Our contributor Erica McCall recently visited The Strip Club in downtown Greer with her husband and had such a great time that she passed on this review for other parents looking for a fun evening out.
Yep. You read that right. Aren’t I the best wife ever?! Before you roll your eyes too hard or judge and scroll past, stop worrying. It’s not a real strip club like it sounds- it’s a steakhouse! (Get it? Strip like NY strip? Very clever.)
First of all let me explain about my family. We have a two year old son. I’m 13 not-so-glowing weeks pregnant. My husband works a first/second swing shift job and I teach full time. We are busy. We are tired. We needed a date night. Thankfully, my mom, dad, and sister love when our little bug comes to spend the night, so they took him for a slumber party so we could enjoy some adult time. (Very much needed as well as necessary to keep that primary relationship going strong!)
I googled best restaurants in Greenville and got the usual lists we’ve all seen of the downtown Greenville scene. We’ve really been wanting to try a few of those, especially a few of the newer ones, but we just weren’t feeling the business of a Friday night downtown. We wanted a relaxing date, not one where we potentially walked five rainy blocks after parking. I remembered my aunt and uncle saying they’d taken my grandmother to The Strip Club for New Year’s last year. (Yeah- we’re THAT family. So hilarious!) I looked the place up and was hooked the minute I started reading the menu.
The best thing this place has going for them before you get there is their marketing. Obviously, the name is a striking one. (So much so that if you do a “Check In” on Facebook it clarifies it’s a steakhouse so your pastor won’t be wondering what’s going on with you.) They also have fantastic names for their different menu sections as well as their food and beverage selections. If you want an appetizer, you’ll need to look under Foreplay. Thinking of trying a combo type of dish? Check out their Sexy Combinations. You might want to order from the Main Stage or perhaps you’re more of a Simple Seductions type of person. Don’t worry, though. There are plenty of XXX-tras and Sassy Sides to pick from.
See what I mean? Excellent marketing. Playful and fun without being trashy… perfect for a fun dinner date! Even the wall art is also cheeky without being off-putting. Retro pinup girls keep the theme alive. Perhaps you could call it sexy chic? Anthony Bourdain, one of my favorites, once said that “Context and memory play powerful roles in all the truly great meals in one’s life.” This place gives you the context as you make your memories.
We called the day before and got reservations at 5:30 pm. They did call again to be sure we planned to keep the reservations (which I loved, especially if we’d made them well in advance and might have forgotten). Their site says reservations aren’t required but are recommended. I’d definitely recommend them if you plant to dine after 6 pm or so on a weekend.
Our evening at The Strip Club
We dressed up, but it wasn’t necessary. Their dress code is “Friday Business Casual” so there was no need to get fancy… I just wanted to actually wear my pretty heels I never get to use anymore!
We were greeted the second we walked in the door, very politely, by at least two staff members. We waited just for a minute while they sorted out something (several people were just coming on shift), but our wait was not long at all. We were shown to a table next to a window, which was lovely despite the drizzle. (I worked in downtown Greer in high school, so I loved watching Poinsett activity again!)
Our waitress was amazing. She took the time to go over their billion specials, in detail, to the point where I was sort of looking around to see what she was reading. Nope. Memorized. Having waited tables myself, I was very impressed she remembered all those dishes and intricacies that went with each!
We each ordered starter drinks, mine the Not Your Mama’s Shirley Temple (all fresh ingredients) from the Mocktails section of the menu. I loved that you didn’t have to be ordering alcohol in order to get a fun drink experience! On the alcohol side, though . . . you wouldn’t be lacking choices! You can tell they make their drinks as much of a taste experience as the food. My husband asked for the bartender to make whatever he’d recommend and he loved whatever that was that came out. (It wasn’t fruity, so I didn’t really pay attention to it.)
We ordered the Flaming Saganaki to start our culinary experience. They describe this as a Mediterranean melting cheese. It’s seasoned, floured, and fried before being brought to your table. When it arrived, the waitress poured a shot of Cognac over it, lit it on fire, and doused the flame by squeezing a lemon over it. It was served with fresh, delightfully warm French bread. Normally, I’m not big on specialty cheeses, but this was pretty spectacular. I ended up loving the bread so much I ordered some butter to finish it up!
They also brought out a basket of cheddar garlic biscuits. NO. They are not like Red Lobster’s. These are a thousand times better, and I don’t even like cheddar garlic biscuits. The biscuits were served with plate covered in olive oil with a Chipotle or pepper jelly swirled in. My husband claimed that for himself (thus I don’t even know what it was), which was fine since I claimed the end of the French bread loaf.
While we enjoyed our Fore Play, we were greeted by the maker of our drinks who was sharing his passion for all things culinary. He told us a little about the history of The Strip Club, his extensive skills, and his intriguing house specialties. They apparently make their own root beer, create their own grenadine from fresh pomegranate (in my yummy beverage), and even age some of their own alcohols.
After we finished chatting, we focused on what to order… even though we’d both read the menu about fifty times at home. One of my favorite things about the main dish section was that there are two numbers. Those are the prices. I almost never finish my food when we’re out. Portions are usually just so crazy!! The Strip Club offers you the choice to order one of two sizes at two very different prices. Hubby ordered the smaller sizes but still got an enormous amount of food. It’s perfect, too, for making it a lot more budget friendly. Their lower prices are closer to an Outback or Copper River price, all while keeping the higher quality found at this steakhouse versus the others. My husband, however, decided this was an opportunity to try more than one dish. Our waitress had a great poker face while he ordered all that. Me- not so much. I laughed the whole time.
He ordered the smaller portion of the Just Too Good To Be Named…, which was a combination of Chipotle blackened sashimi grade tuna with warm goat cheese, Sofrito style collard greens, a balsamic glaze, and a substitution side of fried okra. His second dish was the Down East Decadent Crab Cake, which is jumbo lump crab meat blended with fresh avocado, spices, and then sauteed beautifully. It was served with a tangy tarragon remoulade. He subbed in the Parmesan Truffle Pomme Frites and the CheeseHEADS mac n cheese.
According to him: Both dishes were excellent. He said the greens and okra were his favorite sides by far. The top layer of the mac n’ cheese was a perfect taste of different cheeses to make it a high-end mac n’ cheese, but after the first bit it seemed that the underneath was pretty much the same as most mac n’ cheese dishes. The tuna was perfectly cooked, but the spicy sauce it rested on was sort of a neutral on whether or not it was needed. The glaze was delicious. The fries were fries, just fancy. The crab cake was the favorite of the two meats. The addition of the avocado was a fun twist that blended in well. The drink was excellent and the rounded ice ball shows they know the difference in standard and excellence.
As for me, I ordered the House-aged 1855 Black Angus Filet Mignon. I added the XXX-tra Bacon Carmelized Onion Bearnaise as well as their Warm Smoked Blue Cheese. For my Sassy Sides I chose the Crunchy Sweet Potato Mash and the Bacon and Parmesan Baby Green Beans. The sweet potato mash was too sweet for me to really eat, but hubby had no issues cleaning that dish for me. It was so rich- it was almost a dessert! The green beans were also excellent, but I couldn’t eat many of those, either. The problem wasn’t their taste… or their texture… or how well they were cooked.
The problem was the steak. It. Was. Too. Good. I am a carnivore through and through. I adore a good steak, but this one shamed pretty much any other steak I’ve ever eaten. First of all, it was cooked to a perfect medium rare (exceptionally important to true carnivores). Second, the bearnaise, adorably served in a shot glass on the side, was incredible. Third, the blue cheese was beyond out of this world. Put all three of those on your fork, my friend, and head on over to Heaven. I almost ordered more of the Bearnaise because I was just smothering each bite with it. I couldn’t even use up all the blue cheese, which was a good problem because most restaurants give you plain ol’ crumbles and are very stingy with their portions of those crumbles. I had to sit back and let some of my food settle before diving back in to finish that steak. I told my husband at one point that the baby was going to have to scoot over because I was going to finish that steak one way or another! I, thankfully, managed to finish it, but I seriously had no room left for the sides. I probably would order the frites next time, even though hubby didn’t love them… I thought they were pretty delish. I might even go with the 4 oz instead of the 8 oz, but MAN OH MAN was that steak divine!
Of course we couldn’t even attempt dessert after all of the awesomeness we were bursting with already, but I look forward to trying some desserts the next time we go.
Our entire evening there was about $100, including tip. Don’t forget though, that was two drinks, an appetizer, two smaller portioned entrees, and a regular portion steak entree. The next time we go, we’ve both said we’ll dial it down to one smaller entree each and either drinks or a starter dish. Then, we’d be a lot closer to $50, which is usually what we end up spending at lesser steakhouses anyway.
Overall review?
GO. This weekend. Make a reservation, get a sitter, and go experience The Strip Club! I can’t imagine that you’d be at all sorry because it was just absolutely amazing. We plan to make this our special place and are looking forward to learning the names of everyone there as we visit time and time again. There aren’t enough words in the thesaurus to describe this restaurant because it’s just so much more than just another place to go out to eat.
It’s an experience.
Plan your own date night at The Strip Club
104 East Poinsette Street
Greer. SC 29651
864.877.9104
www.thestripclub104.com
Have you enjoyed an evening at The Strip Club yet?
Erica McCall is the mom of one hilariously adorable toddler, is in her tenth year of teaching, and loves getting lost inside the adventures of a good book. She and her hubby/best friend were both born and raised in Greenville and they hope to one day have a few acres on which to build their dream home. You can connect with her via her blog, Shelfari, Pinterest. 