Peter Luger Steakhouse sucks

So this place is a NYC institution. Over 100 years old and considered the defacto "best steakhouse" in the city. It'll usually show up in the top 5 for the entire USA. Was able to get a table here this past weekend. We called back in November and this was the first available.

The expectations were super high and we fell prey to the hype machine. Food was good. Not great. Bacon appetizer was excellent. Chipped spinach was on point. Potatoes bordered on stale. Onion rings were cold and sucked.

The steak was an excellent cut of meat that was cooked to perfection. However it was seasoned/salted very poorly. We ate the most perfectly cooked piece of bland beef. First time I've actually HAD to use steak sauce at a nice steakhouse. I also ended up salting my own steak on the plate itself.

Basically this is the Yelp review I'd post if I wasn't afraid of being murdered. This place runs on hype and mystique. I think the positive reviewers lost all objectivity and live in perpetual denial over paying so much for mediocre. Even my table tried to rationalize it away saying it might have been bad luck and that one steak must've been mishandled. They charge a price point where luck shouldn't ever enter into the equation. I've actually had better steak at the higher end chain restaurants.

TL;DR:

Peter Luger is for steakhouse n00bs who fall for marketing hype.

6.5/10

This poor cow died in vain:

 

Medium rare of course. I'm not some philistine. They actually plated the first two cuts along with a scoop of the sides. I suppose rich people like that kinda thing, but I prefer to handle my own food. This is a better view of med-rare: