Steakhouse Five — Restaurant in Murfreesboro

I did an impromptu visit Friday evening to see what the place looked like. The hostess was very welcoming and invited me to take a look around. They did a total renovation and it has a nice feel, the loft area looks great, and I like how the bar looks outside. I decided to grab a drink at the bar, one thing led to another, I met Kelsey – the Bar Manager, and I decided to stay for dinner. The Bar Manager Kelsey is a great host and provided me a sip of a couple of Japanese whiskies (Iwai and Suntory Toki) to help me decide. I went with the Suntory Toki (neat) which is a blend from three distilleries and has more of a Scotch bouquet and flavor versus a whiskey. This is a nice and easy sipping whiskey with a strong, peppery finish.

Appetizer…Cream of Mushroom soup with the grilled blue cheese wedge. The soup has a very earthy tone and the truffle oil adds an extra level of punch to the dish. Dipping the grilled blue cheese wedge into the soup is an incredible combination of flavors. The soup on its own is good, but the grilled blue cheese wedge puts it over the top.

Dinner…American Wagyu Zabuton steak cooked Sous-vide with the Roasted Garlic Shallot butter as an accompaniment. This is the first time I have ever had a steak cooked Sous-vide so I was excited to experience this method of cooking a steak. For a side I went with the baked potato that has the skin seasoned with salt and spices. The steak was perfectly cooked medium rare and plated very nicely. The meat was very tender, exceptionally marbled, and nicely seared. Enhancing the steak with a bit of the Roasted Garlic Shallot butter really made for a great experience and flavor. Pretty impressed with the perfection the Sous-vide method of cooking a steak. A recommendation…the steak should not have been sliced so thinly. Thicker slices would allow for more of the overall marbling and seared edge flavors to come through. The baked potato was good but more options than just butter would be nice. I enjoyed one of their by the glass wines (a Portuguese red blend) which was a solid compliment for this steak. I was hoping for a bigger “WOW” factor for this steak.

Dessert…Blueberry & Peach Cobbler. This was a solid dessert and I loved the distinctive tart/sweet combination with the soft cake and vanilla ice cream…a nice ending to dinner.

Service…everyone from the greeter to Kelsey and Courtland were excellent and took great care of me.

Overall…they just opened so they are still working out the kinks and were very receptive to suggestions I shared. I enjoyed the meal, but to be honest expected more of an exceptional steakhouse experience knowing the history and Chef/Owner. I feel the steaks are fairly priced but some of the appetizers are a bit pricey in comparison. I would like to see some other options for sides (a great steak deserves mushrooms) along with some better descriptions of the dishes offered. For example…not many will know what a Haricot Verts is and would need to ask. I will be back to try some of the other steaks and to see how this place will grow. My hope…as one of the premiere steakhouses of Middle...

I absolutely hate to rate them because the staff was so excellent, but the food was trash. I spent nearly $300 (significantly more than my favorite place) to try something new. My un-named favorite place has a similar name, which brought me here. The crab cake was small, mushy, crusty, and despite all that sitting on a red sauce that reminded me more of puke, it lacked even the flavor of the off-brand walmart frozen crab cake. I couldn't taste anything resembling crab. It reminded me of a flavorless, crunchy yet mushy bland hush puppy. Actually, LJS has more flavor. I'm not sure how you make a bad shrimp cocktail, but they accomplished it. While my filet was the correct temperature, the burned outer edges had to be cut off to eat it, and it still had the burnt taste completely through it. We try different places as a family on Friday nights, and a rule I have is for me to work and pay the bill. You have to eat as much as you can. So yes, we scraped through and ate what we could: but for us; the hallmark of a good meal is what we take home because we just can't eat anymore. We left this place and went to Nothing Bundnt Cakes- which I could review as the service there was worse than my burnt steaks. That's another story. No one at our table was happy. We don't plan to ever return. We also don't send food back or complain because, ultimately, what's $300 going to cost them vs. us? Well, it's a bad review and no return customer. I go in hungry, I wait patiently to eat, hungry. If I have to return it and wait some more- dinner is already ruined. They seem proud of the yellow mashed potatoes that have little decorative green pieces - or as I preferred to call them - glue. They were chunky (I make mashed potatoes and know the difference in potato pieces vs. chunky laziness). I tried very hard to eat them, but the consistency was beyond anything I could force. Ultimately, next Friday, the adventures are over, and we're going to go where I'm never disappointed, and a $200 meal isn't a shock. I don't mind paying for what I enjoy, I save and bust my tail to do so; but to pay $300 for something worth around $40, that is brutal. That's pre-tip. The service and staff more than made what was otherwise intolerable - tolerable. The staff was so good I couldn't bring myself to complain. The worst of the burnt steak was plate down, which tells me ALWAYS that the cook knew and made a conscious decision to serve it to me. The return is that I've made a conscious decision to share with anyone reading. I do know we all have off days, but this off day was bad enough to decide I won't waste my money again, and anyways I'm not a gambler. If others can consistently deliver... I believe this place should as well. I don't have $300 to blow. I work many hours for these family nights. I earned that meal, I'd like at least one of us...

If you just pay attention and read other negative reviews... the management team never responds to reviews. clearly they do not listen or care about their customers.

I remember how you made me feel. my family will never return. My experience has been confirmed over and over reading recent reviews. yes, I return here to read reviews, hoping maybe the management may acknowledge someone somewhere along the line an make some changes.

Let's just start with the food. It was amazing! Great steaks and rack of lamb. By far the best steak I've had in a very long time if not ever. My family all raved about their food!! If the service was up to par with the food this would be a 5 star from me. My concern is the service. Maybe I was expecting more since the food is so expensive. It was probably clear my family is not the normal clientele, and we left feeling that way. Our server was nice, but did not seem to go out of her way like I would expect at an upscale establishment. We had to ask a 2nd time for the wine my wife ordered. When my son was finished with his bottled soda, we had to ask for another. Our server cleared his first bottle without even asking if he wanted another. I seen other servers standing and talking and laughing with their tables. Maybe because 3 of the 5 of us are water drinkers and did not load the table down with alcohol there were some assumptions? 3 of the 5 were minors, maybe that was a downer? I don't know, you can tell me if I expected too much. When you pay this kind of money for food, I expect the service to match the food. Unfortunately it was not the case here. We were celebrating a big family moment and it just felt like a night out at any other restaurant in Murfreesboro rather than the statement I wanted to ceremonialize with my family. This was a very expensive dinner outing for our family and unlike one that we have ever done before. Clearly we were not in our league when looking around at other diners. I've been to 5 Senses before and the experience far exceeded this experience. Maybe I just expected too much? I chose not to say anything because I did not want to embarrass my family while we were celebrating. In fairness, there was a gentleman that came to our table 3 times. I think he was the manager maybe? He seemed to show much more care for our service. It really is too bad, I had such high hopes. My wife and I celebrate our anniversary every year at the Parthenon Grille. I was hopeful that maybe we would find another place celebrate family milestones. The Parthenon will continue to be our go-to place for now. Thank you...