My husband and I enjoy a good steak restaurant, the standard style of New York steakhouse where the menu consists of steak and seafood entrees, caesar salad and shrimp cocktail as appetizers and various potatoes as sides. Since moving to Old Bridge though, we had a tough time finding this style of restaurants. The "steakhouses" in the area are either Italian style steakhouses which, even though they are advertised as steakhouses, still specialize in the typical Italian fare or they have an "everything under the sun" type of menu which features everything from burgers and sandwiches to pasta dishes and from seafood to chicken wings. Since it doesn't come across as their specialty, it is tough to order steak at these places. We have kept searching though.
Last night, we searched again and found Witherspoon Grill in Princeton. It was a longer drive than we would have liked (interestingly enough though our GPS seemed to take us a really long way to get there and then on the way home took a completely different way which was half the time), and it was bitter cold outside. Once we found a parking garage next to the restaurant so that we wouldn't have to be in the cold too long, we both decided it was worth it. We bundled up and ventured to the restaurant.
The restaurant does not take reservations so we had to wait twenty minutes. We went into the bar area to wait, since the front of the restaurant was cramped and crowded. We both didn't want a drink yet though so we just waited there. While we were waiting there, we noticed three open tables to the side of the bar, one for two people and two for four people. Interestingly enough, after our twenty minutes of waiting, we were seated at the two person table there. I am still not sure why we had to wait since the table had been set and cleaned already, but I will never know the answer.
While waiting, a woman and her friend came into the bar and were very talkative with the bartenders. It was the one woman's birthday, and they wanted to eat in the bar area. I found it strange that for a celebratory occasion, they wanted to eat in the cramped bar area, but maybe that is just me. I definitely prefer the space of a table if I am having a relaxing enjoyable meal. I only like to sit in the bar area when I want to have a quick meal. They were definitely interesting though. They first sat at a small table in the bar area but were unhappy there (I guess it was too much space) and asked to have the next available seats at the bar itself. Again, I was confused why they wanted as little space as possible but to each their own I guess. When they were finally seated, the birthday woman made a grandiose announcement that she wanted to "keep summer alive" and ordered a glass of rose. Again, I was expecting an order of a daiquiri, a margarita, some alcoholic lemonade or something similarly refreshing and fruity. I was not expected a glass of rose. Finally though the entertainment had to end with the hostess coming over and escorting us to the table that had been open for the last twenty minutes.
To keep with the theme of entertaining diners, the tables in the restaurant were very close to each other so we were able to listen to the discussions going on on both sides of us. On our one side was an adult man and woman with two younger boys. Like our hibachi experience from an earlier post, it seemed as though the man and woman were dating and each had brought their son. On the other side was two couples on a double date. The man in the one couple was acting like the "Mayor of Princeton," in a cocky ostentatious voice he kept talking about how great Princeton is with all the wonderful places he's been and activities he's done in the area.
Aside from our fellow diners, dinner itself was very good. My husband started with the lobster bisque and then enjoyed filet mignon cooked medium with a side of onion rings. I tried the caesar salad and also had a filet mignon cooked rare with a side of french fries. Everything was tasty and enjoyable. We had a bottle of Malbec with dinner from the discount wine list which was very enjoyable too. Our waitress too was very friendly and attentive.
Dinner at Witherspoon Grill made for an enjoyable Saturday night.
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