Jason R.
Google
I want to begin this review with a compliment. STK Steakhouse has a great ambiance and is in a great location for walking downtown. On Saturday, October 25th, my wife and I took a drive to downtown Denver to walk around on a nice day and find somewhere we haven’t been before to eat. After strolling around Larimer Square and 16th street, filled with restaurants, we decided we felt like splurging and going to an upscale steakhouse for a decadent lunch to treat ourselves. We looked at the other ones in the area, and also considered going to Chris & Ruth, or Hillstone, or Eddie V’s. I found STK, and it looked good from photos and a 4.4 Google review, so we walked there, arriving right around noon-ish. The place was empty as you can see in the photo. Except for a three top in the bar having cocktails. We first ordered the fried calamari appetizer with basil and shoshito peppers, and my wife ordered a cocktail. She ordered the Shrimp Scampi and I ordered the STK Sandwich. The menu with those items are attached for you to read the description. The drink was about a 10 minute wait. The calamari was about a 15 minute wait. The server checked with us after a few bites, and it was good, okay, with my personal rating of 3 for 5 stars. After we finished, the server took our plate. From that time, it was 20 minutes until we got our entrees. There had been one two top table sat in that time. The STK Sandwich is supposed to be shaved New York Strip. It was a whole piece of steak placed in between the buns, but just cut in half. Plus, it was raw inside. Not rare, raw. My wife’s shrimp were undercooked, gray, and still translucent. So, when the server checked with us, we mentioned they were both incorrect and undercooked. She apologized profusely and quickly had them removed. After returning them to the kitchen, she came back to tell us the kitchen would refire both plates from scratch. It was another 20 minutes until we received the second set of entrees. The shrimp in the scampi were cooked. However, my steak still wasn’t shaved steak. The kitchen had taken the old steak, chipped it into two to three inches chunks, and grilled the pieces to a medium rare/medium. The server had never asked me what temperature to have my steak cooked at, because it’s not asked for a shaved steak sandwich. So, not only did the kitchen get it wrong twice, both the runner and the server didn’t see the sandwich wasn’t made correctly either when running it out. The scampi was mmm, okay….. The sandwich was, okaaaay I guess. So, here’s my assessment after letting the experience pass with some time. STK Steakhouse wants to be a premium steakhouse, and charges prices like a premium steakhouse, but serves food at the level of Olive Garden and Applebee’s. The calamari - $22. The STK Sandwich - $24. The Shrimp Scampi - $56. That’s over $100 of food for three plates that was the same quality of food and presentation as the Applebee’s $30 Two entrees with a appetizer special. That bowl of scampi is not presented as a $56 plate of food. The sauce was broken, with way too much parmesan cheese heaped on top in the kitchen, instead of the server presenting cheese (or a pepper mill) to be ground on top as table service if the guest preferred it. If you got that plate, would you say “That looks like a fifty six dollar plate of food” and be happy with it? With one cocktail, a ginger beer, one appetizer, two entrees, and tip, this was close to a $200 tab. Both my wife and I feel the kitchen and consistent food quality was the Achilles Heel of STK. We won’t be back, but wish them the best in inspiring to excel as best they can.