Darling wife & I dined at SOB Steakhouse for the Dayton Restaurant Week last night (Thursday, 7/30/26).
I chose SOB due to their creative menu options, hopefully making it worth the drive from Dayton to the Cincinnati area.
Overall, I'd rate the experience as three stars out of five.
The food was EXCELLENT. Wifey had the filet mignon, and I had the NY strip.
Both were cooked to PERFECTION, were very tender, and had a wonderful flavor.
Asparagus was crisp-tender.
Wifey said the mashed potatoes were wonderful. I found the flavor quite good, but the consistency was a bit too dry.
The lemon tart dessert was excellent. Nice presentation, wonderful flavor. We were only offered spoons to deal with the fairly tough/substantial crust. I managed, yet loaned wifey my knife to deal with her dessert's crust. When we confirmed our dessert choices (after hunting down our waiter), we were NOT offered any sort of coffee to go with dessert. Yes, I could have asked for it, but then again, a customer at this style restaurant should NEVER have to ask. It should have been offered by the waitress.
Dining Environment:
As you walk into the SOB Steakhouse, you pass by the "traffic circle" driveway at the entrance, complete with about half a dozen DEAD ?cherry? saplings. Their bare skeletons do not enhance the dining experience.
Once you enter, you are immediately met by LOUD LOUD music, making it difficult to carry on a conversation. Did I mention it was LOUD? Luckily, wifey & I were able to be seated in their outside dining area, which was much more quiet.
After being seated in the outside dining area, you might notice the TRASH remaining on the floor. Multiple straw wrappers were visible (see pictures). I was disappointed to note that the manager on duty walked by our table & the floor trash without noticing it or taking it upon himself to pick up the litter.
Once you are seated, there is no complimentary bread or crackers offered. Instead, you might choose to spend an additional $12 for their sourdough bread service. I found this UNIMPRESSIVE, to say the least.
My wife's silverware was clean, while mine was unpleasant. I had dried bits of ?tissue paper? stuck to my fork in multiple spots, and the knife had dried "gunk" on both sides. UNACCEPTABLE.
The service was fairly good. Our server was friendly, knowledgeable, yet "missing" a couple times during the 1.5 hours we spent there. By "missing", I mean that there was NO server in the outdoor area for multiple extended periods of time. I suspect she was overloaded with tables/customers, so we still tipped her well. This was not just an issue with our server, but also for another couple who were seated by a different server part-way through our meal. They were seated, then "ghosted."
A customer in this sort of restaurant should NEVER need to "hunt down" a server. While I don't want somebody hovering over my shoulder, it is expected that they make an effort to periodically visit the tables to top off drinks and ensure excellent customer service.
It seems that the "back of the house" is doing well, but the "front of the house" needs to be whipped into shape & possibly have additional servers added to the staff.
I was also DISAPPOINTED that SOB Steakhouse did not bother to list the price of their "Restaurant Week" meals online (as nearly all restaurants did). I don't mind a higher price for an excellent experience, but SOB left me feeling disappointed. Dinner for the both of us, with no alcohol ordered, was about $165.
Color me disappointed. If we experienced the standard SOB environment, level of service, and dining experience, perhaps they might need to reconsider things a bit. My overall impression is that this is an excellent kitchen fronted by a marginal "front." Decorations do not matter. Service and cleanliness MATTER. Had the food not been so excellent, this would be a two star review.
Color me unimpressed.
As to the inevitable "Our apologies...blahblahblah... you can send us an email to agaveandrye@rmdadvertising.com with a screenshot of your review, mailing address, and phone number" message...no need.
Please address my concerns, or fail as a business. read more