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Sophie's Steakhouse (Covent Garden): London's best steaks?

18/3/2012

3 Comments

 
We are generally of the view that if you want a good steak in London, Goodman is the place to go. Hawksmoor is pretty damn good too but with the Goodman vs Hawksmoor thing, it's a bit like Coke vs Pepsi in our view, people seem to be one or the other. CUT at 45 Park Lane sounded impressive but in our opinion offers nothing as good as either of the aforementioned but still requires you to remortgage your house before eating there so why bother. Sophie's Steakhouse however has received increasingly good press and on their website state 'at Sophie's our aim is to provide the best steak in London'. With such fighting talk, we had to try. One half of the CC team visited with a friend.

Looking at the website for Sophie's before my visit in order to book a table, I discover that it is a no bookings restaurant (silent scream). Only when I read that the restaurant seats 220 do I cease to care for a table surely seems guaranteed. Also catching my eye is the boast that 'our giant martini's (sic) are legendary' - so many things to worry about in so few words. The menu too is reasonably extensive which might or might not be a good thing.

Entering the restaurant, it is pretty huge, and despite my visit running in to late (Sunday) afternoon, the restaurant remained impressively full, with new customers still coming through the door at 3pm. Menus are in large card format though mine was dog-eared in the corners and marked with both biro and some food stains. It probably should have been in the bin rather than given to customers. For pre lunch drinks we ordered G&Ts but were not asked if we wanted water or given a wine list - perhaps they don't have one. Napkins are of the light paper tissue variety and seated three tables from the door, mine wafted on to the floor each time the door was opened. Tables generally are also quite close and the (normal sized) waiter couldn't squeeze between ours and the one behind us without banging my chair which became a little tiresome.

On food, couldn't really resist seeing what they would do with 'Traditional prawn cocktail' while my friend asked for a green salad with the dressing on the side. The prawn cocktail was entirely as described, ie, traditional, though to be fair, was actually fine enough in being what it was. The large prawn on the side (a nod to the avant-garde perhaps?) nevertheless came shell on and with no finger bowl provided, left my fingers smelling of prawn for the rest of the meal. The green salad was fresh and fine. 
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Prawn cocktail
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Green salad (dressing requested on the side)
My dining companion had the lobster & avocado club which impressively boasts on the menu a 'whole Canadian lobster' so, at £21.95, is only a touch more expensive than Burger & Lobster (though served here without fries but includes bacon in the club). It was reported to be excellent.

For me, with an extensive range of main courses offered, I felt in some way spoiled for choice though I was here for the steak challenge so I thought I'd better. Now, assuming that the cut of beef is a given, Goodman et al have raised the game several steps further by providing the holy trinity of description: country of origin (especially USDA versus other), the breed of cow (always welcome to see Belted Galloway on the board) and how many days aged the beef is (28 or perhaps 60 day). On the menu, I spotted none of this; on looking at the website later, I note they say 'Great British Dry Aged Steaks) so maybe this was somewhere on the menu and I missed it, but for a restaurant that wants to offer the best steaks, in London, it's a glaring shortfall unless the beef really does do the talking. 

I opted for a bone in sirloin medium rare. It came with a strong char on the outside, cooked about right inside, but overall, failed to leave an impression on me. If I had never had a Goodman steak, maybe I'd be saying something different but I have. 28 day aged Belted Galloway from Goodman is in my view the gold standard and if they want to trump the competition, a better quality steak is needed, it's as simple as that. Sauces are not offered at the time of ordering, and again, while not clear from the menu, it actually came with bearnaise which was in fact quite good. A bottle of Sophie's steak sauce was also brought to the table (not tried). A hastily ordered glass of red wine came in a funny little glass that basically said "we're used to breakages and this glass is either too tough or too cheap for us to worry".   
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Lobster & avocado club sandwich
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bone in sirloin
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interesting wine glasses
The prices here are admittedly less than Goodman. As a quick spot check, the 28oz Porterhouse at Sophie's is £39.95 while the metric Goodman sees it on my calculation at £52.52 (prices taken from website menus). In my view, Goodman do offer a better steak but they charge you more for it. In some sense then, everything seems fair.

Situated in the heart of theatre land/Covent Garden, the location is perfect for visitors to the capital. Furthermore, for what most will want pre/post theatre, visitors will come away happy with their choice. However, from giant Martinis to the dog-eared card menu, everything here suggests boisterous youthful restaurant rather than top end steakhouse. It is therefore what it is, and as the old expression goes, 'you pays your money and you takes your choice'. Personally, I'd rather dig a little deeper and go to Goodman who do actually do (in our opinion) the best steaks in London.



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Related links

Goodman City

Goodman Mayfair  

Sophie's Steakhouse website


Sophie's Steakhouse on Urbanspoon
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3 Comments
Dave
5/8/2014 06:19:47 am

Sometimes things are better reviewed with a clear head.
Your Goodman's experience keeps cropping up and along with the comment you made about the (in my opinion) very nicely designed, different from the usual, wine glass shows you are just too stuck up to care about the food.

I have not been to either Sophie's nor Goodman's as I do not live near London. The reason for me reading your review is because I am planning a visit to London and a visit to Sophie's steakhouse.
I must say you are the only person with a negative view on this steakhouse that I have managed to find so you are clearly an anomaly. I therefore recommend that you swallow your pride and review this steakhouse again with a clear and less up yourself attitude.

Reply
TCC
5/8/2014 07:32:10 am

"I haven't eaten there but your review is rubbish"

Might it not be more sensible to eat there first before you pass comment? You're going to feel pretty silly if you don't enjoy it when you do visit.

As for no other negative reviews, I would suggest two things.

First, there are so few reviews out there because most bloggers are not sufficiently excited to go there it would seem. On Urbanspoon London, Sophie's, in the last 5 years has chalked up just 7 blog posts (including yours truly). Hawksmoor Seven Dials meanwhile has 74 blog posts and Goodman 44 blog posts. I mean really, can you not draw at least some conclusions from that?

Second, visit Urbanspoon's user reviews, link below:

http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/1430015/restaurant/Covent-Garden/Sophies-Steakhouse-London#comments

there are 9 User Reviews. 5 rate it "don't like it". 4 rate it "likes it"

Of the 4 that rated LIKE IT, I'll repeat, like it, going down the list in order they said

1) ... v expensive steaks ...
2) great pre-theatre... [there was no specific comment on the food]
3) By the numbers food...
4) Loud and full of life... food's okay...

I wont bother quoting the 'doesn't like it' reviews.

So our review is 'clearly an anomaly'? Point 1 suggests that if only 7 out of the 964 listed London food blogs have been there (0.73%), the anomaly is that we actually took time to review it.

Point 2 meanwhile suggests that you need to be a little more thorough in your own research before commenting if you wish to avoid looking stupid.

And as for 'too stuck up to care about food' because we care about wine, that of course a non sequitur, therefore demands no rebuttal. It tells us only that you are happy to drink wine out of a plastic beaker and good luck to you I say.

I'm sure you'll be very happy at Sophie's, you appear to be their target market. Without contradiction however, any positive view of the restaurant you espouse after the meal wont count because the psychological requirement of consistency means that you will need to confirm the positive view of the restaurant you have publicly led with before actually eating there.

Maybe you should take your own advice then, in that blog comments, like blog posts, are better made with a clear head. At least we visited the restaurant before passing comment.

Reply
Deborah Miller link
8/11/2016 09:48:14 am

Looks so delicious!!!

The taste of the steak dish depends on the way of its preparation. I like the presentation of Lobster & avocado club sandwich and I am going to try it with wine, then this would double the enjoyment.

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