Steiner Ranch Steak House opened during the holiday season in 2008. It had an inauspicious start with the shootout drama and got much publicity, of course for the wrong reasons.  But looks like people have put that behind since the place was packed on a recent Saturday dinner.

We pass by this place almost every day and were impressed by the location. Though, the architecture of the building leaves something to be desired for such a splendid spot.  When you drive inside this place, you start noticing what a perfect location this is. It has the most amazing views of the lake Travis.  Just the views are worth driving around the parking lot of this place.  But at sundown, the view of the church spire is one of the few good views one notices (http://www.stlukesonthelake.org/ ), rest in mostly dark.

Underestimating the popularity of this place, we had gone around 7:45 p.m. on a Saturday night with no reservations.  The wait was for about one hour.  The one hour seemed a long wait with kids and out of town guests. But we didn’t want to go elsewhere since we were all pretty set to have a steak dinner this evening and check out our neighborhood steakhouse.  Instead we called in for a reservation and were surprisingly given only 45 minutes wait!  This was good enough for us to catch up on couple of errands before dinner.

Once inside, at our reserved time, we were promptly taken to our table. The décor at the entrance is cowboy/roper western theme.  The style is accentuated with couple of nice saddles, a curio of roper contests, boots, belt buckles and cowboy hats. History and character are added to the place with pictures of Bobby Steiner, the Steiner family and their ranch and original cattle farm and Certificates etc.  (Bobby Steiner now has ranch in Bastrop http://www.steinerranches.com/main/).

Our table was in the second floor, so we were taken upstairs by our young friendly hostess in a compact elevator. Once at our table, we notice that the space around the tables is pretty packed. I guess the popularity is pretty good, and they want to make the most of it.  Another noticeable element was the number of large flat screen TV sets, there was one behind the second floor bar and another in the area we were seated.  There were large gatherings and private parties happening too;   next to us there were a group of high school students, in elegant formal dressing celebrating someone’s birthday!

We were ready to order since it was already late. In the meantime we had a lot of trouble communicating to the busgirl that we didn’t want ice in our water for a couple of us. I guess she could not speak any English at all, but she managed to bring some goblets of water without ice. Our guests ordered wine, Clos Du Val Napa Valley, which the steward dripped while pouring, not a good sign again. He apologized and joked about it really well.

The menu has   good variety of Steaks and regular fares such as sea food and Texas chicken fried steak etc , which they aptly named ‘Other Thans’. But we all zeroed in for the steaks including our six year old, who got beef tips from the kids menu. They don’t have printed version of the kids menu, it was just listed by our waitress.  We ordered filet minions, rib eye and prime rib steaks, and each of us had either rare to medium rare to medium done.  For the sides, we ordered cheese topped garlic and horseradish flavored mashed potatoes, mushrooms, spinach, and fries.  The waitress was friendly and answered our questions and gave suggestions.

While waiting for our food, which was not long, we enjoyed the bread which seemed like a combination of southern biscuits and fluffy bread. It was warm from the oven, our waitress informed they are freshly made in house, and the light cheddar cheese on the top made them even better when warm. While waiting we walked around a little to check out various views, including the balcony. The weather was quite decent for a January night; we could see a fire pit on the outside patio with people gathered around enjoying the good weather. The three levels of the restaurant also hosts  2 or 3 bars in this space, besides areas for small private parties.  The scenery and views would be best enjoyed for an early dinner.

Our food arrived in good time and the steaks were almost perfectly cooked. The rib eye seemed to be cooked more than asked for, from the outside, but when cut, inside it was pretty good. The filet minions were  succulent as expected. The surprise was the kids beef tips plate, which came with decent sized chunks of beef over a bed of potato au gratin.

In the side orders, the caramelized mushrooms were very delicious. The mashed potatoes lived up to standard with buttery taste. But the spinach though tasty was very salty. When asked to get a less salty version, the waitress informed it is pre- spiced and salted already and hence replaced that with the caramelized mushrooms.  As the night progressed, it got less crowded and we enjoyed conversations with our guests. The kids were pretty well behaved since they were busy enjoying their food.
It was a great dinner and we all realized we were pretty full for desert.  We skipped, though the dessert choices, which were decent, but preferred to call it a day.

We had a long day today starting with taking a morning walk on the Steiner trails (http://www.steinerranch.com/nature-pages/trails.html )  And later we had hopped around town showing off Austin to our guests. The famous Mount Bonnell with fabulous views of the city, the natural Barton Springs, the Nau’s Pharmacy(http://www.naus-enfield-drug.com/grill.html )for lunch for the ‘keep Austin weird feel’, the Mozarts café  (http://www.mozartscoffee.com/  ) for  coffee and pleasant unwinding afternoon. We even went to the range for our guests to experience the total Texas feel by some gun shooting, but with heavy waiting period, we gave up after some time and promised this experience for our guest’s future trip to Texas.

The Steiner Steak house is a higher end, but mid priced steak house. Closer to the Sullivan’s http://www.sullivansteakhouse.com/index.php  or Houstonshttp://www.hillstone.com/#/restaurants/houstons/, but the location and views gives it a feeling closer to Jeffrey’s (http://www.jeffreysofaustin.com/ ).  The Steiner Steak House looks like is pulling a tough act and doing pretty well. If it can fix some kinks like service and seating, it is a good place for a special dinner.

Cuisine:  Steak
Price Range:  Expensive ($27 to $50 steaks)
Dress: Upscale Casual
Rating: ***
Website: http://www.steinersteakhouse.com

Foods Reviewed:

• Filet minion
• Rib eye
• Prime rib
• Kids menu- Beef tips on potato au gratin
• Caramelized Mushrooms
• Sauted Spinach
• Mashed potatoes -garlic and horseradish flavored.
• Wine- Clos Du Val Napa Valley