I have been to many of the best steak restaurants in cattle country, Vic & Anthony's in Houston, Mickey Mantles in Oklahoma City, Plaza III ( back when it was world class) in Kansas City, Mahogany's in Tulsa , etc... They all commit the same sin so does Halls. They have the waiter put the steak in front of you and what happens? He or she says please cut into the steak, some make this ghastly practice worse by pulling out a flashlight. You say they just want to make sure your steak is cooked to your liking. I retort, first you are telling me you have no confidence in your chef, kind of similar to asking you to buy a warranty when you just bought a new TV, but I digress. You put the server in the position of telling the guest to follow his or her command, that is contrary to how the service industry is suppose to work. The server doesn't tell the guest what to do. Perhaps, the guest is an excellent raconteur and is in the middle of the celebrated portion of the story and the server has now broken the flow. Some of you are still not convinced, ok here comes the utilitarian portion. When you cut into a steak and you have to cut into the middle of it to really determine if it is cooked to your liking. The moment you cut into the middle of the steak the juices immediately flow out. Maybe you wanted to try the tasty lobster macaroni that they all serve first, nope you now are committed to the steak. If you don't start ravaging the steak at this point you will not enjoy it at its most juicy, tender and flavorful, don't argue with me I know what I am talking about. There are still a few holdouts, you are thinking you made some points I never considered, however, what if the steak is not cooked to my liking, right? One of the defining features of all great steak houses is their exceptional service. You simply stop one of the managers, water glass fillers, bread servers that are ubiquitous in all fine dining and say my steak is under cooked, please get my waiter and he will appear as if you had said the building was on fire.
I am done my preaching. Despite this training flaw that Halls engages in, I have not had such a wonderful steak since maybe Delmonico's in Las Vegas ages ago. I applaud you, what a truly pleasurable dining experience.