Brooklyn Chop House Steakhouse Downtown NYC — Restaurant in New York

**Reservations are very important here for dinner. If you walk in, there will be some waiting. And if you are late for your reservation it will end up pushing back your seating. Please be mindful of the hard working staff and management and rest assured that they want everyone to have the best experience possible. but within reason.

My party and I all arrived at different times. There is a seated waiting area that we were directed to. The place is quite high end and there is apparently a space in the back that is only for celebrities and VIP. Their names adorn a wall engraved in gold plaques. There is a curtain as well for their privacy. Unfortunately no celebrities were in the building when I was dining in.

After all the members of my party arrived (six in total) we were seated fairly quickly. The staff was very courteous and attentive throughout our visit. At one point the owner Stratis came by the table to greet us, which was an unexpected surprise. He told us a little about his inspiration for the menu items and it was good to hear things from his perspective.

It was difficult to choose as everything sounded so good. We decided on some dishes that we all wanted to try.

Appetizers:

Pastrami dumplings were quite novel as I have not come across this combo before. One of my favorites.

Cheeseburger Shumai was another inventive combo. Very tasty.

Impossible Burger dumplings had the well known plant based filling that really looks like meat. Not bad at all!

Lamb dumplings are a rare menu item. The district flavor was apparent with each bite.

French Onion Soup Dumplings...aka Xiao Long Bao (XLB) When I first heard I had to make sure I heard correctly! I know of no other restaurant in NY that has French Onion Soupy dumplings. XLB in general had become very popular but this taste profile was on another level.

Chicken Flat Noodles with Bean Sprouts aka chow fun. Those very familiar wide noodles but we made a slight modification and asked for no protein. It was definitely a great appetizer.

The Chicken Satay someone has mentioned were supposedly very good. The dish arrived and the skewers were covered in a very rich peanut sauce. So good! It was most certainly one of the stars of the food show that night!

Sweet and Sour Eggplant. Crispy goodness as it as served fried (tempura style). Eggplant is one of those vegetarian dishes that when prepared just right, is quite a treat.

Lobster Fried Rice!! This disappeared very quickly to say the least.

Maine Lobster. Steamed and seasoned so deliciously. You have your choice of salt and pepper or a ginger and garlic seasoning.

32oz Dry Aged Tomahawk Steak (bone in)...this type of luxury steak was a nice treat for us. 30-35 says dry aged and gluten free. The meat came to the table cooked rare and was seasoned very well. This is one is their very popular items but of course one of the more pricier options.

7lb Peking Duck...a well known staple for those who travel to Chinatown of course. But we were quite a bit far from that area so it was a nice surprise to see on the menu. The prep at BCH is no joke. The bird is slow roasted for approximately 45 minutes in the oven. Then it was brought to our table whole and then we got an extra privilege to see head Chef Li plate the pieces. I am normally not a very big fan of this duck style but it was very crispy and delicious. For anyone who has ever had Peking Duck, they will like this a lot.

Now onto dessert!

Hot Apple Wontons accompanied by ice cream. A very unique dessert akin to apple pie a la mode.

Peanuts butter cake - for anyone who is a fan of Reese's Butter Cups this is the one for you! A slice of peanut butter heaven.

Sorbet - we were given the flavors or lychee, fuji apple and red grape! It was a very refreshing dessert we all enjoyed.

The final piece of dessert that we tried was their Red Velvet cake. It was a perfectly cut slice that was so moist and delicious. There was some red velvet doubters at our table but once they tasted this cake they realized that they have been...

I rated 3 stars because the food saved this experience. The service was horrible; some of the worst I have ever had.

We went there for Mother’s Day with my wife and daughter (she lives there; we were visiting for the weekend from Las Vegas). We were seated promptly (a few minutes) but were put in the back of the restaurant right below a speaker blaring music. The music selection was fine, but it was difficult to have a conversation.

Our waiter came to the table and never introduced himself and grumpily asked if we wanted water and anything to drink. We said we needed a few more minutes for drink orders and he huffed away. He came back with drinks and then disappeared for about 10 minutes. When he returned I asked I he could turn the music down a bit as it was very loud and interfering with our conversation. He simply said ‘no, I can’t do that”. I asked if someone else could and he flatly said “no”. We asked for a few suggestions and he said everything was good but the crispy filet was not worth it. We ordered and our appetizer and salad were brought promptly. The French onion soup dumpling was very good; the wedge salad just average. We found a hair in the side of blue cheese dressing and when we told our waiter, he just looked at it, walked away and brought another one without any apology.

Our food took another 25 minutes to arrive and in the meantime our waiter never came to the table to check on us and see if we needed more drinks (we did). Food arrived and he just placed it in front of us and walked away before I could order wine (was going to get a bottle but decided not to give more money to this restaurant because of poor service). I ordered my glass of wine through the bus boy because our waiter didn’t return.

My wife and I split the bone in ribeye; it was cooked and seasoned very nicely, but had excessive sinew which was difficult to cut through and chew. My daughter had the lamb chops and they were outstanding; cooked a perfect medium rare and seasoned wonderfully. We shared the vegetable fried rice and it was very good. Again, our waiter never came by to ask

I had to flag down a busboy to get our bill. When I examined the bill, it had an automatic 20% added for gratuity. I summoned the waiter and pointed out that there website says an automatic gratuity of 20% for parties of 6 or more and his response was: “they must’ve changed their policy because that is what comes out on all bills.” I was furious, but did not want to make a scene in front of my wife and daughter on Mother’s Day, so in the section where you can add an extra tip, I put a negative dollar amount to halve the 20% automatic tip. I normally err on the side of over tipping so this is very unusual for me not to do the customary 20%, but the service and attitude of this waiter were just awful. My charge is still ‘pending’ so we’ll see if they reduce for my negative ‘extra’ tip. If they don’t, I will call the restaurant and discuss with the manager.

I think we just got a bad waiter as the food was overall very good. But watch out for the automatic 20% tip for small parties; especially if you’ve had...

Brooklyn Chophouse is an upscale modern Asian Steakhouse (a fusion that I am ABSOLUTELY here for). It is located across from City Hall in lower manhattan. It’s very easy to get to from either borough whether you decide to drive or take public transportation.

The decor is super chic. The restaurant is divided into sections which is great for large groups, Sunday family dinners, celebrities coming in for lunch, or just the girls hanging out getting drinks at the bar.

The staff and service here is top-notch. Honestly, everyone I walked by that worked here said hello (which sounds silly but that does not happen). A huge shout out to our server Jay. If you are there on a Sunday, hope and pray he’s your server because he’s the best.

At most restaurants there’s usually 1 or 2 things they are known for, I think BC is known for several dishes that are absolutely delicious and not mention Instagram-worthy. One of the superstars here is what they call the LSD (of course not the drug) the Lobster-Steak-Duck combo. Order this if you are with a group of 5-7 people (it’s a lot of food but it is something dreams are made of). The “L”: a SUPERB lightly fried lobster (I’m a huge seafood lover and have always questioned frying a lobster but it is absolutely worth a try). The “S”: steak is a 45oz porterhouse that is dry aged for 45 days. If you think this is just chef-talk, do know this really makes a big difference. The steak was so juicy and delicious it ranks up there with some of the best steaks here in NYC and Vegas. And the “D” is a Peking Duck that had me in my feelings. It was so good. It’s legit. It stands up with the best of crispy skinned duck slices you’ll get in Flushing.

I can’t forget to mention the dumplings. I’m still a bit shocked I’m questioning going back to a steakhouse for dumplings but I’ve been telling all of my friends since I’ve dined here that we have to go here for the Lamb Gyro dumpling and the French Onion Soup dumpling. I’m still craving the lamb gyro dumpling honestly. At the first bite I was transformed back to The Halal Guys truck on 53rd Street. I think food should do that to you, it should create and take you back to good times.

On the list of other must-tries here: Pastrami Dumplings, Philly Cheesesteak Dumplings, the Pac Man Seafood Dumplings, the Lobster Fried-Rice, Peking Duck Tacos, and Chicken Satay sticks. Cocktail suggestions: Brooklyn Old Fashioned and the Lychee Martini. I’m not a huge fan of Lychee Martinis but this one was creamy, not too sweet and packed a hell of a punch. Once dinner is over and you have enough room for dessert, go for the Red Velvet cake. I like red velvet cake so I’m biased, but this cake from Brooklyn Chophouse will turn non red velvet believers into believers! It’s that damn good. I’m already trying to plan my next meal here once the city...