Char Steakhouse and Bar — Restaurant in Town of Putnam Valley

We had just spent 3 days in New York City. We were about an hour outside of NYC, driving back to Montreal and since we hadn’t eaten all day, we figured we’d stop somewhere to eat. We expected to find only fast food on the road.

I saw signage for Fuel and Food on the TSP. To our disappointment, there was only a gas station with a Deli inside the gas station.

We decided to return on the TSP and try another exit further down the road. Then my wife saw a billboard advertising a steakhouse. I thought it was an ad because I couldn’t see a steakhouse establishment from the road. It was dark outside. I drove down the little road there and to my surprise, we found a steakhouse hidden from view.

Well, the service and food were great (great desserts) except for our Porterhouses.

My wife had the 20oz rib steak and she was happy with it. Had no complaints.

My son and I had the 28oz Porterhouse

They have 2 sizes of Porterhouses. 28oz for $61 and 40oz for $145.

I assumed the 40oz is dry aged due to the extra cost (don’t remember)

I asked the waiter which he recommends, 28oz porterhouse $61 or 30oz Rib Steak $62. He recommended the Porterhouse.

We ordered all our meats Medium Rare and they came to the table Medium Rare as asked.

Well, that was the worst Porterhouse I had in my life. Was very hard to cut and chewy even cooked Medium Rare. Found that so strange. I assumed because it’s not dry aged or it’s a cheap quality.

I still ate it, with lots of salt added. I guess I should have ordered...

The additional star is for the bar tender who was attentive and kind while we waited for our reservation, and for the whipped mashed potatoes and peppercorn sauce.

My fiance and I do not have much disposable income, the last time we spent $300 on a dinner was when we came here 2 years ago for our anniversary and it was excellent. We were looking forward to celebrating a special occasion here for weeks.

-We had a 645 reservation, we were asked to wait at the bar and get a drink. We were sat 30 minutes later at 715. -It was so loud in there and packed, we had to yell at eachother to hear. -We ordered a $145 porter house for 2 to be cooked at medium rare. The steak was absolutely hammered, mostly gray with some pink and the filet was grainy. We complained to our waitress Jessica twice about the cook of the steak.

We spent $300 on this dinner, the hammered and gray steak was truly devastating and really put a damper on the entire weekend. This dinner was my fiance's milestone birthday gift.

I am just truly shocked that we were made to wait 30 minutes where we spent additional $$ on a round of drinks and then after complaining about the severe overcook of the steak twice there was no compensation.

We are very sad and upset about this experience, because when we came 2 years ago it was excellent.

I am not sure if it was an "off night" but an establishment like this should not have off nights. The host was obviously stressed at how packed and backed up there...

Came to Char for dinner last night with the bf. We had booked a reservation for “restaurant week” and got a slot for Saturday night at 7:30. We got there and was told they don’t do Restaurant Week on the weekends (would have been nice to have known) $$$$ - pricey!!

We sat down anyway. Ordered drinks- took a long time coming. Appetizers- took a long time coming but were tasty. Ordered the Grilled Octopus which was pretty good, cooked to par. But lacking in presentation. And also the Mussels in Champagne and Saffron. That was pretty decent also.

For our mains we ordered the Cowboy steak (cooked beautifully but could have done with better seasoning - was a little flavorless) and with 3 different sauces (peppercorn, piquant and gorgonzola) peppercorn and gorgonzola were thick and weird and not very good but the piquant (which our server recommended) was on point. For our sides - twice baked potato and Brussels sprouts with bacon jam. The twice baked potato was disappointing. It tasted like a refrigerator 🤢 it was tough, the “melted” cheese was like hard plastic. We didn’t eat it.

We also ordered the Salmon which was whatever. The tiniest little piece of fish which came with mashed potatoes (also rock hard and flavorless :( and their spinach.

Their cocktails though!!!! I had the Mediterranean Mule. 2 of them actually... I want to learn how to make at home. So good!!!

For $$$$ I...