Keith Young's Steakhouse — Restaurant in Louisiana

We've been going to eat here for over 20 years now. Last night's dinner was by far one of the worst we've had anywhere recently. On arrival, we noticed that there was a massive pile of junk on the front patio, so rather than having all of the blinds open to provide for a better view and lighting in the dining room, the blinds were closed to hide the junk, giving the dining room a claustrophobic aura and darkening it significantly. We were celebrating my dad's 80th birthday, and, it started off with a bang. One of the servers dropped a glass full ice water all over my dad. This kid had so much hair hanging over his eyes, I don't know how he can possibly navigate his way between tables without colliding with every single table and patron. None of the regular servers seemed to be working tonight, and it seemed that they were staffed entirely by teenagers. Our server appeared and took our drink order, which took 20 minutes to be brought to the table. It consisted of two Old Fashioned cocktails, a dry vodka martini, and a Cosmopolitan -- definitely NOT complicated orders, so really no reason for the bar to have taken so long in making them. The drinks were average, and did not seem to have very much alcohol content in them at all, which is a crime being that they charge $10-12 per cocktail. Many of the items on the appetizer menu, including our favorite, the scallops, were no longer available. They were, however, on the dinner menu, and we were able to get them to make an appetizer sized portion for half the price of a dinner, so we got 2 scallops for $21, which is obscene. Back when we started going there until maybe 3-4 years ago, a baked potato and side item were included in the price of all steak dinners. Not any more -- everything is now a la carte. Last time we went, about 6 months ago, they at least gave you potatoes au gratin, but no longer. Four of us got a baked potato, to the tune of $8 a piece -- $32 dollars for lousy potatoes that cost about 50 cents each and less than a dollar in toppings. We all ordered our steaks MEDIUM. Keith is obviously losing his touch, because every single petite filet, at $38 each, came out overcooked and dry. One was likely well done, while the others were medium well, at best. The steaks still had good flavor, but, were dry as a desert. The creamed spinach was still tasty, thank goodness they didn't screw that up. Afterwards, we had desert, which included peach cobbler for my dad, bread pudding for my kids, and key lime pie for the wife and I. Well, they brought out the bread pudding with a candle in it for the birthday boy, and that wasn't even his desert, as well as the key lime pie. The peach cobbler was nowhere to be found, so when we were finally able to locate our server, she told us that the cobbler had to be made still. Why would you bring out all of the other deserts when one of the ordered items wasn't even made yet? It took 25 minutes for them to bring out the peach cobbler, and my Dad's remark was "did you have to drive to Georgia to get the peaches for this?" Deserts tasted fine, but, the wait staff and kitchen really need to get their act together on timing of courses. When all was said and done, the bill, with a tip which really wasn't deserved at all, was over $410 for six of us, including two kids (who drank water). The bread pudding was complimentary as a birthday desert, so, the bill would have been even more expensive if it hadn't been. Keith has let his success go to his head and has raised his prices far beyond what I feel is acceptable. Money is not an issue for me, and, I wouldn't mind paying the price if the experience was worth it, but in this case, it definitely was not. We won't...

This might be long so but I promise I'll get to my point. Although I was born and raised in New Orleans, I moved away in 1988 and in March of this year relocated to Covington. I'm a huge steak lover. Morton's and Ruth Chris, two of my fav's are always superb. But since we live very close to Keith Young's we decided to give it a shot. The first time was okay. A long time to get our order taken and even longer to bring our cocktails, but the steak was good, not great, but good enough to give it another try. About a month ago we went back and I had the best steak of my life. It was Pittsburgh style and cooked perfectly. So why the two star review? Last Thursday we dined with great friends who were taking us to dinner. Because of that I would never make a scene, send anything back or complain. I don't know if the server sensed I was unhappy but he sent Keith Young to our table to check on us. Again, I would never complain when we were a guest of another couple and kept my mouth shut. If I would have sent the steak back back, the rest of the table would have felt obligated to wait on me and their dinner would be ruined, so I said nothing and sucked it up. So here's the deal. I like my steak medium with a hint of medium well, just pink in the center so I've learned over the years to order it medium well and because chef's hate to cook a piece of meat to medium well it will 99% of the time come out exactly the way I like it. Chef's ALWAYS under cook a piece of meat because when sent back, they can put back on the grill. If it is overcooked it is lost and they have to cook another steak. Many times the server will ask to butterfly my steak and I always say no. I say and I quote, "I like it Pittsburgh style," which means its cooks well on the outside but yummy delicious on the inside, "so please put it on the grill now and let it sit there until the right temp." I owned a fine dining restaurant on the resort island of Martha's Vineyard for fourteen years and I know the chef takes the ticket as they come up and he wants all the food to be ready at the same time. I get it. So in lesser steak houses I expect to get the thinnest cut of steak. And surprisingly, at this supposed great steak house, they gave me the thinnest piece of meat they had. One of our friends ordered the same exact steak, house cut filet and the most expensive on the menu, and his was three and a half inches thick, done medium. Mine was an inch and a half inches thick. When one of our friends asked why mine was so much smaller the server said he didn't know, but then added "his is wider" saying they were both 14oz, which mine was clearly not. He came back out and saud the chef looked for the thinnest piece of meat to get it out at the same time as the others. And the steak was way over medium well. It was well done and quite hard to swallow, but I ate it. So I guess "hit and miss" is the way I would describe this restaurant. We live just three minutes from there and would be regulars it it was consistent, but unfortunately, that is...

We used to love this restaurant. My wife and I are very understanding of certain things that can happen at restaurants since both of us waited tables in college. However, when everything goes wrong except 1 or 2 things than its the management. For my mother's 70th birthday we called to make a reservation. During the first call I was told that my reservation had been written down, but as far as my inquiry about a private room Scott would have to call me back. I waited a week, but no phone call. I called the restaurant the following week and stated that I did not receive a phone call. She asked me about the reservation, I told her again, and again she said Scott would return my call. He never did. One week before the reservation I decided to call one more time to update the guest count, and check on the room. A gentleman answered and after checking the reservation book said I do not have a reservation under that name. I became very upset and told him that not only did I make this reservation twice, but Scott still one month later has not returned my call. At that time he guaranteed me it was down, and I cancelled my request for a returned phone call. Last Friday we arrived at the restaurant and had a really nice waiter named Keith. Despite Keith being a very friendly waiter he could not offset how disappointing the food was. My wife and I ordered the petite filet, which was overcooked and tough. Honestly I have had a better steak at Outback. The sweet potatoes we ordered were freezing cold and bland. Our drinks were not refilled in a timely manner, and it seemed like a long time before the bread was brought to the table.. In my opinion the food tasted cheap, yet the bill was $400. I have zero issues paying an amount like this for a great experience and great food, but this time I was robbed. Just like everything else this place has gone down. Unfortunately this will be our last time...