Steven's Restaurant

We had a terrific dinner at Steven's the other night.  There were a few slight inconveniences, but in the end, the food was terrific, so there may be hope for the front of the house yet.

We had a reservation, and we were seated promptly. We had two kids with our party, and the hostess told us she was "out of kids menus" but would get some for us (they never materialized. When we asked our waiter we saw him ask the manager who told him to "figure it out" - well done manager, nothing like backing your staff and serving your customer. To his credit, our waiter returned, apologized, and when we asked for some ideas from the kids menu, he knew enough of them to satisfy our kids.

It was slow.  Slow, slow.  It was Saturday night, and the waitstaff was way over their heads with tables. The hostess was clearly clueless.

Then the food started to come out.

For starters, we enjoyed the crab cakes (spicy) and the crab avocado tower (fresh). They were both dynamite.  We also enjoyed the Grilled Salmon and the Wasabi Steak (which unfortunately had no wasabi on it (or peppercorn crust for that matter), but it took so long to get out, I didn't dare send it back to the kitchen. Besides, it was cooked perfectly).  We also enjoyed the chicken penne pesto very much.

From the aforementioned kids menu (or lack of one) my youngest really liked his fried shrimp.

The waitstaff did what it could, and the kitchen turned out close to perfect food. Management and training still has a ways to go, but that wouldn't stop me from recommending Steven's Restaurant if you are in the area.

Pros:

+  The food. Tasty, fresh, well cooked, despite small over sites
+  They recognized our reservation on a busy night
+  Overburdened waitstaff still came through

Cons:

+ The manager on Sat. Night.
+  Front of house training, hostess & manager were terrible

Our friends had mentioned this place before and when I saw a Groupon deal for them we figured we'd give it a try. We hadn't had much luck with Steakhouses in northern Lake County so we were kinda skeptical about how it would turn out.

We had 6 pm reservations and it was already somewhat crowded. I started with a Pineapple Upside Down martini which was soooo good! We decided to do without an appetizer as we were busy filling up on the delicious bread they hand out and our meals both came with either a soup or salad. My husband got the ceaser salad, which  is hard to mess up and I ordered their much talked about crab brie soup. I had to restrain myself from licking the bowl it was that good. My husband ordered the filet with new orleans smashed potatoes and I'm always a sucker for beef wellington. By the end of the night we were both in a meat coma.

I'd definitely recommend this place. Only a few cons:

1. The steaks were good cuts but husband's steak was too salty.
2. Wish they had bottled water like Perrier or Pelligrino. They only had seltzer water which hubby asked for and it was horrible like the lines hadn't been cleaned in a long time.
3. Wish the crab brie soup came with more crab. There was only like a teaspoon of crab in the middle.

Luckily my first time here was for a birthday party.  The ambiance was excellent.  I really enjoyed the live music and dancing.  Also, the staff was great, and the server we had was excellent.  

So, why only 3 stars....price, seasoning, steak texture.  The items on the menu were overpriced for the area.  I would expect to pay what we paid at a restaurant a little closer to Chicago.  One of the appetizers that we ordered was the lamb chops.  My husband and I are huge fans of lamb chops.  Neither one of us had more than one.  Others in our party ( 20 people) described them as, blah.  I ordered my sirloin medium, it arrived more on the medium well side.  I made the best of it.  I'm not the biggest fan of overcooked meat.  To me it becomes chewy and looses it's natural flavor.  I had to request A-1 steak sauce for help.  

Now, what did I like.  A big party meant there was plenty of food to sample.  The following are all an A+ in my book, crab & avocado salad, calamari, mussels in white wine and garlic sauce,  mashed sweet potato's, roast beef sandwich, and the shrimp pasta (the shrimp were HUGE).  

The portion sizes were good.  However, the prices were still too high for the location.