Maze Grill - Wassie's Review

Gary was in the hot griddle seat for Steakvember and think he had it in for me from the start.  Pre-drinks were in Marlebone at the Golden Eagle Pub.  Twists and Turns, packed streets, impossible navigation on a Blackberry and I was 1 minute after the cut off time.  Brad was first to remind me that I was late, but was joined by a chorus with Stacy and Andre.  (Welcome back Andre, you have tall boots to fill after Roger brief taste of SC).  Enough time for a pint and then off for a taxi pickup, hopefully right outside the pub and Gary has a poor track record for making us work for our steak.  Tonight was no different with us walking back to Hyde Park before Gazza got to flag down a cab!  Gazza does have bad luck with cabs, but usually good luck with venue's so, we're in for a treat if this holds true.

A flight of stairs leads up to Maze Grill, just off Grosvenor Square.  Mands and I had been to the restaurant side of Maze before for a 7 course taster menu that was really good.  I'd been very keen to try out the grill side.  We were greeted warmly, handed in our coats and were taken through to our table.

Maze Grill is a modern finished elegant restaurant that's all about quality and service.  We were well impressed when the waitress handed Gazza an iPad that was the wine list!  We couldn't order using the iPad, but perhaps Maze will sort that out in 2012.  I'm late in my review, so it's best to get the wines we drank off "always first with his review Stacy".  I'll still give a good score to wine options and The App.

Again we've missed the opportunity to sit at the Chef's table that overlooks the kitchen.  We asked about the Chef's Table and it has an 8 course set menu - although it had steak as it's main cause, I couldn't see cinnamon doughnut and hot chocolate getting any points in a review.  One day we will get our Chef's Table.

As straight talking as Ramsey is, so is the Maze Grill menu.  Steak is the order of the day and they have steak from all corners of the globe...Casterbridge grain fed, Hereford grass fed, Aberdeen Angus grass fed, Creekstone prime U.S.D.A. corn fed, Wagyu ‘9th grade’ Gold style.  There are good options, but the sizes are quite limited, being 8 to 12oz only.  The rest of the menu goes a bit off piste from the steak with quail eggs, lobster, challots.

I ordered the Aberdeen Angus Rib eye 10oz for £30.00.  It was a really good choice and probably the order of the night.  I am getting good at that.  There weren't many offers initially for tasters of other members' steaks so I think everyone was pretty happy with theirs.

The clientele was quite interesting with a mix of very new money and older money.  It's not as expensive a you may think and came in at just over £70 per head.  This didn't include any shorts as they weren't flexible on offering a good deal to finish off the night.  They did however say we may be able to arrange something on the Maze Restaurant's side where there is a bar.

The waiter and waitresses (as we had various at our table) were friendly and attentive.  When we said we were interested in their steaks, they brought out a raw steak board for us to peruse.  I did get a surprised look from one of the waiters when I returned from a convenience break to sit down at our table ready to eat only to find that my steak knife was dirty.  This was most odd as I removed it from a paper sleeve to find oil on it.  I looked over at the other guys and theirs was fine.  When I complained to the waiter, the rest of the table couldn't hold it any more and the pranksters gave up that they'd rigged it!

Steak – 7.5 x 5 = 37.5 (could have larger size options)
Venue = 7 (what you'd expect from a Ramsey restaurant, but personally like a more raw steak feel to my SC nights)
Menu = 7
Wine = 7
Value for money = 7
Waitress = 7


Total = 72.5


Go to Maze Grill if you want a good steak, restaurant your misses will like, and everyone the next day to ask whether the fowl mouthed celeb was there.