Tripps Restaurant
1311 Celebrity Cir # R2 (Broadway at the beach)
Myrtle Beach, 29577
843- 626-6455
Classification: American
Waterfront? No
Reservations Required? No
Reservations Suggested? Yes
Price Points: $8.00 to $25.00
Specialties: ribs, steaks, seafood
Rating: Decent
We stumbled into Tripps Restaurant, really by mistake. We had been trying to get into Yamatos for weeks, and were either too early, or on this occassion, too late. It was New Year's Eve, and we were looking at a one and half hour wait for Yamatos at 5:45pm, so we wandered around Broadway At The Beach, looking for another restaurant.
We found Tripps, and decided it was better than nothing. I had figured it for a family place, full of kids, and now with our kids gone, we try to avoid the hustle and bustle of a family restaurant, preferring quiet places.
I was pleasantly surprised when we entered Tripps, and we were seated quickly, a real plus on this night. We ordered an appetizer, Tripps Trio at $8.49, seen above. It was very nice, and I was getting the feeling we were going to give this establishment a solid 10.
The next course to arrive was the Caesar salad, seen above left. The large white area on top of the salad is a thin slice of parmesan cheese. Nice. But, I got one crouton, and Kim got two. The one I had was excellent, and I could have used a few more. I am not big on croutons, in fact I usually give mine to Kim. But, if they look homemade, I will try them. Still, we were in a solid 10 zone at this stage.
I had an 8oz prime rib, topped with a lobster claw and cheese sauce. The sauce was excellent tasting, but the prime rib, ordered well done, was dry and overcooked, just the way Kim likes it. Right after it arrived, our waiter Ty and the floor manager, one after the other stopped by to ask how everything was.
At that point we had just received our meals and had each only taken one bite of the baked potatoes. To that point, everything was excellent, and we were VERY impressed still in the solid 10 zone, we had a warm fuzzy, and things were so far north, I could see Santa's workshop out the window.
We traded, and I tried to eat his prime, but I couldn't find any part of it anywhere near medium rare, and became quickly disgusted. I waited about ten minutes for our waiter, who had become very busy, to make his way back to us, to ask again how everything was. I explained. But, I began by asking him how Kim had ordered the prime. There was the possibility he heard 'medium rare' instead of 'medium well'. Even then, this was no medium rare meat, it was rare, period.
He checked and confirmed that Kim had ordered (he had heard) medium well, I showed him the meat. He offered to recook it, and that might have been an option nine minutes before. But, we had allowed an hour for dinner, and our time was up. We had reservations elsewhere for the rest of the evening.
Ty sent over the manager, who clearly was not happy. She asked what the problem was, and I explained again. Her response was to say to me, and I quote this word for word, "I wish you would have told me this when I asked you before." This really rubbed me wrong, and even Kim who is much harder to annoy when it comes to service, was getting red faced, a sign he is getting more than annoyed.
Now, remember, that when she came by before, we had eaten one bite of potato, I saw her eyes move from plate to plate as she asked this, so I know she was aware of the stage we were in, and she could clearly see we had no idea at all how the meat was. I reminded her of this, and the pain in her face, and the tone of her voice changed.
She came down a few pegs, and more nicely said, "Ohhh, I will take care of this for you. " It was that look, the tone, and the actual response, that we took as blaming us for not telling them earlier the meat was not cooked properly, that gave them the most point reduction. We brought it to their attention as soon as we could. The fact that they came too early the first time, and too late the last time, is not our fault. Had she just admitted they failed us, and left it at that, they would have received a 9. I don't like being blamed for their failures. She might incorrectly think it, but should never say it.
Now, unknown to us, Tripps had a satisfaction guarantee policy. The manager told us she would adjust the bill, and she has the waiter bring us the form we have to fill out See it here. I am miffed, because I have to fill out a form in order to get the bill adjusted. Had this been any other night, the refund of Kim's meal would not be necessary. We would have sent it back. It is one of those cases, where push had come to shove, and for the price, we needed it cooked, as well because Kim was very hungry, having not eaten all day.
But, it was New Year's Eve, we had reservations elsewhere and didn't have time to fool around. If we had the time, we would have waited at Yamato. But, the bottom line is this. If they couldn't get it right the first time, what is to make us think they could get it right the second time, or third or fourth.? In this case, after eating the first two courses, and sharing the third, we had enough to get us by and didn't leave hungry. He had my prime, and in the end I had the lobster sauce.
My train of thought on the steaks, is this. At what point if they kept messing it up, would it end up like boot leather, unable to be eaten? It could be a long drawn out process. Either you know how to cook a steak, or you don't. If you know how, it is right the first time, everytime.
I have to say that given the two pieces of meat I saw, Tripps is not the place to buy a steak. At $25.99 my 8oz prime with lobster claw sauce was way over-priced, as excellent as the lobster claw sauce tasted it was not that excellent overall. It was also claw, not tail, a much cheaper section of lobster, and much easier to overcook even more so than shrimp, rendering it tough, as it was in this case.
It had a real value of $18.99. Kim's 18oz prime rib at $21.99 was a reasonable value, if it had been good, or if he liked rare meat. The meat was really too tough, his and mine, and was not the best quality prime I have had. I have had prime so tender you could cut it with a fork or table knife with ease. This prime was chewy.
Since everything else was excellent, and Ty was very good, I advise this restaurant for seafood, not steaks. They lost 1 point for tough meat and 2 points for the manager's attitude. They lost no points for the meat cooked incorrectly, as they offered to take it back and cook it to our specifications. We are very hard on staff for poor service, including attitude.
Great food and service at this level is mandatory, not an option. One of the major reasons people eat at 4 to 5 star restaurants is for the experience, entertainment, a warm fuzzy feeling. For many, their entire New Year's Eve celebration was a fine meal, eaten away from home.
This is a luxury meal, not an everyday staple for most people. It is important to come away from a restaurant of that caliber with a warm fuzzy, when you are celebrating, vacationing, as well as when you are local. This was potentially a $73 meal including a $12 tip for Ty. Total Bill $61.20, tip to Ty $7.00, total meal cost $68.20, minus the $21.99 removed for Kim's prime, final cost was $46.21
So, we responded "Excellent !" That was soon to change. At this point, Kim' asks me how I rate it thus far, and I told him I think we have found another 10, unless they blow it in the final stretch. He frowns at me. Things were about to change, as Kim was in for an unpleasant surprise.
Kim is a 'well done' meat eater. But, in recent years he has ventured into 'medium well'. When he cut into the steak , he looked at it, I looked at it, and I could see things were going to go south. The meat was really red, with only a paper thin outer area that was cooked.
The Myrtle Beach View
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina - North Myrtle Beach, SC
Myrtle Beach Restaurants - Restaurant Reviews -
Best Restaurants In Myrtle Beach
Myrtle Beach Area Restaurants
See the inset image to the right to see a side view of a piece. He tried it and spit it out.
Now, I am really more of a 'medium rare' girl, so I offered to trade my 8oz Prime, cooked overly well done with Lobster for his 18oz prime.
He knew how much I wanted that lobster, and refused, but I coaxed him into it so he would not be hungry as we continued on the night of celebration.
