There aren’t a lot of chain restaurants at Disney World, and with lots of dining options across the parks, my family hasn’t been to many of the property’s franchises. But recently, my husband, two teens, and I visited STK Steakhouse at Disney Springs for the first time.
STK walks the line between an upscale steak house and a trendy lounge — it’s known for having live DJs spinning club-style music while diners feast on entrées like seafood, lamb, and beef.
In addition to Orlando, the restaurant has several locations in the US and worldwide, including New York City, Toronto, Milan, and Dubai.
However, the chain’s parent company, The One Group, reported that first-quarter revenue at STK was down nearly 7% from 2023, so I wondered if the chain’s food and dining experience would really match the high-end image it depicts.
Here’s what our experience at STK Steakhouse was like.
STK Steakhouse is known for its steaks, raw bar, and specialty cocktails.
STK Steakhouse has over 25 locations worldwide. It’s known for its steaks, impressive raw bar, long lists of craft cocktails, and happy hour. I’d heard a lot about STK from friends, so I was curious to try it for myself.
My family visited STK on a Friday evening for dinner. We sat in the main dining room, decorated with vibrant flowers and neon lights and booming with music spun by a live DJ.
We started our meal with a round of drinks.
To kick off our Friday-night meal, my husband ordered a $22 Cucumber Stiletto cocktail made with vodka, muddled mint, and cucumber.
My daughter and I ordered nonalcoholic mocktails, mine with muddled watermelon ($12) and hers a virgin mojito ($8). My son, who has simpler tastes, was happy with a $4 soda.
Later in the meal, I ordered a $4 glass of club soda, and my husband ordered a $21 glass of Champagne and an $18 glass of wine.
We liked the pull-apart bread, which was topped with blue cheese and served with chive olive oil.
The restaurant’s complimentary pull-apart sourdough bread was topped with blue-cheese butter and served with chive olive oil for dipping. We found STK’s bread service unique and delicious — a nice change from the plain rolls and butter often served at restaurants.
When my husband tried STK’s oysters, he had a few notes.
My husband ordered a half-dozen oysters from STK’s raw-bar menu for $31. He liked that the dish came with two oyster varieties, but he noticed they were still connected to their shells.
I’m not an oyster eater, but he commented that he’s used to eating them already severed from the shell. In this case, he was surprised to have to cut each one out himself.
Still, he found the oysters fresh and flavorful and liked the cocktail and mignonette sauces they were served with.
We shared a wedge-salad appetizer that cost nearly $30.
We almost always order a wedge salad at a steak house, so we were sure to try the blue-iceberg option. The $26 salad, topped with creamy blue cheese, bacon, and cherry tomatoes, was beautiful and tasted great.
Our only note? It was a little difficult to eat. When trying to cut through the lettuce, part of the salad flew across the table and made a mess.
I ordered filet mignon as my entrée.
I’m a filet-mignon girl through and through, and I loved to see a peppery au poivre sauce on the menu.
I ordered a 6-ounce filet ($59) and added au poivre sauce at no extra charge. Adding an additional sauce would’ve been a $2 upcharge.
My filet was delicious, buttery, easy to cut, and cooked to a perfect medium temperature. It was crisp and salty on the outside, and the inside was tender and moist. The peppery, creamy au poivre sauce added even more flavor.
My husband tried the New-York strip.
My husband wanted to try STK’s ribeye spinalis — ribeye caps known for being tender cuts of meat. Unfortunately, the restaurant was out of this dish the evening we went.
Instead, he tried the 14-ounce New-York strip steak with au poivre sauce, which cost $71. Like me, he was pleased with everything about his steak, including its bold flavor.
Our side dishes were the stars of the meal.
The real MVPs of our meal were the side dishes my husband and I shared. We chose Yukon-gold mashed potatoes ($19) and crispy Brussels sprouts ($19), served family-style for the table.
The buttery mashed potatoes, topped with crispy Parmesan cheese, were pillowy and delicious. The crispy, perfectly cooked Brussels sprouts were full of bacon pieces and glazed with a sweet-cider mixture that added an incredible flavor and brought the entire dish together.
My daughter’s pasta dish cost almost $60, which seemed a little pricey.
My daughter ordered the mushroom-and-truffle tagliatelle, which featured decadent pecorino cheese, an assortment of mushrooms, and shaved black truffle.
The delicious $58 dish was packed with smooth and earthy mushroom flavor, but it felt expensive. However, she was happy with her choice and loved having leftovers the following day.
My son wanted a burger but had to settle for wagyu sliders.
My son is a simple eater and loves trying steak-house-style burgers when we dine at high-end chains. Unfortunately, he was disappointed that there wasn’t a full-sized burger on the STK menu.
Instead, he ordered Lil’ Brgs wagyu sliders ($28) from the appetizer menu with only cheese to suit his picky palate. Since the sliders didn’t come with a side, we spent an additional $19 for a family-style side of fries.
In his ranking of steak-house burgers, STK was at the bottom, so it wouldn’t be a spot he’d recommend for slider enthusiasts.
Our elevated doughnut dessert was out of this world.
Another bright spot in our meal at STK was the $16 Bag O’ Donuts, which the four of us shared. The cinnamony, sugary doughnuts were served warm in a small paper bag and came with three dipping sauces.
Though the dulce de leche and chocolate sauces were very good, we all kept going back to dip our warm doughnuts into the raspberry sauce, a clear winner of the trio.
Unfortunately, parts of our meal felt out of sync, and there were lags in service time.
At the beginning of our meal, my husband ordered Champagne with his oyster course and a glass of red wine with his steak. However, both of these drinks came out closer to when he was finishing the course, not as an accompaniment to the dishes.
Our food seemed to come out promptly and on schedule, but we had long waits for small things like additional drinks, water refills, and to-go boxes. Our server was amazing and attentive at our table. Still, it was clear that he was stretched thin over many tables full of diners on a busy Friday night.
Additionally, every STK location has loud, club-style music spun by a live DJ. In this case, the noise level was a bit high for our liking. When we dine out with our kids, we prefer to talk with them, not shout over music to be heard.
I also think STK may not be the best dining option for parents of small kids with sensory issues because it can be a little overwhelming.
Our meal at STK tasted great, but I’m not sure I’d go back.
Our meal at STK was very good, but I’m not sure I’d return to the steak house with my family of four.
We’ve paid similar prices at other steak-house chains and found them to be quieter, more relaxing dining environments. We also enjoyed the food and service at these more relaxed restaurants just a bit more.
However, my husband and I would return to the bar for happy hour or to have drinks and share an appetizer. The vibe at this high-end steak restaurant is distinctly more grown-up and club-like than some of its competitors, so for us adults, that may be a better fit.
The post My family of 4 ate at STK Steakhouse for the first time. Our $460 meal was pretty great, but the atmosphere wasn’t our cup of tea. appeared first on Business Insider.
