Bobby Van's Grill — Restaurant in Washington

I recently dined at Bobby Van's Grill with my family and was deeply disappointed by the handling of food allergies. While the steak itself was flavorful, the experience was marred by a serious oversight in food safety. Despite clearly informing our waiter about my allergies, my steak was served on a bed of fried potatoes, which I explicitly asked about due to the possibility of cross-contamination. When I learned that the potatoes were deep fried—a fact that should have been flagged immediately given my allergy and the shared fryer with breaded items like fried calamari and fried fish—the waiter simply took the steak back to the kitchen. To my dismay, a new steak reappeared within minutes. This rushed replacement led me to suspect that the original steak had merely been re-plated, not properly re-prepared. However since we were at a steak house, it would not be too difficult to re-cook a medium rare filet in a rush. Unfortunately, my symptoms later confirmed that the steak had indeed been re-plated despite being cross-contaminated by the potatoes and informing the staff of this issue. For a restaurant that prides itself on high ratings and charged around $100 per person, this level of ignorance and carelessness about food allergies is completely unacceptable. The kitchen and wait staff demonstrated a troubling lack of knowledge and concern for allergy management. It’s clear that Bobby Van’s Grill needs to overhaul their food safety practices and staff training to avoid jeopardizing the health of their patrons. Steakhouses should be a safe choice for those with allergies, given the straightforward nature of their menu, which features simple, unadorned meats. The lack of complex ingredients and preparation methods should ideally minimize the risk of cross-contamination and ensure a safer dining experience for people with allergies. My experience was both frustrating and disheartening, and I hope the restaurant takes these issues seriously to prevent future incidents. As a quick aside, the bar was unable to make a simple dirty gin martini. Despite being remade multiple times, the bartenders did not know the difference between dry and sweet vermouth and continuously made it with sweet. Another oversight that could have been easily fixed with proper training. When comparing to the quality of other high-end steakhouses in the area like Ruth’s Chris, Rare, and Capitol Grill, this was disappointing to...

We were three airline pilots who decided to go to Bobby Vans as one of our group had been before and was about to retire even though we knew it was an expensive restaurant but with supposedly great steaks so we decided to give it a bash. Upon arriving at the restaurant there was a sign outside advertising the Seafood Bouquet starter on special at half price. The date was 19 June 2018. The restaurant was not very full and we were seated close to the windows where the other patrons were seated. We ordered drinks and the waiter asked if we would like starters. He was professional but impersonal. One of our group asked about the Seafood Bouquet. We assumed it was something we could share at $26. I then asked if it was on special as advertised at the entrance and the waiter mumbled something and avoided answering. We ordered the starter and it arrived on one plate. We shared it and I did notice that it was quite a substantial amount of food for what we believed was one starter. It was, however, quite tasteless and the sauces were required to give it flavor. We then ordered two Cajun Ribeye steaks and I had the Porcini Delmonico plus we ordered a few sides. The other two seemed to enjoy their steaks but I found mine lacked marbling and was very average. It wasn't a bad steak but wasn't exceptional which was what I was expecting considering the waiter recommended it. We also had desert. I had the apple pie, once again on the recommendation of the waiter, and the pastry was completely raw on the bottom. However, when we received the bill, not only were we charged for 3 Seafood Bouquet starters even though we believed we had only ordered one to share (I have seen other reviews complaining about this same issue), but they were charged at full price even though the sign outside said half price and I had queried the discount before ordering. We simply accepted the bill, which was close to $500, and left Bobby Vans for the first and last time. I will not...

They did not respect allergies, solo dinner bar only, great steak cooked as ordered and dessert was very good.

At this price point the experience was disappointing.

Despite the restaurant being mostly empty they were only willing to seat my party of 1 at the bar. Fortunately the bar had the full menu available. It was loud and that detracted from my enjoyment.

I ordered a dry aged prime ribeye steak and hash browns. We discussed my allergies and was assured the hash browns were safe. (Not fried in oil used by fish or shellfish) And they would note the allergy. When my food arrived the steak was plated on top of fries (not listed on the menu). I asked the server if the fries were fried in oil that was used for fish and shellfish. After checking they took the steak away and said they would make me another without fries. So I ate the hash browns while I waited. Just like the first steak the second steak was cooked exactly as ordered. I didn't eat any of the first so can't comment on that but the second was very tasty and was a good cut of meat. I would have liked to have my starch at the same time as my steak but that wasn't to be.

The hash browns were good but not what I was expecting. I don't believe the bell peppers are mentioned on the menu. The potatoes were cut into small cubes and were fried nicely. I didn't enjoy the bell peppers.

I enjoyed the desert. (Lemon cake). Not too sweet but had a lot of zest.

Probably because I was at the bar the service wasn't very good. They were not very attentive. Other than replacing my steak they didn't attempt to do anything to make up...