Peter Luger Steak House — Restaurant in Town of North Hempstead

Free valet parking. No credit cards!! Only cash or debit, it is crazy how in this time and age I have to worry about form of payment, specially for a high profile steak house, for the price of the steak here they should be going to the bank for me and bringing me the cash without I have to stand up from my table. But be prepared to spend at the very least 100 dollars in here in one sitting and I am being very conservative, one of their steak options is almost 300. The bar only takes cash, then u need to walk to the hostess podium, to pay both bar and table expenses, so you get high class fine dining prices and pay like you were at the Boston market. This pay system has me irritated. The bread for the table is awesome but it was cold. The butter was also a little too hard. again, for the type of image they going for here the stuff I have noticed does not justify their prices at all.

The decor is rustic and very cozy. U have the more aged and wise waiter staff here with the proper table etiquette, that aspect is so traditional, all the older man working at a steak house is such an cliche that I do not find bad. Theres is zero music!!! yes no ambiance music no nothing! these people make more than enough money t afford an iPod playing free pandora, come on. Keep in mind that if u don't eat much and wanna share with your date they will charge an extra 5 dollars, cause they are not content with the 100+ dollar meals, they also do not want u to share them with anyone. The sides are paid separately the steaks and most entrees do not come with sides, and the sides are pretty expensive too, let me tell you that they are not great either, the choices are real poor. The waiter was good at up-selling their known bacon, our waiter failed to bring us menus but he was quick to offer the bacon, he was funny cause I don't even know what is the food and the price but he is there already trying to sell me something I have no idea about CAUSE I DONT HAVE A MENU! We were bot given a menu at the moment of sitting.... as I mentioned before, idk what this steak house is thinking but they just sat us and started to try taking orders with never have given the table the menus, so poor or them They serve the meals in a family style manner and it is cool to see that once one food comes out to a table ALL the wait staff comes up to that table and start the family style service, and serve the first plate to all persons on the table. BACON- amazing, very fatty and buttery, tasty and came out very quickly. HOME FRIES- I was not a super fan, it was crunchy and all but to me it tasted old and salty. CREAM OF SPINACH - It was creamy and all but it was not warm it was almost like room temperature and not great at all.... I was not impressed for the price. THE PORTER HOUSE STEAK- this is their featured steak that comes out on a seasiziling plate and impresses everyone. I will not lie that it is indeed a impressive piece of meat, it is soft and smooth to eat, easy to cut and fall in love with. But the price. ... is not up to par for sure. The price is something that irritates me and I will come to it at the summary. LOBSTER- It comes opened in half from the kitchen with some bead crumbs stuffing it was more worth it than other places I have been in the past, when talking about the meat content. HOLY COW-Sunday with plenty chocolate syrup and vanilla ice cream, comes in a large old school ice cream cup, it was ok but not impressed. CHOCOLATE MOUSSE- omg!the mousse was ok and the whipped that came with it was great but the crust was rock hard, I even hurt my hand trying to slice my bites with a spoon , I was a second away from asking for a KNIFE to cut it. Now overall I am not impressed, in fact I will never come back here again. Here u are overpaying for the name and the idea of a steakhouse, the prices here are unacceptable for what you get. What you actually get here is ok service, no menu, no acceptance of credit cards, cold food, no music, steak sauce that tasted like shrimp cocktail sauce and...

This is my third time going to Peter Luger, and unfortunately, it was such a disappointment. I love going to the best restaurants. Peter Luger is a big name, as everyone knows. I was impressed the first time I was taken to Peter Luger on a date years ago. However, this is my second time that I've been there to celebrate a special occasion. I called and was excited that I was able to make a dinner reservation for 2 for a Saturday to celebrate my boyfriend's birthday. I wanted something really special, and although I do not eat red meat at all, my boyfriend is a huge fan of what is considered excellent steak. The person on the phone was very kind and accommodating and said I just had to order a dessert and they would sing happy birthday to my boyfriend. She reminded me to bring cash for the check, which I was already aware of. Well, we came in a bit early and sat at the bar. The older, chunky bartender there was extremely rude to EVERYONE! I couldn't believe it! He was rude to me, my boyfriend, and other customers and yelled at the younger bartender working with him in front of everyone on a Saturday evening when the place was obviously busy! Again, i couldn't believe what I continuously witnessed and experienced. Finally, we were taken to our table. Service definitely felt rushed. I must say their famous steak sauce tastes like regular shrimp dipping sauce... disappointing for my boyfriend. My boyfriend was absolutely NOT impressed with the steak and said he's had better steak at similar prices and cheaper. I wasn't impressed with any appetizers we had. I wasn't impressed with any side dishes. I wasn't impressed with my fish. We ordered an apple strudel to share, and they brought their famous homemade whip cream! Definitely delicious! However, they forgot we were there for my boyfriend's birthday!!! They didn't sing happy birthday to him. Meanwhile, almost every table had a birthday celebration and they sang happy birthday to each of them, but forgot about my boyfriend! I was livid and embarrassed. I wanted to finish eating my whip cream, which was the highlight of the night for me, lol, but the waiter just came over and took it away as it looked like we were done. He did not ask. I paid the check, which was expensive but nothing unexpected. However, although we are used to paying "expensive" dinner experiences, this time, I did not feel it was worth it. The whole experience was close to a nightmare. My boyfriend couldn't believe how poor service was here, and again, nothing impressive about the food in general (except for the apple strudel and whip cream lol). When you pay certain prices, especially at a place with such a reputation, you expect good food and definitely excellent service. If you're expecting royalty treatment for the high price you're paying in cash, you'll be extremely disappointed, lol. Going back to the older, grumpy, and extremely nasty bartender, he should simply NOT be allowed to work there! His behavior and attitude are absolutely undoubtedly unacceptable... anywhere but especially at a place with such a huge name. At this point, I honestly believe that they know their name and reputation and simply don't care about living up to customers' expectations and obviously are not afraid of how their poor service (and hiring incompetent, rude people) could potentially tint their reputation. They must feel untouchable. Think about it twice before spending your money, at least on a Saturday evening, at this place. I sadly do not recommend it and we will not be returning. Btw, we drove 1.5hr for this nightmare...

So Ive been wanting to go to Peter Lugers for as long as i could remember. Unfortunately I hyped myself up for no reason. It was mediocre at best. So i spent an anticipated $200. Got the rib steak, fries, side of broccoli, tomato and onion for the table, and the wife went with the Alaskan Salmon (shes not much of a meat eater).

I called in a reservation for 9:45. We got there a little early so we grabbed drinks while we waited. I got an old fashioned and her, a glass of wine. The host showed us to our table maybe 4 minutes after buying a drink and he carried the wifes glass to the table (i liked that very much and expected that type of service throughout the night).

We sit down, get handed the menu, look over it relatively quickly and put in our order. Our server didnt introduce himself. We were asked how everything was multiple times but not once was my water refilled...

Decor: I couldnt with the plates. I was looking for Christopher Columbus. 3 ships evenly distributed in a circle. I called them the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. They were odd plates. The place as a whole was pretty nice.

So now to critique the food. Imagine a head of broccoli from the supermarket, drop it in a pot of boiling water, dont leave it in too long, serve as is, undercooked. Uncut. No salt. (Garlic would have enhanced the flavor but i guess they were going for bland).

Fries, dude salt! Personally, i rather no salt on anything but fries without salt is Unamerican.

Bread, warm the bread! How am i supposed to spread a brick of butter on bread thats cold?

The sliced tomato and onion was LITERALLY a slice of tomato and onion. The slice was impressive though. Perfect thickness.

I ordered the steak Medium, and... well got it medium, but the outside was charred. It didnt taste any different from any other meat. They did deliver it cut into strips which was nice.

Can you explain to me how is it that the best thing i had at the steak house was a Salmon Fillet? Now that salmon was perfect.

What stood out most in the steakhouse: Their steak sauce. I love me a good sauce and that sauce was Goood!

Bottom line, if you want THE Peter Luger experience, just buy...