“Black Rock Grill”


 

Timothy F. Lewis

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Have any of you folks ever been to a “Black Rock Grill” location?
Business obligation will entail dinner there tomorrow. It’s one of the “Grill your own steak” places but, they bring a “755* slab of volcanic rock” to you and you apparently cook it in mere minutes! I’m generally not fond of spending $30 for a steak and then having to cook it myself, I think it’s a silly marketing ploy (like skull shaped charcoal) but, am interested in anyone’s thoughts on the place.
Thanks if I hear before I go, if not, I tried. I let you know if the steak is worth it.
 
No, I have not, but I'm aware of steakhouses where you grill your own steak. I always find that a funny concept...if I want to grill my own steak, I can do that at home. Of course, not on a superheated slab of lava rock. :)
 
Hope your companys paying for it and I'm sure it will turn out fine,that said I have never been to the joint in Knoxville where you cook your own food. I like my cooking but the reason I eat out is to get out of cooking and maybe a few dishes lol
 
I have gone to Black Rock several times. The steaks are good but overpriced for what you get and you have to cook it yourself. I probably will not go back. Get a good steak and cook it at home.
 
I feel the same way, but, it’s a thing for my wife’s office and they are picking up the check so, I’ll try it on their dime.
 
With eleven Weber's I don't think I would want to pay to cook a steak on a hot rock. But like Tim said if it's someone else's dime I'm in.
 
I've gone the "cook your own steak" route before. Once did it mid mountain at a ski resort - that was pretty cool. My problem is if I go to one of those places, all my friends and family are going to want me to cook theirs too. Not into that.
 
After dining Report:
Big noisy box of a place, more like a warehouse than what I like as a restaurant. We were a group of almost 60 and the waitstaff was truly worthy of their hire! They were excellent without exception, courteous, fun, prompt! Everything you want in that position.
Appetizers,
Their pretzels with cheese dips were great, the dip com on a slab of hot rock as well and the yellow sheesh dip continued to bubble until they took the last drips away, the garlic dip was excellent as well.
Crab cakes were good, not earth shattering but, good.
Artichoke dip was incredible!
Lobster dip was equally amazing.
Bring on the beef...
My wife had no interest in the sizzling slab of rock so she ordered her steak chef cooked, she was too full of appetizers and the “pretty good” French onion soup that she basically got it for me to have for lunch today.
I had their daily special of a 16oz. Ribeye, the steak was quite nice, the hot rock cookery is odd and frankly quite messy. The table was rather well grease spattered and an errant glob caught my wife in the cheek. My glasses were veiled with airborne grease, smoke was everywhere but, the HVAC did a fairly good job keeping up.
It’s an interesting way to have dinner, was the steak worth $42.99? No not really but, it wasn’t coming out of my pocket.
Would I go back, maybe.
Out of ten, I’d give it an 8
The noise factor alone dropped it one full point and a half for closing the door on the car and realizing I smelled like a grill rack. And one half for the constant need to improve.
I actually did ask to see the manager and expressed my observations about the staff, telling her it’s a lot more pleasant to give praise than raise a ruckus and complain. She was happy to hear it. Gave me a voucher for a free appetizer in thanks.
If you go, take something to clean your glasses with!
It was fun.
 
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I liked Black Rock but the way you smell when you leave is enough to not want to go back. I did think grilling on the hot rock was a good way to cook the steak but I also think it worked best on the filet. It was nice to cut off a piece and give it a sear on the rock and then eat it. I think one of the advantages to this style of cooking is that the steak doesn’t juice out. I enjoyed it but, like Tim, I wouldn’t give it a ten. For me, I think it was fun to do once. Seriously though, it’s hard to believe how you smell when you leave. There’s no way I’d dress nicely to go there.
 
Surely a place to ruin a $150.00 Countess Mara tie to say the least! Agreed on the filet technique as well, just like one of the other folks did, he also had the andouille sausage, I understand he was “underwhelmed” as was the take on their ribs by another fellow.
I’d not go there for ribs though, drinks and apps in a booth with my wife, you bet!
 
At one place we used to tailgate, that had a big triple barrel cooker on a trailer and if you brought your meat they'd cook it for you. I even did that at my place for a dinner party one night.

Seems like their spinning off idea ofThe Melting Pot. My two girls loved that place, I took them each there for their Sweet 16 birthday. I just looked at their site and it looks like you can now grill there as well, although it's on CI, not volcanic rock. I only went the two times . . .





BD
 
Follow up,
Wife and I went back to have a couple of appetizers and a cocktail
The pretzel fondue thing and artichoke dip they do was delightful. The three wisemen cocktail (Johnny, Jim and Jack with ginger ale) will be better in the summer, with 1/3 the ginger ale or twice the booze.
As we had arrived early, the airborne grease and smoke was fairly light but still, the drive home we both commented how we smelled like a poorly ventilated kitchen.
 

 

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