Bern's Steak House

About a year ago Alyson and I visited a ton of steak houses and rated them #1 through #10 and Bern's won the best. That post was a fun write, but since then we've been to Bern's a few times and I cannot get over how much of a great dining experience this place is.

This is a place that reservations are hard to get with reservations open as far as 60 days out. Thankfully a change occurred a few months back and that 60 day refreshed at a more normal time of 8am instead of midnight. This meant we (mainly Alyson) didn't need to set an alarm in the middle of the night to get a reservation. Once a reservation is obtained they will call and remind you of both the attire requirements and timing of your reservation pretty close to the day of it.

There is no parking lot here, so you'll need to prepare for valet parking ($8) or find parking in the SoHo district and walk in. Once you arrive with staff more than likely opening the doors for you lands you in a small room that has a strong glow of red. This is the decor and theme you see on the homepage of the website.

The hostesses double check your entire party is present and confirm your attire, then moments later someone is walking you through a labyrinth of a building to your table. Large heavy menus are handed out to each person with a few menus on the table for wine by the glass or bottle. The book for wine by the bottle is insanely large to account for the 6,800 types of bottles available.

Once seated we normally have the same waiter (Roman) who blows my mind with his knowledge around beef, the menu and more. He is there quick after our seating to see what type of water and drinks we are in the mood for. We always go for the regular tap water, but there are so many alternatives if tap is not your type.

One time we asked for lemons & limes for the water and this creative cup full of them showed up. Adding a little lime into a water with the perfect little ice cubes makes a mini slushy that is once again another reason why this place excels at every little detail.

The menu is large, but we stick to the steaks which net us a baked potato, salad, soup and 2 sides (onions & beans) with every order. Once we put our order in we know its not long till a French onion soup arrives.

Once the soup arrive first timers get a lesson in diving into this to prevent splashing hot soup all over you. The secret is eating around the edge to break the cheese barrier first. There is probably some scientific background to starting with a small hot soup, since it feels like it prepares my stomach for the meal soon to arrive. It always has the perfect amount of onions and bread within which leads to a soup quickly devoured.

Once the soup is gone the story repeats, but this time with the salad of your choosing. The great part here is just getting a ladle full of the dressing you requested on top of a generic salad.

This salad isn't anything special until you start noticing the perfections within. The tomatoes have the skin peeled off, veggies sliced for perfection and an assortment of bold veggies over a bed of lettuce. Of course this is just the house salad with a dressing, but they offer many more like a classic wedge.

It must be back to the science because a hot soup to small cold salad are the perfect appetizers before the real meal arrives. The timing of everything is insanely perfect with precise pauses between each course for drinks, table cleaning and silverware refresh.

Once the steak arrives you always get a side of spiraled onion rings and the vegetable of the day, which has been green beans every single time I've been there. If there is another vegetable that makes an appearance - I haven't seen it.

This steak will be cooked exactly to your request, which for me floats around rare to medium-rare. I slice into the cut with sometimes dipping into a horseradish sauce and each bite just melts in my mouth. An amazing collection of flavor from the first to the last bite. I look forward to the steak's first bite every time I know a trip to Bern's is approaching.

I forget eating the steak that I have onions, veggies and an entire baked potato awaiting me. In most cases I prioritize just eating all the steak because that's the experience and food I came for. By the time 12-16oz of steak has been eaten there is not much room left in my stomach for anything else.

However, Bern's does dessert differently which frees up my stomach for a dessert dish. If you want dessert you close out your bill in the dining room and get escorted to a stair case that takes you up to the 2nd floor. With hopefully not long of a wait you are placed in a unique setup of large wine barrels to enjoy dessert.

A new menu full of dessert, ports, cocktails, ice cream and more awaits. I haven't found anything I stick with, so I bounce around with a different type of dessert based on how I'm feeling at the time.

I'm honing in on a simple scoop of ice cream with hot fudge, because anything else is just too much after a large steak. The ice cream quality rivals the best ice cream stores with such unique flavors on top of that. Though every time a dessert with bananas comes up in discussion I fold and order that.

We don't have any other visits to Bern's planned now, but definitely want to visit another time before the wedding. I don't think I've gotten to experience a dining experience that tops this.