Pace's, no creamed spinach at this Hauppauge premium priced steakhouse, 631-979-7676
SESSION & PRICE: Lunch $$$
Was at Pace’s in Hauppauge with a few of my buddies for lunch last week. The short of it is it’s a mediocre steakhouse masquerading as a high end one. The long of it follows.
Walking in the room, you are presented with a classical club-like atmosphere: dark wood paneling, old framed pictures on the walls, white linen tablecloths. Waiters were in white shirts, black vests and ties so I expected this to be an upscale visit.
What was on the lunch menu was brief with the two highlighted items being chicken parmesan and a salmon dish. The chalkboard daily specials were all seafood dishes, odd I thought for a steakhouse.
Since this was not going to be a QV, we ordered appetizers and asked for two orders of baked clams after first asking the waiter if they were chopped clams. But there seems to have been a miscommunication because they brought raw clams instead. I like my clams in the following order of preference: bearded clams, baked clams, and raw clams way down on the list. It's fair to say I was not pleased. My friends were okay with raw, though, so they gladly ate them. Still, the clams themselves were only about the size of a half dollar. Worse yet, the cocktail sauce was a do-it-yourself affair with separate dishes of ketchup and horseradish, a first for me. You would expect full-service at a premium steak joint. This reminded me of "you-do" at the Asian massage parlors.
A few of us ordered the lobster bisque, which was bland and heavily thickened. There were a few lumps of seafood floating on the top but I won’t vouch that they were actually lobster. When the main dishes came, I’ll have to say that the steaks were generously portioned and my marinated NY strip steak was tasty but a little tough. Another of us had the aptly named petite fillet mignon. It was ordered medium but once he got to the center, it was still twitching. The Porterhouse was massive and not bad at all. The salmon was rated very good. Unlike most traditional steakhouses where everything is à la carte, mashed potatoes, a bowl of rice, and a medley of vegetables served family style were included with the steaks. All agreed they were bland. But the one thing not offered up was
creamed spinach – a favorite of mine. To me, that's a steakhouse staple. And to continue the disappointment and lack of service when I asked for steak sauce, I was brought a small cup of cocktail sauce, mixed ketchup and horseradish. Pointing this out to our waiter, he replied that is their steak sauce (?), another first for me and the second "you-do" they offered us.
We split a couple of cheesecakes and had coffee to close out the meal. They brought cream and half & half, then asked if we wanted spoons (?). Umm, why wouldn’t we? The cheesecake was just all right but by no means memorable and it was a disappointing finish to the visit.
RATING: 6.5 out of 10 overall for Pace's
For very little less than a top tier steak house, we were expecting a lot more. Aside from the atmosphere, I think my preference would be Outback as far as quality and price.
SESSION & PRICE: Lunch $$$
Was at Pace’s in Hauppauge with a few of my buddies for lunch last week. The short of it is it’s a mediocre steakhouse masquerading as a high end one. The long of it follows.
Walking in the room, you are presented with a classical club-like atmosphere: dark wood paneling, old framed pictures on the walls, white linen tablecloths. Waiters were in white shirts, black vests and ties so I expected this to be an upscale visit.
What was on the lunch menu was brief with the two highlighted items being chicken parmesan and a salmon dish. The chalkboard daily specials were all seafood dishes, odd I thought for a steakhouse.
Since this was not going to be a QV, we ordered appetizers and asked for two orders of baked clams after first asking the waiter if they were chopped clams. But there seems to have been a miscommunication because they brought raw clams instead. I like my clams in the following order of preference: bearded clams, baked clams, and raw clams way down on the list. It's fair to say I was not pleased. My friends were okay with raw, though, so they gladly ate them. Still, the clams themselves were only about the size of a half dollar. Worse yet, the cocktail sauce was a do-it-yourself affair with separate dishes of ketchup and horseradish, a first for me. You would expect full-service at a premium steak joint. This reminded me of "you-do" at the Asian massage parlors.
A few of us ordered the lobster bisque, which was bland and heavily thickened. There were a few lumps of seafood floating on the top but I won’t vouch that they were actually lobster. When the main dishes came, I’ll have to say that the steaks were generously portioned and my marinated NY strip steak was tasty but a little tough. Another of us had the aptly named petite fillet mignon. It was ordered medium but once he got to the center, it was still twitching. The Porterhouse was massive and not bad at all. The salmon was rated very good. Unlike most traditional steakhouses where everything is à la carte, mashed potatoes, a bowl of rice, and a medley of vegetables served family style were included with the steaks. All agreed they were bland. But the one thing not offered up was
creamed spinach – a favorite of mine. To me, that's a steakhouse staple. And to continue the disappointment and lack of service when I asked for steak sauce, I was brought a small cup of cocktail sauce, mixed ketchup and horseradish. Pointing this out to our waiter, he replied that is their steak sauce (?), another first for me and the second "you-do" they offered us.
We split a couple of cheesecakes and had coffee to close out the meal. They brought cream and half & half, then asked if we wanted spoons (?). Umm, why wouldn’t we? The cheesecake was just all right but by no means memorable and it was a disappointing finish to the visit.
RATING: 6.5 out of 10 overall for Pace's
For very little less than a top tier steak house, we were expecting a lot more. Aside from the atmosphere, I think my preference would be Outback as far as quality and price.
