Chain restaurants are on the rise as more patrons realize what a good value they can be — especially compared to fast food.
My husband and I used to avoid chain restaurants completely, but our family has since discovered how tasty the food can be for a decent price.
In fact, trying sit-down chain restaurants has become a hobby for us and our teenagers. In the past year, we’ve shared meals at chains from Olive Garden to Buffalo Wild Wings to see if they lived up to the hype.
Many of our favorite spots so far have been steak-house chains like The Capital Grille and Outback Steakhouse. So, we recently visited their competitor Morton’s the Steakhouse for the first time to see how it’d stack up.
Morton’s is known for steaks and seafood but got its start in the burger business.
Morton’s the Steakhouse has been around since 1978 and has more than 65 locations — most in the US, but some in places like Toronto and Tokyo.
Morton’s got its start when one of its founders made a “million-dollar hamburger” that was so good it captured the attention of restaurateur Arnold Morton.
Today, that burger is still on the menu, along with traditional steak-house fare and an impressive list of wines.
The menu at Morton’s contains everything from steaks to family-style sides.
Morton’s menu includes appetizers like bacon-wrapped scallops and wedge salads, as well as beef, pork, seafood, chicken, and pasta dishes. It also has a raw bar.
At Morton’s, sides are meant to be shared and include traditional steak-house delights like creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, and lobster mac and cheese.
We started our meal with a $45 round of drinks.
I stopped drinking alcohol months ago, so I was happy to see Morton’s had a great list of zero-proof drinks that sounded delicious.
I ordered a $10 mocktail called the Lavender Field, and my daughter ordered the other alcohol-free option, the $10 Orchard Season. Both were delicious, though a bit extra sweet.
When it came time for a fresh round of drinks, my daughter went with another apple-infused mocktail, but I opted for a $4.50 club soda with lime.
My husband started his meal with a $19 old-fashioned and ordered a $20 glass of red wine when his entrée arrived. My son, always the simplest in our group, ordered a $4.50 glass of Coke.
We also ended up paying $20 for still bottled water throughout the meal, but in hindsight could have probably gotten away with tap water.
In total, our drink tab alone was around $100 — mostly worthwhile but definitely a splurge.
The meal came with complimentary bread service.
A meal at Morton’s starts with complimentary onion bread and butter, a starter the restaurant is known for.
In a few bites, I could see why there are so many copycat recipes online for how to make it at home.
The bread was crusty, warm, and tasty. We only nibbled at it so we’d have room for all of the food we’d ordered.
Our wedge salad was the best we’ve had at a steak-house chain.
Next, we got the wedge salad ($14), which our server said was a popular menu item at Morton’s.
My husband and I often order wedge salads when we go to a steak house, and this one didn’t disappoint. We agreed it was the best one we’ve had at a steak-house chain.
We enjoyed the creamy blue-cheese dressing and crisp iceberg lettuce. Additions like sweet, pickled red onion and hard-boiled eggs really made the salad stand out. It was well worth the cost and plenty big enough to share.
My daughter’s French onion soup was one of the stars of the meal.
My teenage daughter ordered French onion soup ($13) as a starter and found it so delicious that she ate it until she was full. She later needed to bring most of her entrée home in a to-go box.
It was everything a French onion soup should be: full of melted cheese and toasty bread and seasoned with the perfect amount of salty, oniony broth.
My husband got a steak-house classic that cost over $60.
My husband ordered a $55, 8-ounce filet mignon for his meal and added a peppery au poivre sauce for $6.
Au poivre is one of our favorite steak preparations, and the sauce at Morton’s was creamy and flavorful.
The filet was also among the best we’ve had, with a melt-in-your-mouth texture that showed how perfectly it had been cooked to medium rare.
I ordered the chain’s famous Chicken Christopher.
I decided to order Morton’s Chicken Christopher ($33) because I’ve seen a lot of copycat recipes for it online and figured it must be good.
The two crunchy chicken breasts came with a buttery and delicious beurre blanc sauce.
After a few bites, I saw why people try to make it at home. It was the perfect combination of thinly-pounded chicken breasts and buttery breading.
My $33 entrée was so large that I went home with leftovers.
Both of my teens ordered a $25 burger from the bar menu.
In addition to its dining-room menu, Morton’s has a bar with a different food menu that has items like truffle fries and onion rings.
It also features the Original Morton’s Prime Burger that started it all. The $25 burger weighs 9 ounces and is served with cheddar cheese, a special sauce, and a side of matchstick fries.
My kids both ordered burgers for dinner and enjoyed them. My son, who always orders a plain cheeseburger when it’s on the menu, said this was one of the best burgers he’s had so far at a steak house.
The side dishes we shared were really tasty.
At Morton’s, side dishes are served family-style. My husband and I shared creamed spinach ($14) and au-gratin potatoes made with bacon and Gruyere cheese ($17).
Both sides were delicious and would’ve been a perfect amount for my entire family had my kids not been too busy nibbling on burgers and fries to eat them.
We couldn’t finish either portion, so we took some home as leftovers.
We shared a dessert that took 30 minutes to prepare and had to be ordered in advance.
One of Morton’s signature desserts is its Hot Chocolate Cake ($16). Our server recommended we order it early in the meal because it takes a full 30 minutes to prepare.
It was a fudgy lava-cake-style treat, served warm with a side of vanilla ice cream.
Although everyone in my family was full by the time dessert rolled around, we were glad we’d ordered one to share. The cake was chocolaty heaven.
My husband and I also ordered $5 cups of coffee to complement the decadent dessert.
Although the food was pretty incredible, the flow of the meal seemed a bit off.
The food at Morton’s was very good, but the odd, slow flow of our meal remains a bit of a mystery to me. The restaurant was pretty empty for a Friday evening, but for large parts of the night, we couldn’t find our server.
In all, the meal took a little over two hours — we spent about 45 minutes feeling like we’d been forgotten about, sitting idly at our table waiting for our next course.
Given the lack of patrons, the wait times confused us. I wish things had moved at a faster pace or we’d been checked on more.
It might’ve been a one-off thing — and, to be fair, I didn’t speak up about this issue in the moment — but I’d consider doing so if we encountered it again.
We’d definitely return to Morton’s, even though it wasn’t our No. 1 steak-house chain.
Despite the gaps of seemingly unnecessary wait time, we had a good experience and would definitely give Morton’s another try.
The food was so delicious it made up for any slow service. After all, things happen and the place could’ve just been short-staffed or dealing with an issue we weren’t aware of.
Our $350 meal felt worth the price, and I’d especially like to return for the mocktails, soup, salad, and burgers.
We’d rank steak-house chains like the Capital Grille and Ruth’s Chris above Morton’s, despite the chain’s claims to serve “the best steak anywhere.”
But Morton’s definitely secured a spot in the top five of our family’s list of the best steak-house chains.
The post My family of 4 went to Morton’s for the first time. Our $350 meal was the best value we’ve had at a steak-house chain so far. appeared first on Business Insider.
