Charlie Palmer Steak IV — Restaurant in New York

I never ever take time out of my day to leave bad reviews; I find it unnecessary for me compared to leaving a great review and making someone’s day. But I felt like our experience at Charlie Palmer warranted me leaving a review. My husband made a reservation on 01/31/2025 for our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple. We live in Jersey but absolutely love coming into the city for date nights. We arrived 35 minutes earlier than our reservation and were happy to be seated early. We were told there was a special Valentine’s Day menu that night. This was something that we were not aware of when booking our table and nothing was communicated after we received our confirmation email. We came to the restaurant with hopes of having the full menu to choose from after seeing various reviews and video recommendations of the food but were immediately let down. If that were the case, we definitely wouldn’t have come. We ordered anyway, food items we were completely unfamiliar with but had to anyways. We were offered complimentary champagne and when the server came out with our amuse, he knocked over my husband’s champagne into the bread bowl and all over my jacket and didn’t even apologize. He grabbed the bowl, furiously stormed off and mumbled something in another language as he walked away. I understand that stuff like that can happen but a simple apology couldn’t hurt. And he didn’t offer us more bread until our main course came out. The appetizer and main course we had were awfully small portions. I was shocked for being forced to have a prefix menu, the portions should at least be filling. To continue, I ordered the steak medium well and it was medium and I do not eat medium meat. I was offered from someone in charge to put it back on the fire but I already had such a bad taste in my mouth from the place. The star of the night was the desert, which is awfully sad. How can desert be better tasting in such an upscale restaurant? The restaurant had a band or musicians in for the night and they had us seated behind them, separated by a curtain and they were bumping into our table until we pointed it out to them. Overall, the experience was such a big let down, especially for such a special and important day for us as newly weds. Again, I only took time to post this, as it was supposed to be such a special day for us. Not to mention, we paid $330 for an experience that was worth barely $150!!! I’ve had a lot better experiences...

It was easy to make a reservation here on open table. We were seated at once and the food was beyond description. A score of 15 out of 10. We started with the lobster bisque. They pour it at the table: starting with the chunks of lobster in the bowl and pouring the bisque over it. Clearly the best I've ever had. Then we had the filet mignon cooked a perfect medium. For sides we had the potatos au Gratin and the creamed spinach. Both were superb. The spinach was PERFECT! Not too creamy and had a hint of a crunch. The chocolate cake was also excellent.

Now, the minuses. Pictured is the knife I was given with my filet. It doesn't show very well, but it looked like it was used as a screwdriver and was VERY dull. It could not even cut a butter soft filet. It's replacement was perfect. One would think a place that bills itself as a steak house would put more effort into its cutlery.

The staff was a solid 3. The server was just ok at best. Lackluster is a good description.

The bus persons ignored our table. Were VERY slow to remove used plates. Most offensively is that they refused to refill our water glasses. They refilled every table around us, but not ours. I waited....waited...waited, I thought he may have had to refill the pitcher. Nope, nothing. Finally, I took my own water glass to the server's station and filled it myself. WHY?

The worst issue was the visiting chefs. Apparently, one of the chefs had some friends that were seated next to us. No problem. Staff have their friends support their business. I'm all good with that. Except......when the chef came to see his visitors and sat on the bench seat a little too close to my wife. Then later he came back out and stood while talking to his friends, with his backside in my face for several minutes. While he was still there, the Hostess/Event coordinator (I asked who she was) came for a visit to the other table. She stood behind the chef with her backside EVEN CLOSER to my face. I took pics to document this incident and behavior but chose to not include them here. Then, yet another chef came to visit the other table also. It was when we were preparing to leave. He walked behind me, said nothing, placed his hand on my lower back, and gently pushed me out of his way. Now I've had enough violations to my personal space so I asked him "am I in your way?". He said nothing.

In review: Food: 10 plus Service: 3 Staff: 0 Total...

If the rating was based purely on the steak, it would be a 5 star without issue. But for a steak house of this quality there were a few issues that bumped it down a star. Had dinner there last night. Salads, file mignon, mac and cheese, cheesecake, the steak was excellent, I did order it black and blue, and it arrived rare, but still within reason. Ordered the au poivre pepper sauce with it, that was a big no, way too salty, bitter, and just way too overwhelming, the steak was better off without it. The rest of the meal, mac & cheese, Brussels sprouts were tasty, good portions, and very good. The service was iffy, our waiter was very good, but it was clear he was way over extended, had too many tables to deal with, plus the usual "regulars" who demand more time and attention that he simply can't afford to give. Case in point, when the cheesecake arrived we did not get forks, the coffee did not arrive with the desert either, we had to wait about 10 minutes before the waiter came over to tell us the coffee was coming shortly, we pointed out we needed forks as well. When the forks arrived with the coffee, the coffee was lukewarm, and the attention we got in the beginning of the meal from the staff had disappeared. Overall a good dining experience, with average at best service. Charlie Palmer, you need a better manager, or hire more...