At the advice of a coworker, I took the subway over to the Jianguomen embassy area to try out the Mississippi Steakhouse. According to a post I read on The Beijinger website, this restaurant is owned by a man who went to Mississippi as a child and loved it. What follows is a review of the experience:
The restaurant- Mississippi Steakhouse
Ambience- You really do feel like you are in a steak house you might go into in Mississippi. Wood floors give it a homey feel. There is an oval shaped bar in the middle of the restaurant. It would be nice if there was a Mississippi theme to it, for example it would be nice to hear blues playing over the speakers rather than pop music. They do try to theme it somewhat with the cocktails: blue hawaii becomes blue mississippi and sex on the beach becomes deep sea sex. Some catfish and turnip greens on the menu would have been a nice touch but alas this was missing.
Service- Service was attentive. There weren't many customers save for the bar area, so I had a personal fuwuyan. It was proper Western style service. He took my drink order, brought the drink, and took the food order and then checked on me once. He didn't hover but made sure I knew he was there if needed.
Food- I ordered the New Zealand ribeye; this came with a bowl of the soup of the day (What's the soup du jour? It's the soup of the day. Yummy! I'll have that.) and two sides. The soup was pumpkin, a real Chinese soup. The soup was the consistency of cream of mushroom. It was good, sweet and hot. It tasted kind of like Thanksgiving. That's really only how I know to describe it. The steak was kind of thin and a bit overcooked but seasoned to perfection and still tender. The french fries on the side were crinkle cut: a first for me in Beijing and the steamed veggies actually seemed fresh. It was a mix of broccoli, carrots, and zucchini. I had a similar mix at an American style diner restaurant awhile back and they had obviously been microwaved from frozen, these were much better. The steak also came with your choice of sauce (more like gravy) I chose the mushroom and couldn't decide which was better: the steak with the sauce or without the sauce. All in all, this meal pleased this Mississippi boy.
The Price- My total bill came out to 124 yuan- about 18.00 USD. Where else can you get a decent steak for that price? Certainly at none of the Western chains in town like Tgi Fridays or Outback and not even at any of the American owned diner restaurants.
Total Sweet Potatos- 4/5 While the food was good, the lack of true Mississippi flavor detracts somewhat from a restaurant named after the Magnolia State.
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