Frankie & Johnnie's Steakhouse

I had a dinner with my family a few nights ago. In general I don't go to fancy restaurants too often - but when I do, I really don't mind paying a lot for quality. This was paying a lot for an ok- food, and ok- anything else. I think it's hightime these guys got their stuff together. The quality of the meat was average. I tasted better for less. Service could do better as well. In general - I don't think they'll be seeing me anytime soon.

Well, my experience failed to live up to even modest expectations. I recently (8/16/08) dined with my brothers at the 37th street location. We stayed very close to Capital Grille, but were looking for a New York steakhouse. Peter Luger seemed a bit over-the-top from what I read online and in my continued search I came across Frankie and Johnnies. I read reviews and looked at the website and it seemed to be pretty great. The disappointment began immediately. It's a pretty ugly location. I'm not sure why the owners decided on this particular spot, but it doesnt' do much to make the diner feel like throwing down massive $$$ for dinner. The staff was ok, not what I would call friendly, but not rude either. We ordered an appetizer which turned out to cost $110...absolutely not worth it. It was good enough (4 shrimp, a few oysters, crab meat, 2 lobster tails and 2 lobster claws), but definitely not worth the $110 it cost. My brother got the tbone and it was FAR from being cooked properly. He ordered it medium-well and large portions of it were rare, and it tasted "old" (I tasted it to verify what he said, and I can't explain it but it did just taste old). My other brother and I ordered the sirloin. Both of our steaks were cooked ok (for the most part) and had pretty good flavor, but had a lot of fat running through them. None of the steaks were anywhere near worth the prices (sirloins were $41 and the tbone was $46). My nephew got the shrimp scampi, which I tasted, and that was the best thing at the table. We had the broccoli with garlic and garlic mashed potatoes, and both of those were ok, though the potatoes definitely tasted like the instant variety. Sad to say that shrimp scampi was the best thing in a steakhouse. Dinner was so disappointing we didn't hang around for dessert. We definitely should have saved time and $$$ and gone to Capital Grille. I've eaten at Capital Grille numerous times and Frankie and Johnnies isn't even close on quality.

after a long day at work and then needing to go and deal with moving arrangements and signing a new apt lease..my boss calls me back into work but to my surprise it was for a private dinner meeting to congrat me on a well deserved raise and promotion...entree's were incredible and service was great!!! hey a $350 plus bill and two people is well worth it... Steak was ammmmmazing(and i have tasted some great steaks) bartender was great the entire expierence was Great!

Our interest in historic places and great steak took us to Frankie and Johnnie's over on 37th Street for an early dinner. Housed in John Barrymore's former brownstone, J & F's offers some fine food, albeit for a price. Started with one of the day's specials, a tomato arugula and fresh mozzarella salad that was expertly done. We really wanted to try the risotto w/porcini mushroom and asparagus, but didn't want to fill up on oversized servings of pasta . Our waiter graciously offered to have the dish split between the two of us as an appetizer - it was just the right size and delicious. We both opted for the surf (HUGE lobster tail) and turf (filet mignon) with a few sides. The steak was done exactly right, just melted in your mouth. Couldn't get over the size of that lobster tail - sweet and firm and oh so tasty. Waitstaff was attentive without being overbearing or making us feel we needed to hurry; they were extremely professional and accommodating. It's a typical steakhouse atmosphere - low lighting, dark woods, but not so dim you can't see the food on your plate. We really enjoyed our time there.

The only two negatives I can offer are: 1. The restaurant was a bit too warm. Seemed the a/c wasn't working. 2. The hostess seemed a bit too preoccuppied with her cell phone. She didn't ignore us, but I'm not too fond of people in service industriies who multitask.

As a special treat, J & F's on 37th didn't disappoint. We look forward to returning on our next junket into the city.

Because of the horrible management I will never dine here again. One time I took a client to lunch here an older gentleman with thick accent in a suit took us upstairs. He tried to put us in a tightly squeezed table. I politely asked him for another table. He became very annoyed with us rolled his eyes gave us a booth and rudely asked, "This one's good, right?". Had an average lunch and when we departed we thanked the same older man he replies "Yeah, ok." Who says this to a gracious guest? The only time I ever went for dinner was for my girlfriend's birthday who wanted to go here. As soon as we sat down we had a horrible night. It took a waiter 10 minutes to come over and greet us who was rude and didn't want to answer any of our questions, our dishes after each course were only cleared when we got the busboy's attention, there was a hair in my beer on my second round. I lost it when my girlfriend was in the restroom and asked my waiter to bring a candle in her dessert. When it was delivered to her, surprise, no candle. Furious I asked for the manager. Some cocky tall young guy in suit walks over and asks us what's wrong. I told him everything that happened and he apologized without seeming too concerned with anything I just said and offered for us to take their limo anywhere. My girlfriend and I decided to accept when he asked where we were going I told him back home to Queens. He then gets this look on his face and says, "Oh sorry it can't go that far." Didn't he just say anywhere? I was so disgusted said never mind I didn't need his services and continued with my dessert. He then tried to kiss up and say he would get another car for me. I said no thank you and asked for the check. The cocky manager gave us our check without thanking us and the whole rest of time I watched him sit down and eat his dinner with some girl who obvisously was more important than the other guests there. Terrible management that doesn't deserve my money!