Picture walking into an upscale steakhouse, feeling confident about your dinner choice, only to accidentally say something that makes your server internally groan. While most restaurant staff are too professional to show it, certain phrases when ordering steak can instantly mark someone as inexperienced with fine dining. The good news? These mistakes are completely avoidable once someone knows what to watch out for.
Asking for medium plus doneness
Restaurant kitchens operate with specific temperature ranges for steak doneness, and “medium plus” isn’t one of them. The standard options are rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, and well done. Each level corresponds to precise internal temperatures that chefs train to achieve consistently. A medium-rare steak reaches 130 to 135 degrees Fahrenheit, while medium hits 140 to 145 degrees. The difference between these levels is literally just a minute or two of cooking time.
When someone orders medium plus, chefs typically just cook it to the next level up, which would be medium well. The kitchen doesn’t have a special setting for “plus” variations, and requesting them suggests unfamiliarity with how professional kitchens operate. Instead of trying to create custom doneness levels, stick to the established options and trust that chefs know how to execute them perfectly.
Requesting steak tartare cooked
Steak tartare is a classic French dish made from high-quality raw beef that’s minced and mixed with capers, shallots, and other seasonings. The entire point of this dish is that the meat remains completely raw. Asking for cooked steak tartare is like requesting grilled sashimi or fried ice cream – it fundamentally misunderstands what the dish actually is. The confusion usually stems from people seeing “steak” in the name and assuming it’s a regular cooked steak preparation.
Servers encounter this request more often than expected, especially from diners unfamiliar with French menu terminology. Rather than feeling embarrassed about not knowing every dish, it’s better to ask questions beforehand. Most restaurants post their menus online, making it easy to research unfamiliar terms before arriving. This prevents awkward moments at the table and ensures everyone orders something they’ll actually enjoy eating.
Demanding lots of A1 sauce
Commercial steak sauces like A1 were originally designed to mask the taste of lower-quality cuts of meat. These condiments are loaded with vinegar, salt, sugar, and artificial ingredients that completely overpower the natural beef taste. At high-end steakhouses, chefs carefully select premium cuts, age them properly, and prepare them with minimal seasoning to highlight the meat’s inherent qualities. Drowning that expensive steak in bottled sauce essentially negates all the chef’s careful work.
Instead of reaching for the steak sauce, check what accompaniments the restaurant offers. Many steakhouses feature house-made sauces specifically designed to complement their beef, like peppercorn sauce, chimichurri, or herb butter. These preparations enhance rather than mask the steak’s natural taste. If unsure about which sauce pairs best, asking the server for recommendations shows respect for the kitchen’s expertise and usually leads to a much better dining experience.
Ordering well done steaks
Cooking a quality steak to well done essentially removes most of the characteristics that make expensive cuts worth their price. The high heat and extended cooking time required for well done preparation drives out the natural juices, leaving behind tough, dry meat with very little of the original beef taste intact. Professional chefs understand this, which is why many visibly wince when hearing well done orders, especially for premium cuts like filet mignon or ribeye.
For those uncomfortable with pink meat, medium doneness offers a good compromise. At 140-145 degrees, the meat is cooked through but retains enough moisture and tenderness to showcase why people pay steakhouse prices. The slight pink color indicates the proteins haven’t been completely denatured, preserving both texture and taste. Most chefs consider medium the highest acceptable doneness level for truly appreciating a quality steak.
Making extensive menu modifications
High-end restaurants design their dishes with specific ingredient combinations that have been tested and refined over time. When diners request multiple substitutions or changes, they’re essentially asking the kitchen to create an untested dish on the spot. What might seem like small tweaks to customers can actually disrupt the entire cooking process, especially during busy service periods. Professional kitchens operate with precise timing and preparation methods that don’t easily accommodate custom orders.
Beyond the practical difficulties, menu modifications can also create liability issues for restaurants. If someone posts photos of their custom dish online, it might generate requests for items that aren’t actually on the menu. The exception, of course, is accommodating genuine food allergies or dietary restrictions, which professional kitchens handle routinely. For preference-based changes, trusting the chef’s expertise usually produces much better results than trying to redesign proven recipes.
Rushing the kitchen
Quality steaks require specific cooking times that can’t be shortened without compromising the final product. A thick ribeye needs at least 20 minutes to reach medium doneness, plus additional resting time before serving. This timing isn’t arbitrary – it’s based on the physics of heat transfer through dense protein. Asking the kitchen to rush this process essentially asks them to serve an inferior product, which most professional chefs refuse to do.
Restaurants that specialize in steak understand these time requirements and staff accordingly during busy periods. When diners demand rushed service, they’re asking to jump ahead of other customers who arrived earlier and placed their orders first. This creates unfair situations for both other diners and restaurant staff. If time is truly a concern, it’s better to choose a different type of restaurant or plan the evening with more realistic expectations about steakhouse timing.
Asking about trending steaks
Social media has created a culture where diners sometimes prioritize Instagram-worthy presentations over actual taste and value. Gold leaf steaks, extreme tomahawk presentations, and other gimmicky preparations often cost significantly more while adding nothing to the eating experience. These trendy items typically focus on visual impact rather than the fundamental qualities that make steak enjoyable – the meat’s quality, preparation technique, and proper seasoning.
Professional chefs generally prefer when customers focus on traditional preparations that highlight their actual cooking skills. A perfectly executed classic ribeye with simple seasoning demonstrates much more kitchen expertise than applying edible decorations to average meat. Rather than chasing social media trends, experienced diners typically ask about the restaurant’s signature preparations or which cuts the chef recommends that evening. This approach usually leads to discovering genuinely exceptional dishes rather than expensive photo opportunities.
Ordering seafood at steakhouses
Restaurants build their reputations around specific specialties, and steakhouses focus their equipment, training, and supply chains on preparing beef perfectly. While many steakhouses offer fish and shellfish options, these items rarely receive the same attention to detail as the meat preparations. The kitchen staff spend most of their time perfecting steak techniques, sourcing relationships prioritize beef suppliers, and even the cooking equipment is optimized for high-heat meat preparation.
This doesn’t mean steakhouse seafood is necessarily bad, but it’s usually not the restaurant’s strongest offering. Someone wanting exceptional fish would typically get better results at a restaurant that specializes in seafood preparation. The same principle applies in reverse – ordering steak at a sushi restaurant probably won’t showcase either the restaurant’s abilities or provide the best possible dining experience. Choosing restaurants based on their primary expertise usually produces more satisfying meals.
Requesting blue steak reheating
Blue steak represents the rarest possible preparation, seared for just a minute or two per side while leaving the interior almost completely raw. The center reaches only 115-120 degrees Fahrenheit, giving it a deep red-purple color that some people mistake for being undercooked. This preparation method requires extremely fresh, high-quality beef and meticulous food safety practices, since the interior remains essentially raw throughout the cooking process.
Asking to have blue steak reheated defeats the entire purpose of this preparation style. Once the meat has been cooked to blue and allowed to rest, additional cooking would simply move it into rare or medium-rare territory. Someone uncomfortable with very rare meat should simply order a higher doneness level from the beginning rather than trying to modify an already-prepared dish. This prevents food waste and ensures getting exactly the doneness level desired.
Understanding these common ordering mistakes helps ensure a smooth steakhouse experience for everyone involved. Most restaurant staff genuinely want their customers to have great meals, and avoiding these phrases shows respect for their expertise while maximizing the chances of getting an exceptional steak dinner.
