Tag-Team Review: Fairway Café and Steakhouse

After seeing a movie in the UWS, Mug Head and I went looking for a place to eat dinner. It was a little late, so we were somewhat limited in our options. We walked past Fairway and remembered being told by friends that the food in the café is quite good. We’ve had their take-home food before, and that’s always good, so we decided to give the café a try…

Fairway Café and Steakhouse is on the second floor of Fairway and upon first glance, is quaintly romantic. The back wall is all exposed brick, and the entire right wall is windows with shades rolled halfway to help forget you’re on Broadway— something I can appreciate. The dessert and coffee area is in the front, with all desserts and pastries on view to tempt you from the get-go.

After we were seated, however, we started to notice some… oddities. For one thing, there were votive candles on some tables but not all, and they weren’t even all lit. I’m assuming that they were starting to clear tables because it was late, but make a decision. If there are candles, light them. The left wall had four flat screen tv’s side by side and playing the same movie. There was a mirror above them, slanted towards the tables, so it looks like that area is used for cooking demonstrations. Maybe they show what the cooks are doing on the screens while they work? I was just confused to see a line of tv’s with the same thing playing. The absolute worst thing was that there were sturdy country-chic wood chairs and cheap looking metal chairs— the type that belong in a backyard— mismatched throughout the café. It was like they couldn’t decide if they wanted to be an ironic version of a restaurant or an actual restaurant. It went from quaintly romantic to just plain confusing really quickly, especially considering they have “steakhouse” in their name.

I have no complaints about the service. Our server seemed to be new because she didn’t know all the answers to our questions, but she smiled without faltering each time and said she would go find out. And each time, she came back within a few minutes and gave us the answer. I really appreciate servers who find out answers they don’t know and come back right away. It really shows that they care about me as well as their job.

Time for dinner! They have a la carte or three prix fixe options, $28, $33 or $44. The prix fixe menusProsciutto with Baby Arugula come with your choice of appetizer and dessert and three or four entrée options. Definitely worth the price. We both decided to go with the $44 prix fixe menu option. I started with the Prosciutto and Baby Arugula. To sum it up in one word: DAYMN. There was a ridick amount of thick-cut prosciutto on top of a perfect amount of arugula, with a few olives and baby pickles, for garnish. It was delicious, but honestly, a little much.

For dinner I copied MugHead and went with the 10oz NY Strip Steak. My biggest fear is ordering meat and asking to send it back because it isn’t cooked the way I asked— I’m not stupid, I saw Waiting. But seriously, I’m not a snob. As long as my meat isn’t mooing or charcoaled, I’ll eat it. But I prefer my meat medium— that means brown on the outside and dark pinkish in the center. I’m willing to eat medium-rare or medium-well, but you risk me liking you less. 10oz Prime Dry Aged NY StripMy steak came out cooked perfectly, as you can see. I even compared it against Mug Head’s medium-well and my pink center was clearly darker and larger. I’m a no-frills kinda girl when it comes to steak. I like when I don’t have to add anything to enjoy it— no salt, no steak sauce, nada. I want to taste my meat the way the cook wanted me to. That’s where I have a problem with this steak. It tasted like there was no seasoning whatsoever. Not even the basic salt and pepper. I like meat just as much as the next girl, but shouldn’t steak taste like you did something other than kill an animal? So they get points for cooking it right but lose some for taste.

With the steak came a full plate of Shoestring Potatoes, saltedShoestring Potatoes perfectly. Unlike Mug Head’s, mine were all the perfect crispness and golden brown color. My issue with the fries is the plastic ramekins used for ketchup. I think that is so unclassy in a sit down “steakhouse.” Like I said, I think they are seriously confused about what type of eatery they want to be.

By the time dessert came, they were almost closing and had turned off the ovens, so our options wereOld Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake limited to anything that didn’t need to be heated. Mug Head was disappointed because he couldn’t get his first choice, but sucks for him. I knew what I wanted since we walked in. I went with the Chocolate Layer Cake. It was a two layer cake with chocolate buttercream frosting as the midlayer and frosting. It was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I liked it. It was moist, not overbearingly chocolatey, and a good sized portion. (In case you’re wondering, a yummy chocolate cake is the way to my heart)

Overall, I enjoyed the food. But the décor turned me off from loving the place. Would I recommend you take a date here? Depends— are you trying to impress them? Then not so much. But if you’ve been together for a while (like Mug Head and me), go for it. I think this place is better suited for something more casual, like a lunch date or brunch. I actually want to come back for brunch, and you’ll know when I do. Please, go here and let me know if you’re as put off by the décor as I am. It’s certainly possible (but unlikely) that I’m wrong. In the meantime, go check out Mug Head's thoughts on this.