Ben and I went to Ye Olde Steak House tonight for the first time. I know, how have we lived in the Knoxville area all of our lives and managed to avoid Ye Olde to this point? It's always winning awards for "best steakhouse" or "best place to eat after a football game," etc. We figured it was high time we gave in to the hype and checked it out. Unfortunately, however, I'm not entirely sure what all the hype is about.
First, we had to park approximately 16.2 miles away from the restaurant. There are only 7 or 8 parking spaces (many of which are handicap spaces) that are actually within 100 yards of the door. Naturally, we were not lucky enough to get one of those, so we had to drive around to the backside of Neyland Stadium and walk in from there. Well, I may be exaggerating a bit, but it was a long way. And it was up a hill, which we had to scale to get back to our car after we had stuffed ourselves. That is not a pleasant experience. Anyway...
There is no hostess stand when you enter the restaurant. You just kind of enter directly into the dining room, and we stood there looking like little lost sheep until some lady finally took pity on us and offered to seat us. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that, even though there were cars parked everywhere at and on the way to the top of Mt. Everest, there was no wait to be seated. The hostess (at least I assume that's what she was) told us to walk through the dining room into another room, go up some stairs, and someone at the top of the stairs would seat us. When we got to the top of the stairs, however, the hostess (?) up there seemed surprised to see us and started asking a man who I believe was a cook (he came out of the kitchen anyway, and was wearing an apron) where she should seat us because apparently he was expecting a "party." After much hand-wringing, the cook-like man finally sat us. We were having a strange experience to this point, but I was hopeful that the food would turn the experience around.
Before we ordered, our waitress brought out some bread and a ramekin of an interesting-looking orange substance. Ben thought it looked like sherbet, but it turned out to be a cheese spread. It looked and tasted suspiciously like Easy Cheese to me. A little strange with the bread, but there was also a basket of club crackers on the table, and we figured maybe the cheese was for the crackers. Whatever. I've never been a fan of Easy Cheese. But I was still hopeful for the entrees. I mean, this place is easily one of the 3 or 4 most hyped-up restaurants in Knoxville. The food has to be freakin' phenomenal, right?
Wrong! I ordered the Filet (how can you go wrong with that?) and a baked potato. With respect to the baked potato, the menu said "load it at your table." Thus, the waitress did not ask me what I wanted on my potato when I ordered, and I assumed the appropriate accoutrements would be brought to the table with the meal. I should mention here that our waitress was very friendly and was a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing dining experience. It's not her fault that they apparently consider a baked potato to be "loaded" when it has butter and sour cream on it, because that's all that was brought to the table with the meal. Interesting. No bacon, chives, or shredded cheese? Not that I eat chives or cheese on my baked potatoes, but I just find it funny that they tell you to "load it at the table" and don't bring you the things that most people usually include in a "loaded" baked potato. Perhaps we were supposed to use the Easy Cheese on the potatoes? Who knows. Anyway, other than the absence of bacon, the baked potato was pretty good.
The steak was a pretty big disappointment. I ordered it cooked medium, but it ended up medium-well except for a few bites on one end. Unfortunately, that wasn't the worst of my problems. I'm not sure how they season their steaks, but it had a gaseous taste to me. Like it was cooked with a welding torch or something. Ben agreed that his steak had an odd taste as well. I ended up having to salt my steak. I SALTED my STEAK. And it improved the taste. I have never before salted a piece of beef. I'm not saying I've never eaten a salted piece of beef, because I'm sure other restaurants use salt in their steak seasoning. But I've never actually had to salt it myself.
In closing, I'm glad we went to Ye Olde, because it's really a shame we hadn't experienced what is apparently a Knoxville icon before now. I don't think we'll go back, though. As far as "best steakhouse in Knoxville," I think I'd vote for Flemings, or Ruth's Chris, or Peerless. You will pay more at those restaurants, but I'd rather pay $50 for a phenomenal steak and $10 for a truly loaded baked potato (should I want it fully loaded) than $30 for an average (at best) steak and a baked potato without bacon. Heck, the filet at Connor's (which comes with a loaded baked potato if you'd like one) is comparably priced to Ye Olde, and in my opinion it's infinitely better. I will now wait to be attacked by the die-hard Ye Olde supporters. I know you're out there.
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