The Best Steak House

I have a lot of respect for the owner /​cook who was behind the counter when a college friend and I had dinner.
We each had a nice steak and sides and were conversating in the relaxed casual and spacious restaurant. When we noticed a heated discussion at the only other occupied table, where two women and one man where seated. For unknown reasons the two women started yelling at each other, and one of them PULLED A STEAK KNIFE on the other.
So there was more yelling and commotion while the woman with the steak knife attempted to stab the other woman. But the real surprising part happened when the chef/​owner came from behind the counter and got between the two!
I thought he must be out of his mind to put himself in that situation, but he managed to disarm the irate women, causer her to exit, and then locked the door.
So we finished our dinner with the angry woman occasionally banging on the locked door and threatening her former dinner guests.
Not something you’re going to see at a typical chain restaurant. The food was descent. I’d rather eat here than many chains in the same price range.

Well as someone who food taste range from greasy-​spoon to 5 star dining, I must say that this was down there in the greasy spoon category.
I actually work at Truman college and decided to walk my pregnant self over to see what this place had to offer. I must say that the neighborhood is very seedy and full of sketchy looking characters. The area is littered with paper and trash and people who look like addicts, are standing everywhere. With that said I happily entered The Best Steak House.

The restaurant instantly reminded me of a diner from another era. The décor was dated but it looked clean enough. I ordered the plain ½ chicken which came with a side salad, baked potato, and garlic bread. The food was pretty good especially for the price. I paid 6.95 and was given so much food I was not able to finish it all. The chicken was excellent the potato was a little on the bland side but, overall not bad food.

You can’t help but be a bit nervous upon entering. Right outside a guy was getting arrested on top of a police cruiser. The location sure isn’t a plus in terms of ambiance but it’s very easy to get to.
I walked in, they were playing Michael Jackson Thriller. That’s so great. The owner and a lovely woman were manning the grill and taking orders. It felt so authentic at that point.
The food was so cheap. I expected crap but knew on Unilocal that people love this place. I could see myself coming back weekly. The Grecian Chicken is unbelievably delicious. My mate had the rib eye which he loved and it was cooked in a Mediterranean style. I didn’t care for the steak to be honest, but the chicken was the most amazing stuff. Something about the lemony buttery sauce and the real charcoal grill flavor. It was unbelievable how tender it is.
The owner was cooking that night. He told me people drive hours to buy his meals. I totally believe it. The place isn’t much to look at, but the food is delicious, a sure bargain, and it’s certainly made fresh. This is real food.

In the heart of Uptown lies this marvel of a restaurant
called the Best Steak House.
Okay, granted, this is not finer dining and it is located
in Uptown, right on the corner of Wilson and Broadway.
So, this place lacks ambiance and is not fancy.
But, today was rainy and cold here in Chicago and I
walked in and felt a nice warm feeling.
And they have a bar with a nice Miller Lite sign.
that always makes me happy!
But, they have a great menu with many choices,
although steak is definitely the main attraction here.
I had a great steak dinner for under $ 10.00 and it was
so worth every penny.
Menu prices are super reasonable, so if you’re looking
for a really good place to have a good meal and don’t
want to break the bank Best Steak House is the place to go.
Also, according to their menu they open at 10am and are
serving breakfast!
Thats nice to know because normally for breakfast I am
eating Cocoa Puffs!
So, to sum up, not the best neighborhood in the city but.
I think the positives outweigh the negatives most definitely.
If you’re ever in Uptown give Best Steak House a try.
I live 4 blocks away, I’ll be back for sure.:)

The reviews on this place are dead-​on. I say this because their steaks are either delicious or inedible. I’ve only eaten the steaks here, and when I do, I always ask to see how it looks before it hits the grill. When the steaks are fresh, there’s no better steak in the city for the price. However, there have been times when the steaks were purple – I kid you not! One time I kept asking the cook to find a steak with a reddish meat color and he could not find one because they were all purple. That’s when I decided to not eat here anymore.
The décor, ambiance, and area are very seedy. A lot of drunks hang out here. One time a full-​figured lady who looked like a vagabond walked over to me and gave me her phone #. I thought I was on Candid Camera or something. I would only take a girl here on a date if I wanted her to break up with me and only recommend this place under one caveat: ask to see the color of the steak before it hits the grill. Bön appetit.

This place is awesome. Cheap food but really tasty. I was really happy with the steak I got. Pro Tip — get the «best steak». I don’t know what cut it was but of the different steaks we were served, it really was the –best steak-​.
Plentiful leftovers, too.

I can’t give a Greek a single star, it’s not in me. So, 3 stars it is. I’m all about the dive joints and this is definitely one of them!
We need to get downtown quickly and have to grab food since we’re not going down there for pleasure. Where do we go? Not McDonald’s though! OK, this place has gyros, OK, let’s run in there and take a sandwich to go.
So, the place is definitely not that great looking not does it have a nice atmosphere but we’ll give it a chance. The food should be good.
We got a gyros plate and a grilled chicken breast sandwich. The chicken was decent. The gyros was a little iffy. The lot few layers of meat were tasty and crisp. The pita bread was a little too oily (ick — but it hit the spot). The bottom few layers of meat were a little sour? I don’t know, I still ate most of it, thinking it was the salad dressing. Still not sure, but I didn’t get sick so that definitely a plus. Fries were pretty good too.
The owner was kind enough too so that adds another star. Would I go here again? Maybe, maybe not. Depends on if I’m in the area. I’d stick with the grilled items though.

The reviewer that tagged this place as «cheap food, cheap beer and weird ass atmosphere» hit it. And that’s the reason we sorta really wanted to like it. The quirk factor. And it’s been here forever. But. .. like John B. said…
Yeah, go read his review, I’ll wait.
*twiddles fingers*
Okay, back?
I ventured in here last night for the simple reason that I was insanely curious about this joint. If it was good, wow — what a find. $ 10 – 15 steak dinners. What’s not to love?
Wellll. .. sadly, there’s not a lot to love. Dirty appearance, overcooked steaks and dry baked potatoes. My sirloin was sort of greasy and soft tasting (tender, yes, but a weird tender). Porterhouse was flat-​out overcooked.
I liked the iceberg lettuce salad with extremely tart vinegar, but this made me think of childhood preferences. We didn’t always have a myriad of lettuce choices, missy, we ate iceberg lettuce in wedges and we LIKED IT.
I sort of loved the janky little bar in front, but the intersection (Wilson/​BWay) is not really conducive to chicks hanging out after dark very much. It’s not like I’m really going to come hang out there. The bathrooms were very clean. .. I’ll give him that much, and that is a plus.
They seemed to close really early too, or maybe they just lock the doors for safety. At any rate, probably no return trips. .. no, not even for a «full slap» of ribs.

I’m going in the middle with The Best Steakhouse. For a couple of reasons.
I was in there a couple of weeks back. I had a burger and fries and some beer. And I was surprised. It was actually good. The burger was a little small, but it really was tasty. Fries, nothing special. Beer was beer. And priced the way beer should be priced — which is what I was looking for.
The owner was awesome — old Greek guy, like the old diners I am used to from my Chicago childhood. He treated us like we were regulars (our first time there), hospitable and proud of his restaurant.
I’m sure many people would think I was crazy for saying «proud of his restaurant». It’s at the corner of one of the worst intersections on the North Side. But, he is proud of the food he puts out. He just renovated the place (yes, he supposedly caters to bums and degenerates), but his bathrooms are cleaner than quite a few bars I have frequented in Lincoln Park. That says a lot.
When is the last time someone cared about their restaurant? Has run it since the 70’s (at least) and still treats people like paying customers?
More people should frequent this place. Less bums and more uptowners that complain about the lack of choices they have.
When’s the last time you said that about a bartender/​server/​owner of a trendy place in Wicker Park?

The Best Steakhouse is truly Uptown’s best kept secret, if you are looking for a good meal and a beer, all for under ten bucks.
I would recommend the rib eye steak plate, which is really good considering it only costs six dollars. The plate comes with a side salad (not great), fries and a thick piece of garlic Texas toast. You could wash down your meal with an eight dollar pitcher of Bud or Old Style (still the least expensive alcohol in Uptown).
I give The Best Steakhouse only four stars because it is an old dinner that is a bit worn (although it is in the process of being extensively remodeled). Also, because it has been a local Uptown spot for over thirty five years, you often have to eat next to a poor local who has saved up for a steak lunch/​dinner. If you visit this restaurant with an open mind, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
TBS is certainly worth a try.

I hope that I’m writing this review about the right place as the previous posters think this place is pretty terrible.
I guess they’re right about the atmosphere, but really, this is Uptown and Pete hasn’t changed his prices in 20 years. Get over the atmosphere and enjoy the cheap booze and great food.
The food is fantastic. Try the grilled chicken sandwich on pita. Its amazing. I would go everyday if I still lived in Uptown.
The bathrooms are new because Pete is trying to make is restaurant a better place, but because he isn’t some huge corporation and he –doesn’t rip off his customers, he can’t afford a huge overhaul. I’m not sure why people don’t appreciate this.

You want a sample of what food that’s served in jail is like, come on down to The Best Steak House.
I went here on a friday night, wanting something cheesy good, like hokey, not actually cheese on the food.
This place just sucks. I want to love it, cheap booze, cheap food, weird ass atmosphere. But nah, I recommend walking down to Aldi’s and getting a box of bake your own brownies and their frozen steaks.

Once upon a time, «Best Steak Houses» littered big cities and small towns across America. They weren’t part of a chain or a franchise — they were just cheap places to get a steak, baked potato, and the ubiquitous Texas toast. Nothing fancy, but better than a stick in the eye.
This Best Steak House is at the corner of Wilson and Broadway, and I pass it all the time. Driven by nostalgia, I decided to stop in for lunch.
That nostalgia is one sneaky bitch.
This restaurant can’t even bother to comb its hair in the morning. There are box stacked up willy-​nilly in one corner, as if it’s lost the will to clean up after itself. There are odd splotches of paint on the walls, as if someone thought about repainting at one time, but then decided against it. The pastel «target» designs on the walls seem to indicate an old paint job that goes back to the 70s. In an odd reversal, the bathrooms seem to be completely new. Were they required by the health department? Were they all that was required by the health department?
You order your meal at the counter, and if you have a dinner, you get a «salad.» There are four dressings on the counter: two white, one pink, and one yellow. I assume the pink is thousand island. I chose one of the whites, which looked like — and turned out to be – creamy garlic. The other white might be blue cheese. The yellow could be anything.
I got the 10 dollar sirloin. The meat was edible, and had no negative repercussions. If you want to splurge, the priciest steak is a 15 buck porterhouse. Fancy! If you choose, you can wash your steak down with beer (6 bucks for 48 oz) or a $ 2.50 glass of white, red, or pink wine. The white is chablis. Remember chablis? I assume the wines all come out of a box. It’s a box wine kind of place.