Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Tad's Steaks @8:23 pm
Herald Square
Most New Yorkers have eaten at Tad’s Steaks once...and then they never go back again. I think there’s four of them, all near Times Square, but they’re all kind of identical. There’s neon out front and usually there’s a long line consisting of tourists and local New Yorkers who are craving a steak, yet who’s address is a cardboard box three and a a half blocks away. When you get up to the front of the line, you can order your steak from a cook who if you’re lucky is in possession of about two thirds of the English language. Once your steak is cooked you’ll snake down the cafeteria-styled aisle as they throw on a baked potato (somehow they manage to make a baked potato greasy), onions, garlic bread and you can add items such as a saran-wrapped glass of wine (red or white, vintage 2011, poured from a screw-topped bottle) well aged desserts, limp salads and soda or beer. And then you can enjoy your dinner in the dining room which has the ambience of a grade school lunch room desperately in need of city-funding meets the day room from “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.” Can we have our A-1 sauce now, Nurse Ratched?
I haven’t eaten at a Tad’s for a long, long time. I have to go to work early tomorrow (they want me in before the crack of noon, oh the inhumanity of it all!) so I’m going out earlier than usual for my after dark adventure and I thought I’d go out to eat, since I skipped my Sunday dinner yesterday and I’ve got the night off tonight due to Presiden’s' Day. And I’ve decided to go to Tad’s. Maybe I’ll get food poisoning and then I won’t feel guilty about calling in sick to work tomorrow.
I thought I'd splurge and take a taxi there since it's a holiday and I'm in a hurry to get it over with.
And we're off, into the night.
And here we are, Tad's on 34th street. There's one closer to Times Square, but I didn't feel like dealing with that madness tonight.
I have to confess, I do like the neon in the window.
Okay, time for Tad's!
There's always a line at Tad's and tonight is no exception.
I've decided to go with number 10, The Big Daddy. As long as we're here, might as well take the full ride!
And here's the chef for the evening.
As you can see, he's pleased to meat us.
The line of trays waiting for dinner to be served is queued up.
And now we're moving and the dance begins!
You can almost see the germs swimming around in the pools of water along the way.
And dinner is served. Those gloves make me wonder if this man doubles as a proctologist.
You have the option of adding some of these side dishes. I passed as I wasn't really sure what sort of food groups they fell into.
This section scared me as it looks empty except for a couple of deep fried bugs.
And to the left may I present Tad's leaning tower of plates.
At Tad's you can have your cake and eat it too, but I decided to pass as the frosting was pink and it scared me a little.
And here's the famous Saran-wrapped wine.
But if you'd rather have a bottle, here you go. And you don't even have to bother with a cork!
Personally, I'm only here for the beer. And they have 24 ounce bottles at Tad's! Gotta love that!
What, you expected a hostess at Tad's?
And here we are in the dining room. Luckily you don't have to hear the bad '80s rock that's being piped into this room.
I think I'll sit here.
And here's the dinner, still alive and kicking.
All done, is it too early to call in sick to work now?
Okay, out the door and home to raid the Rolaids vat. Goodnight everybody, see you tomorrow after dark.
Review
Tad’s answers the age-old question: “It’s steak, how bad can it be?”
Tad's Steaks
152 West 34th Street (Near 7th Ave.)
212-630-0318
Further reading: Chowhound, Midtown Lunch, The Hungover Gourmet and Citysearch.
Nightcap
I wish I never saw the sunshine, then maybe I wouldn’t mind the rain.
-----------------------------------
Bonus Photo From Lex.
If you followed the 365 blog, you'll probably remember my friend Lex. Well she recently had a holiday skiing weekend and sent in this photo. While it's not an after dark photo, I do appreciate her friends on the gondola's style. Here's the photo and the caption Lex sent in.
I had the honor of sharing the gondola with these two, and had to get their photo! Pete (on the right) and Jordan were enjoying a day off from their Adventure Tour Guide degree program. Thought you might approve of the way they spend their 15 minute ride to the top!
27 Comments
Reader Comments (27)
Oddly enough, here in Des Moines the two places that replicated a "Tad's" experience are both gone now. The Y-Not Grill, which used to be near 6th & University, was a scary place where you could get a T-bone, baked potato and Texas toast for about six bucks. Horrible, but it was all about the atmosphere. Which was, as I say, frightening. And Topps Steak House on University Ave. (less than a mile from the Y-Not, now that I think of it) had the cafeteria/aged dessert vibe going on as well as disgusting food that tasted like freezer-burn You had to try both of these places at least once to be considered authentic, but best to try Topp's first so if you got killed at the Y-Not, at least you knew you didn't die in vain.
Tad's looked pretty good actually. Your sirloin steak was rather large and freshly cooked. Tad's is a place I always walked by when I visited NY, never went in as I liked eating in the bars. Also Tad's looks like a step up from the Auto-Mat, were you in NYC before they closed down? All in all I think mini chains like Tad's are a lot better than the alternative, big chain restaurants, so Im kinda glad they had their crowds.
Meat your maker! LOL! Those side dishes look truly frightening! I've never been to a Tad's, thanks for taking one for the team!
wow ! ... and I thought military chow halls were scary .... :(
also ... the thought of a boiled steak disgusts me !
@Janet: Any place named the Y-Not Grill has just got to be scary!
@Al: I was never in an auto-mat in New York, but always like to look at pictures of them. I think this is the third time I've eaten at a Tad's and I always feel sick and dirty afterwards.
@Barfly: I do it all for you!
@GENE: They're broiled, but still pretty disgusting.
ok ... that wouldn't be too bad ? .... I thought the signed said "boiled" for a second
I'm thinking .... who the F would boil a steak !
UFB to me !
I'd rather chew on Abe Vigoda's Ear Lobes!
@Professor Dungpie: Ha ha ha! I'd pay top dollar for the Abe Vigoda Ear Lobe meal!
cited from the Urban Dictionary:
TAD
Total Anal Destruction
Boy 1: Did you hear how bad Aaron's TAD was last weekend?
Boy 2: Yeah. He was in the emergency room for two hours getting his pink sock taken care of.
that place makes Sizzler look tasty..HA! yuck.. no .. glad you survived.
actually Joe said they have this place in Chicago called Ronny's that this reminded him of.
In Minneapolis and also in Moundsview, close to where I live, there's a small chain steak house very similar in set up and appearance to Tad's called The Best Steakhouse. The salads are mass manufactured, the dressings are in big pots near the register and the deserts are well aged and saran wrapped and the potatos are mass baked in a bin just like Tad's. They spent zero money on the interior decoration, but they do broil a mean steak to their credit and damn cheap in the bargain. Used to stop by twice a week while I was driving my hack. Used to drive the cook home for the occational free steak dinner. Kept my cholesterol level in the red zone though, and my doctor gave me hell about it, but fuck 'em if he can't take a joke. I wil live and die as a card carrying carnivore! Growmph!
@cp: Nice one!
@Gidgie: I actually kind of like the Sizzler, a guilty indulgence, but there are no Sizzlers in New York, that I know of at least.
@Jaws: Usually when a place calls themselves, "The Best," the odds are they aren't!
Marty, you are The Best!
is that your bill? 25 bucks is steep for a bargain steak place! give me sizzler any day! lol!
@cp: I should've seen that coming!
@rita r: Nothing's cheap in New York!
@marty my parents are Sizzler addicts.. they take Maia all the time with them when she visits there and they make them give her a senior discount cause 16 yr old girls really do eat as little as seniors.
they have discovered golden corral. all you can eat steak buffet...which is just silly.. they share a meal everywhere they go.. why do an all you can eat just so my mom can have a few kinds of cake.
I pass the place every day going to work & I really don't think it's cow meat . It doesn't smell right .
I am sure to that there is extra flavor added , & It's not seasoning I am talking about , since I did worked in a restaurant a few times as dish washer & I saw it happen !!! , not just in one place !!! I would even complained about it , but owner would have a blind eye for it , since he knows he pays his workers shit !!!
The worst was working in Kentucky Fried Chicken , Yes I did that . There was a very greasy spot right next to walking freezer & every time you walked out with a basket of uncooked chicken , you would fall & chicken would be all over this floor , which everyone but me would wash the chicken since it fell on this greasy dirty floor & would I bitch to someone when i saw them not cleaning the chicken they said it's the secret seasoning .
It's funny how I might be a dishwasher again when I will live in France , since it's hard to find work heer at my age !!
@Gidgie: That cracks me up they them give her a senior citizen discount!
@JHwang: Congratulations to you and Zioum Zioum! Send me some photos and I'll post them at TMWS, where you met!
I'm not really a fan of steak so yeah, no convincing done with that. But love that you're willing to experience it all.
@cp makes me laugh
@kari: cp's the best!
Reminds me of the Sizzler, but that Saran wrap on the wine is a pretty good idea. I'll try to remember it next time I pick-a-nick.
@ Kari, you are awesome.
@ Marty, no sir you are the, drum roll please, the Pete Best.
Ugh, nooo! I'm trying to think of a worse dining experience....um....gimme a sec....nope, can't. You're right about going there once, then never again. I was forced to go to this location several years ago by a friend who insisted it was the best place on earth. To my horror, he was so very incorrect. I just recall the plates, floor, tables, everything being sticky and disgusting. And, the bill was something like $60 for two, which really pissed me off! Glad you lived to tell about it...
But, really, I don't get why they're still in business.
@Goggla: I don't get it either and there's always a line in that place, I work a couple blocks away, so I walk by it a lot. Scary.
When I was young, long ago, there were more Tad's, and the price was part of the name, as in "Tad's 99 Cent Steak House." Like Blarney Stones, they were ubiquitous then. As a more than routinely impecunious college student, I found that if you took your date to a good movie and bought her a couple of drinks in a decent hotel bar, a quick dinner at a nearby Tad's was not necessarily a deal breaker later in the evening. Back then (1961-65) they were decent, if completely unembellished. The "decor," from your photos, remains the same. Obviously, however, the quality of the food, formerly inoffensively pedestrian, has descended into outright loathsomeness in the intervening half century. Too bad: yet another hit on the proletariat!
WP65: Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane! I didn't know Tad's had such a history! And yeah, the food there is pretty horrific and so's the clientele!