We visited STK London as part of our restaurant deal series: 7 days, 7 restaurants, 7 deals. 7 bargains? where we seek out value deals on the London restaurant scene.
The offer
£49 for a three course meal at STK including a glass of champagne. For the main, a ‘steak flight tasting experience’ is provided with 100g each of USDA certified sirloin, rib eye and fillet.
Booked with
Livingsocial.com
I could not see STK offering deals on other websites or directly on their own.
Why I chose it
Intrigued by STK as London’s newest steakhouse. Unsure however if at £49 this really represented a good deal or not, or indeed, any deal at all.
Downsides or drawbacks
The ‘deal’ can only be taken Monday-Thursday and Sunday. As I price up the ‘deal’, I am unsure that I have saved any money at all over the individual sum of the parts. Also, since registering with Livingsocial, I receive an email with an offer pretty much daily (Brazilian wax anyone?), a frequency sufficiently annoying to me to ensure I cancel my interest with them.
What I ate
- Crab salad, cucumber & horseradish gazpacho, pickled white radish
- USDA steak flight (100gr of sirloin, rib-eye, fillet), parmesan truffle chips
- cold chocolate fondant with blood orange
Food quality
For the most part, I didn't particularly enjoy the food at STK. You obviously go there for the steaks, but despite my waiter suggesting I was about to eat 'the best steak of my life', I found the steaks bland. Indeed, the steak I had at Marco Pierre White's Steakhouse just a few days prior was in my view better. Also, cutting my rib-eye steak even with a steak knife was a white knuckle job, not helped by a large sinew running straight through it, a real problem if the steak is just 100gr because it's then hard to avoid. My waiter did offer to have me another cooked up however (declined).
The bread sounded intriguing, a home made bricohe style loaf with a blue cheese glaze, though I couldn't really pick up any cheese and the bread was far too dense. The crab salad starter, of which there was a lot, became monotonous too quickly and could have used a some textural variety and a better balance of ingredients. The dessert however was quite classy, I'm told that the pastry chef is ex MW at The Berkeley. The dessert then was easily the highlight of the meal.
Food quantity
Each course provided ample food
Service
Service was excellent. My waiter couldn't have been more enthusiastic about STK had he been the owner. For my time there, I felt like I had a new best friend. Full credit on service.
Meal deal verdict
My best guess is that I saved £10 with this deal, so c17% of the pre-service cost, so not the best deal I've had this week and lower than the saving I received at Marco Pierre White's steakhouse. Again, I took no additional drink with this meal which could have pushed the meal cost up to the £70 mark making it very hard to argue it's any sort of bargain. While I didn't enjoy the food, that is not I am guessing a function of the deal, rather, I don't think I'm a fan of STK.
Deal score
3/10
Additional note on STK
I continue to think the branding 'not your daddy's steakhouse' is one of the strangest restaurant taglines I've come across. And with sexualised imagery (see here) is it supposed to appeal to men or women? Maybe they know what they're doing, but on my lunchtime visit, it was mostly middle aged men, around half in suits.
My waiter told me that at night however, the in-house DJ progressively increases the volume of the music as the night goes on and at the end of the night, they encourage guests to take off their shoes and dance on banquettes. Maybe it's not your daddy's steakhouse then, but going forward, I don't think it will be ours either. For those who have tried it, we look forward to comments on whether the disco-steakhouse theme works in your opinion and if you've not tried it, whether it appeals.
The offer
£49 for a three course meal at STK including a glass of champagne. For the main, a ‘steak flight tasting experience’ is provided with 100g each of USDA certified sirloin, rib eye and fillet.
Booked with
Livingsocial.com
I could not see STK offering deals on other websites or directly on their own.
Why I chose it
Intrigued by STK as London’s newest steakhouse. Unsure however if at £49 this really represented a good deal or not, or indeed, any deal at all.
Downsides or drawbacks
The ‘deal’ can only be taken Monday-Thursday and Sunday. As I price up the ‘deal’, I am unsure that I have saved any money at all over the individual sum of the parts. Also, since registering with Livingsocial, I receive an email with an offer pretty much daily (Brazilian wax anyone?), a frequency sufficiently annoying to me to ensure I cancel my interest with them.
What I ate
- Crab salad, cucumber & horseradish gazpacho, pickled white radish
- USDA steak flight (100gr of sirloin, rib-eye, fillet), parmesan truffle chips
- cold chocolate fondant with blood orange
Food quality
For the most part, I didn't particularly enjoy the food at STK. You obviously go there for the steaks, but despite my waiter suggesting I was about to eat 'the best steak of my life', I found the steaks bland. Indeed, the steak I had at Marco Pierre White's Steakhouse just a few days prior was in my view better. Also, cutting my rib-eye steak even with a steak knife was a white knuckle job, not helped by a large sinew running straight through it, a real problem if the steak is just 100gr because it's then hard to avoid. My waiter did offer to have me another cooked up however (declined).
The bread sounded intriguing, a home made bricohe style loaf with a blue cheese glaze, though I couldn't really pick up any cheese and the bread was far too dense. The crab salad starter, of which there was a lot, became monotonous too quickly and could have used a some textural variety and a better balance of ingredients. The dessert however was quite classy, I'm told that the pastry chef is ex MW at The Berkeley. The dessert then was easily the highlight of the meal.
Food quantity
Each course provided ample food
Service
Service was excellent. My waiter couldn't have been more enthusiastic about STK had he been the owner. For my time there, I felt like I had a new best friend. Full credit on service.
Meal deal verdict
My best guess is that I saved £10 with this deal, so c17% of the pre-service cost, so not the best deal I've had this week and lower than the saving I received at Marco Pierre White's steakhouse. Again, I took no additional drink with this meal which could have pushed the meal cost up to the £70 mark making it very hard to argue it's any sort of bargain. While I didn't enjoy the food, that is not I am guessing a function of the deal, rather, I don't think I'm a fan of STK.
Deal score
3/10
Additional note on STK
I continue to think the branding 'not your daddy's steakhouse' is one of the strangest restaurant taglines I've come across. And with sexualised imagery (see here) is it supposed to appeal to men or women? Maybe they know what they're doing, but on my lunchtime visit, it was mostly middle aged men, around half in suits.
My waiter told me that at night however, the in-house DJ progressively increases the volume of the music as the night goes on and at the end of the night, they encourage guests to take off their shoes and dance on banquettes. Maybe it's not your daddy's steakhouse then, but going forward, I don't think it will be ours either. For those who have tried it, we look forward to comments on whether the disco-steakhouse theme works in your opinion and if you've not tried it, whether it appeals.