Chop Restaurant+Bar+Lounge

Restaurant: Chop Restaurant + Bar + Lounge
Cuisine: Steakhouse/Seafood/West Coast
Last visited: March 30, 2010
Location: Richmond, BC
Address: 10251 St. Edwards Drive (Inside Sandman hotel)
Price Range: $30-50

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4
Service: 4.5
Ambiance: 6
Overall: 4.5
Additional comments:

• Same owner as Moxie’s
• Steakhouse
• Specializes in steak
• Fresh seafood available
• Restaurant & Lounge area
• Spacious, ample seating
• Luxurious modern fine dining
• Fantastic heated patio – one of the best
• Extensive drink/wine list
• Decently busy, busy on weekends
• Nicest washrooms
• Open late
• Lunch/Dinner
• Unadvertised brunch offered
• Ambiance better than food

**Recommendations: Top Sirloin Oscar, Mac n’ cheese, baked potato, desserts – Caribbean Rum cake

I’ve been to Chop a couple times so I’m going to combine the reviews. In terms of atmosphere, design and décor this place is beautiful. It’s a masterpiece and comes to standards of restaurants in Las Vegas. Trendy and luxurious modern dining – I’d say it’s slightly above “casual” fine dining like they claim. It’s definitely the closest thing Richmond has to fine dining. The washrooms are the nicest washrooms – there’s a flat screen tv and a lounge area…and a fountain! It kind of reminds me of a smaller scale LAVO Restaurant in Las Vegas. In the summer sit outside on the patio – you’ll feel like you’re in Miami…looking out onto the highway…lol yes, the location has a highway view.

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In terms of food I find them inconsistent – I think they have really improved since they first opened. Reviews I hear now are better then when they first opened. Overall I found it good, but you are paying for the atmosphere. I’d save it for more special occasions. It’s not so good that I would come back all the time…maybe just for their desserts and mac n’ cheese I would. My Chop dessert post tomorrow!

It’s a huge space and one side is the restaurant and the other side is the bar and lounge. It’s almost 2 restaurants because they’re quite separate. They have a few private rooms for private bookings too.

Chop dessert post tomorrow!
On the table:

Complimentary Bread and Butter – 4/6

• I think it’s made in house sourdough bread, however I wouldn’t be surprised if it was bought and just baked in house either. I think it was whole wheat and it’s served warm.

Filet Mignon – 4/6

• With red wine reduction Petite Filet $29 Filet $35
• Chop steaks are aged a minimum of 28 days and seared at 1800˚
• All of our steaks include fresh seasonal vegetables and a choice of: infused mashed potatoes, seven grain wild rice pilaf, scalloped potatoes or our Chop cut fries.

• The filet was good, tender and cooked to medium rare like I asked – but it got noticeably more tender as it cooled down…not rested, I mean like my last bite when it was cold was most tender. I like Gotham’s filet mignon better or even the filet mignon I had at Manhattan Restaurant.
• The red wine sauce was reduced, but not as thick and sticky as it could have been. It was quite a simple red wine reduction with a salty sweet flavour…I expected a bit more gourmet/bolder/complex flavour.

**Aged White Cheddar Mac & Cheese – 6/6

• $7 separately as side or +$3 if substituted for regular side.
• This is everyone’s favourite side dish and just favourite dish in general. I’ve tried it once before last summer and it was just as good.
• If you like ultra creamy, velvety, rich and cheesy mac and cheese (and who doesn’t?!) then you’ll love this mac n’ cheese! I try mac n’ cheese wherever I go too and this one is good!

Also ordered in the summer, photo from summer ’09

• It’s not stringy so there’s no mozzarella! Pure aged white cheddar so it’s very strong and cheesy in flavour and it has a nicely baked crust. It’s very hot and right from the oven!
• There are minced shallots or onions in it and I tasted jalapeno or green pepper infused into the sauce. It’s not spicy though but it hinders that kind of flavour.
• It’s a big portion (side for 2) – it’s filling and really rich.

**Top Sirloin Oscar – 6/6

• Top sirloin with your choice of jumbo prawns or lobster fritters, finished with roasted peppers, asparagus and béarnaise sauce $29
• This was an excellent sirloin! I found it as tender as the mignon. It was on a bed of red wine au jus (not quite the red wine reduction) topped with jumbo prawns, asparagus and béarnaise sauce.
• The Béarnaise sauce was thick, creamy and very buttery and it had the perfect lemon tang to it. It was paired with a simple red wine reduction and the 2 worked together so well.
• Get it with jumbo prawns – however it only comes with 2 which were juicy, tender and garlicky.
• This reminded me of my Filet Mignon from Hy’s Steakhouse.

Lobster & Prawn Fritters – 1.5/6

• Red pepper aoili $11
• I tried these before and they’re disappointing. They’re basically meatball sized corn bread balls with very little lobster and prawn in them. It tasted like corn bread batter to me.

Baked Potato – 5.5/6

• Substitute baked potato $3
• These are the biggest baked potatoes I’ve ever seen served at a steakhouse. HUGE! Steroid baked potatoes. You can’t really tell, but it’s about the size of 4 fists. (Adult woman fists)
• It comes with house made bacon (good flavour, but cold and pre-prepared), green onions and sour cream.

Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi – 2.5/6

• Oven roasted and served with spinach, red peppers and infused mashed potatoes $29
• I found this dish a bit bland. It was inconsistent in flavours because the fillet was so thick. The parts with the coarsely ground black pepper and salt rub were good, but that was just the outside crust.
• It wasn’t overcooked, but because of the type of fish and it being roasted it came off a bit dry – it’s a firmer flakey white fish almost like salmon but more like a less meaty halibut in flavour. It’s mild enough as is so I wanted a sauce to go with it. It would be better pan-fried rather than oven roasted. It wasn’t juicy.
• The mac nuts were nice and chunky but they could have done more with this dish.
• There was a layer of cheddar cheese on top and that gave it some flavour as well…but it was almost an easy way to get flavour and for this level of dining I expect more.
• The spinach was bland. They were sautéed in white wine. I couldn’t taste any salt or pepper, butter, olive oil – just white wine. The infused mashed potatoes were quite bland too.

Infused Mashed Potatoes – 2.5/6

• This is a side to their steaks it was also served with the Mahi Mahi.
• The mashed potatoes are “infused” with turnips! They’re creamy, but lighter in texture and flavour because of it. They didn’t say turnips, but I could taste them.
• It’s not garlicky, just buttery. I prefer more flavour and turnips are so mild already.

Photo from Summer ’09

Fresh Ahi Tuna Pillars – 1/6

• Sushi-grade ahi tuna wrapped in sesame noodles and ginger butter, phyllo pastry, finished with mango salsa and wasabi aioli $13
• Major fail, looks good too. I ordered it in the summer. It was expensive, very small, and just not good. We sent it back because the phyllo pastry was very floury/doughy and not cooked properly.

Photo from Summer ’09.

Fresh Ahi Tuna Tataki Salad – 5/6

• Ahi tuna served on tender butterleaf lettuce and lightly minted wild mushroom salad with lime vinaigrette and cheese toast $17
• I ordered this in the summer and remembered it being excellent. The portion was a bit smaller, but that was expected.
• The ahi tuna was very fresh and seared perfectly, but they don’t give many slices.
• The mushrooms were sautéed shiitakes and a few other mushrooms and it’s also served with shredded nori, ginger, and tomatoes.
• The cheese toast crostini was good – nice and cheesy.
• I remember the lime dressing being a soy or Ponzu based sauce. It was citrusy, tangy with a hint of wasabi…either in the dressing or on the side…I think in the dressing.

Photo from Summer ’09

Aged Canadian Prime Rib – 2.5/6

• Aged Canadian prime rib slowly roasted in rock salt and freshly ground pepper.
• Our prime rib selections include hand shaved fresh horseradish, au jus, fresh seasonal vegetables and a choice of: infused mashed potatoes, seven grain wild rice pilaf, scalloped potatoes or our Chop cut fries.
• Petit $25 Medium $28 Large $33
• Prime rib at a steakhouse – always a good deal, but also very “meh”. I didn’t order it, but the response was nothing negative and nothing really positive.
• I’d go for their other cuts – better chance of it being great…but also more expensive so also chance of being more disappointed.

Chop Restaurant + Bar + Lounge – Unadvertised Brunch Menu (half of it)

Chop dessert post tomorrow!

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