#15 Dal Rae - Pico Rivera
24 February 2011 
Rating: 3.5 cows
During our ongoing steak adventure, every once awhile we get to visit a venerable old steakhouse borne from the halcyon days of the mid-20th century. Our visit to Dal Rae was another such experience.
Dal Rae opened in Pico Rivera in 1958—the same year that baseball arrived in Los Angeles. And like baseball, a good steak is about as American as you can get. The bar area is completely separated from the restaurant and includes booths, short tables with low-back chairs, and the usual seats right at the barkeep. The dining room evokes the feeling of being at an elegant banquet; the lighting is ample but comfortable and not too bright.
The signature steak at the Dal Rae is their pepper steak. You might say that there's a tasty steak underneath all those onions, peppers, and bacon bits, and you'd be right for the most part. We felt the pepper was a bit overpowering to the steak. It tasted good, but it wasn't really that necessary and actually took away from the steak because, to quote Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction "they fuckin' drown 'em in that shit". Two of us had the bone-in rib eye, which was cooked as ordered and tasty.
The side dishes weren't anything particular to write home about—the breadsticks were tasty and the vegetable platter was a nice addition. The french fries were mediocre, and the surprise order of cheese bread was surprisingly good, in the style of the famous menu item over at North Woods Inn if you get it while it's still warm. The baked potato and green beans were satisfactory.
We had a party of 7 which was by no means small, but it seemed that the service was slower than was warranted for the situation. The place was well-packed for a weeknight though, which certainly added to their workload although the wait staff were very friendly and made us feel quite welcome.
The experience was definitely enjoyable, and if you're near the area it's certainly worth a visit even if you just hang out at the bar. They have their own parking lot but there's a mandatory valet. For our tastes the verdict was unanimous: 3.5 cows across the board. Perhaps they perfected the "jack of all trades" moniker, but the ambiance and history of this place make it just a little bit more special than that.
Reader Comments (1)
Are you kidding, insane, stupid, or on drugs??!!! This is one of the most over-rated, worst, unworthy, dirty, rotten places to eat. The Dal Rae?? Are you CRAZZZZZZZZZZZZY??!!! They are horrible. I lived in Pico "gang-town" Rivera for 25 years and let me tell you something, the ONLY reason people that go there are city officials who are wining and dining all their PALS!!!!!! And spending taxpayer’s dollars to do it with. This place isn't fit for dogs and they have awful food. I could go into it and list all the reasons, but the bottom line is they are a CRAPPY, over-rated, uninspired HAS-BEEN. They are a dinosaur, and should have been put out to pasture ages ago. Maybe once upon a time hundreds of years ago they were good, but those days are long, long, longggggggggggggggg gone, and are never coming back.
And you also have the Sizzler on your list??!!!!!!! Who are you people?? Jeez, get off the Internet and stop trying to pretend that your’re some great food critic or reviewer, because you are NOT!!! None of you are. Leave reviewing food and restaurants to the professionals who have taste and great taste buds, thank you very much!!!!!!.
On second thought, you are probably bought off for your review. Either that, or you’re simply passing on information and reviews that you’ve seen or read elsewhere. No doubt, you’re probably plagiarists & impostors! Almost every one of your reviews was B.S.!! Bad, horrible, awful, terrible reviews!