You know the menu. You’ve had the food. You just need us to refresh your memory. Yes, that’s how uninspired this Sizzler-esque standalone is. But with tender New Zealand steaks at roughly B400, we’re not going to hold uniformity against them. This is a steakhouse—big knives, masculine décor, soft rock—not some molecular experiment in fine dining. And in that respect, Grill & Gravy delivers. Before we get to the steaks, let’s go for a quick tour of the sides and appetizers. The pastas are lifted straight from S&P; the Caesar salad looks just as familiar, with its coarse topping of bacon bits and cheap cheese (rather than anchovies and parmesan); and some stuff is really just deep-fried junk food (like the mozzarella sticks—eat two, gain 10 pounds). In fact, even the menu, with its slick pictures and fancy layout, has the air of a franchise. The place is fairly handsome though, in a Marlboro man kind of way: fake leather, red furniture, wood beams and a semi-open kitchen done in stainless steel. Not that a Marlboro man would give a damn about any of this. He’d dig right in. Overall, it’s decent meat but not the melt-in-your-mouth kind either. Every cut comes with a choice of Thai, New Zealand or Australian beef. On our last visit, a NZ filet mignon beat the crap out of Aussie Angus beef ribeye—which says a lot about the kitchen, too. Ribeye is harder to cook rare because it’s thinner, and unsurprisingly the meat came out a little dark and chewy. The filet mignon was great—too bad for that artificial smoky flavor in the accompanying sauce. Side dish options are a bit confusing. Ribeye, tenderloin and sirloin get a choice of two (the baked potato is good) and a choice of sauce. The filet mignon gets the foul sauce and flavorless vegetables with a side of very greasy fries. This all sounds a bit harsh but we’d be just as ruthless for most joints in the US. In fact, we expect everything in this kind of place to be disastrous—except for the steaks. And on that count, Grill & Gravy gets a pass for its affordable kiwi beef. Corkage B200.
