RED Steakhouse Pinecrest for birthday celebrations

RED Steakhouse has three locations, Downtown Cleveland, Pinecrest and Miami, FL. We have eaten at the RED Steakhouse location in Downtown Cleveland and it is one of our top picks for steak. We had never been to the Pinecrest location and since we were doing dinner in the middle of the week and had no Cavs game it just made sense to give this location a try. RED is located right next to one of my other favorite restaurants The Last Page. RED has a bar area, dining area and in good weather a roof top bar. We were sat at a booth in the bar area.

The restaurant has a very modern vibe and I feel like that rolls into their menu at this location. They have your normal steak choices and sides but have some other options I hadn’t noticed when we ate Downtown. I almost decided to try something new but the steak is just so good. The menu has a bunch of options from steak, seafood, chicken and pasta. I will say if meat or seafood is not your thing than it might be difficult to find something to eat. They do have a couple salad options and a pasta or two with no meat.

For drinks they have a pretty extensive cocktail menu, wines by the bottle and glass, and beer options. Of course my husband noticed they also had some bourbon options and went with one of those. I decided on a glass of wine. A Riesling from the Finger Lakes region of New York.

They bring out complimentary rolls with olive oil and seasoning. The rolls were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. We also started out with an appetizer the shrimp and nduja. I will be honest I had to look up what nduja was, but this is how we learn and educate ourselves. Which it is a spicy spreadable pork sausage from Southern Italy and it’s delicious. Besides shrimp and nduja this dish also had sweet potatoes and pistachios. The sweet potatoes and nduja were used as the sauces and the pistachios were crumbled on top of the shrimp. This was an excellent dish. The flavors worked fabulously together. My only thing it was a little difficult to get all of the shrimp out of the shell without getting a little messy.

Now on to the real star of the show the steak. We ordered the ribeye and the filet mignon. You can add seafood options, sauces or toppings to your steak. In my opinion RED’s steaks need none of that. They are seasoned perfectly and cooked to the perfect temperature. I know I’m going to cause an uproar but I like my steak medium well. RED butterflies the steak so you get just a slight pink inside but the outside does not get charred in the process. The steak just melts in your mouth. My husband also added shrimp to his ribeye because he really wanted some type of surf and turf. We only got one side dish the Mac and cheese. I really enjoy the mixture of cheeses used in this dish which consisted of Fontina, Raclette, Parmesan and Pecorino Romano. I’m always a fan of cavatappi noodles for Mac and cheese. They just hold so much more of the creamy cheese. They also broil the top so you get some crispy noodles as well.

They had just gotten a new dessert menu and since we were celebrating a birthday it only made sense for us to try out one of their new dessert options. We tried the S’mores Pot De Crème and yes before you say it I’m not much of a chocolate fan but sometimes you just gotta give it a try. There was chocolate pudding on the bottom, that was light and not too sweet. Then toasted marshmallows on top with crumbled graham crackers and chocolate sauce. To top it off they also add a chocolate chip cookie with a marshmallow in the middle of the cookie. I really enjoyed this deconstructed s’mores and even if your not a chocolate fan like myself I would still give it a try and I’ll say it again that cookie!!!

Lastly, they brought out their Fresh-n-hot doughnut holes, which are essentially beignets for my husband’s birthday. These were fabulous. They were warm and pillowy. The powdered sugar does make them very sweet but no complaints here. They are served with 3 dipping sauces chocolate, caramel and strawberry. The strawberry being my favorite.

RED is the perfect date night or celebration spot. The steak is some of my favorite in Cleveland that I’ve tried. Let me know have you been to RED? What are your thoughts and favorites?