Lets first blog about the food! First time I'm posting pictures taken with the DSC-T700...love the fact that there's a "Scene Selection" for Gourmet Food!
The Restaurant Week menu...I was tempted to try the Ravioli, but why go to a steakhouse and not order steak? On a side note, the menu proclaimed that all steaks are USDA grade and aged for 21 days.
My cocktail...City Sunrise. The Jose Cuervo was somewhat strong, apparently my face turned red after half the drink, but I didn't feel the burning up. The drink was decent...had orange juice, pineapple juice, and a splash of grenadine. I wish they gave us a straw though.
The Restaurant Week appetizer - Crawfish Chowder. The chowder had potatoes, carrots, corn, tomatoes, bacon bits, and of course crawfish. Flavor was a bit too strong/salty for me.
The bread + butter. Not pictured is the onion bread which look like dinner rolls, with shreds of aromatic onions baked in, and sprinkled with poppy seeds. The mini-baguette and the crackers were good too.
My entree (& my mom's) - Filet Mignon with mashed potatoes and roasted garlic butter. The size of the filet mignon was what's expected for Restaurant Week, but the texture of the meat I wish was a bit better...maybe this tasted too much like a tenderloin? Actually, cutting into it felt like cutting into stew meat. I couldn't finish the portion even though the portion size was small. The roasted garlic butter I guess is the sauce on the plate...but that tasted like gravy more than butter. Mashed potatoes were good, but I again couldn't finish. The other piece of potato next to the mashed is Hashbrown potatoes. That side dish looked like it was pan-fried on a small frying pan, and then the waiter gave us each a quarter of the piece. The crispiness was good, but unfortunately it had rosemary infused in it.
My dad's entree - The porterhouse steak. Of course this is considered miniscule compared to what Mignon served, but this piece of meat was definitely cooked very nicely. This wasn't part of Restaurant Week, it was a la carte.
Jacky's entree - NY Strip Steak. This is also a la carte, the meat wasn't as tender as the porterhouse, but it was also better than the filet mignon. I've decided that filet mignon is not my favorite cut of steak!
My dessert - Warm Chocolate Brownie with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce. This brownie was reminiscent of the chocolate souffle from Pimaan, minus the gooey center. Maybe more like warm chocolate cake...paired with the ice cream, it was decadent!
My mom's dessert - Cheesecake. It was definitely creamy all right...but I think it was from the sour cream, since it didn't taste very cheesy as I'd expect a cheesecake to be.
Now time for people pictures!
Jacky & I waiting to order food...
I sat in the other seat so I can take a picture of the terminal in the background. This picture turned out a bit yellow in the background because of the flash.
Me again...my mom took a picture of me with the sunglasses on, but that didn't turn out too well.
My parents
The view of the ceiling of Grand Central Terminal from our table
Outside walking towards our car; GCT in the background.
Overall, I think the MJ Steakhouse is worth a visit. I loved being able to sit in Grand Central Terminal (my first time there!) and just look at the high ceiling! While I didn't particularly care for the filet mignon, the a la carte entrees were good. I wish the service was a tad bit better though. The waiter wasn't very attentive to our needs, when we got his attention as he was walking by, he gave off an annoyed-vibe. Then when we were all finished with the entrees and were ready for dessert, he never came by to ask what we wanted, and when we got him to come over, he snapped at us and said he'll bring us the dessert...without even asking what we wanted? Didn't really appreciate that. We also had to request for the check...seemed like other parties were also treated in a similar fashion, their plates were taken away, but they sat there and waited just like we did. Is it too much to ask that the waiter sense whether a table is getting antsy to leave or if they want to sit and chit-chat for hours? We clearly had the money ready, looking every which way for any waiter we could see, but no one noticed. That might be my biggest pet-peeve when eating out. The attentiveness of the waiter. Actually, he didn't even come by to ask us how the food is! Darn, gave him too much tip for the level of service...
