Review: Jacob’s Steakhouse

Steak, just the word can trigger a Pavlovian response.   While complicated recipes involving much thought and preparation are great, there is something to be said about the simplicity of a steak; however nothing says steak must be simple.  From the raising of the beef, to aging and cooking, sucess is measured in the details.  Angus, Kobe, USDA Prime, dry aging, grilling, broiling and sous-vide.  This brings us to a relatively new entrant in the Toronto steakhouses scene, Jacob’s & Co. Steakhouse.

There are a few things I look for in a restaurant but I put two above all else, Good Food and Service.  So we’ll call this my 2 point scale, 2 points, and you’ve got a perfect review.  It doesn’t leave much room for making a mistake.  The break down of my two point scale works like this:

Food Score:

0.25: I could eat the food, but just.

0.50: Food was good

0.75: Food was very good

1.0: Food was something special

Service:

0.25: Not very good at all.

0.50: Average

0.75: Very Good

1.0: Perfect

So yes, it’s really a 10 point scale if you take into account 0.

Dinner started with drinks in the basement bar, it was drinks, they were good and I had no complaints.  After finishing we were escorted upstairs and seated at our table, a nice large round table perfect for the larger group I was with.  Why more restaurants don’t have round tables for larger groups baffles me, round tables allow everyone to interact and prevent “conversation islands” but I digress.

In place of bread, Jacob’s served amazingly large and fantastic Yorkshire Pudding.  I’ve loved Yorkshire Pudding since I was a kid and my mom would make them as part of Sunday dinner, my mouth just waters thinking about it.  But we’re not here to talk about the bread, we’re talking about steak.  From first glance at the menu one can tell Jacob’s takes their meat seriously.  The menu puts the steaks top left, right where one’s eyes are instantly drawn.  The choices aren’t broken down into cut, but rather creatively by type (USDA, Canada Prime, Kobe Wagyu) and separated by farm, and time aged.  You have your typical USDA aged 41 or 54 days, your Canadian Angus, followed by Canadian, US and Australian Wagyu, oddly no Japanese Waguy on the menu seems a glaring omission.  All meat is aged in house.  Kudos on the menu layout, this is a carnivore’s delight.

I opted for the USDA 30oz (shared) bone in Rib Eye aged 41 days, I’m a sucker for Rib, and will get the bone in every time if it is on the menu.  Jacob’s cooks their steak in a broiler, as is typical at most high-end steakhouses at 1800 degrees to sear in the goodness.  My steak was perfect, a nice outer crust and a perfect medium rare on the inside.  The meat was well marbled, but not overly fatty, well trimmed.  The meat was very obviously dry aged, something I look for in all my beef.

Service on the other hand is where Jacob’s and Co. dropped the ball.  Service was slow, I don’t mean it took an extra 5 minutes here or there, but truly truly slow; over 1 hour before our order was taken.  The waiter seemed new, not just to Jacob’s but rather to being a waiter in an upscale restaurant at all.  He lacked the ability to interrupt conversation, something EVERY waiter must know how to do, it is a skill, and this waiter didn’t have it.  He would wait for conversations to actually end before asking anything from the table, this made the night VERY long.

So how would I rank Jacob’s?

Food: 0.75

Service: 0.25

Total: 1.00

Service killed it, and I’m only partially blaming Jacob’s & Co.  The real problem was our waiter, his lack of experience was evident, and that seriously impacted the experience.  Everything else from Food, to Wine choice and decor was very good.

Would I go again?  Certainly; however, if service is slow next time, Jacob’s & Co. and not the waiter are getting the blame.

If your a carnivore with a few extra bucks in your pocket, or an expense account, give it a try, and let me know what you think.