Wilde Rover Kirkland Roast Beef Dip Expert Review 2/21/18

Context/Setting the Stage

I was out to lunch with some coworkers (including some I'd never met before) and we found ourselves at the Wilde Rover, a nice Irish place in downtown Kirkland.  It's a big facility and quite fun with delicious food.  They used to have a Turkey dip, I believe, that I reviewed, and they'd updated their menu to include what turned out to be a really good (great!!) French dip.  Woo hoo.  I got to surprise and amaze my coworkers with my "art" that is my French dip reviewing and also enjoy a delicious sandwich and meal of food.  Enjoy!

Raw Tasting Notes

Some chewy beef but I love it
Happy I had the aioli on the side, good herbs
Overall really chewy but great 5 all around
Looks great
Sandwich great 5
Onions great
Chewy dark heavily Toasted bread
Dark, rich very flavorful, herby jus a bit luke
Great bread, grill marks
Cheese great
Not one bad thing to say
Salad very good, nice lettuce, fancy julienned, nice vinaigrette, good cherry tomatoes, croutons, candied walnuts

Summary

Jus 5 rich, herby, delicious (could have been hotter but that's easy to solve)

Bread 5 nicely toasted (dark), chewy, great, buttered, with cheese yum

Meat 4 of 5 chewy, well done but great / loved it

Non-Meat Toppings 5 of 5 cheese was really good and the caramelized onions really stood out and were delicious

Overall 5 of 5 nice plating and presentation, great bread, rich jus, nice toppings yummers

French Dip Review: Steve's Bar & Grill, Bellevue, WA

The menu.

The French dip.  I added Swiss since the waitress recommended it.  She also said that they have Prime Rib on Wednesdays, so Thursdays they have a Prime Rib Dip.  I asked if diners could select the "doneness" of the Prime Rib and she said no.  That's okay but not preferred.  You can't get a 5 on a Prime Rib dip, most likely, unless the diner can select doneness.

I got a side salad with Bleu Cheese dressing.  More on that later.

I drank a beer.  Bud Light because I'm classy and high society like that.

Some regulars.

The French dip.  Good meat qty.  Good looking bread.  Orange-frilled wood skewers.  Not a ton of jus and it was orinally only luke (Skywalker).  The swiss was nice and seemed like quality although not overly flavorful.

I was generally pleased with this sandwich.  It gets a 4.

The side salad gets a 3 of 5 because it had good ingredients and dressing but the lettuce was unevenly cut and too wet.

The Review

• Narrative
• So I go out to Steve's where I'd never been on a lark. I was meeting up with my friend there. We were going to go to Daman's, which I like, but Steve's had much higher reviews and was nearby so I went for it. Steve's is a dive bar which I really do enjoy, especially in town like Bellevue that can be so pretentious. The service was pretty good. I ordered a couple of beers while I waited for Kailey to show. And decided that I'd order the French dip. (I was reminded that it was on my French dip to do list.) Eric Veal on July 21, 2017 "@kronny on Reddit says that the French dip is good, served on garlic bread. And strong drinks."

• Bellevue
• So we was in the Overlake area of Bellevue. It was a snow day and cold out!

• Steve's
• Overheard some people who looked like regulars making some racist comments which was somewhat alarming in 2019. But it's nice in some ways to be taken back in time and live like the wild people do.

• French Dip
  • Jus
    • Jus luke, sent back, came back piping hot
    • Au Jus good but only OK not too flavorful or salty
  • Plate
    • Plain white plate
  • Sandwich
    • Bread
      • Bread great, white and buttered, nicely Toasted
      • Skewers
        • Orange frilled toothpicks
    • Meat
      • Roast beef food and plentiful
    • Non-Meat Topping
      • Swiss cheese nice addition
      • Bread was buttered and toasted
  • Sides
    • Salad
      • Dressing
        • Chunky Bleu cheese
      • Black Olives in salad, tomatoes, good croutons
    • Pickle
      • Good long pickle
  • Rating
    • Overall 4, bread 4, beef 4, cheese 4, jus 3