Search "best steakhouse in NYC" and you'll fall into a rabbit hole.
🥩 Everyone has an opinion, some of the contenders are near-impossible to book, and the rest split the room. I ended up at La Tête d'Or, ranked 34th in the World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants for 2026. Hopes were high.
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| Nice decor and vibe, sorry for the dark photo from my poor old phone |
A Little History 📜
La Tête d'Or is the first steakhouse from Daniel Boulud, the Lyon-born chef behind NYC institutions including Daniel. It opened in late 2024 inside One Vanderbilt, taking over the grand space that housed his Le Pavillon. The name nods to Lyon's Parc de la Tête d'Or, so this is a French chef's take on the American steakhouse.
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| Truely freshly made salad |
✨ Decor & Ambience
Handsome and seriously spacious. If I'm honest, the vibe is very close to Monkey Bar — and, sadly, it shares the same flaw. The tables are set so close together that you can follow your neighbours' entire conversation.👋 Service
Good and genuinely helpful, exactly what you'd expect at this level.
🍽️ Food & Drinks
Classic Caesar salad: a quality plate, made fresh at the table (which is priced in). Good croutons, proper anchovy. No complaints.
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| Generous portion and quality caesar salad |
Crab cake: also good quality, though the crispy crust is cooked separately and placed on top. I'd rather the crust came from the crab cake itself. Personal preference, and the execution is still solid.
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| Crab cake is good again but not a fan of separate crispy crust on top |
16oz prime black Angus rib-eye ($126), with bone marrow and a duo of BBQ and crispy onion: the cooking is beautiful. Lovely char, spot-on medium rare, a proper crust. But technique can't hide the meat. There was tough tendon running through it, the beefy flavour was missing, and it ate on the dry side. At $126, I expect more. I was also surprised it wasn't dry-aged.
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| Really amazing cooking but the meat itself is just average |
Honestly? I'd take Blacklock over this. La Tête d'Or probably cooks better, but the meat quality simply isn't there. The table next to us left some of theirs too. Maybe the prime rib is the smarter order.
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| Great bone marrow, one of the best I have tried |
Bone marrow: excellent, deeply flavourful and well seasoned. The crispy onion was just OK, and the bordelaise needed more wine depth.
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| 3 onion rings only, seriouly? |
💰 Value
Great cooking skills, average beef, premium prices. That's a hard sum to justify.
Verdict 🏁 Beautiful room, flawless cooking, but the steak itself doesn't live up to the price or the ranking.
Ratings ⭐
- Food: 3.75/5 – Superb technique and a great bone marrow, undone by dry, under-flavoured beef.
- Service: 4/5 – Polished, helpful and attentive throughout.
- Decor: 4/5 – Grand and spacious, though the tables sit far too close together.
- Value: 3.75/5 – A $126 rib-eye should deliver more than this.
- Overall: 3.75/5 – Excellent cooking, ordinary steak.
💰 Estimated cost per person: £100–£150
Address: One Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
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