SF Eats: House of Prime Rib
House of Prime Rib has been on my list of places to go SF since nearly when I moved to the city, and finally I made reservations to go!
It's an old school fancy restaurant where the prime rib gets rolled around in these metal zeppelins and served at the table.
There are various options for sizes and cuts of the prime rib, but there's only a couple dollars of difference between the options, so we just went for the biggest cut, the King Henry VIII cut with the set menu.
First comes a warm loaf of crusty sourdough bread.
Then the waiter pours dressing into a bowl of salad and spins the salad over a bowl of ice, tableside.
The salad and warm cornbread, in the shape of corn.
For sides, you have a choice of mashed potatoes or baked potato, and creamed spinach or creamed corn. The waiter prepares the baked potato tableside as well. There were containers of sour cream, bacon bits, and chives, and a ramekin of a half a stick of butter. I assumed he would put in only a pat of butter, just as he wouldn't dump all of the containers of the other toppings on...
...but the whole half a stick of butter went in! I was so shocked!
And here is the star, the prime rib. Indeed it was so tender and savory. Alongside is the creamed corn and the Yorkshire pudding, which is presented to the table in a skillet, then portioned onto the plate. I could only finish a third of this. If you finish the whole King Henry VIII cut, you get another thin slice and replenishments of the side dishes. I didn't think anyone could do this, but the gentleman next to our table did indeed finish his meal, and requested his second slice and seconds on all of his side dishes!
The leftovers lasted me two more meals in fact. This is a great "special occasion restaurant" to visit at least once, and while the set menu is over $40, I think it was a pretty good value for the quality and quantity of food you get. And it's kind of a taste of "old San Francisco," for which it is fun to get a bit dressed up!
