House of Prime Rib

10/09/09

TOURIST TRAP

by evita1 at Citysearch

If you would like an evening of screaming across your table to your dining companions, surrounded by LOTS OF loud single man: well this is your place!

To make the dining experience even better : you can count on barmaid Jennifer (her personality is sort of a 19th Century Schoolmistress at a Catholic Nun's school)

Plus you have the patronizing austrian manager,to help you.

WALK !TO HARRIS STEAKHOUSE ! :QUIET, LOVELY ROOM,SUPERB FOOD & CLASSY SERVICE WITH A POLITE, FRIENDLY STAFF

• Pros: Beef cuts are OK...not great
• Cons: Noisy, crowded, rude employers

03/18/08

Not Worth the Hype

by sammikins at Citysearch

My family and I have been eating at The House of Prime Rib (HOPR) for my brother's birthday every year, for the last 15 years. Service has been slipping the last few years. However, this year (2008) the dining experience was so abhorrent we all agreed to NEVER return.

We made reservations 3 weeks in advance for Saturday at 6:30 p.m. The whole party arrived 15 minutes early. We waited a total of 45 minutes past our reservations and complained numerous times before we were seated. Whoever heard of waiting when you already have reservations?! We made our complaints known to the manager and he knew that we were angry. He actually said "I will come back to speak with you when you have calmed down." I've never met a manager who cared so little about his customers and was unapologetic. I don't know what he said to the waiter because when the waiter came to take our orders he was condescending and rude, blatantly trying to rush us out.

The famous house salad was limp, soggy, and old - with telltale brown spots throughout the greens. While I understand beef is their specialty, the other entrees (chicken and fish), in the past, have at least been satisfactory enough to eat. On this visit, I ordered the sea bass. Like the salad, it was not fresh. In fact, when the waiter brought out the fish (with it's dome cover on), I could smell the "fishiness" before he even approached the table. After a few bites, I discovered the fish was still raw. To pacify us, the manager brought out complimentary desserts. Even that was terrible. The strawberries were hard and sour. The creme brulee was still cold (even beneath the caramelized top). The only dessert worth mentioning was the bread pudding.

I used to recommend HOPR to friends and family, but no longer. I heard that the 49er organization used to eat at HOPR regularly, and then they stopped going. Now I know why.

• Pros: bread pudding
• Cons: wait, management, service, seafood

02/19/08

Worst We've Had, What Happened?

by Wizard32 at Citysearch

I used to come to this place for special occasions when my wife and I lived in the SF Bay Area. However, since I moved to Tracy (about 60miles away), I haven't been back here for about 8 years. A lot has changed in those years, and unfortunately for the worse. I brought 8 of my friends and my wife last Saturday (02/18/08) for our valentine's celebration, even rented a limo as we wanted it to be special for our wives, and drove all the way from Tracy to have dinner here. We were all very disappointed, and I am throroughly embarrassed for taking them there. What happened to the old place? That night's service was cordial with but a bit of rudeness, and you can tell they were not genuinely polite. Our server (Jason) *tossed* yes, tossed a piece of yorkshire pudding into the plate of my friend's daughter, her plate being a foot out of reach. After being confronted with it, he said how else was 'he going to get the pudding in her plate?' given the size of the table. Very tacky for such a place that's supposed to be one of the better places to eat in SF. Also, I don't know what reviewers here refer to as 'large portions'? Each person in our party ordered a different item from the menu so I had a glimpse of these 'large portions'. Let's just say, I was not full when I finished. The English Cut is just paper-thin slices of meat (the premise being that some folks say that thinly-sliced prime rib is supposed to taste better). Yes I may agree to that, but one would think it would at least have the same amount of meat as the House of Prime Rib cut (same price of $34.85) but no -- and the House of Prime Rib cut was not even that large to begin with. My friend's daughter (18yrs old and petite) had this to say about her fish dinner, and this sums it all up: "This is it?". Disappointing. Very Disappointing. I'm not taking anyone there again, ever. We should have gone to our other place we were considering, Hs Lordship's accross the bay in Emeryville.

• Pros: Ambience
• Cons: Service, Food Portions

07/18/06

The clientele is extremely under dressed and loud for such a high-end restaurant...

by bequialife at Citysearch

When paying $32 per meal, I would expect people would consider dressing a little nicer. I was surprised the last 2 times I have been there to see shorts, tennis shoes, jeans, sweatshirts-almost a "Denny's" type atmosphere. And the noise level made it difficult to carry on a conversation. If the staff dresses appropriately, why can't the clientele follow? You could wear jeans and shorts everday?

• Pros: delicious food
• Cons: too loud, poorly dressed people in what is considered one of San Francisco's finest. Disrespectful customers

06/11/06

Good food

by beachbrat35 at Citysearch

Prime rib was excellent, service inside the restaurant was excellent. Our evening ended on a sour note when my husband tried to tip the valet parking attendant as we are accustomed to this in our state. The valet became very irritated and yelled at my husband for insulting him. This truly ruined our experience.

02/08/06

Awesome food, terrible service

by dogboy009 at Citysearch

First off, the food is great and always has been. It's the service that's heading south.

We went with a group of 7 with a 9pm reservation. We were seated at 9:45 (the excuse was that a table ahead of us was taking a long time to wrap up, but it was painfully obvious that they were trying to get us to buy more drinks in the bar. We ordered quickly and waited a further 30 minutes for our salads, then another 45 minutes for our meals. Our actual steaks came at 11:05 pm. During our wait at least three other tables were seated, ordered, ate, paid and left. When we finally begged for our food, it came quickly but the wait staff and manager were completely unapologetic. I won't go back, expecially considering that Harris' is just up the street.

• Pros: Excellent prime rib., Nice atmosphere.
• Cons: Terrible service, Terrible service, Terrible service

09/05/05

Very rude-don't waste your money

by oar31 at Citysearch

A group of us (we were 11) decided to try this place out for a birthday celebration. As soon as I walked in, I realized this wasn't going to be the sophisticated, upscale dinner I expected, but decided to give it a chance. Even though our reservation was for 10 people, we were told that it was fine and it would only be a few minutes. After waiting an hour, and treated very rudely by the host, we asked to speak to the manager. We were then told that they had a table ready for us but had a "rule" that only 10 people could sit at it, and because we were now 11, that it had become problematic. Give me a break! We left, and will never return.

• Pros: none

06/22/05

Noisy!

by barbara2706 at Citysearch

Went there for the first time to celebrate a birthday. There were 9 of us and the noise level was awful. No one could talk. The tables were so close together that the servers had to walk around the room in order to serve. The salad was very disappointing. It seem wet and not very appetizing. Because of the overcrowding, it felt like the food was being thrown at us instead of being served. Will not spend the money or time there again.

• Pros: Service
• Cons: Noise, food, crowding

04/17/05

Treated Terrible

by stormshadow at Citysearch

As it was crowded when I walked in, I asked how long the wait would be and was told "it was moving quickly tonight" and I would be seated shortly. After 30 minutes the hostess informed me I would be seated next. Another 30 minutes passed and again I was told I would be seated next.

I told the hostess that I had already been waiting an hour and she replied she's had people wait an hour and forty five minutes before. Is that really a proper response after telling me things were "moving quickly"??? It was especially aggravating since I was standing close to her and heard her tell countless other patrons they were next. Just how many people could be next on the list at the same time? What a way to treat people. Not recommended at all. Go somewhere where you are respected and not lied to.

• Pros: none
• Cons: long lines, crowded, LOUD