J. Gilbert's Wood-Fired Steaks & Seafood McLean — Restaurant in McLean

I recently ate dinner on a slow Monday evening with about a dozen customers in the bar area. A nice barkeep greeted me a minute or so after I sat and attended to me cordially throughout the evening. Based on my good experience from earlier in the year, I basically repeated my order from then with a change or two: Blood orange spritz to start with a house salad, a crab cake entree with mash and asparagus, ten ounce sirloin medium rare with baked potato and Brussel sprouts, and chocolate mousse cake to finish.

My drink came promptly and tasted good overall even if I would like a little more blood orange flavor. The house salad looked and tasted fresh with crispy croutons. A little less dressing at the bottom would give this salad a better mix of dressing to vegetables. Fresh cracked pepper instead of the small shakers would be better as well. Crab cakes had a pleasing broiled texture, satisfying crab to binder ratio, a thermally warm temperature, and a light taste. I wonder if a little more lump crab instead of mostly backfin might elevate these cakes a touch more. Asparagus had good grill flavor and texture. Mashed potatoes tasted like they had a little too much salt and/or dairy in them but were still quite palatable. Steak temperature was medium rare by touch and between medium rare to medium by sight and had good grill flavor. I was glad to see this baked potato come with a decent salt crust on the skin and appropriate accoutrements, most of which I used. Overall the texture was pleasing even if the potato could have been hotter on arrival. The Brussel sprouts were portioned and cooked well. I could have done with a little less salt to bring more flavor since this side included prosciutto and mustard. The chocolate mousse cake had a smooth mousse with plenty of chocolate flavor and a more moist cake than last time. The raspberry ice cream served as a welcome complement. My bill was just under $100 excluding tax and tip. I could certainly return if I were in the area and wanted a more traditional steakhouse atmosphere with midwestern inspired sensibilities.

On another occasion a few months ago, I ate dinner with group of six others on a Tuesday. The back rooms are quite conducive to quiet conversation which we definitely wanted. Our server was quite friendly and had an easy going sense of humor. I ordered a ten ounce sirloin medium rare with baked potato and asparagus with a crab cake add-on followed by chocolate mousse cake for dessert. Steak appearance was pleasing and temperature was spot-on. Flavor of steak was predictably good. The baked potato could have had more salt around the outside and done with a few minutes more cooking, but I liked how it tasted nonetheless. Having some possible accompaniments like chive or bacon or cheese would have been nice. Asparagus was grilled as advertised and had good texture and flavor. Crab cake had nice browned appearance and good crab to binder ratio. A touch more thermal heat would have been welcome, but I enjoyed this complement to my steak anyway. Chocolate cake had good flavor and texture for the mousse. The cake part I found somewhat dry which was disappointing. The raspberry ice cream alongside tasted like an in-house ice cream, and amping up the raspberry flavor even more would have rounded out this dessert well. For McLean the price seemed mostly reasonable especially with current inflation. Service was attentive overall and paced the ordering and meal itself nicely without being terribly intrusive. I could see myself going again for another group outing if I were...

Went to J. Gilberts with high expectations. So wrong we were. Hostess was NOT very friendly. We had reservations for a table and reminded her of that when we arrived there. She took us to a booth, which we didn't want. We didn't say anything and just took the booth, because she didn't want to be bothered. Waited for a waiter to even address us to get a drink. That took forever and then if that forever wasn't long enough, it was another forever to get our food. The waiter came by a couple of times and was agitated that we didn't have food yet. He was very polite and apologized several times that there must be something going wrong back in the kitchen. Food finally arrived after waiting an hour. I got the 4oz Filet and a Jumbo Crab Cake. Mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts were good but the Filet was like a hockey puck and if that Crab Cake was jumbo, I'd hate to see what small would be. That so called "jumbo" crab cake was no bigger then a golf ball, maybe even a smaller. I asked for my Filet to be medium, it was way over cooked and DRY, no flavor. We grill tastier steaks at home. For the VERY high prices there, our meals and the atmosphere was not worth it at all. The only highlight was the Coconut Cake with Pineapple ice cream my husband got for dessert. All evening it felt as if everyone working there was unsure of things/confused and we heard a lot of apologizes going on from the wait staff and the manager all evening around us, with other patrons also. The stress of the staff definitely put off a negative atmosphere. The other meal was the Mixed Seafood Grill. Ridiculously small amounts. Two undercooked shrimp, one scallop, small piece of salmon and the so called "jumbo" crab cake. Asparagus was cooked but ice cold. Alot of money regretfully spent. J.Gilberts, please do not offer anything for our inconvenience because it just wouldn't feel heartfelt from you. Never felt any type of welcoming there and the food was just so, so for the price. We will not ever be returning. As we waited that hour for our food, we should of just gotten up and left. There was a McDonalds behind this restaurant, we could of went there. We probably would have been greeted with a...

The first few times I went here it became my favorite steak house. unfortunately now it’s been hit or miss with how they cook the steak. The last time I went it was one of the worst experiences we had. We took my fiancés mom out for a birthday dinner. We had two guests drive down from PA just for the dinner with us. We were seated in a room that we were unaware in an hour it was reserved. We then had a family harass us to leave the room that they rented. The management didn’t do much to apologize to us for being harassed to leave. We had to defend ourselves that we had nothing to do with where we were seated and we weren’t going to rush our dinner for them. It ruined our dinner and I had never felt so uncomfortable. My fiancés steak was undercooked and they tried to bring it up to the correct temp but instead the outside of the steak was now charred and burnt. They never offered to remake a whole new steak. By the time it came back out being burnt, he no longer had an appetite and just asked them to take the food back that he was not going eat a burnt steak. His moms steak came out well done when it was supposed to be medium/medium well and it took a while to get a new one. We were really embarrassed bringing our friends there that drove hours to see us. It’s sad that I used to go here for my birthday and anniversaries but now my fiancé and I are torn about going back again :(

UPDATE

January 2024 We went back again to give it another go. They gave us our meal for free from the previous experience above. Unfortunately we had another bad experience. My fiancé steak was under cooked and my steak was over cooked. My fiancés Au gratin potato’s came out cold twice. We mentioned on the reservation it was my fiancé birthday no mention of that… when we got dessert my fiancés slice was half the size of his friends and was missing a chocolate glaze on top. My cake was missing the sorbet (my favorite part). They also forgot to mention anything about my fiancés birthday. It’s sad we still had a bad experience again. Overall we sometimes have good food from here but it’s just SO INCONSISTENT. Unfortunately that will be...