Clearman's Steak 'N Stein

So, it's not a bad steakhouse. As long as you know what your getting into. Steak n stein is a nostalgic place. The decor is reminiscent to 1950's steakhouse. Its dark, old decor, carpet flooring, cheese paintings. There's even a water fountain in the middle of a dining room. Upon entering the first room is filled with smoke. It's mostly from the kitchen, as it's a smoke free environment. But you walk in and it's dimly lit and you see smoke hovering around the lamps. We got there at 725 on a Saturday night for our 730 reservations. I read other reviews that said they had to wait and so did we. It was a 20-30min wait before we got seated. The place was packed, so I get it. The service was good, the waiter was friendly and attentative. The tables are pretty close to each other. They serve the food via carts, so it was funny to see the staff struggling to get by pushing the carts through narrow passages. They start you off with house salad (just lettuce and some croutons) with three dressings and chopped red cabbage and looks like sliced loaf bread, that they turn into garlic buttered bread. It was good. So bottom line we did not get to enjoy our meal at the restaurant because for a 730 Reservation we didn't get our meal until 9pm. We had my 1yr old daughter with us, and it was way pasted her bed time. She started to get really cranky. So it's our fault for putting her through that. But we didn't expect the dinner to take that long. I figured 1hr tops. Be home by 830-9pm. But not in this case. So we had to get our food to go. The manager was nice and apologized for the wait and inconvenience. They even gave us a discount. Which I appreciated. But, to be honest if you plan on going to dinner her, expect it to be a long dinner, especially on a busy night like a Saturday. I mean, it is what it is. You would have a nice time with friends and family at this place if your expectations aren't to high. The meat was good. I got a bone in rib eye, my wife a filet mignon. The filet had a nice char, was tender, but not very juicy. My rib eye had a decent char as everything is flame grilled. But it's missing the crust from a pan skillet. But it comes down to preference. Since I was home, I just threw the rib eye on my skillet added butter and gave it a even crust to my preference. It was still a good medium rare-ish steak. But as I said before. It's a nostalgic steakhouse, with black Angus or another 90s chain restaurant steaks. Don't expect a mastros, Boa, 71 above or Beverly hills, DTLA, New port, Costa mesa steak house, even though the price can be close, lol. Oh, don't get thier stein steak, it's literally just ground beef grilled. Your ordering a hamburger. Also read the menu, I read reviews of people really bashing this place. But it's thier fault for not reading. The information is out there. Know what your getting into. My 2 cents. 🫡