Christner's Prime Steak & Lobster — Restaurant in Maitland

Wow! This was truly a phenomenal meal. Since we moved to Florida 2 years ago from Chicago I have heard nothing but great reviews but being from Chicago we have high expectations for steak houses. This place is the old classic Sinatra era type steak house!! Really adorable throw back back in time.

I am a total foodie but had never had Beef Wellington before. I've tried many times in Chicago and by the time we get to the restaurant and order it; they are out of it. So for an early Valentine's Day dinner I decided this was our restaurant.

When walking into the restaurant it's very deceiving, we walked up to the hostess stand and to the left past a fun bar area where regulars were enjoying themselves, then into the next area with the live pianist and again regulars sitting around the piano enjoying themselves. Clearly, everyone here knows each other. We were seated in this area, it was entertaining and not too loud!

We had two waiters, both excellent! Our classic cocktails were delicious and for the price of the martini, I actually got two glasses out the mini carafe!! Great deal these days.

We started with the lobster bisque which is the best we've both ever had and we order it traveling all over the country. Then we got dinner salads with the avocado goddess dressing, yummy! And of course the complimentary bread service. We were literally full at this point but we have goals!! The beef wellington did not disappoint! I was so nervous I wasn't going to like it but it's amazing, wow!! And huge, I will be eating left overs for days. We also got the ribeye and this was one of the tastiest steaks we've ever had.

They also have a huge dessert menu with so many great options but honestly we couldn't eat another bite. But we're planning on going back so I'll save room for dessert.

The only thing I wish was different was the red carpet on the floors. I know this is a weird personal thing for me, I'm a little bit of a clean freak lol. Carpeting in restaurants is so off-putting to me, in my head its dirty and unsanitary. I watch too many crime scenes shows with luminol and black lights haha. Normally, I would never go back to a restaurant with carpet on the floors but I am going to tell my inner self to shut it because this place is amazing and while I wish they were nice dark wood floors, the red carpeting fits the theme of the restaurant!!

Plus this place is huge! There are areas with tables, bars, rounded booths, separate areas with little mini rooms for just your party, and a whole other side of the restaurant I didn't even go into. It's really a cool place, great vibe, wonderful service and superior food!!

Don't walk... Run to...

Friends recommended this restaurant while we were on vacation in Florida. My son and his wife made reservations a week before hand for 5 at 8:00. When we arrived we were told to sit and wait and our table would be soon. We waited until 8:15 until my son asked what was going on. They said we would be seated soon. We were seated at 8:30 in a small room. The room was shut off from the rest of the restaurant and all we could see were the servers in front of the door running back and forth picking up and dropping things off. We never asked nor did we want a private room. Then our server came in. Seth. Rather dry and bland like the broccoli casserole . We told him it was our first time here and that our friends recommended . He went on about how wonderful their steak was and it was basically the best steak ever. When our food arrived it was a female server who said the plates are hot and basically threw them at us . They were not served properly or correctly. We had each other’s “hot” plates to exchange around the table . By this time we had no refill on drinks, the appetizer plates and left over appetizer were piled on the corner of the table hoping someone would take them away. This did not feel like the special restaurant the server had raved about . My table ordered medium well and well steaks . My son and daughter-in-laws were rare . She was still annoyed at the way they were served and said this is fine I’ll just eat it . My son waited until we could get our server to get his steak cooked as ordered. Server was annoyed to return steak . When he returned my daughter -in-law said “You know I wasn’t going to say anything but from the way the steak was served by the rude server, the raw steak, uncooked broccoli au gratin and the piled up dishes I feel I have to.” He was enraged. He stared at her, never apologized and then said it’s on me. When he returned with the check he dropped it on the table and said congratulations ! Like we won the lottery or something over about $80. My son went to the front and asked for the manager . The manager was never told of what happened and apologized.If you want real service and hospitality I recommend Berns steakhouse in Tampa. Will definitely not...

I went here with extremely high expectations given the reputation. When it comes to steak houses, I've been to them all from Seattle to Vegas to Texas to NYC. The best of the prime restaurants. I am basing this review on two separate nights in the same week we went there. The first night, our waiter was AWESOME. He was the most knowledgeable steak guy I had ever met, and had been there for over 15 years and talked up the chefs, telling me they'd been there longer than him. He even educated me on some terminology. He also told me that the dry aging process effectively shrinks the steak. When I ordered my steak, I asked for very light salt, and ordered it medium rare, and he even mentioned "medium rare plus," etc. When my steak came, it had so much salt on it I had to scrape the top off with my knife. I'm addition, it was medium at best, and not nearly as tender as a truly prime strip should be. That being said, three shrimp is AS GOOD AS IT GETS. That's coming from someone who grew up in the shrimp capital of the US. I left that night disappointed, yet educated and grateful at the same time.

We went back a few nights later and had a different person, this time a female. When I asked her about the dry aging process, she said that that wasn't the case, effectively contradicting her colleague. Then I asked if the filet was prime, and she said yes. She was baffled when I told her that our last waitor told us that only the strip and ribeye were prime, and that the filet was choice plus. She had a baffled look on her face and had to leave the table to go and ask somebody. I had the small ribeye that night, and it was tasty and had the texture and flavor of a true prime steak, although it was pencil thin.

Ironically, for being a steak House, the best food they had was the seafood. The shrimp was truly fresh jumbo gulf shrimp, and the lobster is cold water Australian lobster tail, which is hard to find, and tastes way better than any American lobsters.

In the end, I'd go here again for the shrimp and lobster but not...