To celebrate May’s designation as national beef month, the Appleton Post-Crescent asked its readers which Fox Valley restaurant serves the best steak.
Whether officially titled a steakhouse or operating under its own name, there are several restaurants in the area that focus on high-quality beef and steak cuts.
The following three restaurants were recommended the most for their quality steak entrees.
What makes George’s Steak House’s steak the best in the area?
George’s Steak House has been at 2280 S. Memorial Drive in Appleton since it was first opened in the 1930s by George Fielder.
After years of renovations and ownership changes, the restaurant was purchased in 1976 by current owner Chuck Quimby, and his late wife Edie Quimby, after she worked at the restaurant for more than 10 years.
“[The owners] wanted to sell and identified my parents as hard-working people,” manager Brad Quimby said. “My dad had been in construction, so he knew how to fix things, and he also learned to cut meat and how to bartend.”
Quimby began working at the restaurant after graduating college in 1985, and plans to be the next owner of George’s Steakhouse.
The restaurant has since earned recognition and awards from several local publications including winning the Golden Fork Award for Best Steak several times in the last decade.
Readers praised the restaurant for its atmosphere, quality of food and customer service.
“George’s Steak House has great steaks, an amazing piano bar for after dinner and the staff is the best,” said reader Robert Vandyke.
Brad said the restaurant’s consistency is one reason customers continue to come back.
“We have long-term chefs here, one in particular that’s been with us for 40 years,” he said.
The menu at George’s Steak House isn’t extensive but it features several cuts of high-quality beef like ribeye, porterhouse, T-bone, filet mignon and New York strip. Brad said the restaurant’s most popular cut is the filet mignon, which comes in six and 10 ounce portions.
All of the restaurant’s steaks are specially selected, aged to perfection and hand-trimmed. Dinners are served with a complimentary cheddar spread and liver pate with crackers, homemade soup, house salad, and choice of potatoes.
“We get meat deliveries twice a week so all of our steaks are fresh,” Brad said. “We do everything ourselves, we aren’t buying any of our sauces or using pre-boiled pasta.”
Aside from steaks, the restaurant also serves high quality seafood like Alaskan king crab, scallops, Icelandic haddock and lobster. Specialty dishes include broiled lamb chops served with au jus and mint sauce, tenderloin alfredo made with penne, mushrooms, scallions, tomatoes and house made alfredo sauce and chicken piccatta made with lightly breaded and sauteed chicken filets in a light reduction glaze with lemon and sherry.
Fish fry dinners are only available on Friday nights and include pan-fried pike, deep-fried perch, pepper crusted haddock and coconut shrimp.
“Yes, we are a steakhouse, but if you have four couples going out to dinner and one or two of the ladies don’t like a steak, you better have some other options for them or they’re going to go somewhere else,” Brad said.
It’s not just great steak that makes George’s one of the most highly praised restaurants in the area, Brad believes it’s also the connection his family has made with the customers.
“When I go out to eat I always choose to go somewhere local so that I can experience what the area has to offer,” he said. “Here, you’ve got the owners on site, working and interacting with customers, making that connection.”
For more information and a full menu visit georgessteakhouseappleton.com.
Readers also praised these Fox Valley restaurants for their steak
Black Otter Supper Club, 503 S. Nash St. in Hortonville, was the second-most recommended steak restaurant. Purchased by current owners Bob and Geri Guyette in 2003 it’s won several Best of the Valley awards since then including best supper club, best prime rib and best steak. It was also voted an accredited business by the Better Business Bureau of Wisconsin.
Its award-winning prime rib is available Tuesday through Sunday and can be ordered in 32, 72, 116 and 160 ounce cuts. Other steaks include black angus rib eye and tenderloin.
Other menu items include seafood dinners like deep-fried haddock, walleye pike, Atlantic salmon, deep-fried scallops and lobster tails, baby-back ribs in half or a full rack and chicken cooked in several ways.
For more information visit theblackottersupperclub.com.
Readers also praised The Red Ox at 2318 S. Oneida St. in Appleton for its steak quality. The restaurant’s won several awards including the Golden Fork Award in 2023 and 2024 for best steak.
Everything at the restaurant is fresh, never frozen and made to order, its website states. The Red Ox’s steak cuts include filet mignon, two-inch thick New York Strip, bone-in ribeye and prime rib in 10, 14 and 16 ounces.
Other menu items include smoked baby back ribs, grilled tenderloin tips, a 16 oz seared double cut pork chop and several different seafood selections including two pounds of king crab legs.
For more information visit redoxseafoodandsteakhouse.com.
Reach Jelissa Burns at 920-453-5107 or jburns1@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @burns_jelissa or on Instagram at burns_jelissa.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Here’s where readers say you can find the best steak in the Fox Cities
Reporting by Jelissa Burns, Appleton Post-Crescent / Appleton Post-Crescent
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