Seminole Casino, Coconut Creek Reservations required online or call (954) 935-6699
https://www.seminolecoconutcreekcasino.com/dining/nyy-steak
Open 7 Days a Week for Dinner
Sunday – Thursday
5PM – 10PM
Friday & Saturday
5PM – 11PM
The true test of a restaurant that has high rating requires at least two visits. So much can change over time that your first 10 star impression might drop considerably on your return visit. This happened years ago when my husband, Marcus and I and another couple went out to a DC steak house to celebrate the birthdays of both of the guys. Our first time to that steakhouse couldn’t have been any better. We thoroughly enjoyed our experience. The atmosphere was intimate, our waiter was well trained and attentive without hovering and the food was wonderful and plentiful. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to do a return visit the following year for the birthday celebration. It went from a 10 to somewhere around a 6. Big disappointment. Not sure what the rating might be on a third visit but with that much of a drop in our opinion of the place, we never went back.
However, we didn’t have this experience with the NY Steakhouse. (decorated with New York Yankee baseball memorabilia and photographs). We went to this restaurant in May and gave it a 9.5 on our rating scale and talked about returning soon. I had not started my food blog for Broward County and surrounding areas yet, so I did not post about our first visit. But I did take a few photos from our meal that night which I include in this blog entry. We didn’t have a special occasion then, we went so I could use some of the comp money the casino gives me for being a regular.
However we did have a special occasion this time. Thursday, June 9th was my mother-in-law’s birthday. I asked Enid if she would like to go back to the NY Steakhouse to celebrate. Without hesitation she said “Yes!”
I made my reservation on line for 6:15 for 3 through the Seminole Casino website. They have a dialog box where you can make special requests. I asked for a booth in a more quiet section of the restaurant and I let them know it was Enid’s birthday.
Just as you approach the hostess desk, you will see a glass case on the left that displays the different cuts of meat the Steakhouse offers. It’s an impressive display! The two gentlemen were busy trimming and weighing the steaks.
From their website-“NYY Steak utilizes the dry-aging process to perfect each cut of beef and lamb to ensure that its quality and flavor are second-to-none. Dry-aging is the process by which large cuts of beef are aged through natural enzymatic processes that break down the connective tissue and fibers. This process enhances the beef and lamb’s flavor and tenderness before they are trimmed into steaks and chops. NYY Steak’s USDA Prime steaks are dry-aged 21-28 days and USDA Prime lamb is dry-aged 14-21 days. In order to maximize flavor and tenderness, NYY Steak uses Himalayan Pink Salt to absorb the beef and lamb’s intramuscular moisture within the in-house dry-aging room.”
On our visit in May I ordered the Porterhouse cut, Marcus got the New York Strip and Enid got the Delmonico.
I found the Porterhouse to be absolutely delicious but because of the big bone, I felt I was paying a lot for something I was going to toss out. True, the bone adds flavor to the meat and if I had planned ahead, I could have used the bone for soup stock, but that didn’t happen. Marcus enjoyed the New York Strip but said it wasn’t the best choice he could have made. It was a bit tougher than he wished. However, the flavor was great. Enid really liked her Delmonico and had no complaints. So this time Marcus and I opted for the Delmonico and Enid went with the Prime Rib Special. We were all very happy with our choices.
Everything is à la carte. Because I know the portion size is huge, I didn’t have an appetizer. The vegetable side dishes are large enough to share. I skipped the Garlic Mashed Potatoes (really tasty!) this trip and opted for the Salt Baked Potato instead. It was served with crumbled bacon, sour cream and butter. Even the baked potato was big enough to share although I didn’t have any takers when I offered.
I also asked for two orders of the Sautéed Mushrooms for the table. This was my only disappointment with the meal. Last time the mushrooms were plump, tender and juicy, this visit they were tough and dry but they still had a great flavor. I wasn’t as impressed with them as I had been on the first visit. However, their dryness didn’t prevent us from eating them and they were not so overcooked that I felt the need to send them back.
Last visit we spied something being served on a hanging rack like one that might be used to dry pasta. It is their signature Thick Cut Bacon appetizer. Although we vowed we would try it this time, we forgot to order one! Next time. Along with her Prime Rib, Enid ordered the Sautéed Peapods and Carrots . (They were cooked al dente as expected). I had my eye on the onion soup which is one of my favorites. But if I eat a bowl of soup before dinner, you might as well pack everything else to go. I’d be completely full. Maybe next time I will try it.
Marcus ordered the Caesar Salad on both visits, enjoying the crisp lettuce and tangy dressing.
He especially loves that the waiter added extra anchovies without a fuss! The half-salad is quite large and is served with a fried cheese wafer.
It’s hard not to fill up on bread while you wait for your dinner to arrive. They serve a big basket full of warm soft pretzels and a wonderful cranberry bread with two different flavors of butter softened to the perfect temperature for spreading. I chose the herb butter and Cranberry Bread and Enid went with the Soft Pretzel and the butter that has mustard seeds throughout. Both are delicious. Be sure to ask the assistant waiter to pack the leftovers to take home….if there are any!
Shortly after Marcus finished his salad, our dinners were served. Our waiter, Melissa was great. The perfect blend of professional and comfortable. She got our drink orders correct (no ice in our soda water served with a plate full of lemon and lime slices), she came to check on Marcus to see if his salad was ok and she showed up with refills of our drinks just after our dinners were served without us having to ask. After we had a few seconds to get our first inspection of our steaks, making sure they had been cooked the way we wanted, Melissa arrived to ask if everything was to our liking. She also returned a few minutes after we got started eating to see of we needed anything. We did not. We dug in!
Maybe it doesn’t look like it from this photograph but the portion of meat is huge and this is only a third of my baked potato! I’m sure it is easy to overeat at this restaurant because everything is so good. But, because we were celebrating my mother-in-law’s birthday, I knew there was going to be dessert, so I stopped with lots of room left for whatever was selected from the dessert menu.
The assistant waiter came to pack up our leftovers for us after we finished eating dinner. He had a cart with plenty of plastic boxes with good fitting lids stacked up ready to be filled. By the time he finished packing things up for us, we had two large bags of food. Immediately after the assistant waiter was finished our waiter arrived with dessert menus asking if we wanted coffee or an after dinner drink. The restaurant has an extensive wine list and full bar. We didn’t get a cocktail before dinner nor did we get coffee or an after dinner drink.
We had watched as the waiter from a neighboring table prepared the flaming NY Steakhouse 151 Volcano (Vanilla Ice cream covered in Heath Bar crunch, doused with 151 rum and set a blaze). It sounded really yummy! I think Enid and I would have enjoyed that but Marcus isn’t big on ice cream. And, because of it’s size, there was no way we would be able to finish it. I think it’s a sin to waste ice cream and it doesn’t travel well.
Marcus thought we should give the Carrot Cake another go but, remembering how sweet it was and that it’s full of raisins that Enid doesn’t like, I suggested we go with the Colossal Chocolate Cake again and see if it is as good the second time as it was the first. Enid, proclaiming that all the desserts sounded good to her, agreed with my suggestion. And, because she loves blueberries and doesn’t care for strawberries or blackberries, she requested extra blueberries as garnish. This was not a problem. Our waitress delivered the cake with a birthday candle. However she made a quick getaway so she didn’t have to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ with Marcus and I.
For those of you who, like me, have no trouble polishing off a piece of cake or pie after dinner, take this as a warning-these cakes are huge! The desert portions are intended to be shared. The slice of cake is easily 6 inches high and 4 or 5 inches across at the widest side. I suppose if you came in just for dessert and coffee (reservations needed), you could probably finish the whole slice. But after a big meal, that’s a challenge even I would not accept.
I am happy to report that the chocolate cake was every bit as good the second time. It is served with a few decoratively piped real whipped cream piles, blueberries and a puddle of chocolate sauce that is as thick as pudding. So good! All of us had a slice and there was about half of piece left that the assistant waiter boxed up for Enid to take home.
Our first visit to The New York Steakhouse was on a Wednesday night. Our reservation was for 5:15. This time, we went on a Thursday and the earliest I could get was 6:15. It was more crowded on this visit. I would say by the time we left the restaurant was about half to 3/4 full. It’s a big place but I am not sure how many tables it has. Quite a few. Many tucked into every nook and cranny.
I counted 12 people in the kitchen at one point. Many were cooks and others were assistant waiters and waiters picking up food orders. I didn’t get an accurate count of waiters attending customers since there was always a flurry of them walking about. But I would say somewhere in the neighborhood of 7. Each of them has an assistant waiter. It looked to me like every waiter had three or four tables very closely grouped. This makes for efficient service especially in a restaurant as large as this one.
We gave the New York Steakhouse a rating of 9.5 both times we came. The service is great, the food is delicious and the service is timed to perfection. The staff is very friendly and helpful. They are eager to make their customers happy. This is an important part of a fine dining experience. Even though I paid for our dinner with comp money from the casino, I was not treated any differently than anyone else in the restaurant. Both times we ate here, we were shown respect by the hostess and wait staff.
The only real complaint, and the reason we can’t give it a 10, is the noise. There is no escaping it. Both the floors and ceiling are wood. There are several large wooden wine rack walls and a large glass panel dividing the kitchen from the dining room that reflect the sound back into the room. There is music playing softly but honestly, it’s so noisy you can’t really hear it most of the time. With such a large staff working and so many patrons, it’s not going to be a quiet meal. But, the noise level is not anything that the staff has any control over and it does not ruin a wonderful experience.
Of course I left a generous cash tip. I think the prices are reasonable for a fine dining restaurant. Especially when you consider that each of us has leftovers for at least one, if not two more dinners. This is not a place where you come to stick to your diet, it’s a place where you come to splurge. It is perfect for special occasions. Arrive with a big appetite and you won’t be disappointed. New York Steakhouse has proved, after our two visits, to be consistently good.
I just wanted to post an update to this review. Our wedding anniversary is June 26. The three of us decided to go to the NYS to celebrate. We were seated in a booth on the left side of the restaurant kind of tucked away in a corner. Since the noise level is the reason I couldn’t give this steakhouse a 10, I thought this might be a great place to sit because it is away from the largest crowds in the restaurant. Boy was I wrong. There were two other tables of four or five women on each seated near us and they were having a great time celebrating something. Between their celebratory banter and the high-level sound reflection, we couldn’t hear each other talk. I literally had to relay messages to my Mother-in-Law through my husband. It was nuts how loud it got. I found myself nearly shouting at one point and then realized how ridiculous this was and gave up.
However, although our waiter was quite occupied by the two other tables and his assistant waiter seemed absent most of the night, the service was ok and the food was wonderful.
I had thought about getting the French Onion Soup on this visit, but opted for the Thick Cut Bacon and Cornbread appetizer to share instead. Both the bacon and cornbread come dripping in maple syrup. While I enjoyed the first few bites, it really is a bit too much as a stand-alone appetizer. (we all took some of this home and I used mine as salad toppings for the next few nights). The bottom of the cornbread tasted burned. It is baked in a cast iron pan and the syrup on the bottom (and butter? or whatever they put put in the pan) had burned. That’s a shame because the top portion of the bread was very tender, moist and tasty.
For dessert this time, we shared a Crème Brûlée. After we finished the dessert I remarked that next time I won’t be sharing. It was really good. Creamy vanilla custard was complimented with just the right amount of burnt sugar on top. And, it was presented on a lovely plate made up with a Happy Anniversary candle and chocolate disk.
Jennifer Wheatley-Wolf 
Great review. Sounds like my kind of restaurant. Now I’m hungry for steak and chocolate cake.
If you ever make it to this side, I’ll treat you and Keith to dinner! There will be plenty of leftovers for Jonny 🙂