Pittsburgh Blue Steakhouse — Restaurant in Maple Grove

Cash out your 401K before you come here!! I have so many mixed feelings about this place!!! We went here on a date night and I have severe mixed feelings about it. As soon as we saw the prices on the menu, we should have left. NONE OF THE MEALS COME WITH A SIDE! No soup or salad, no choice of potato, just 1 single garlic buttered bread roll that's it!! The sides are large enough to be shared, but they're nearly $20 each! Our waitress came to our table right away and started asking if we wanted drinks and an appetizer, mind you we hadn't even looked at the menu yet! She felt very pushy to get something going for us right away, maybe it to hook you in so you don't leave when you see the prices. We ended up ordering the Bourbon Maple Bacon as an app, 8 chunks of thick cut bacon for $22. (We justified it since we had a free babysitter). Our waitress was only there to take our order, she didn't ask us why where there, she didn't ask us if it was our first time. Not that either of those are important, but we saw other staff asking their tables and comping them free dessert to celebrate an anniversary & bringing over cold steak samples and explaining the different cuts of meat & how it's cooked (like what is "Pittsburgh Blue" style?) -like a wine somelie, but for steak. I ended up having to ask the guy bussing the tables to fill our waters because our waitress was never around! Someone different brought our food out and as they're setting it on the table she popped up and asked us if everything looked ok, we said yes since we weren't missing anything and that's the last time we saw her. She didn't come back to verify our $65 ribeye was cooked perfectly or anything like that. We again, had to have the guy bussing tables fill our waters--which he just took on as a regular task while we were there! Once our food was gone and our water guy cleared the table, it was 12 minutes before the waitress showed up to ask if we wanted dessert. She left the dessert menu with us and said she was going to get us more water since our cups were again empty. (The busboy had actually filled it yet again before she made it back to us). She came back 7 minutes later (which is a LONG time when you're thirsty and don't have anything to drink) and by that time we just asked for the bill since we were scared we'd never see her again. I work in the customer service field and I've been a waitress for YEARS and this was by far the worst service I've ever had from our waitress. All the other wait staff in the area were very attentive to their tables. All the other staff in general seemed very attentive and around if needed. For a restaurant that serves $100+ entrees and has multiple people doing jobs in the seating area, I'm honestly shocked that they don't have someone whose sole job is to keep drinks filled. I've seen this at multiple other "fancy" establishments with menus a lot less expensive. I'm not a complainer and I was SO tempted to talk to the manager. I went to the bathroom to try to cool off, change the scenery and plus I figured they'd be fancy....they were not! They were dingy and gross! We're talking rusty stall doors and pipes!! Not at all the bathrooms you'd expect in a place like that!

Now the food.... although incredibly expensive, the food was divine!! We did NOT want to like the food as much as we did, but it was a lost cause. We're talking eyes roll back into your head-need a moment of silence good food!! The food warrants a trip back but definitely with a different waitress!!

The food is a 200/10 Our waitress was -30/10 The atmosphere wasn't anything overly special and the lack of attention to detail in the bathrooms...

The food was good but the service was...weird. Our sever, Ann, seemed to have trouble listening or was purposefully being difficult. My brother and I met up for dinner on 04/22/2023 at this restaurant because we're looking to try different steakhouses in MN. My brother is usually pretty particular about his food, which can be annoying at times, but this day his order was rather simple. We each ordered the same thing, a cowboy ribeye, cooked medium with cajon seasoning and bread butter (garlic mixture). Ann felt it necessary to explain what medium meant, however as I previously stated, we frequent steakhouses and my brother is a chef so we're familiar. We told her the explanation was not necessary but she insisted she explain because "we do things differently here." Which, they don't. They offer two other steak styles, "Pittsburgh Blue and Blue," which are both served cold. Anyways, we tried to continue with the order by asking for the loaded mashed potatoes. We began our order separately but Ann suggested we split the potatoes but my brother did not want to do that so we continued our separate order. My brother asked for extra bread butter on the side before Ann went to put the order in. He specifically requested two for himself and I asked for one as well. Ann said she'd bring two and walked away before we could correct her. When our food was brought out, the order was correct so the only thing we asked of the server that brought the food was to bring the extra bread butter my brother requested, which they did. We ate some of our food then boxed the rest up. When it came time for the bill, Ann did not ask whether we'd like separate tabs, which we did. So the bill came all on one ticket. My brother paid with a $100 bill and I paid with my card. We budgeted a 15% tip for Ann even though we were not happy with the service and requested that she put half on the card and the other half on cash. She repeated our request back in a confusing manner and took off so we weren't sure she understood us. Luckily, she did and she returned the ticket for me to sign and my brother's change. We decided we were ready to go soon after I signed the bill and proceeded to walk out of the restaurant when we ran into another employee. There seemed to be only one way in/out of the restaurant so we ran into each other at the intersection. She looked me square in the eye and just stood there. I guess she expected me to levitate over her, or perhaps disappear. It was the weirdest interaction. This employee could have gone straight to avoid running into us exiting the restaurant. However, she chose the exact direction we were walking in which forced us to walk around her and the party of three she was seating. We were happy to get out of there as we felt we were experiencing some sort of prejudice. I would like to mention that I did not see many people of color and the only staff of color were the cooks and busboys, which may or may not have lent to the treatment we experienced. The food was good and the manager was walking around so we didn't bring up the issue then but like I said above, we were unsure if our server had trouble listening or was just trying to be difficult. I don't think we'd try this restaurant again, or maybe we'll just try a different location....

It’s 8 degrees outside on a Friday evening. My wife makes a quick reservation on some app I’ve never heard of, and we start to scramble. It’s in a hair over an hour, and we live forty minutes away.

We arrive, with time to spare thanks to Mrs. Speed Racer and her lead foot, and while my blood pressure lowers, I observe a somewhat unappealing cold-weather sheltered facade with a dim neon sign in red and blue, never mind it’s actually broken. If I hadn’t eaten here before, I’d be expecting a dive. Fortunately for myself and anyone I’d talk “food” to, I knew the class of atmosphere and the unmatched taste and presentation of the food waiting for me to order it inside. Nothing I’ve ever eaten can compare to this. Not even Grandma’s cookies.

The decor hides the place in moody lighting that makes you feel like you’re eating in the underground dining room of some foreign wealthy magnate. The walls are spotted with smart photographs of people from every walk of life all in moments of either focus, joy, or rapture. The servers seem to intuit your desires from the most subtle of language, spoken or otherwise. The menu is arranged with a decency that presents the notion beyond question; this food is not only worth the price, it’s practically therapeutic it’s so good.

Every bite gives you cause to thank yourself and anyone else responsible for the decisions you made that brought you here. And when you’re done, it’s not a thought of “what’s next” that comes to you. It’s the awareness of the experience you just had. This… this is what food should taste like.

The unspoken truths inside these walls reflect at the conclusion of your first visit; it wouldn’t make any difference what you order. Every item is in a league of its own. As you pay your check, gather your things or party, and move back to the door, again the service reminds you that you’re the reason they’re there. Etiquette and decorum make you feel like you own the place.

But, anyone who’s been here before is already going to know all of this. If it’s your first time, though… what are you waiting for? Stop reading and get your reservation. You can thank me with another review when you’re done wiping your face and raving about...