Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar

After some shopping at the mall my wife and I had occasion last week to stop in at Flemings Steak House for a couple of cocktails before going home to dinner. A couple seated next to us at the bar were having drinks and hors d’oeuvres. He had a huge burger and she had steak carpaccio . Then we asked the bartender about their Happy Hour and he explained the cost of their food was only $6.00 each. We were amazed at the size of the portions and decided to have dinner at this place. Both of us had steak, the house specialty, and we were both delighted with the portions and the preparation. Was it expensive? No more so than other places of this caliber. Bartolotta’s for example. To those who are complaining about the price….go to McDonalds if you want to eat cheap. To everyone else, do yourself a favor and give Fleming’s a try. You will not be disappointed.

I was pleased to have another truly “fine dining” restaurant in the area and first impressions met my expectations. To be honest, I was slightly fearful that someone might say something regarding my inappropriate choice of attire; for while I was wearing a calf-length dress, it was sleeveless. But no one said anything (possibly a few raised eyebrows) and I tried to remain as inconspicuous as possible for the rest of the evening.

Everyone we came into contact with… the hostess; the bartenders; the person that escorted us to our table, poured our water, handed us our menus, swapped out the white linens for black ones (to avoid unseemly lint from showing on dark pants)… everything was flawless up until this point. Then we met our server.

I am of the opinion that too many restaurants that categorized themsleves as “fine dining” launched during the time that Fleming’s opened, and there weren’t enough qualified servers to meet the demand. In distinct contrast to everyone else up until this point (who had conducted themsleves with graciousness and professionalism), our server was too casual, too chummy, too gabby, kept interrupting our dining experience and would have fit right in working at Denny’s.