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Mastro's Steakhouse, Upscale California Steakhouse Chain at 13th and F Street near Metro Center


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I work around the corner, and it's indeed prime real estate. But so is the location of the long-time Mexican place around the corner at 14th and F (forget the name momentarily) and it's been vacant for months. Not sure how Oceanaire or the new Mastro's are doing. My time and $$ budgets don't allow me to frequent such places. Meanwhile, the casual eateries like District Taco, &Pizza, Chop't, Astro Donuts & Chicken, etc have lines out the door.

Thanks to a generous partner, had a great lunch at Mastro's. I had the jumbo lump crab omelet ($25). Outstanding. Came with a side salad, and with the outstanding bread basket, didn't need anything else. We shared some sides -- gorgonzola mac cheese, sauteed mushrooms, and roasted brussels sprouts -- all very good. Three of my colleagues got the Mastro's Steak Salad, and it looked quite appealing.

Some things we saw at other tables that looked enticing included the chopped salad and a massive basket of sweet potato fries.

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Thanks to a generous partner, had a great lunch at Mastro's. I had the jumbo lump crab omelet ($25). Outstanding. Came with a side salad, and with the outstanding bread basket, didn't need anything else.

A $25 omelet had better be outstanding!

How much crab was in it? Was it all lump?

More importantly, how was the side salad (there will be many, many more side salads served than jumbo lump crab omelets, so this is very useful information for diners). If you could give a brief description of the salad and the bread basket (which will be had by virtually everyone), that would be much appreciated.

Plus, your next post will put you at 500! Take a screenshot while there's still time.

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A $25 omelet had better be outstanding!

How much crab was in it? Was it all lump?

More importantly, how was the side salad (there will be many, many more side salads served than jumbo lump crab omelets, so this is very useful information for diners). If you could give a brief description of the salad and the bread basket (which will be had by virtually everyone), that would be much appreciated.

Plus, your next post will put you at 500! Take a screenshot while there's still time.

This was really an actual side salad -- a nice pile of (I think) baby arugula on the plate with the omelet, in a light vinaigrette. There is also a category of salads on the menu under "soups and salads," such as the chopped salad -- I saw a couple of those served to other tables and they looked great. There's one in there called "Spicy Mambo Salad" which is a nice nod to DC and something I'd like to try. Those are in the $12-13 range and looked to be big enough for a meal for someone like me. Then there are also entree salads, such as the Mastro's steak salads my boys got. Those were $26 each and I don't think anyone finished theirs entirely.

As for my omelet, it had a ton of lump crab meat, both inside the perfectly cooked omelet as well as tossed on top. Really an inspired choice by moi I have to say.

As for the breadbasket -- some pretzel bread, some baguette, some thin crisps, maybe a ciabatta-type roll, and I think one or two others. More support for my bread rule: "A good restaurant may have bad bread, but a bad restaurant will not have good bread."

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Yeah, well, at this price it *better* be good (I haven't been, but how could it not be at least "very good?")

When I read this yesterday I should have known that the jinx was on. Don can't get everywhere all the time, so I understand putting restaurants in Italics even without a visit, but I think if he ever does make it to Mastro's, I feel confident that the font will be changed and it will move down the page quite a bit.

My wife and I should have known what we were in for the second we walked in the door to an eerily dark and tremendously loud, cavernous room. We were greeted (accosted?) by what sounded like karaoke night at one of the sticky bars up 18th Street, a woman belting out Taylor Swifts "Bad Blood" without a modicum of shame. I looked around in disbelief that no one was offended by this performance, but the crowd here trended more towards the Cafe Milano set rather than Bourbon Steak, so I shouldn't have been surprised that they were unfazed.  I gave my wife the "should we go?" look, but ultimately made the call to give it a try as we had a late reservation (9pm) and didn't feel like seeking out something else in the snow. I wish we had.

We were seated by the somewhat confused hostess, who couldn't seem to figure out if there was a quieter part of the restaurant to seat us in per our request.  We looked at a couple tables and ultimately settled on a spot near the window, which unfortunately did not meet our criteria of a quieter dinner.  I didn't want to risk what I was sure would be a shamelessly overpriced wine list so I carried my own bottle in, which I placed on top of the table when we sat down.  It sat there, untouched for about 10 minutes before my wife asked for a glass of water and our waiter noticed it on the table. It disappeared for another 10 minutes before it finally came back unopened with a decanter.  It was clear that the service staff wasn't getting it; we hadn't seen a menu, had our glasses filled, or really been provided any service apart from what we requested after sitting down for 20 minutes.  I politely asked to see menus, to which our waiter replied "oh, yeah".  I start wondering at this point why I didn't follow my gut and walk out as soon as I heard the cover band, but we pressed on.  My wife had been jonesing for oysters for a week now, so we accepted the insulting $4/oyster upsell and got a half dozen Blue Points to start.  These were odd as they weren't unpleasant, rather meaty with some very nice fresh horseradish to add a slight kick, but it almost felt like someone had washed the oysters with water after opening, as they were quite bland outside of a hint of salt and the punch of added horseradish.  The liquor held no brine flavor at all, which was a shame as a hint of the sea was all these needed to be more than passable.

We moved on from there to the appetizers, a safe Iceberg Wedge ($12) and an Ahi Tuna Tartare ($21). Nothing major to report here, both of these were fine if boring, particularly for the prices. When did it become OK to charge $10+ for a half a head of flavorless, nutritionless lettuce and some chunks of bleu cheese, tomato, and bacon?  This didn't register with me until I was actually eating the salad, but it's a disappointing trend that is getting more common at restaurants in DC these days. Or maybe I was just cranky at that point as we were an hour into the meal and the songstress in the cover band was now butchering Beyonce's "All The Single Ladies" in the bar and our waiter had disappeared completely, leaving all of his responsibilities to the overburdened busser.

For our mains my wife went with the 8oz Filet ($48) and I got the 20oz "Chef's Cut" New York Strip ($59). For sides we went with the Garlic Mashed Potatoes ($14) and the Alaskan King Crab Black Truffle Gnocchi ($33!). Normally I'd be embarrassed to admit that I ordered the latter side, but my wife and I don't get out as much since we had our first child in November, and King Crab, black truffles, and gnocchi happen to be 3 of her favorite things to eat, so who was I to turn her down?  Unfortunately what arrived is what you the reader is probably expecting; a cheesy, gloppy mess with sparse chunks of overcooked crab (some with fingernail-sized pieces of shell still attached), no detectable black truffle flavor, and mushy gnocchi. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that you would feel better afterwards and certainly be more entertained if you took 33 $1 bills a mile down the road to Archibald's, grabbed a seat next to Michael Landrum, and used that money to "support the staff". The mashed potatoes were fine in a way that it's hard to screw up a dish that you load up with salt, butter, heavy cream, and potatoes, but again it was hard to detect what was supposed to be a primary flavor in the dish, the garlic.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I must say that our steaks were outstanding cuts of beef and cooked to the exact temperature we requested.  There was great marbling and a real depth of flavor to my NY Strip, with some hints of chestnut mixed in with the char and natural saltiness of the meat.  If I was to come back here for a business lunch or dinner, I would happily order this steak and get a healthy side and be perfectly content, but to think that I passed up on going to The Grill Room (my other option) in favor of this $230 before tax and tip meal left me scratching my head as I strolled out the door and away (finally) from that goddamn band.

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That is hysterical coming from a guy who doesn't like loud restaurants. His little decibel reader would have exploded last night as soon as he turned it on.

He must have either just had a steak or there was someone different in the kitchen the night he was there.

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We were seated by the somewhat confused hostess, who couldn't seem to figure out if there was a quieter part of the restaurant to seat us in per our request.  We looked at a couple tables and ultimately settled on a spot near the window, which unfortunately did not meet our criteria of a quieter dinner.  I didn't want to risk what I was sure would be a shamelessly overpriced wine list so I carried my own bottle in, which I placed on top of the table when we sat down.  It sat there, untouched for about 10 minutes before my wife asked for a glass of water and our waiter noticed it on the table. It disappeared for another 10 minutes before it finally came back unopened with a decanter.  It was clear that the service staff wasn't getting it; we hadn't seen a menu, had our glasses filled, or really been provided any service apart from what we requested after sitting down for 20 minutes.  I politely asked to see menus, to which our waiter replied "oh, yeah".  I start wondering at this point why I didn't follow my gut and walk out as soon as I heard the cover band, but we pressed on.  My wife had been jonesing for oysters for a week now, so we accepted the insulting $4/oyster upsell and got a half dozen Blue Points to start.  These were odd as they weren't unpleasant, rather meaty with some very nice fresh horseradish to add a slight kick, but it almost felt like someone had washed the oysters with water after opening, as they were quite bland outside of a hint of salt and the punch of added horseradish.  The liquor held no brine flavor at all, which was a shame as a hint of the sea was all these needed to be more than passable.

We moved on from there to the appetizers, a safe Iceberg Wedge ($12) and an Ahi Tuna Tartare ($21). Nothing major to report here, both of these were fine if boring, particularly for the prices. When did it become OK to charge $10+ for a half a head of flavorless, nutritionless lettuce and some chunks of bleu cheese, tomato, and bacon?  This didn't register with me until I was actually eating the salad, but it's a disappointing trend that is getting more common at restaurants in DC these days. Or maybe I was just cranky at that point as we were an hour into the meal and the songstress in the cover band was now butchering Beyonce's "All The Single Ladies" in the bar and our waiter had disappeared completely, leaving all of his responsibilities to the overburdened busser.

For our mains my wife went with the 8oz Filet ($48) and I got the 20oz "Chef's Cut" New York Strip ($59). For sides we went with the Garlic Mashed Potatoes ($14) and the Alaskan King Crab Black Truffle Gnocchi ($33!). Normally I'd be embarrassed to admit that I ordered the latter side, but my wife and I don't get out as much since we had our first child in November, and King Crab, black truffles, and gnocchi happen to be 3 of her favorite things to eat, so who was I to turn her down?  Unfortunately what arrived is what you the reader is probably expecting; a cheesy, gloppy mess with sparse chunks of overcooked crab (some with fingernail-sized pieces of shell still attached), no detectable black truffle flavor, and mushy gnocchi. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that you would feel better afterwards and certainly be more entertained if you took 33 $1 bills a mile down the road to Archibald's, grabbed a seat next to Michael Landrum, and used that money to "support the staff". The mashed potatoes were fine in a way that it's hard to screw up a dish that you load up with salt, butter, heavy cream, and potatoes, but again it was hard to detect what was supposed to be a primary flavor in the dish, the garlic.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I must say that our steaks were outstanding cuts of beef and cooked to the exact temperature we requested.  There was great marbling and a real depth of flavor to my NY Strip, with some hints of chestnut mixed in with the char and natural saltiness of the meat.  If I was to come back here for a business lunch or dinner, I would happily order this steak and get a healthy side and be perfectly content, but to think that I passed up on going to The Grill Room (my other option) in favor of this $230 before tax and tip meal left me scratching my head as I strolled out the door and away (finally) from that goddamn band.

Thanks for this review and the pricing, which is missing from their site.  While I don't consider myself much of a carnivore these days, I do get to Rays (and hellburger) somewhat....and I used to dine at many of the DC area steakhouses.  I'm always curious about current pricing as most of these sites don't reference them (some do).  I can't speak to comparisons, and you loved the steaks...but for price comparison there is no steak at Ray's that is priced at the 20 oz chef's cut NY strip...and their steak orders come with mashed potatoes included (not garlic--I was thinking of asking for that)....and while I can't speak to comparisons I and others have been very pleased with the steaks at Rays....and frankly when I was dining at places of the same ilk as Mastro's I really couldn't tell the differences and if one was extraordinarily and consistently better than others.

Sorry to hear that besides the steaks much of the experience didn't match up to expectations.

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When I read this yesterday I should have known that the jinx was on. Don can't get everywhere all the time, so I understand putting restaurants in Italics even without a visit, but I think if he ever does make it to Mastro's, I feel confident that the font will be changed and it will move down the page quite a bit.

Noted!

The chef here, btw, is Rob "Colonel" Klink, who used to be at Oceanaire.

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Had dinner at Mastro's last night. Clarification -- 20 people in my office had dinner here, and the check was paid by the Firm.

Mastro's is what it is -- big, bold, expensive steak house. DC has many of these, and we don't need more of them. It's not a place I would seek out and go to on my own, but when the Firm is picking up a $5K tab, what the heck.

I started out with a Negroni, which was deliciously bitter. So I had another. Perhaps the evening flowed by more easily after that....

Food is pretty good, but on the expensive side of pretty good. Appetizers that moved across the table included the seafood tower (a bit skimpy, with shell pieces in the oysters, but with mini-lobster-tail-sized shrimp, and fresh horseradish), the maguro lime roll and the jalapeno tuna sashimi. The sushi side of the starters menu is actually worth some consideration, but this is primarily a steak house.

I had the chopped salad, which was a generous portion, along with the bone-in Kansas City Strip. I ordered the Strip medium rare, knowing it would come out rare, and I was right. After I carved away the gristle on the outside and dug into the meat -- must admit it was delicious -- I calculate that without the gristle and the bone, I had about half of the advertised 18 ounces.

The table was loaded down with sides, all of asparagus (steamed), creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, and a few others. Nothing was bad, but nothing stood out.

I can't say I didn't like the dining experience, end-to-end, but then, it didn't cost me a nickel. I doubt I would go here by choice -- I can say the same about McCormick & Schmick, Morton's, the Palm, and you-name-the-big-steakhouse.

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Went for the first time last night as part of a work group dinner. I wasn't looking forward to the meal as I find steakhouses as often plain and lackluster and overpriced. Two of the people sitting with me had this appropriate conversation: "You aren't vegetarian and you ordered the Gnocci Pomodoro and not something off the regular menu at this steakhouse? Reply: "Yeah, I didn't want a boring, plain steak."  Well I leaned into the steakhouse and got the cooked to order temperature boring filet and wished I had a little sauce or something. It was fine but plain. The side dishes were also ok - mashed potatos, sauteed mushroom, and broccoli - great for unadventurous eaters, but not me. The caesar salad as the same. The most flavor was in the asparagus tempura that came with a thickish dipping soy-based sauce - nothing special though. The service was very attentive and people were generally pleased as the food was decent quality and prepared as expected, but I could and would have made a much better meal at home. I usually try to help organize work dinners to avoid boring choices like this one, but didn't do so this time. I also am going to an upcoming work dinner at Morton's - low expectations. Note I say all of this as someone who loves a good steak - we are regulars at Medium Rare and had a very beef-eating good time in Italy this summer.

I almost forgot, the one highlight was dessert. The Chocolate Sin Cake was rich and delicious. Nice sized wedge of flour chocolate cake on a plate with a white and milk chocolate sauce that paired very well to cut some of the richness and as creaminess.

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