Restaurant Review: Porterhouse

A couple of Saturday's ago I went to Porterhouse at Columbus Circle with Mike, Claire and Kelly.

I ate at Porterhouse for the first time last July and had a great experience. It is quite a smart steak restaurant in New York. I really like the wood panelled restaurant and if you are lucky; you can get a booth or a table with views overlooking Central Park.

A bit like Gordon Ramsey's the wine list was on the expensive side. The best discovery of the evening was the Bin End wine list. We ordered two bottles from the menu and they were both very good. The Sommelier even looked quite impressed with one of the choices, which seeing as I select on a purely random basis, I felt quite pleased with!

The other good discovery of the night was to order a hash brown instead of fries as a side order with your steak. Thanks Kelly! We all, predictably, had steaks. For desert I had a baked alaska, which I don't think I have had before. Very nice it was too.

The service started out as very attentive, without being overwhelming. However, by the end of the evening it had disappointingly dropped away quite markedly. It almost felt as if they were urging us to leave. We had enjoyed a relaxed evening, but there were a few tables still eating when we left at 10:30pm and they weren't turning tables, so didn't need the space.

Having enjoyed myself so much last July I didn't think it was quite as good this time. Having lived in the US for a couple of months now I also realise that good steaks aren't as expensive, and therefore such rare treats, as they are in the UK. It's good, but doesn't stand out from the crowd as much I as I thought it would. Perhaps I had built it up to much.


I've been for a few smart steaks during my time in America and I have started to change my opinion on a couple of things. I always used to order steaks cooked rare, but this often isn't the way to go, especially if you aren't eating a fillet. I have gone through a phase of eating obscure cuts, and I am now keen to eat something a bit more normal again.