Alexander's Steakhouse — Restaurant in San Francisco

It's been a while since I've dined at Alexander's in SF and it looks like some changes have taken place. Mr. Joy wanted to go to Alexander's for his birthday, so off we went to to this steakhouse. Upon arrival, we were led upstairs and enjoyed a view of the dining floor, exposed kitchen, and cocktail bar off to the side. After a few minutes, they offered us a welcome beverage, which is always a plus. We also ordered a $16 Toki Blossom, which was refreshing against the heavy beef dishes. They started us off with a green complimentary amuse bouche on a whimsical spoon. It was a burst of flavor, literally burst in my mouth.

$11 Wagyu Pâté - pickled green strawberry, pickled mustard seed, sourdough: Great! We each had this one bite dish. A perfectly squared off pâté on a squared off toast point, topped with tart, pickled notes and a single radish. I could eat a whole plate of these.

$26 Squash Blossom - summer squash, wagyu chorizo, jimmy nardello, yuzu kosho: Good! A festive looking plate, but fell a bit flat with a single fried stuffed squash blossom, and a smattering of diced zucchini on the side. The wagyu chorizo added the most flavor to the dish.

$185 Ichibo 6 oz. - Ibaraki Hitachi Japan. A5/zabuton: Great! 6 simple slices of a leaner cut with a nice layer of fat on top that charred nicely. Tastes great on its own, and even more fun to try with the adorable salt duo it came with. I believe it was jade salt and Himalayan pink salt. There was also an egg shaped side of mashed potatoes.

$36 Australian Truffle Mashed Potato - Australian truffle, horseradish, chive Good! Very creamy and you can definitely smell the truffle.

$99 Premium Prime 18 oz. Ribeye - brandied cherry, porcini sott'olio, bone marrow Great! The ribeye itself was delicious and had beautiful grill marks on it. The bone marrow was good, but the brandied cherries were overwhelmingly sweet for me. The dish looked nice, with the bone marrow atop a large bone-in piece of ribeye, and bone marrow was decorated with tiny flowers and greens, albeit a bit useless.

$25 Maitake Mushrooms - shallots, parsley, red wine Good! Savory, sweet, meaty mushrooms topped with fried onions

$21 Matcha Soufflé - raspberry cognac coulis, raspberry ice cream, fresh raspberry Okay! I wasn't a fan of Alexander's soufflé before, and I am still not. Firstly, the eggy flavor of the soufflé is pretty strong, and a bit soggy, not enough of a risen cake texture. This is pretty common for most underwhelming soufflés. Secondly, the matcha flavor was pretty faint. I tasted more raspberry coulis than matcha. They might as well call this raspberry soufflé.

$14 Carajillo - licor 43 Spanish liqueur, espresso, Bacardi 8, orange: Great! A nice coffee beverage to end the meal, and the golden coffee beans on top are not bad to look at.

Lastly, we ended with a complimentary cheesecake with a lit candle as the birthday treat. There was also a chocolate square on the side that read 'Happy Birthday.' Very nice! The lettering could have been a touch nicer looking though.

Great steakhouse, especially if you're looking to shell out money to try out some interesting Japanese cuts of beef. Not sure I'd try any of their tasting menus, since those didn't include any of the cuts of beef we were interested in. Overall the meal was pretty good, but the restaurant just...

Great ambiance and the server was competent, but this place was all hype and not enough substance! When you claim you are a high end steakhouse and want to wear the crown, you are either going to be a 4/5 or a 1.

Apparently this is supposed to be one of the best steakhouses San Francisco has to offer. That being said one would imagine that cooking a steak medium-rare would be pretty easy...apparently not for these guys.

I went to Alexanders's on the 26th of last month in hopes of getting something MORE than just your average meal. While they like to razzle you and dazzle you with small plates and fancy cocktails, I think we all know what we are there for, the steak! Upon ordering 4 entrees (2 Bone in Filet's and 2 Ribeye's) and some sides we found that it was taking a bit of time to get the food out to us. No biggie as it seemed busy for a Thursday night and When my SO received her steak and cut into it, she told me to look at it. I gagged a little because I know how she ordered her Filet (Normal aka Medium Rare) and this was cooked WAY beyond that.

After taking some time to flag down our waiter we finally got him to the table and instead of explaining to him what we thought the problem was, we asked him flat out what this cook looked like to him. He responded without hesitation and said "Medium Well" (Reminder : Medium Rare ordered). Without an actual discussion or apology he took the plate away and said he would fix it. This is when things for me brought this restaurant down to a 1 star.

Apparently the "FIX" here at Alexander's isn't something simple like a cocktail or a glass of wine while you wait or a salad or quick appetizer or something taken off the bill. They basically think it makes sense to just throw lesser meat at you while everyone else is sitting there eating All of a sudden without warning a plate with a small prime rib just showed up and was placed in front of her. We protested as we had no idea what was going on and said we didn't want or order this. The waiter arrived after these individuals plopped it down without explanation and said it was temporary to make up for the issue with the Filet. We collectively took 1 bite of this thing and said take it away. The waiter stated he would hold it for us but of course we just left it there....why would we want it?!?

Ok so let me get this straight. Filet Mignon was ordered because this individual...um....likes Filet Mignon. So your solution is to present them with something they DON'T LIKE in order to make up for your inability to cook a steak properly?!? Here...just fill your gut with this junk until we figure out how to cook what you actually ordered properly. Who is running this establishment?!?! I have been to restaurants and more importantly steakhouses all around the world and have never experienced this at a "high end" steakhouse like this.

I can tell you I make frequent enough trips to San Francisco to know that there are plenty of options out there for restaurants. Don't believe the hype and stay away from this one and spend your...

Photos will not do justice for this place. First of all, I am bad at taking photos and secondly, I was trying to enjoy the evening so I forgot to take proper photos.

For those who have seen my other reviews, I do not give five stars just because there will always be room for improvements unless I find that perfect 5 stars place amd share it with you. Alexander’s came very close.

The general area is not so bad but I will probably not walk at night around unless if I need to. The restaurant is nice inside, it is certainly a business casual type place and it is not a quiet place. Not necessarily a bad thing, you can feel the energy and good vibes but if you want a quiet place this is not it. What makes If you are looking for steaks that are good and cooked right, this is certainly a place you should visit! The prices are reasonable for the regular steaks and it does get pricey when you go for the Wagyu selections BUT if you have some money to spend or celebrating, then it is certainly worth the little splurge, because the Wagyu steak is great! Well, if you stick with the starting serving of the Wagyu steaks at 3 oz. then the price is still very reasonable. Because my wife was hungry, we went up a few ounces so it drove the price up, but it is certainly very worth it!! At least to try once. I just ordered a prime rib amd it was also good and cooked right. I did try a slice of Wagyu and it is a different level of steak! We have been to several steak houses around the Bay Area and other cities including Dallas, LA, San Diego, and Las Vegas, I will say that Alexander is at least on my top 10.

Where it shines the brightest is with its service! The moment we sat, we were given a complimentary non-alcoholic drink for my wife and I followed by a complimentary appetizer. It actually got me a little full before our order of appetizers arrived. We ordered the pancake caviar and Wagyu tartare for appetizers, both were delicious! Followed by our steaks, which I mentioned were cooked right and delicious. We were seated on the top floor which was full but the server paid attention amd checked on us regularly. Everyone who brought the food on our table were courteous. We ordered dessert along with latte. My latte took a tad longer and when I mentioned it to a lady who brought our dessert, she took action and made it herself brought it to me personally, apologized, AND made our dessert complimentary!! Are there better steakhouses around San Francisco? Yes! But because of this wonderful experience in service and good food, we are already planning our next visit with friends this time.

Give this place a try! I highly...