Kristen H.
Yelp
Medium Rare is a popular DC-based chain serving up what seems to be an unbeatable deal: a pre-fixe menu of bread, salad, and two portions of steak frites for $31.95. My party of eight made a reservation for a Sunday night at 6:00pm around 4 days in advance, and we were immediately seated when we arrived. The restaurant itself is located right next to the Silver Line Virginia-Square Metro Station near the heart of Arlington. The space itself is sleek and dark, though the ambiance is quite loud and buzzy. You're led to a table covered in paper, where the server will ask everyone what their preference is for how they like their steak cooked - they will then draw a grid delineating everyone's preference for further reference later on.
Everyone starts with their Artisan Rustic Bread, which is served with butter. The bread is warm and toasted, and tastes homemade, but we found it overly crusty, and the butter is extremely cold when it arrives at the table, so it's practically impossible to spread. Moving on from that, they bring out their Mixed Green Salad - the base of the salad is nice, crunchy, and fresh, with romaine lettuce, mixed greens, and tomatoes, but we found it to be overdressed (practically glistening with an oily vinaigrette, and too salty).
The first round of steak came out around 10 minutes after the salad service - I will say, props to the kitchen for handling a busy restaurant so well. I ordered my steak rare, while most of my companions ordered medium-rare, and one member of my party ordered medium-well. For the first round of steak, it's around a 5oz portion served with crispy fries and a "secret sauce." Everyone's steak was cooked to their liking, and while it's not the highest-quality piece of steak, I will say, it's elevated with the sauce, which is creamy, savory, and slightly herbaceous (the perfect umami level). I asked for a portion of salad with my steak as opposed to the fries (as my party remarked that the fries were overly salty), and they were happy to oblige, although again, my salad was overdressed.
For the second portion, they bring it out in sizzling hot pans, and this is where the meal started to go downhill. They brought out all eight portions in the same hot pan, meaning all eight of the portions were cooked to medium-well, even though most of us had preferred rare/medium rare. I asked for my steak to be cooked rare, and they were nice enough to make me another portion, although that was overcooked too when they brought it out. They do give a more generous portion of fries in the second round, and gave me another plate of salad with dressing on the side when I requested it.
They have an extensive dessert menu (all $12, with apparently huge portions), but none of us really wanted to eat any more. We weren't all that full (there wasn't too much steak, actually, even with a second portion), but we didn't want to spend much more money than the pre-fixe menu.
Overall, this is a nice concept for a restaurant, but there were a few aspects of the meal that were subpar. While you're getting a better value than going out to a steakhouse, I would prefer to shell out a bit more for a higher-quality experience and dishes executed to a better standard. They also tack on a 20% service charge for large parties, so I would be aware of that. Go in with tempered expectations and this is a decent spot, but I wouldn't venture back again.