The Great Steak Grill lives up to its name
Clockwise starting top left: The Grilled Ham & Cheese with fries, a regular hamburger with cheese, a grilled cheese kids meal and the Steak & Cheese with onion rings are pictured at The Great Steak Grill in Provo.
The Chicken Bacon Ranch sandwich with a side of fries is pictured at The Great Steak Grill in Provo.
The Grilled Ham & Cheese with a small side of fries is pictured at The Great Steak Grill in Provo.
A regular hamburger with added cheese is pictured at The Great Steak Grill in Provo.
A raspberry shake is pictured at The Great Steak Grill in Provo.
A Purple Cow float is pictured at The Great Steak Grill in Provo.
A Boston Crème Cooler float is pictured at The Great Steak Grill in Provo.
It’s long been said to never judge a book by its cover, and you’d think, having grown up in a library and been raised by a librarian, I, of all people, would be able to grasp the truth of such a statement.
However, last week I found myself guilty to the fullest extent of that very offense, and I’m now kicking myself for a year of missing out on some pretty fantastic food because of it.
Let me explain. It’s been just over a year since we bought our home in west Provo, and countless times we’ve driven past The Great Steak Grill on Center Street, automatically assuming, because of its name, that it was home to some pretty delicious, but costly steak dinners. Mind you, this assumption was made without any actual foundation, other than the name. No research, no popping in to look around, and definitely no real checking in to see if it was legitimately a steakhouse.
Our lack of stopping by stemmed from the basic assumption that steak equals expensive, equals not a good idea for people that just spent a bunch of money on a house – sound logic, or so I thought. Then my turn for the dining review rolled around again. With the bustle of the holidays upon us, a restaurant not yet reviewed within literally a half mile of my house? Way too good of a deal to pass up. So we made the arduous 30-second drive over, only to realize just how terribly wrong we’d been about pretty much every judgment we’d made so far.
To be blunt, there is nothing steakhouse-y about The Great Steak Grill, and that, my friends, is actually a very good thing. There’s no prime rib with those fancy onion strings, and there’s definitely no 10 oz.-steak oozing with flavor just waiting to be ordered. The Great Steak Grill? Is actually a grill. As in diner and sandwich shop-style food more than anything else. And even better? It’s one of the most affordable sit-down restaurants I’ve ever been to.
Walking in, The Great Steak Grill gives an appearance of being larger than it actually is, probably due to the mirror separating the dining area from the kitchen. Light-colored wood paneling adorns the walls, with a limited amount of decorations (mostly just a really cool clock made out of gears and an old-fashioned phone). Live plants hang from the ceiling and the walls are loaded with booths, while the center area holds a few tables, and a few stools along the main bar.
Though it feels relatively cozy, the restaurant seats roughly 40-50, and, thanks in part to the laid-back classic rock music playing in the background, gives the easy-going feel of a hometown diner — you know the kind — where everybody knows your name.
We found the double-sided menu on our table upon sitting down and had to manually close our dropped jaws when we saw just how affordable the food was. The menu features a variety of hot and cold sandwiches, hamburgers, fries and onion rings and “Utah’s Best Clam Chowder,” which I’m seriously thinking now that we should have tried.
An “Old-Fashioned Desserts” menu was also on our table, featuring cones, a variety of awesomely named ice cream and soda floats, shakes, freezes, malts and from-scratch brownies.
There were so many tasty-sounding options and at such a great cost that we had a hard time finally settling on what we wanted to eat, but picking and choosing, we snagged the greatest variety we could fit into our budget, with enough to spare to nab a kids meal and a sampling of desserts.
Our waitress was beyond accommodating and helpful, offering suggestions, being patient while we hemmed and hawed, and constantly making sure we had everything we needed to enjoy our meal. I was surprised when she was back with our freshly grilled food just a few minutes after we finally decided on our order.
The first thing to make it back to our table was the Grilled Ham & Cheese ($3.99) with a hearty side of thicker cut, deliciously crispy French fries ($1.69). Though not my dish, I happily stole a few bites and couldn’t get past how the crispiness of the grilled bread combined with the melted cheese and warmed ham to create such a fantastic and cohesive flavor. Usually food that simple tastes simple, but it was one of my favorite parts of the meal.
Next to arrive was my own meal — the Steak & Cheese ($6.99). Loaded with grilled and seasoned steak and topped with Provolone cheese, the sandwich was so hearty that after sampling everyone else’s food, I ended up taking half of it home. The meat was well-cooked and not too chewy (a common issue with that style of beef) and came packed with flavor (though a little heavy-handed on the pepper). Though the overall combination was delicious (think generous, fluffy bun loaded with meat), I almost wished I’d had some kind of sauce to go with it, and it reminded me a little of a French dip. I paired it with onion rings I’d originally intended to share, but they were so well made that, let’s be honest, I ate almost all of them myself!
The rings were crisp on the outside with the perfect amount of batter to coat the onions without being over-bearing. They were cooked to perfection, and the onions, for the most part, stayed where they should, rather than turning into the stringy, slimy mess that usually ensues at fast food restaurants.
My husband ordered the Chicken Bacon Ranch ($5.49), which comes with breaded chicken breast, provolone cheese, bacon, ranch, lettuce, tomatoes and pickles. He’s a big fan of ranch, but is also an everything-in-moderation kind of guy. For him, the ratio of ranch to other toppings was spot on, and after tasting it, I had to agree. Toward the end he ran into a strange crunch of grill residue, but ultimately he dubbed it the best Chicken Bacon Ranch he’s ever had, and is already planning our return trip for another.
To sample a little more of the menu, we ordered a kids meal for our toddler (grilled cheese and fries, which she thought was beyond fabulous), and a basic hamburger (loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions and fry sauce) to share among the adults.
Though I probably wouldn’t go to The Great Steak just for the burgers, it was actually really good. The meat tasted high quality, the toppings were plentiful, and the bun was soft and not overbearing. We probably all would have enjoyed it more if we weren’t so full from everything else!
We topped off our meal with a sampling of drinks from the dessert menu, including a Raspberry Shake ($2.75), a Purple Cow ($2.49) and a Boston Crème Cooler ($2.49), as well as a signature brownie to share ($0.99).
I’m not a brownie person most days — I’m not too keen on super-rich chocolate — but The Great Steak brownie was almost more cakelike in texture, and just the right amount of sweetness to finish off our meal.
I shared the shake with our little one, who couldn’t get enough of it and ended up stealing the spoon so she could help herself more readily. The ice cream was just the right texture for spoon eating, and was loaded with blended raspberries, making me feel like I’d gotten a great deal for the size and the price.
The Purple Cow (bonus points for an awesome name) is in all reality a grape soda float with fresh scooped vanilla ice cream, and definitely carried with it a pop of flavor that we enjoyed until the finish. The real winner, though, was the Boston Crème Cooler – a cream soda float with vanilla ice cream that took sweetness to the next level in a way that wasn’t at all overwhelming. I’d actually never used cream soda in a float before, and now I’m wondering why not!
As we finished up, our waitress showed up with our bill and won even more brownie points by letting us know she’d gone ahead and combined our dessert beverages into meal combos with our dinner to save us even more money. It could just be me, but I don’t know many restaurants that would take the thought to do something like that, and I was beyond impressed with the service, thoughtfulness and quality of our experience.
Though it was a chilly evening and we ended up as prime targets to the air conditioning vent, that was the only frosty thing about our warm reception at The Great Steak Grill.
Next time, I think we’ll be snagging ourselves the Banana Split for dessert, and tapping in to some uncharted territory with the Chicken Parmesan or Steak & Philly. Because there obviously will be a next time, and soon.
THE GREAT STEAK GRILL
Where: 1650 Center St. in Provo
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday, closed Sunday
Prices: $1.69-$7.49 for appetizers, entrees and combos
Info: facebook.com/The-Great-Steak-Grill-230284773842694, (801) 375-6448