J. Alexanders

If you're ready for some great tasting food with great service, take a trip over to the J. Alexanders Restaurant near you. But, be prepared, it is more expensive than Longhorn Steakhouse.

I've been eating here since they opened on West Broward Boulevard in Plantation and have since enjoyed their food in Ft. Lauderdale and Boca Raton. The service is great and the food is a real value for the money.

Michelle and I went to the Ft. Lauderdale location a few weeks ago. We made a "call ahead" reservation and even though there were several parties ahead of us, they were seated quickly and we only ended up waiting about fifteen minutes. Long enough to listen in as the party next to us was comparing the food here with the long gone Houston's that adorned Federal Highway a few blocks to the south.

Once we were seated I ordered a glass of wine, Michelle chose iced tea and we checked out the menu. We started with the house salad. It is humongous and more than enough for two. They brought an extra plate and we split the salad.




The Salad After We Split it!

 I wass in the mood for a steak and ordered the filet mignon topped with blue cheese  and a "loaded" baked potato. I ordered the steak done my favorite way: "Pittsburgh, medium." Michelle chose the half chicken with an orzo-vegetable side.

Our waiter returned momentarily to let me know that they could not make my steak the way I asked. This has happened to me at this location in the past, but not every time. I think it is all in the symantics. So I changed the order to "medium rare but burn it on the outside." The chef accepted that!

After a small wait the food arrived and was a visual delight. The steak was small in diameter, but very tall and stretched even taller with the addition of a mound of blue cheese on top. The baked potato was opened in a way that it's height matched the steak. Unfortunately I was so enthralled I forgot to take a picture. Michelle's chicken looked very appetizing as did the pile of orzo but she didn't pay attention to the fine print: the orzo was served cold. She asked the waiter to exchange it for a baked potato which was delivered to the table immediately.

We only ate about half our dinners and as our server was packing them up to take home I ordered coffee and dessert. J. Alexander's has the most wonderful, tastiest, smoothest, sweetest, carrot cake I have ever eaten and it is a special treat that I really enjoy. I have learned that it is way more than anyone can eat, so I asked that the serving be cut in half before they served it and half boxed up to go. It was a good choice because between the two of us we weren't able to finish the half we were served!

I really love going to J. Alexanders. They treat you wonderfully and everything I have ever ordered there is amazingly good. When you go there tell them you read the review at http://www.whiteplatespecial.com/