LB Steak Restaurant Review, Santana Row, San Jose

Reviewer: Foodnut.com LB Steak 334 Santana Row Suite 1000 San Jose, CA 95128 408-244-1180 LB Steak Website Book Reservation

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LB Steak is a steakhouse run by Chef Roland Passot and stands for Left Bank Steak. The owners run the 5 Left Bank locations. He is best known as owner of San Francisco’s La Folie. It is a “Modern American Steakhouse with a French Twist”. The restaurant was formerly known as Tanglewood. The menu has everything from Prime Steaks (No mention of aging) to a Foie gras burger to Fish and Pasta.

Will the Kitchen Door Close?

Decor, Vibe – LB Steak has lots of dark wood, chandeliers, leather booths, creating the mood of a steakhouse in France. Wall of wine on one side, bar area on the other. Outdoor sidewalk seating for warmer weather. Diners were mostly a diverse Silicon Valley set in their 30’s to 50’s with a couple families and shoppers thrown in.

Menu Pictures (Click to zoom into any picture)

Picks:

Kaffir Lime Vodka Mojito ($11) Hanger One Kaffir Lime Vodka, Mint, Cucumber was a nice cocktail albeit heavy on the ice and very limey.

House White Wine ($5) was part of their $5 wine selection and was excellent. Easily double the price elsewhere.

Smoked Salmon Pizzette ($5 Bar size, $11.75 normal) with creme fraiche, dill, basil, capers was excellent. Very tasty salmon on top of some creme fraiche, sitting on a crispy crust. Almost like a pizza but not quite.

Kids Fish ($6) was one massive filet of Salmon and some broccoli. High quality well cooked fish made this a steal.

Kids Mac and Cheese ($6) was excellent baked Mac and Cheese with a nice cheese crust and some truffle oil. One of the better versions around.

Mussels, Clams, and Day Boat Scallops Linguine, Chablis garlic herb butter ($17.75) was an excellent and huge dish. One massive piece of white fish and some pretty big scallops. Non meat eaters have some good options at this steakhouse.

Rib Eye ($29.50) 12oz of Prime grade meat cooked to a nice uniform pink center or medium rare. The meat had some heavy grill marks and frankly did not look very appetizing but was tender and high in quality. No aged flavors like steaks at Alexanders. We choose the Red Wine sauce and found it strong and robust. Sides come a la carte.

Corn and Pea Succotash ($3.75) was surprisingly excellent. Fresh corn pulled off the cob.

Twice Baked Potato ($4) was also an excellent side. The potato was crispy and came with all the trimmings.

Keep room for the dessert cart

OK:

Escargot ($15) in Pernod Garlic Butter, Parsley, Bone Marrow was a nice looking French appetizer. The snails really did not have much flavor and there wasn’t much marrow.

Baby Spinach and Arugula Salad ($8) apricots, pecans, garlic-honey vinaigrette was a decent salad with fresh greens but nothing particularly special.

Pans:
None

We visited on their first day, so LB Steak had some pretty choppy service that surely will improve with time. Prices are pretty typical for a upper mid range steakhouse, portions size good, and quality is also high. A mark of a good Steakhouse is how well they can do non steak items and these guys pass the test. If you are in the mood for steak in the South Bay, give LB Steak a try. Alexander’s in Cupertino still ranks as tops for Steak in the Silicon Valley, but their high quality comes with a big price tag. Consider Harris’ if you are up my San Francisco.

A reader mentioned that they will take Tanglewood gift cards.

Restaurant Map: