, a waitress at the far back waived the receipts at the our waitress who triple-timed over to her. Our waitress then yelled from the back, "Never mind! They're all here! We have all three." Completely mortified, I turned on my heel and walked back out.

We spent over $600 at Cut 158 between drinks, appetizers, dinners, and a la carte sides. Our cards had already been run through. Why would you berate us publicly, especially after messing up our meals?! Everyone was furious, considering this was supposed to be fine dining, we were celebrating two birthdays, and even with two receipts the tips were very generous.

Unreal. Shame on you all for doing nothing, especially while you stood/sat there and watched her berate me on our walk back through the restaurant FIFTEEN minutes AFTER the checks were signed...

Went to dinner on a Saturday night to celebrate my birthday. We typically go to Mortons for special occasions and that's our standard so I'll kind of be comparing it to that, as the price point and the menu are the same for the most part.

The atmosphere at cut 158 is very lackluster. The tiled pillers, small tables, and cafeteria type chairs are all very off-putting. The fake plants randomly placed on the wall looks cheap. The big light features are very nice and the private banquet room with the wine wall is lovely. Mortons is far superior here. It's very intimate with the very oversized booths, large tables and large chairs, the huge wine room in the center as a focal point and the dim intimate lighting.

The service. Our server was Jose. He was delightful. Very personable and attentive. He really made the experience for us. I feel like his service was better than any service we've received from Mortons. He was prompt with drink refills, brought replacement silverware without being asked, made all dinner courses (4 in total) timed perfectly. Just a complete joy to talk to.

The food. The food was excellent for the most part. My only 2 complaints would be the salad and latte. It was a delicious salad but it was slightly warm or room temp. It was a Ceasars salad and I'd prefer that to be very cold and crisp. I did eat it though. The latte at the end of the meal was not good. I think it's because they do not have an actual barista pulling the espresso shots. I think they are using Lavazza which is my favorite and what we use at home, but it did not taste like the Lavazza we know and love. The shot was very bitter. I honestly think it all comes down to the process and I'm sure whoever is learning how to make espresso will improve.

We had crab cakes for an appetizer and we really liked them. They use real crab and you can taste it. I feel like they were a little heavy handed on the seasoning inside the crab cake as it was very salty. Also would like less binder. Mortons wins the crab cake showdown for sure. Theirs are just giant lumps of crab with just enough of the binder to keep it mostly intact as it should be. The remoulade sauce at cut 158 is tasty.

For the entrées we ordered the 45 day aged rib eye and the 30 day aged rib eye to see if we could taste a difference. I have to say the steak here is exquisite and perfectly cooked. I wonder if they are cooking to temp using sous vide because the temp throughout the steak was absolute perfect with a nice sear. We ordered both at medium rare. While one was shorter and ticker they were both cooked perfect. I asked for a side of the bordelaise sauce to eat with my steak. It was delicious but we didn't end up using it as the steak flavor was enough on its own. Honestly we couldn't tell much of a difference between the two aged steaks. Maybe a slight texture difference? I would be extremely happy with either of those, any day of the week. I feel like Cut 158 wins the steak round for just how absolutely perfect the entire steaks were cooked all the way through. The potato sides we chose were the mashed and the twice baked. The garlic mash was bursting with garlic parmesan flavor. They are really really good. I actually like them more than the mash at Mortons. The twice baked potato was also very delicious.

They just brought me a caramel crunch cake for free for my birthday. That was really nice. It was also really delicious. I'll give the slight edge to Mortons on dessert only for the latte as stated above. Overall I feel like the focus should be the steak and that steak was absolute perfection. That's where you're spending the money, and that's likely what will bring people in. It's 5 stars, 6 if I could. They do have a few areas that can improve, but nothing that I feel would deter us from returning. In fact we will definitely go back. I do hope they redesign the diningroom so we could have that cozy and intimate feeling for a date...

At my recent visit, which was my first time and the last. My wife and our guest were having a nice conversation catching up and suddenly we were interrupted by a ridiculously loud audio assault from a large man singing opera and his loud backing tracks blaring from a sound system. Stunned we started looking for our server or a manager, we couldn't hear each other speak! The server showed up and we requested they tone down the music, she said this particular singer was often loud and she would speak with the manager, and then attempted to explain the specials of the day...unfortunately we couldn't make out much of what she was saying so she went to bring our request to the manager.

In the interim our guest looked at me and leaned over to say that it was like being in an SNL bit. It really was and probably should be one. When nothing changed we then asked for the manager, who was apologetic but there was not much he could do.

At this time we seriously considered leaving but the singer suddenly began serenading the room at a lower volume so we felt some relief, we applauded him at the end of that song hoping he would get the message...unfortunately he began to continue to gradually increase the volume and thankfully we were just about finished.

The food: It's OK, I didn't order any of the aged steaks and I'm glad I didn't. I don't mind paying $100 or more for a good steak but getting the $2 atmosphere along with it doesn't make much sense.

It's a loud room with nothing to absorb sound, everything bounces off the reflective surfaces that make up the walls, floors, ceiling and the furniture that fills up the space.

Sort of like a Capital Grille in a subway.

Drinks: Small pours for spirits...unfulfilling.

So why 3 stars?

It should have been less but the appetizers were pretty good and the service was as well. I give them credit for bringing that type of venue to downtown Joliet.

I was advised to come back on days when Pavarotti was performing elsewhere but I think we'll all pass...The Rialto Square Theatre is right next store and you can pick the artist you would prefer to see and talk during...