Alexander's Steakhouse, Cupertino, California
Last Visit: July 2008
OVERALL
When people outside of the area thinks of Silicon Valley, they always relate it with a ton of high income nerds and lots of stock options but poor taste for all finer things in life. A restaurant can look hip, serve trash and make lots of money. Well, that's partially true, but there are many exceptions. Alexander's Steakhouse is one of those places that came on the Cupertino (a.k.a. the nerd center in the nerdiest valley on earth) dining scene after the dotcom bust that actually offers a pretty spectacular dining experience, right next to Apple! If you have a senior Apple employee's net worth, you'll have a very good time here.
FOOD
The name said it all - It's a steakhouse. It's the FIRST steakhouse that offers REAL steaks (unless you enjoy mediocre steaks like Black Angus or Outback) in the suburbia of Silicon Valley. There is one in Sunnyvale Cattlemen's Steakhouse, and you and I both know these fake Texan-style steakhouses never really "work" in California. So this is the one place you 
can come and expect to have meticulously-prepared good-size steaks that don't even pretent to be Texan.
You can tell Alexander's is a serious steakhouse from how they display their steaks and the huge variet of them. The menu is pretty splendid too, besides a serious list of (expensive) steaks it has many other great looking appetizers, entrees and 
side dishes. The cuisine is definitely NOT classic steakhouse though - if you come in here for steaks and shakes, plus a big baked potato, you'll be totally disappointed. The taste, garnishing and combination actually look more Asian - 
particularly Japanese - and French than American.
Another distinct feature of Alexander's is how pretty the plates are arranged and presented. There's no "typical" steak dishes there - they almost all come with some sort of exotic sauce or spices to complement the steaks. One of the steaks we had came with a yellow mustard and wasabi-flavored sauce that was good but 
not amazing. Appetizers, soups and even desserts are also create - some have the similar name (e.g. chocolate fudge) but look and taste strikingly different from the "real" thing. Everything, unlike some Californian cuisine joints, are made of excellent quality ingredients with very solid fundamental cooking skills in place. It will be hard to leave Alexander's disappointed with their food.
SERVICE
You would expect a restaurant of this caliber to offer professional service, and they do. It's interesting that in the middle of this ethnic melting pot, almost all waiters and waitresses are caucasians, and very experienced ones too. Even the bus boys are courteous and efficient, much more so than what you'd typically see in other Valley restaurants. For one moment I thought I was in New York City - till the free cotton candy was served (yeah, that was downright weird and actually not that great). Overall, no disappointment there either, although I wished the waiters are a bit more friendly and relaxed. Well, they are probably former dotcom hotshots who are used to high-stress work environment.....
AMBIENCE
Whoever designed this restaurant took the best of all world - the clean and simple overall design typical in the West Coast, and warm and solid colors typical in steakhouses, and large and comfortable furnishing that offer that relaxing cafe atmosphere - and they are really comfortable, you can fall asleep in there! Layout is good but the tables seem slightly too close to together - but hey, it is after all the most expensive suburban real estate on earth. I would have given them 5 stars for the great job they did, BUT the nerds ruined it. That's right, this place smells nerdy. There are simply too many engineer-looking people who don't look comfortable and don't seem to know what they are eating. I know they are trying very hard, but the no-brand glasses, striped polo shirts and fitted jeans helped to reveal their true identity.
VALUE
Up to this point, you'd think you've finally found a decent place to go on that romantic dates (complete with nerds who can't even tell you are on a date). But WAIT, how many credit cards do you have? Just in case the first one you took out doesn't have a high-enough credit limit..... If you want a complete 4-course meals AND you MUST have that $100 bottle of wine, be prepared to blow $200 for a two-person meal. Some of the smaller dishes, like appetizers and desserts, are SOOOO small that I wonder if they served me kids meal by mistake. After all, there aren't that many joints in the Valley that sells Wagyu steaks like Iowa pork loin, so be prepared to forget about your budget for one night.
BOTTOMLINE
You've probably noticed that although I live in the Sunnyvale / Cupertino area, I didn't exactly review a bunch of restuarants in these towns, simply because there aren't too many that are worth my time to post the pictures and type in a review. Alexander's is definitey a welcome exception. Top-notch steaks and cooking techniques, great service and a surrounding that alone is worth 2 hours of your time, together they make a wonderful choice for a wonderful steak night. It will probably taste better after you have achieved a healthy net worth though.....
BTW
Check this out - like some NYC and LA city restaurants, there is a place for kitchen diners!! I am not sure what it'll take to get in there, but I will find out on my next visit and spend my monthly food budget there on my next anniversary.
