North Star — Restaurant in Topeka

Vergie (my lady), her son Kenneth, and I, had an incredible dinner, and a fantastic time at The North Star Steakhouse, last night! Kenneth is back in town, on vacation from the U.S. Military (he is currently stationed in the U.K.)! He said steak is his favorite thing, so we put North Star to the test, with Kenneth, and they passed with flying colors! We started off with their fried mushrooms, and onion rings, for our apitizers, and they were delicious. Then, Kenneth had the Porterhouse Steak (I think it was 32 ounces), and he said it was, hands down, the best steak he has ever had! Vergie had the T-Bone steak, and said it was absolutely perfect! I had the Rib Eye, and it was almost too good to be true! We had their famous gravy and French fries, and talk about scrumptious! Our salads were really good, and I had a nice, baked potato, and we also had some broccoli, and I told our server, Debbie, to please make sure my broccoli is steamed well enough, that it won’t be crunchy, and she said, it won’t be, and she was right. Speaking of Debbie, she was one of the absolute best servers that I have ever had-maybe the best. We all agreed on that. She was on point, on everything, and had a wonderful personality! She kept our drinks refilled, checked on us as needed, but not too much, and took away our dirty plates, right on time. A couple other Employees also came by and took away some of our dirty plates, as they have a total team effort, at North Star! The other thing that really impressed us, was that the owners (Jeff and Amy), stopped by our table to make sure everything was great, and it was! By the way, they have great dinner rolls. Oh, and Jeff suggested we try their bread pudding for desert, and Debbie explained it, in detail, and said it comes with ice cream on top-that is now one of our top deserts, ever! I almost forgot-we also tried their chicken fried steak, and it was also delicious. So was their sautéed veggies. Also, Jeff took a picture with us, outside, under their Star, when we were done! Our overall experience, was 5 Star! PS: We have...

This was our first time going to the North Star Steakhouse. I have lived in the Topeka surrounding area my whole life and had never heard of this place. I found it doing a web service for best steakhouses. It’s one of those locals know about it places that really isn’t advertised. You know it’s going to be good when the parking lot is filling up 30 minutes before the doors open. My wife and I ordered the 32 oz sirloin for two. Mine was cooked to medium rare and hers was cooked too medium just the way we ordered them. Both steaks were outstanding the best I have had in years from a restaurant. Our meals came with a side salad and a loaded baked potato. Our son ordered a chicken fired sirloin and it was tender and tasty. It also came with a side salad and tons of fries and a tasty brown gravy. We also ordered the mixed sampler appetizer. This was literally a meal by its self and came with three sauces. One of them was a sweet smokey BBQ sauce that was outstanding and the honey mustard was really good also. The atmosphere was nice and quiet just some nice soft music in the back ground. I have tendonitis and most of the time I cannot have a conversation with people in my party. No problem at the North Star. I was having a conversation with my wife and son at a normal talking voice. No asking them what 5 times!! Those big chain restaurants are just too loud for me with music and TV’s blasting none stop. It’s so annoying to go to those big chain restaurants for me. The service at the North Star was outstanding as well. We will be back, thank you North Star. Keep up the great work and quiet...

I've read mixed reviews for North Star and it seems like the negative reviews are a problem with expectations, not the restaurant. This is not a fancy place. It is a no-nonsense, down-home, comfortable steakhouse. It is old, dark, and comfortable...similar to many roadside bars and grills in Wisconsin, just without the funny accents - keep 'er movin!

Atmosphere - gritty, dark, and comfortable with no annoying TVs in the dining room - it's part of why the place is so lively - everyone is engaged in conversation. Cozy retro booths with privacy. [Management should consider changing the LED lightbulbs to yellow/warm tone instead of blue/cool. The cool LED does not fit with your atmosphere - I know it's minor, just a pet peeve of mine]

Service - friendly without being too much. Really good service every time.

Food - Steaks are always cooked perfectly on their highly seasoned griddle/grill. They seem like decent choice grade steaks. They do get a premium price for the steaks, but it's worth the extra few dollars. They serve a huge pile of home cut fries with what I call dirty-gravy. It's like a country gravy with beef drippings - so good! Salad - cold, crisp lettuce, house made blue cheese dressing. If you like blue cheese, spring for the crumbles - delicious. Bread pudding - unique and delicious. I haven't had the new pork chop, but I've heard it's good.

Drinks - Mixed drinks, beer and surprisingly decent house wines.

Price - They get a bit of a premium for the experience. Pay a few extra bucks and try it. If it's your style, you'll be back.

Keep up the...