Vinyl Steakhouse has been a steak place that I’ve been wanting to go for quite some time. The Flatiron area has been experiencing many new restaurant openings post pandemic, and this was one of them that was appealing. Similar to Turntable Chicken Jazz, this restaurant has a load of vinyls on display, and it plays music as requested. We were able to walk in on a Friday around 6:30 PM without reservations for 2. They seated us at the front of the restaurant.
Ambiance & Service
As expected, the interior is decorated with a slew of vinyl records all over. The music is pretty loud, but not uncomfortable if you’re OK with having less conversations. Because we were seated in the front where there were less tables and people, it was easy to hear my partner. However once a party joined next to us, it was a little difficult to hear since the music is loud and the space has a lot of reverb with noise in general.
The service itself was pretty straight forward and fast.
Food
The Oregon Territory 2021 ($18) Pinot Noir came from Willamette Valley, Oregon. This was dry and a tad acidic, but it tasted good while drinking it. However once I had my carbonara, there was all sorts of clashing going on. It would’ve been fine with the steak.
The Maryland Inspired Crab Cake ($25) came with fresh crab, roasted sweet corn, corn veloute, parsley, and fennel salad. The crab cake came very hot, and I thought the edges were just a tad burnt. Fortunately, the crab meat itself was plentiful. This definitely had a slightly frozen taste to it, but it also did not have a lot of “binding”, so you can really get lots of crab textures and flavors. The veloute sauce with the corn was a nice tough, as I am a big fan of corn overall.
The Creamed Spinach Carbonara ($16) came with bacon, shaved parmesan, and egg yolk. This was surprisingly very delicious and plentiful. I wish the carbonara sauce was more creamy because it was a bit watery. It might have been due to the spinach being cooked in it.
The 10 oz Filet Mignon ($66) came medium rare. This was cooked perfectly, albeit not with a lot of flavor since it’s the filet cut. It was just seasoned with salt and pepper. The filet was very tender for what it was.
The Loaded Potato Pavé ($16) came with bacon, chive, smoked cheddar, and jalapeno. This was surprisingly very good. It’s basically thin sheets of potato baked with said ingredients. You get a nice crispy texture on some parts of it.
Final Verdict
Vinyl Steakhouse was pretty good for what it was. We knew coming here for a small steak dinner plus shareables was just to enjoy a start to the weekend. The food here was commendable, and there are probably better steak restaurants if you want to go more expensive. The ambiance here was quite interesting and loud, so if you are into a more social atmosphere, this might be a good place to check out whilst enjoying steak complementary foods.
Yelp Jabs
Classic rock fans rejoice, the music is exactly what you’d want to hear in a cozy yet open place like this… Food is amazing, don’t sleep on the crispy rice sushi.
The music was very much full of classic tunes that are bound to make people excited on what they’re hearing. We’re talking songs going back to the pre-2000s when it comes to rock music. I would probably skip on the crispy rice sushi though, because this isn’t a sushi restaurant.
I’m neither vegan nor vegetarian but the vegan ribeye (which is in the photos) was absolutely incredible!! Honestly if I was blindfolded, I would have no idea it wasn’t meat. Most restaurants (especially steakhouses) have some sort of sad excuse for a veggie-friendly meal on their menu.
Although vegan food is questionably “good” to some, I would much rather eat actual meat than a rather high sodium handmade processed concoction. Don’t fall for it.
Revisions
- Mar 1, 2024 - Initial revision.