Blackstone Steakhouse — Restaurant in Town of Huntington

Really a 3.5 star rating. From a food standpoint disappointing on 40% of the meal. Customer service, from the management standpoint, was a homerun while the wait staff needs to work on it a little bit. Went there for a birthday celebration. Made the reservation well in advance on OpenTable and requested a quiet romantic setting for 7:30 seating. Got there on time and was led to, quite possibly the most unromantic table in the building. With a little bit of fight back, they moved us to another table that I saw was open but not ready yet. Strike one.

While waiting for them to make the table we went to the bar to get something to drink. I walked up to the bar and after about three or four minutes, one of the barmaids asked "is someone helping you" and I said no, so she asked what I wanted and I told her two glasses of Cabernet. She said okay just a minute. 4 minutes later no service, she just completely forgot while I was standing in front of her. So another female bartender asked if I was being helped yet, and I said no and repeated my request. One minute later I had two glasses of Cabernet. Strike two

Was then taken to our table and we were introduced to three people who would be helping us that night, a waitress, a table captain and someone else, perhaps a runner for drinks. We took about 15 minutes to decide, but during that time no one came by no one asked us if we needed anyting, while tables next to us we're getting bread and drinks. Finally the waitress came by after 25 minutes and took our orders. We ordered two appetizers two main courses and two sides. I ordered the braised short ribs and burrata and my lady friend ordered a Kani salad. For the main dish I ordered a special 14 oz sirloin, medium rare with a side of brussel sprouts with bacon, and my lady ordered a double pork chop with a baked potato. 40 minutes later no food, no staff, no additional water, no bread. When one of the wait staff finally made eye contact and realize we needed some help, we mentioned that we needed some bread and what was holding up the appetizers? She said they'd be coming out soon and she apologized. Lo and behold we got the bread the same time as the appetizers. Strike three.

45 minutes later (at least), the waitress came over and said that she apologized for the delay and that the food would be coming out soon. Then a maitre d came over and also apologized for the delay saying the food would be coming out soon, then the manager Michael came over, and also apologize for the delay. Another 5 minutes after that we finally got our food. Looked rather amazing too. The only problem was the sirloin didn't come with a chainsaw to cut it. On a good note after choking down about a quarter of it, the waitress came by and asked how it was and I expressed my dismay at the quality of the cut. She was very gracious and soon after the maitre d came by and insisted that I get a different piece of meat and that there would be no charge for the first part. I was satisfied with that arrangement so I ordered a filet mignon. He told me it would be rushed and that I would only wait a few minutes. After about 5-6 minutes, it did come out extremely rare, not medium rare, but I'm okay with that as I would rather have it rare than overdone.

Really long story... short, while the food was disappointing, (my portion at least because my girlfriend's was quite enjoyable), the service of the management, and their attempt to satisfy me was above par. To that end I will have to say I will probably give Blackstone's another try. Just make sure you speak up if you're not happy. The bill would have been $325 without tip (we had two glasses of wine each). With the meals waived, it came to $200 plus tip. Choose your meal wisely. Oh and by the way, this whole ordeal took just under three hours. That's a long time to sit unhappy...

How sad that I have to write this review. I have been to Blackstones about 5 times in my life. The first 2 times were fantastic. The quality and taste of the food was amazing and the service was great. The last two times the food was good, but not fantastic, and tonight, the food was terrible.

We went on a Tuesday evening at 4:45pm, we were 1 of 3 tables in the restaurant. The waitress came over and asked us about drinks, at which we replied we needed a few more minutes to absorb the menu offerings. She came back what seemed like 30 seconds later and was annoyed that we asked her to give us time to process the wine list. She never came back for our drink order.

The waiter was very polished, well spoken and attentive. He gave us the specials and brought our drinks. Our appetizers came out in a reasonable amount of time and one item stood out to be fantastic, which was the Wedge salad. The Buffalo mozzarella was flavorless and watery, served with weird black olives and what I thought was sun-dried tomatoes, again, flavorless, with no spices or anything to make it taste unique.

We then waited for what was about 40 minutes before flagging the waiter and manager down to ask what the delay was for our entrees. By that time, the restaurant was nearly filled, and almost all the tables were getting their food in a reasonable time frame. We were told that our steak was taking "longer" because we wanted it well done and since the steak was thick, it would take longer to cook, but it was being plated and would come out shortly. It turns out, that was just a BS line because the dry aged porterhouse for two came out, and they had an additional Bunsen burner that they brought out to cook the rest of the steak for my mom who wanted it well done. The steak was only about an inch thick, so it couldn't have been the hold up. My husband ordered the bone in Filet Mignon at $67 and asked for it to be cooked medium. The steak came out rare bordering raw. This steak was about 4 inches thick, so you can imagine trying to cut through a steak that's almost raw. It was cooked to almost burnt on the outside, which tells me they must have forgotten to put in our order, and then rushed it through and gave us whatever line they could to cover it up. The sides were terrible, and the bok choy was hard, undercooked and tasteless.

I have to say, having just come back from a 3 week vacation in Florida, every meal we had there from a fish sandwich on the beach to a dinner at a fancy restaurant was not only better in every way, shape or form, but at almost half the price (even the 5 star ones).

It's a disgrace that with a name like Blackstones, they felt it was ok to serve food like this at the price they are asking you to pay. The manager did come over and adjust the bill to 50% off, but I still felt robbed even paying the 50% which turned out to be over $200 for the meal.

He came over and asked how the food was about 10 seconds after it was served, so we didn't' really have time to process what we were eating. Then he said, " I asked you if it was good and you said yes," as if I was not allowed to take the time to really assess what I was paying for, or worse yet, they wanted to convince you that what you were eating was good.

I will not eat at Blackstones again, and I hope they will realize that if you screw up, you shouldn't just lie to your customers and serve anything just to get it...

Blackstone was delicious! From the grilled octopus to the blackberry bacon, to the steaks, and most certainly the drinks, almost everything was near perfection. The only dish lacking overall was the corn, which came highly recommended. I'll just assume it was just luck of the draw on that dish.

Let's start with drinks. While the wonderful blue martinis name is lost to me now, it was sweet enough but not overbearing, and I enjoyed 4 of them over the length over of our dinner. The real showstopper is their pineapple infused vodka that basically glides down like its water. It is hands down the best vodka I've ever had. I only recommend you get this if you aren't driving because you will want more, and it comes straight on the rocks!

The atmosphere is nice however it is crowded and loud, even at 7pm. A very popular dinner place and it is evident why from their wonderful servers and attentive care of their patrons. Just not ideal for that intimate romantic feeling if that's what you are looking for.

Appetizers/sides are amazing. The Brussels I requested well done because i love a bit more crisp to them, and I devoured half sitting there and enjoyed the rest cold the next day. The grilled Spanish octopus is probably the most wildly delicious dish. The sweet sauce that it was served in, the perfect slight smokiness from the grill, smoothness, and texture of the octopus itself would be hard pressed to match elsewhere. It's really fantastic. The side of bacon with blackberries was wonderful, and the berries absolutely complimented the saltiness of the bacon in a way that I was somehow not expecting. The lack luster side we ordered was the corn, and while it came highly recommended, it did not live up to the high expectations set and honestly tasted average. I can not recommend that dish. The Mac and cheese was creamy perfection and always my go-to for comfort. If you can't nail Mac and cheese, just close up shop! They did not disappoint.

The main courses were steaks, of course. The special was a flank steak with chimmichurrie that I really wished I could have finished then, but alas, it came home and was finished the next day. It's really awesome. It had asparagus stuffed inside and was a lovely surprise.

Dessert, I always order creme brulee to see how a restaurant throws down on this dish. It was not the best I've ever had. It was not the worst. I would have loved to have seen the real vanilla beabs used in it for more visual flare or tasted more vanilla throughout. Texture wise, it was fine, but overall, it was not outstanding. Of course, after the awesome meal, it is hard to top off that much excellence....