Double Barrel Steak — Restaurant in Richmond

My wife and I had been wanting to try Double Barrel Steak, so she made a reservation for my birthday dinner. We were greeted nicely, and the hostess acknowledged my birthday. Pretty much went downhill from there. The hostess ended up being the sole wait staff for our evening. She was very nice, but there was no bus service, so no one to refill our water glasses when empty, no one to replace silverware when needed. We ordered the bread service, and shortly after were informed that the chef said there were no popovers at the moment. We said that was fine, but assumed the order would come out later with another course. It did not, and towards the end of our meal, we noticed that other diners had received their bread order. No explanation as to what happened to ours. We ordered the porterhouse for two, which was brought out on a platter and held up for our viewing, then brought back into the kitchen to be sliced. It then took over 20 minutes for it to be brought back to our table. Back to the bus service issue… we actually had to get up from our table to request steak knives after our $135 steak was brought to our table. The food was okay, but certainly not the caliber of a high end steak house. We selected the doughnuts for dessert – the homemade donuts were almost inedible. The service throughout the evening was very slow, despite the restaurant being less than half full. We found ourselves waiting an unusually long time between each course. We were there for 3 hours – extremely excessive for a party of two. When we received the bill, our waitress informed us that 18% gratuity had already been added to the bill, something I have never experienced for a party of two. They also charged us for the bread service we never received. We were charged $16 for a negroni, and a $4 up charge for Hendricks gin. When at a fine dining restaurant, I do not expect an upcharge for a brand of alcohol that is standard at any other restaurant or bar. I’d much rather be charged $20 for the drink than be nickeled and dimed with an up charge. On our way out, I very respectfully shared our displeasure with the manager. He said, “Thank you.” As if I had provided a compliment. And that was all. No apology, so concern that we had such a poor experience. If I could give an overall rating of “0”...

Today, Mother’s Day, my daughter and wife and I went to brunch at the Double Barrel Steak house located in the Preserve Sporting club in Richmond RI. My daughter made the reservation a few months ago and I must admit after reading the Yelp reviews I went with some concern. I will try and structure my review to address some of the negative comments I read in yelp. First the arrival at the security gate, some reviews were negative about the experience. We were greeted like old lost friends. When we explained it was our first visit he replied “you will love it here” and gave us clear directions to the restaurant. Upon arrival at the hostess desk within the restaurant were were immediately seated at a table at a small bar with many mounted animals on the walls. The room was beautiful with wood and stonework. We arrived right at 11 AM opening so it took a few minutes for them to continue setting up. No problem we grabbed a few mimosas and sat down. Our waitress cam and introduced herself along with a few extra mimosas. There were several negative comments about slow service. We did not experience this. Our waitress cleared dishes every time she walked by but what I was most impressed by was the management in suits who also bussed tables every time they walked by. You do not see that every day. Now on to the food. Among the 3 of us we sampled, in no particular order; The lobster rolls, Stone crabs, U8 shrimp, Beef tenderloin Eggs Benedict, pork sausage, smoked salmon, lobster Pasta and popovers. This was only ½ the items offered! Everything tasted was exceptional. By the way the staff at all the stations were just as friendly and efficient as our waitress. We did have a small issue. When my daughter booked she confirmed they would make omelets. She reconfirmed this a second time. When we arrived, we found this to be incorrect. Not that we needed any additional food but my daughter mentioned this to one of the managers. He apologized and proceeded to have someone make me an omelet. That is excellent service! So, to summarize, friendly efficient staff, exceptional facilities, great food, and problem-solving management who are not afraid the get their hands dirty. We were so impressed that we are researching...

Overall, Double Barrel steakhouse isn’t worth the price. My wife and I stayed in one of the Hilltop condos for a night and decided to dine at Double Barrel Steakhouse. The setting was nice and the staff friendly. The host greeted us and tried to seat us next to window but we requested to sit away from the window to avoid cold drafts, to which the host happily obliged. We were one of three groups in the entire restaurant for the duration of our meal, yet the service was unusually slow. The host that seated us ended up being our server as well. It seemed like there was only one server and she could only go to one table at a time. She didn’t seem to understand that she could check on another table as she was walking by from another table on her way to the kitchen. I asked for a Blue Moon and the server came back a bit later to inform me they were out, and none of the other beer options are remotely close to it. I settled for a Sam Adams. I ordered the 20 oz. ribeye (medium rare) and Brussels sprouts and my wife ordered steak frites. When the food finally came out, my steak was much smaller than I expected for a 20 oz. and seemed more like a 12 oz. It seemed like it was crusted with a blow torch rather than cooked on a grill or griddle. It was more rare than medium rare. While the steak was tender, it had absolutely no juices and little flavor. I can cook my own steaks better and spend less than half of what I paid for this hunk of trash. Maybe it’s a David Burke thing or a dry aged thing, but both Double Barrel and the David Burke restaurant in Foxwoods casino provided a dry, flavorless cut of meat that I’ll never pay for again. Seriously? How do you mess up a ribeye? My wife seemed to like her steak, but it was a hanger steak and wasn’t dry aged, so maybe stop trying to dry age stuff if you don’t know what you’re doing? The Brussels sprouts were decent but also seemed like they cooled off too much by the time they came to the table. Are there no warming lamps in the kitchen? Or does the food sit for an excessively long time because the server is super slow? We will probably visit the Preserve again in the future and might give DB steakhouse another chance, but I certainly won’t be ordering any dry...