Butcher’s café and Grill Review

Who doesn’t love steaks? Although it is a favorite for many, yet very few places in the twin cities know how to serve a piece of meat! There was a buzz around town that the Butcher’s café and Grill serves good quality steaks where you choose your own cut of meat. This level of customization is not available anywhere in the twin cities other than Porter House in Kohsar market F-6. And to be honest, the pictures said the same. The steaks looked very appetizing.

They offer the following cuts:

·         Tomahawk

·         T-Bone

·         Prime Rib

·         Rib Eye

·         Sirloin

·         Rump

·         Tenderloin

Naturally, I was tempted to visit the café with one of my friends to try out their signature items. We went there for lunch, but to our surprise, the café was completely empty with no customers at peak lunch time. Regardless, we went inside to find that in line with the district administration’s orders which only allows outdoor dine in, they just removed windows/front facing glass from their indoor setup to make it “Outdoor”. Which may be enough to please the authorities, but did not provide sufficient ventilation. Although the staff was wearing masks but had no gloves on, and we were not provided with a sanitizer either.

Even before coming to the restaurant, I made up my mind that I’ll be trying out their Tomahawk steak. But when I asked the waiter to take our order, I was surprised to know that they only had two out of their seven cuts available at that time. This came as a shock as they take pride in their variety of cuts with steak being their signature item. Anyways, we placed two orders of the sirloin cut, one with Tarragon sauce and the other with Moroccan sauce.

The food was served fast, so no complaints there. But the side of Mashed potatoes served along was cold, as if the potatoes were boiled and mashed long ago, and not even re-heated! Although we had ordered two different temperatures (Medium well & Well done), but the steaks had no difference in their cooking level. Both seemed to be the same. Also, the steak had a lot of fat content and honestly did not live up to its expectations. The grilled vegies and French fries were good but I was not impressed with the taste of the sauces. The tarragon sauce was nowhere even near the classic tarragon flavor. The staff also failed to serve basic condiments with our order like salt, pepper, HP sauce, hot sauce etc.

I was also not pleased with the ambiance as when I went to visit the washroom to wash my hands, It was in a pathetic condition with toilet paper spread all over the floor and the toilet being one of the dirtiest I have ever seen. The washroom also had no soap.

Disappointed with my experience, when I asked for the bill and tried paying by my credit card, I came to know that they are not accepting cards, Wow! Maybe tax evasion? But you just don’t accept this from a restaurant of this level, which has its average steak priced at PKR 1,500. With my patience being tested to new levels, I paid by cash and guess what? They didn’t have change, so the waiter had to run to some other shops to get some.

Overall, I am highly disappointed by their quality of service and food, and would never visit their again unless the world is ending and The Butcher’s grill is the only source of food we have left. It was just another below average restaurant with above average hype.

I would recommend my followers to go to Ox & Grill instead which offers far better service, great ambiance and great quality steaks at a much lower price.

Below is the Bhook Brigade rating for The Butcher’s grill & Café:

Food: 7/10

Service: 5/10

Value for Money: 4/10

Ambiance: 4/10

Overall: 5/10

PS: Don’t fall for the picture, it just looks good!