Michael B.
Yelp
Prime is a high end restaurant, that doesn't seem to understand how to be a high end restaurant. Charging premium prices, for food, is not the only requirement for a quality experience.
Our party arrived about ten minutes before our reservation time. We still had to wait to be seated. While I understand that we may have had to wait during peak business hours, it made no sense at the time of our reservation. When we were seated, the area we were in, was virtually empty, so logically the wait really didn't make sense.
Typically a wait like this wouldn't be an issue, but the design of this restaurant is a total nightmare. The front of the building is a narrow choke point that funnels everyone through it. There is almost zero space to actually wait, and being right next to the rest rooms, you have people constantly flowing back and forth through the area.
When we were seated, the room itself was nice, but being in a glorified industrial park, meant spending the time looking at a John Deere sign, rather detracted from the supposed premium experience.
My first mistake was using the men's restroom. The floor around the urinal area was wet, with what I had to assume was urine. Either the urinals were leaking or people missed. Either way paying a premium price, should result in staff regularly checking, and cleaning the restrooms throughout the service day.
As the restaurant became busier the level of noise became quite loud. Basically you could hear conversations at the table, but had to really speak loudly, due to the overall din, to fully understand each other.
In regard to the food, it was food. Nothing really special. I have had better steaks at Longhorn. The garlic mashed potatoes were bland, and not garlicky, but the biggest disappointment was that they were room temperature. If paying a premium price, I should get hot food.
One member of our party ordered their steak rare, and got more of a medium well. It was sent back and redone, but there wasn't any type of discount, for their mistake, or even a proper apology. There was an odd comment, from what I guess was the manager, saying, "thank you for letting us recook your steak". What? In other words, we are thankful we didn't do it right the first time??
When we went to leave, the choke point of the hallway, was a see if people shuffling in and out. Staff with orders, customers waiting for seats, people going to and from the restrooms, which created a sea of humanity reminiscent of the New York City subway at rush hour.
While the staff tried, the majority seemed to be college age, or younger. They seemed very inexperienced. Perhaps good leadership could inspire them, perhaps a better layout could make things easier, but without changes this is nothing more than a pretentious pretender waiting to be more than it is.
Overall, this is a place with so-so food, so-so service, and so-so atmosphere. If you want better steak, go to Longhorn or Texas Roadhouse. If you want ambiance and better service, along with the food, at a premium price, Clinton House in Clinton NJ was better the last time we visited. Better places in the area than Prime in Bethlehem, PA.
