J.W. Platek’s

My first impression upon walking into the restaurant was this looks tired. The decor was bland, the paint on the walls was old, stale and faded. Upon being sat in a unique booth with slat seats. It was quaint, but a again, it felt old. The restaurant had a very basic menu. Four appetizers, three seafood and escargot. I passed on a starter because I’m allergic to shellfish and I do not care for snails. The meals were a little pricey on the surface, but knowing that it comes with soup and salad and potato makes it a good deal. The meals range in price from around 20-26 dollars. Sandwiches are available for less and include fries. I ordered the T-Bone Steak with Hungarian goulash and the salad with garlic dressing.

The first course I was served was the soup. The soup had tasted OK, but it was way too salty. I told the waitress this and she said she would mention it to the chef and comped our second round of soft drinks. There was a good amount of soup served, and the presentation was just soup in a white bowl. If it weren’t for the saltiness, I would have enjoyed this course.

After the soup the salad came out. It was served a basic salad with a wedge of tomato and some crutons. It was a decent salad and the garlic dressing had a lot of garlic, so that made it quite tasty.

The main course was served right after the salad and looked good. The steak had nice grill marks and smelled delicious. The potato was served on a separate plate, and wrapped in gold tin foil. It looked a little cheesy, but the potato was cooked to perfection. The potato was tender and the skin was not tough at all. I throughly enjoyed the potato. The steak on the other hand was ordered medium-rare, but when it was served, it was barely rare. It looked as though the steak was branded with the grill lines and then put on a plate for service. I mentioned this to the waitress, and it was quickly returned to the kitchen to be cooked. I received it a few minutes later, and it was cooked almost to medium rare. I ate a few more bites and then had it wrapped to take home. The taste of the meat was exquisite and seasoning was soothing to the senses. However, I wish it were cooked properly. The steak was served with some fried onion strips on top and a side of au jus. The au jus was a little on the salty side, but was tasty and complimented the meat.

Overall, Plateks’ was a disappointing. The meat had a good flavor, but there were too many inexcusable things that should not have happened. The salty soup should have been tasted by the chef’s before service. The steak was inexcusable. There is a big difference in steak temps from barely rare to medium-rare. I cannot recommend this restaurant at this time. I’m not sure if or when I will make a return trip to the restaurant. Even though the service was good and the waitress was attentive and seemed concerned for the quality of our dining experience, it wasn’t enough to overcome the faults. My recommendation at this time is skip it.