Counterdisclaimer: Even with the disclaimer above, I have to say I am not a vegetarian. I eat pork, lamb, chicken and I CAN enjoy a beef steak (or the occasional burger). In fact, one of my favorite restaurants is Capital Grille, where the few times I go there I will order a steak tartare for an appetizer and for the entree one of their specialties, the porcini rubbed Delmonico, a dry aged, bone-in ribeye that is a piece of heaven.
Both points made, let me start this post.... Last Saturday we went to Manny's, a fairly famous steak house right at the heart of downtown Minneapolis (at the bottom of the W hotel in the Foshay tower). I will admit I was't going with the greatest of expectations, (see disclaimer above), but given their reputation I was willing to make the best of it and even enjoy a steak (see counterdisclaimer above).
After a round of cocktails/martinis, we ordered a couple of appetizers to share. The Scallops Benedict, came sheared over bacon on top of a piece of brioche and covered in Hollandaise sauce (see picture above). I was not impressed. I felt the Scallops didn't have a nice char and the brioche was greasy.
The House Made Chips (below) weren't much better. I thought they were too thin, a tad overcooked and the plate was way too big. The latter was an obvious attempt to be able to charge $7.95 for potato chips. A corollary that would repeat time after time during our meal.
Our waitress came with a cart with sample of their steaks (and a cool live lobster). Immediately it was obvious nobody would go home hungry (perhaps disappointed, but no hungry). I will spare you all the descriptions, but the Porterhouse would not fit in a family sedan and the bone-in ribeye was three pounds for a single serving. The latter was dubbed the Bludgeon of Beef (this is not a joke, check out the menu online, that is the name). Ordering that entry (no sides) will set you back $75.95.
At that point I remembered that the protein portion of your plate is supposed to be the size of a deck of cards. Not at Manny's, where the food pyramid was perpetually inverted. This is no joke, the plate of steamed broccoli the four of us shared was about the same size in volume than the single serving rib-eye we were being shown.
Still I was there to play ball, so I ordered a rib-eye (not the ridiculous 3 lbs. one, but a more sensible one that still dug a $49.95 in our collective wallet. Please know that I don't usually make a point to complain about the price of a meal. But in this case, the disparity of price to service and quality was so large that I felt cheated and offended. Even embarrassed.
John ordered the same steak that I did. Sharon and Clark ordered Salmon and Halibut. For sized we ordered hash-browns and steamed broccoli.
Here are the results. The two fish entrees had to be sent TWICE back because they were overcooked and as a result dry. At that point they had eaten enough of the entrees and our steaks that they decided not to ask for a third attempt from the kitchen, which was unlikely to be a charm.
The hash-browns where unevenly cooked but I guess they weren't terrible, though not worth the $11.95. The rib-eyes were just OK, but depicted my main complaint against steakhouses. You spend $49.95 for a steak at a nice steakhouse and what do you get? A steak. At least at Capital Grille they rub some porcini on the outside to give it great color an flavor. Mine had some tough parts running through it, but I won't complain much more, since it ended up feeding more than just me.
The broccoli was fine. A tough one to screw up, I guess.
To compensate for the fish being sent back twice, dessert was on the house. Not that we got to select it. They instead brought an obscene brownie. If they were trying to redeem themselves, that was the wrong messenger. To show you the stupid size of the portion, I took a picture with a dollar bill behind it. The brownie was covered in no less than a half a pound of ice-cram and whipped cream and loaded with fudge, caramel and nuts.
It may sound good, but it felt like the rest of the meal. Too large and not good enough for the reputation of the place. We had a few bites and called it a night.
The final bill (which did not include two of the entrees or the dessert) exceeded $300 for the four of us before the tip. My general feeling is that the quality, portion sizes and prices were just not in lockstep with a reality of the times in which frugality has become hip. Don't get me wrong, I am not particularly frugal, but after that meal, I felt embarrassed.
One thing is clear. That was my only first and last time at Manny's. It will also be some time before I visit another steakhouse.
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