Buckinghams Steakhouse and Lounge

I may have found my new favorite place out here. It may not be yours.

Buckingham's has a lot going for it, but I'd like to provide a tiny bit about me and why my review should matter a little.

I travel extensively for business and a big part of my business is spending time in steakhouses with customers. From Carnevino to St. Elmo's to Peter Luger's, if you can drop a few too many coins on a killer piece of meat and it's near a major metro, I've either been there or have it on my list.

Before leaving grad school, I worked in restaurants specializing in this area. On both sides of the tablecloth, I am familiar if nothing else.

So Buckingham's does quite a few things right. The ingredients will meet or exceed your expectations. When you factor in the price, there is no way the quality of the ingredients doesn't exceed expectations. The value to quality ratio leans heavily towards value. Our meal would have been minimum $100 more for 2 at a Morton's or other chain steakhouse.

Seared scallops and shrimp cocktail began the night. Scallops were cooked perfectly with a good sear but not overdone. This was a smoking value as well. I may come back and simply order two of these as a meal. The shrimp were probably 4 count shrimp, devoid of any fishy smell, nicely prepped and quite good. Even the cocktail sauce was decent and I'm normally not a big fan (aside from St. Elmo's).

The wine list was small, but had some outstanding wines at outstanding prices. The bottle we had there I had recently bought for only about $10 less at out local wine boutique. This value thing keeps popping back up.

My steak was expertly prepared. It was a gorgeous cut of prime beef, aged very nicely and incredibly delicious. It came with sides. Really good sides. The potatoes were awesome. My wife loved her meal as well.

So this looks like a home run. I mean, all this talk about great food and a killer value...

Herein lies the killer. I mentioned having spent a lot of time in restaurants like this. I am used to the coddling level of service, expert bus staff that wait and pounce like tennis ball boys when my water glass drops even slightly below the full mark, someone to monitor and pour my wine and a knowledgable waiter that knows the menu, describes the food and sells me on why I'm spending this much money.

Let's delve into some specifics. I was paying our bar tab when my wife was sat. The waitress apparently walked up to the table, said "oh I see you have drinks" and walked away. No introduction, no welcome, no mention of her name.

OK, the whole party wasn't seated, passable.

I sit. And wait. After 10 minutes or so, the waitress stops back by the table.

"You ready to order?"

No introduction, no welcome, no mention of her name, or the specials, or the standard steakhouse dissertation about how "the prime quality of their beef represents only 2% of all beef produced in the US and how their proprietary dry aging procedure helps to enhance the delicious natural beef essence" and so on and so forth. I felt like I was at the counter at a Denny's.

The room is small. They may call it intimate, but it's definitely small. This in and of itself isn't a killer. I mean, it's Elgin. As a former Elginite, I understand all to well that Casino or not, the local economy could support this type of place if there were many more tables. The downside is the room is very loud. The music is inaudible due to the acoustics amplifying the conversation buzz to a dull roar.

And that is what kills the place. Lack of finishing. Lack of attention to detail. I may pick on the Capital Grille, but this type of thing would simply not happen there. The food wouldn't be as good and it would cost more, but to the proletarian palate, it would feel quite a bit more special. I know this isn't the type of dinner most people go out to all the time. And as such, if you're "special occasioning", don't count on Buckingham's to special it up for you.

So yeah, probably my new favorite place in the area. I will very likely be back. I don't know how many people I'll bring with me as, for the sake of their perception of the evening, I'll suffer through a (shudder) choice grade steak at Ruth's Chris.

Service - 5 Stars
Ambience & Decor - 5 Stars
Steaks cooked to correct temperature - 3 stars
Taste - still 5 stars, despite the 3 star above

So I'll settle on 4 stars for Buckinghams.

Hubby ordered the rack of lamb, cooked medium, and his was perfectly cooked to medium.  Delish!  He was a bit sad they didn't include any of the sauce it came with (in a small bowl on his plate) in a little container as he took half of his meal home. I ordered mushrooms with my steak and they put those in a small separate box  for me.

My friend and I both ordered Porterhouse steaks.  I ordered mine medium rare - the smaller tenderloin side was cooked perfectly medium rare.  The larger strip steak side was medium.  Same thing for my friend's who asked for his medium - the tenderloin portion was medium but the strip steak side was medium well.  Hmm.  I would hope a nice steakhouse could cook the steaks to the proper temperature so I'm not sure what the issue was.  But, the QUALITY of the cut was still outstanding - tender and flavorful.

The side of mushrooms I ordered for my steak deserves it's own paragraph!  Wow.  It was an extra $5 which seems steep for mushrooms but these were worth it.  They were large with a nice meaty texture, cooked perfectly and enough that I will have mushrooms to enjoy with both rounds of leftovers I will get from my steak.

The three of us shared a slice of cheesecake since we were nearly stuffed.  I thought "New York Style" cheesecake was supposed to be a creamier texture, but I'm not a cheesecake expert so I'm not sure.  It was just your average cheesecake, nothing special about it or the crust.  It said it came with a chocolate sauce, but it was more of a chocolate drizzle.  Fine by me, but if you are a chocolate fan you might want to ask for more.  The whole fresh blackberries & raspberries it came with were perfectly ripe & a nice touch.

The service was outstanding.  From making our reservations, to the hostess greeting, our server who was gracious & attentive (but not overly so) and the manager bidding us farewell - all a lovely experience.

$55 for ONE and a HALF POUNDS of Fresh Alaskan King Crab Legs
$38 for THIRTY TWO OUNCE Tomahawk Bone-in Prime Ribeye Steak

That's basically Dinner for Two where each couple gets 16oz Ribeye Steak and 12oz. of plump King Crab Legs for $46.5 a person!

Very good quality food at very good value....as long as you don't head to the casino!

Interior is very similar to McCormick & Schmick's...surprising gem in Elgin.