Chop House in Chicago: What's the Fuss? (Chicago Area Restaurant Review No. 84)

The Chop House is one of those restaurants that gets uniform accolades from reviewers. It is always suggested as a top steakhouse in the city. We respectfully disagree. We didn't find it bad, but it definitely rates in our book behind many other steak restaurants (including ones like Wildfire, which do not get nearly as high reviewer marks).

The decor of the Chop House is interesting, in that it has three levels and is done up in a sort of faux Victorian style. We ate at the top level, which had a good view of the street below. We started with wine by the glass, but unfortunately did not write down what kind, so we can't comment (though we thought about making something up). We liked our shrimp cocktail appetizer. The shrimp were large, as we like them, and tasted fresh, and the sauce was tangy, as we like it. Lisa liked the house salad, which came with the entree, particularly the creamy garlic dressing, which was flavorful. Steve, however, did not like his tomato and onion salad because the tomatoes were hard.

Lisa ordered a bone-in filet for her entree and found it flavorful and cooked a perfect medium rare. She also liked her baked potato, which came with plenty of butter and sour cream. Steve ordered charred prime rib. It came closer to well-done than medium rare (and he'd ordered medium rare), yet there was not enough charcoal for him. This was the worst charred prime rib (which is not often available, but which Steve usually really likes) that Steve has ever had (but the potato cake that came with was okay). Steve was so distraught about the prime rib that he actually couldn't muster any interest in dessert. Lisa had no such qualms, and ordered the Chocolate Triple Play, which was flourless chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, and chocolate ganache. None had much flavor, and they were not dark enough for her.

Even though the shrimp appetizer and a lot of the food Lisa had was good, Steve didn't enjoy either his salad or entree, so we couldn't give the Chop House a particularly high rating, though Lisa recommends the filet mignon.

The bathrooms also were bad. There were two singles, both were cold, not all that clean, and yet had a sickly disinfectant smell.

Dinner for two with wine by the glass was $200, which is less than some steakhouses we have been to, but those had far better overall quality, in our view.

Our ratings for the Chop House, 60 West Ontario St., Chicago:

6.5 of 10 Steak Knives; 1.5 of 3 Bathroom Brushes