Nick + Stef's Steakhouse — Restaurant in New York

Very nice decor with really good steaks make for a very nice evening at Nick & Stef's. What I really like about it is you can go mid-evening on a Saturday night and there might be a major event at the Garden that night, but at Nick & Stef's one can be having a great, quiet romantic dinner and not have any idea what is taking place a few hundred feet away. Frankly one could be a famous celebrity and hide out behind one of the banquettes in the back and no one would know you are there.

At the same time one could be indulging in some really great steaks. I went for my traditional favorite, which is a New York Strip. It came perfectly rare to medium rare and was tender and flavorful. I had ordered sauteed broccoli, but they were out of it and I had some excellent sauteed spinach with garlic instead. Decided to go with the jumbo baked potato which is always an excellent choice with a juicy steak.

Before the meal they brought some bread which was a bit of a disappointment. There was only a nice health roll and some flatbread. The roll was not heated and was fine, but heating would have been a nice touch. Also some more variety would have been better.

I could not miss dessert and had trouble choosing between the cheesecake and the chocolate blackout cake so I went with both. They are both solid choices but nothing extraordinary. The cheesecake was good but not as dense as I like it. Same for the chocolate blackout cake (devil's food cake, white milk and dark chocolate mousse, vanilla gelato), which could have had more icing and mousse and a little less cake and wish the cake had been denser. Still, it was very chocolatey.

I also had some Lavazza drip decaf which is always good.

The service was very professional and the manager, Sal, stopped by often to make sure things were going well.

All in all a very good steak dinner in a very...

Reservations for 1 px are not feasible online... seriously? The place had such a good rating that I gave it a shot. I went early and got a table. The atmosphere is nice, cozy, a bit loud because of the reflections of the low ceiling. I ordered a steak with creamy blue cheese sauce and fries. And a glass of wine. I don't know if my order had choked the person who poured the wine, but it was spilled all around. Ok, this can happen, but it should not arrive at the customer. I asked for it to be cleaned (as I am not so fond of red wine stains on my clothes), and ... nothing happened. I then asked the person who appeared to be the maître d'hôtel for a PAPER napkin to clean the mess. So he did what I had avoided and used the fabric napkin... well, ok, I had tried to be Nice. The steak came - the plate was cold, which is not a good idea if you order rare meat. The cooking was perfect, meat was excellent but unfortunately, it could not make up for the rest. Fries were ok - let's say Mcdonald's level. The sauce did not deserve the name and the wine was way below the $17/glass. In a nutshell, the excellent meat...

I don't normally review however this was 1 of the worst experiences. Out for a nice night out with 2 friends. After checking the reviews we were fairly excited and looking forward to a really nice meal. When we arrived the table was half set, no knives and the cutlery tray still on the table. The bread came was cold, rock hard and burnt. Had to get a knife from another table to be able to use the butter. 2 of the 3 drinks were ok. The lobster bisque had a layer of film and lobster shells still in it. The calamari was undercooked, oily and no seasoning. The waiter did try and was very apologetic, however the manager did not seem interested and it seemed like it was a common occurrence. Our best decision was to not order anything extra and find a new place to spend our money. Explains why for a Saturday night in the heart of New York City the restaurant was...