San Mateo Prime -- San Mateo

A group of 12 of us dined here for a friend's birthday after we were rudely denied a reservation at House of Prime Rib in SF (which, btw, is an amazing Prime Rib joint). This was actually the third restaurant we called to make a reservation for a party our size (Broadway Prime being the second). Anyway, here's the info:

What: Prime Rib
Where: right off of 101, in downtown San Mateo
http://www.sanmateoprime.com/

Firstly, I thought it was a interesting this place is Chinese-owned. I see a lot of Chinese people own weird stores (like, hello, my family and a diner??) but I never thought an established prime rib place would be owned by any family that wasn't white - I don't know why, just an assumption I've always had. I'm glad that it wasn't obvious that it was Chinese owned though, as some other places are. There are certain "very-asian" traits that some restaurants have such as "no other food and drinks" and "cash only, no credit card" policies. But, I digress.


Since I have been to both Lawry's and HOPR, San Mateo Prime only marks an average in my book. The service was good, the food was okay -- just nothing that stood out to me. The meat was slightly bland; the au jus was good but I felt that my prime rib needed a little seasoning salt, which was not on the table. The good thing about this place was they had a lot of side options, about nine of them if I remember correctly. But one of my favorite parts about a prime rib meal, is the salad that starts it - and this salad was no good :( The lettuce looked a little old and it was drenched in salad dressing.

But they did cut/serve our cake without a cutting fee, and they do offer seconds if you order the 12oz or 16oz. Sadly for me, my second piece was well-done to the max - tasted like roast beef :( But everyone else's was okay so I guess timing is key here. And since we were celebrating a birthday, the owner gave us all shots of Goose on the house! It was very generous of him, and the meal ended on a positive note.

If you're in the area, I would pop in. If you were gonna make the drive for prime rib though, go an extra 15-20 minutes and stop by HOPR... even though they wouldn't seat us (absolutely ridiculous), their food and service were both spectacular.

Enjoy!

--fatty regina is signed out of chat