Address: | 17 Cliff View Dr, Wentzville, MO 63385, USA |
Phone: | +1 636-856-9260 |
Site: | stonesummitsteaks.com |
Rating: | 3.7 |
Working: | 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–10PM |
RE
René Morales
Challenging 1st Visit - Part 1 (FOOD) This review focuses on three areas: Food, Service and je ne sais quoi. FOOD: Salad & Soup - The Wedge is a sad waste of lettuce. It arrives with three wedges of iceberg lettuce, topped with bacon, bleu cheese crumbles, dried cranberries and golden raisins. A lot of roughage to take in at the start of a meal, toppings dont distribute well over so much lettuce. All salad dressings are made in house. The bleu cheese and ranch dressings were very flavorful. The Steak & French Onion soup menu description doesnt meet expectations. The thing that makes a French onion soup French is beef broth. This soup isnt made from beef broth. The "mini filet medallions" are pieces of steak. Given the fattiness of the pieces I tried, calling them "filet" is questionable. Finally, the server described the cheese as provolone when the menu describes as Gruyère. Had this been described as a hearty Steak and Onion Soup, it would have met my expectations. Calling it French onion is an embellishment. Sides - Creamed spinach is a fresh spinach salad with a bland cream sauce poured over it. Not appealing. Summit mashed potatoes are adequate. Supposedly made with gouda cheese, the mashed potatoes are thick with chunks of potato. I did not notice any hint of gouda flavor. STEAKS: If cooked correctly, the steaks are superb. The quality of meat is evident in its tenderness and flavor. The key though is to have the food prepared correctly. 1st attempt: Ordered NY Strip dead-on medium; Cappuccino Rib Eye medium rare. Received NY Strip medium rare; Rib Eye medium and without the demi-glace. 2nd attempt: Received NY Strip medium rare; Cappuccino Rib Eye medium rare with demi glace included. Visited by gracious and apologetic Manager. 3rd attempt: Received NY Strip medium. Delivered by Chef. Visited by mortified General Manager. Good flavor, tender but after three passes on open flame grill, heavy charcoal crust. Cappuccino Rib Eye is supposedly rubbed with cappuccino and served with a hazelnut demi-glace. Having tasted the rib eye without the demi-glace, I question whether the steak was rubbed in cappuccino as there was no coffee flavor to the steak until after the demi-glace was added. This is a unique flavor. I liked the first few bites but after the 4th or 5th bite, the hazelnut flavor gets overwhelming. There was a good amount of demi-glace on my steak, perhaps because it was sent back. I think if there had been less demi-glace, it would have been better. The quality of beef was apparent. Very flavorful and tender. Definitely not a Outback or Longhorn type of rib eye. Our server informed us that all steaks are served over a dollop of A1 steak sauce. Since theres no mention of this in the menu, I found this peculiar. The amount of sauce is maybe a tablespoon applied to plate with steak placed on top so that juices and sauce mix. As someone who wants to taste the flavor of the steak, I dont care for this practice. The website states, "The menu includes many select cuts including a bone-in cappuccino rubbed Rib eye..." My rib eye was not bone-in. Bread service - Didnt get bread until after soup/salad was finished. Had to ask for it. Bread basket includes, warm Bavarian Pretzel and Brioche rolls made by St. Louis Companion bakery along with room temperature, fresh whipped butter. Pleased with quality of bread service. Overall, food would have been outstanding if the expectations set by the menu / website / server aligned with the food served. Having said that, with a few adjustments to the menu and training, I believe these food items can be exceptional. The quality is there. There are some flavor issues to work through. In every case where I was let down by the food, excluding it not being cooked correctly the first time, it was because my expectations for that food were not met based on the information at hand (menu, website and servers knowledge.) Hit character limit...
RE
René Morales
Challenging 1st Visit: Part 2 SERVICE: Our server, Nico, was very good in terms of friendliness, perhaps to a fault, as being so friendly and conversational lessened his ability to be attentive. He didnt deliver our steaks when they first came out, another server did. Perhaps if he had, they would have been correct the first time. Who can say. One observation about the service that again goes to expectations: many of the servers looked slovenly. The white shirt/dark tie uniform doesnt work if someone is wearing an oversized, wrinkled shirt thats barely tucked in. My expectation for a steak house is that the serving staff look professional. This is something staff needs to work on, along with team work. Overall, service could have been a bit tighter (dont make me ask for ice water twice) but cant say Im displeased as I felt like our server was genuinely invested in our happiness with our visit. Management went to great lengths to make us happy when the steak fiasco occurred. Pleased by the professionalism and manner in how the problem was rectified. JE NE SAIS QUOI: That indefinable something about Stone Summit has to do with where value, expense, teamwork and ambience intersect. There is a notable lack of teamwork among the servers. In a great restaurant a server is attentive to his tables but has assistance from others for water and bread delivery. This didnt occur. We had to flag down another server for bread. Watched three different people do spot inspections of wine glasses at the same empty tables and not one of them glanced our way to see if we needed anything. Without a more cooperative team spirit among staff, the issues of value and expense tilt toward the negative. I for one have no issue with the cost of menu items at Stone Summit. This isnt because Im rich, but because upscale restaurants, movie theaters, grocery stores, are all things that will eventually add to my property value living in Wentzville. Those suggesting that this restaurant should be located in Ladue or Clayton, probably havent been paying attention to all the new housing construction taking place, and what these new homes cost. My point is, Wentzville is getting bigger and richer and Stone Summit is a nice addition to the Wentzville business roster. Which takes me back to Stone Summits website, which reads "Stone Summit also features offerings aimed at the budget conscious diner—namely the “Summit Selections”, a reasonably priced protein offering with a starch and seasonal vegetable for one price." A great restaurant doesnt apologize for the cost of its menu items and certainly doesnt describe its food in such clinical terms (protein, starch, seasonal vegetable) in the context of a budget-conscious diner. Might as well call it Tightwads & Poor People Menu. Id work on a website rewrite as soon as possible. How much value does my meal have if Im not ordering from the Summit Selections? Even though the qualities of teamwork, value and expense need tweaking, the ambience of Stone Summit is exceptional. Im including photos with this review. The decor, color scheme, layout and seating options evoke a feeling of being some place special and unique. Frankly, I find this restaurant to be beautifully designed. I so wanted to write a review of glowing praise and I have hope that someday Ill be able to update this review with news of improvement. I will visit again after the official Grand Opening. I have a lot of hope for this restaurant based on my interaction with management. A few more tweaks with training and expectation setting, and I believe folks in Clayton and Ladue will be envious of Wentzvilles newest steak house.
RO
Rob Bampton
I have been looking at this restaurant since they opened because it sounded like someplace I would like. I noticed the number of negative reviews and decided to give them time to work out the kinks before going there. One thing I have learned is that there are very few things on the internet that I listen too less than other peoples opinions of restaurants. This might be the only time I have ever visited a restaurant BECAUSE of the negative reviews. I mean, one negative review about this place was given by someone that HASN"T EVEN BEEN THERE! Are you kidding me? Another complains that they could buy a bottle of wine cheaper on the internet! Really? DUH! You can buy a steak cheaper at a grocery store than you can at a restaurant too! When I read those I figured I better try it, and lunch would be a good time to do it so if it wasnt up to par I would be out less money:) So here is my experience. My wife and I went in for lunch. Went in and there wasnt anyone at the reception podium. Waited a few minutes and thought....well maybe people are right on this one. Then a young lady, delivering a plate, walked right past us at about five feet, looked at us, and said nothing. I thought, oh boy, here we go. The same young lady then re-appeared and pleasantly greeted us and took us to our seats. Rather small thing, but had she said hello and I will be right with you, when she walked past and looked at us, it would have made a much different impression. Anyway, same young lady was our server and she was pleasant. Wife ordered off the appetizer menu and I ordered the burger and fries. She was pleasantly surprised with her portion(crab cakes) and they had plenty of crab meat. They are quite spicy and we both thought good. My burger, in all honesty, was under cooked. I did not mention this to them, so I dont know how they would have handled it, but I am sure it would have been fine. In fact, I just ate it because it doesnt bother me in the least to eat rare beef and it was very good. The bun was great and the french fries were delicious. I am not a french fry person, but these were great. My wife IS a french fry person, and she felt the same. My opinion ten bucks for a really good burger and fries at a sit down restaurant is very reasonable. The end result is that both of us were happy with our experience here. And, since I said restaurant reviews are worthless, I dont expect people to treat mine any different. I am mainly writing this to let the restaurant know, as they seem to review these. Overall very good experience with just a few small glitches. However.....when you want to be a high end establishment, it is those glitches you must avoid.