We came on a Saturday night at 6 and the wait for 3 was 30-45 mins. (2 adults and a 10 month old)…read moreNo problem! I had to go to the bathroom and when I walked thru the restaurant there were a lot of empty tables. Odd that there would be a wait. There was a table for 4 near the front door, without a reserved sign on it, and it was empty the entire time we waited.
We were finally seated and they put us at a table for two. Meanwhile, that table for 4 was still empty. I'm not sure if you've ever spent time with a 10 month old, but clearly the hostess hasn't. They are grabby and want to explore everything they can possibly get their hands on, including hot plates on a table. Luckily, our server knew this and when a large party in the restaurant left, she brought us one of the 2 person tables they'd been using. Fortunately it also aligned with when our food was coming out so we didn't have to worry about our baby burning her hands on the plates put down on our table with a "they're hot" warning.
The kitchen was really slow. I'm not sure if they were backed up, but with the amount of empty tables, they really shouldn't have been. It took at least 20 minutes for us to get our appetizer after we ordered it, which was the chile verde fries.
Luckily, all of the food made up for the previous paragraphs and is the reason for 4 stars instead of 3. The Chile verde fries were so good! Not too spicy, a great balance of fries, meat, sauce, and cheese. The egg was a nice touch and made the dish feel like chilequilles with fries instead of chips. We also ordered a 3 meat plate with pulled pork, brisket, and tri tip. The pulled pork was pretty standard. The brisket was falling apart delicious and I liked that it didn't have a ton of fat in it. It was interesting that the tri tip had grill marks on it, I don't think I've ever seen that before, but it was very soft and delicious as well. For our sides we got the collard greens and mac and cheese. The collards were very high in vinegar, something we aren't used to, but my husband enjoyed them. The mac and cheese was really good! You can tell they use fresh cheeses as opposed to velveta. The garlic bread was good and really flavorful, but I do wonder why other tables around us seemed to get 2 slices per person and we got 2 slices total. Not a big deal tho, just found it odd.
Overall, we really liked Steve's and will be back, as well as recommend it to people. We'll just make sure to have a reservation before we go, and maybe make it for a party of 4 to ensure we get a good sized table.