The Chop House (downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan)

Anniversary dinners are supposed to be special. With that in mind, we set out to find a killer steak in downtown Grand Rapids. I have one word for our dinner at The Chop House: Success.

Sure, there's no excuse for charging almost $40 for a steak that I requested "so rare it's almost raw". Heck, if they're not going to cook it, I could just pick one up at Meijer and eat it on the drive home. But that's not the point. This was a seriously good (so rare it's almost raw) steak. Good enough that I can safely say it's the best steak I've had in a restaurant outside of New York. We're talking super-tender Filet Mignon cooked just how I like it (which is difficult...most places overcook a RARE steak).

It gets better though, they have a pastry chef on staff. So dessert is second to none. We had a pear tart, but it took a good 10 minutes to even decide what we wanted the other choices looked so good.

The wine list is great if you're buying by the bottle, but my one complaint was the lack of by-the-glass choices. The one that looked best (a Rioja) was no longer carried and I had to settle for a garden-variety Cabernet. It was good, but I cannot remember the name of it, so I couldn't have been that good.

Side dishes are served family-style, so for the love of God only order one or two (not 2 each like we did...we had enough leftovers for an entire lunch the next day).

If you visit you might want to check out La Dolce Vita downstairs. They have a cigar, appertif, and dessert bar in the basement that sounds pretty cool (but we didn't try this time). We had Au Gratin potatoes which were outstanding, and sauteed wild mushrooms which were good enough to be a meal in themselves.

The restaurant has a very dark, urban feel to it. Walls are riveted black metal, majority of the lighting is very dim, and you definitely feel like you're in some big-city restaurant (until you walk outside and you're on Monroe in downtown GR). There's a large bar down one side, and I'd estimate seating at about 100 people for the entire main-floor restaurant.

Aside from the questionable wine suggestions (if I like ultra-dry Rioja, don't suggest fruity/spicy Shiraz as a stand-in) our waiter was outstanding. We never had to wait for anything we needed, and our orders were prepared perfectly.

In short (because I'm in a hurry) I'm not sure we've ever spent $250 on dinner for 2 before....but this was easily the best dinner we've had in a restaurant in Michigan, so we didn't even feel like it was a ripoff...just damned expensive. If you need an incredible steak, you want to be treated well and don't mind spending 250 frosties on dinner, this is your joint for sure.