Steakhouse 85 Restaurant — Restaurant in New Brunswick

Updated review: I'd like to start by saying this is my second bad experience with steakhouse 85 over a span of 8 years and a few dozen reservations but this time I feel it is unforgivable and I will never be recommending or returning to this restaurant.

A little background to my experience with steakhouse 85. I started going here 8 years ago to celebrate my anniversary with my wife as well as other occasions such as birthdays, valentine's, date nights or even just when we feel we want to dress up and have a nice dinner. I have recommended nearly 100 others to try this restaurant including coworkers, family, friends, acquaintances and even just random people I have struck up a conversation with over 8 years. When we come to the restaurant we do not order off the date night menu, we order whatever we want, we pay full price and we do not hold back on drinks, appetizers, or anything else we may be in the mood for. We always dress appropriately, I wear nice slacks, dress shoes and a blazer, I have worn a suit many times, my wife has worn long gowns, heels and so on. We are 28f and 31m, soft spoken and well mannared adults.

On to my review of the evening. I want to start by saying our waitress was wonderful, she was informed and knowledgeable, we have had her before although she did not remember us, we did not make it a point to inform her. We had made the reservation 4 months in advance as this was our anniversary dinner. We noted this was our anniversary when we made the reservation and also noted my wife has celiac disease. When we arrive we are looked at like we are in the wrong place, blank stare no words spoken, sort of like we have to make the first move and inform them we have a reservation. That is what we had to do, we were not greeted, I had to say hello we have a 7 o'clock reservation, sort of like it was as an inconvenience. They find our reservation ask us if we are celebrating anything we inform them it is our anniversary. There was a pianist playing that night and we were looking forward to dining with the music in the backround. We are then guided to be seated, at first I was confused because we were lead behind the bar to a back room which to me looked like walk ins to be honest . Again we made this reservation 4 months in advance im not sure why we were not seated in the front of the house, I didn't even know there was a fully lit back room with seating . So far this is not how we want our 8 year anniversary night to go. We were used to being seated in the front with intimate lighting in a cozy atmosphere for years, not a olive garden looking fully lit back room. You could not hear the piano in the back room it sounded like pandora playlist was being playing through a speaker. At this point we are pretty confused about what had just happened and not happy about it, we made this reservation 4 months in advance and told them this was our anniversary when we arrived and this is what we were given, completly unacceptable. We are very non confrontational so we just went ahead and ordered our drinks, appetizers and entrees. Once again, we informed everyone that my wife has celiac, skipping ahead, turns out her food was cross contaminated and she ended up getting very sick later that night after we got home. Back to dinner, so we order our food, bread is sent over to the table for me , I start to butter a peice and before im even finished buttering a peice of bread my appetizer comes to the table... After all that has happened so far I absolutely feel I am being rushed out of this place. I didnt even get to butter a peice of bread, just ordered my appetizer and it's already at the table , what is going on here... same thing happened with our entrees, I was still eating my appetizer and my steak gets rushed to the table. By the way out of the few dozen steaks ive eaten from this restaurant this was absolutely the worst cut i have ever gotten. This was absolutely by far the worst fine dining experience i...

When I see 4.5 stars I must say I’m puzzled. I had an early diner reservation. That went ok. Seated ok and courteous. Place looks good, nice millwork. The waitress was spot on at first and gave us a wine menu etc. my wife and I are not drinkers so we passed. Ordered a couple of appetizers, that went well. Lobster tail (must of been from a dwarf lobster) over linguine in a red sauce, not bad. I don’t eat pasta but my wife thought it was ok. Ordered our main courses. This is where in my opinion things fell off the cliff boom. So I realize, a steak house for the most part comes with more cost, sometimes a lot more cost and as a man on a carnivore meat based diet, I’ve been to more than my share. But at 99.00, that ribeye rare should be a good cut and somewhat seasoned. I think they called it 28oz. Can’t be positive. 28oz should look 28oz even bone in. This thing wasn’t even close. Honestly it looked like a frozen piece of meat that was cooked in an air fryer. It had that sort of texture. Remember, 99.00. My wife ordered a smaller piece of meat, don’t remember the size but looked like a kids meal.

Waitress kept pushing the deserts like this was going to be my last supper before I get sent off to the glue factory. Over and over. Listen, 99.00 for crappy cooked meat, 25-30 on a desert she said we could take home. Not a chance. I don’t mind spending the money, I have no problem doing that at the stone house in Warren, or Ventanas in fortlee. Two much better places to spend time with a loved one. It’s value, but to spend 240.00 (2 people) on a dinner my kids make better is tragic.

First off, meat should be well aged at that number, salted well with a very high grade high mineral salt, Baja Gold is awesome. That crap table salt on the table is embarrassing. Pepper, freshly ground works also hint, my meat was run through a car wash! Anytime you want to be schooled with a carbon steel pan let me know. Butter, yes butter. Hand rolled salted is great keeps the fat right where it belongs. Brown that garlic in the butter as well until it’s dark and crunchy. Destroying a Ribeye or any other good cuts is a...

I’ve been to Steakhouse 85 multiple times and never had an issue—until last night, when I went with my family to celebrate my graduation. After this experience, I will never return. The appetizers and desserts were solid, but the entrées were flat-out disappointing.

Our server, Sebastia, was fantastic—attentive, polite, and accommodating the entire evening. Unfortunately, the kitchen and the manager completely ruined the night.

When our steaks came out—both the ribeye and porterhouse combos—we immediately noticed they were overcooked. We had ordered them medium, but they came out well done. No pink, no juice—just dry, gray meat. We let Sebastia know, and he was quick to take them back and get new ones cooking.

But then came the most absurd part of the night: the manager, who I believe was named Chris (tall, bald, and bearded), came to our table—not to apologize or show concern—but to argue. He said, “I saw you guys sent your steaks back and figured I should come over. I went to the kitchen, and those steaks were cooked to perfection.”

We were stunned. No apology. No accountability. Just arrogance. It felt like he came over just to flex his ego and gaslight us. After a few awkward exchanges, he walked off without resolving anything.

About 20–25 minutes later, our new steaks finally arrived—and this time, they were actually cooked medium. Chris returned again and asked, “Did the steaks come out to your liking this time around?” We said yes, only for him to say, “Well, the last steaks were cooked to the right temperature too—but enjoy these.”

I’ve eaten at plenty of high-end steakhouses, and I’ve never encountered a manager so condescending, rude, and dismissive. Instead of handling the situation with professionalism and class, he doubled down on being smug and disrespectful. Honestly, with that attitude, he’d be more suited managing a fast-food joint—assuming they’d even have him. For a place that charges premium prices, this kind of behavior is completely...