The Golden Knife

Visited twice and had good meals; nothing great.
The employees were always very nice, and due to that I am sad to say I believe this place had finally closed. I give it credit for hanging in there longer than anyone else would have tolerated an empty restaurant. Good luck to you guys.

I had a fantastic lunch today at The Golden Knife at 63 E. Pine Street in Downtown Orlando. I had the Fresh Mozzarella Ravioli in Tomato Sauce, one of the items on the $ 9 express lunch menu. It was obviously freshly made, full of cheese and the pomodoro sauce was amazing, it was served with a ramekin of shaved Parmesan as well. The portion was ample, and when I was done with the pasta, I used the freshly baked yeast roll to sop up the remaining sauce. The service was flawless (The serve was Giancarlo) and the presentation was beautiful. I am looking forward to going back and trying some of the other items on the menu.
I see they bill themselves as a ‘Modern Steakhouse’ but their menu is so much broader than the stereotypical steakhouse, that I feel the description may not help them develop as broad of a base as they would like.
The service ware really stands out. The butter ball with oil was served in a glass ‘butter dish’ that was fascinating. The pasta was served in a round dish on a square charger, that has a flower petal glass ramekin for the shaved cheese along with a miniature service spoon.
As a chef, I was very impressed.

We ordered $ 130 of to-​go food for dinner last night. The food was absolutely inedible. We called and spoke with the manager John and he was of no help but only offered a tour of the kitchen. I have eaten and had to-​go from almost every restaurant downtown over the past few years, and this place makes McDonald’s drive thru look like the four seasons brunch. I have never had worse service or food in my life.
I tried to give the management constructive criticism and resolve the issue since we literally had to order dinner from somewhere else, and he just acted surprised that we had an issue. When we went to pick up the food Saturday evening at around 8:15, there was not one person in the restaurant, that could fit around 100 guests. I clearly see why nobody is eating there. Save your money, and sanity and avoid this place like Ebola!

Great lunch — I will try again.
I ordered off the $ 9 lunch menu. Great value — it was quite a full meal for $ 9: delicious crispy tilapia, perfect mashed potatoes, and fresh sautéed veggies. The restaurant is gorgeous.
I will definitely try it again… the low reviews surprise the heck out of me. Sounds like a different restaurant.

Would avoid. Seated very fast for lunch as we were the only ones in the resteraunt.
The waited seemed like it was his first day and wasn’t sure of what to do.
Drinks were very good, yet pricey.
The food was nothing special.
Instead of brining bread for the table, they bring individual rolls. One per person.
Couldn’t substitute the roasted potatos for mashed potatoes that came with the streak. Had to order it as an additional side.
Way too pricey for what they offer.

Nope. I give them three weeks until closing.
Walked in and were immediately greeted and seated, YAY! Now, it just goes downhill… FAST AND QUICK. We received menus when we sat down and were immediately asked about drinks, even though we didn’t even get a chance to breathe or look at the menu so we asked for waters. 5 minutes goes by and the waiter returns and removes our wine glasses… even tho we didn’t order drinks yet, so what if I wanted wine? That is besides the point I guess because about 5 – 10 minutes later we finally received the water… in our wine glasses… with straws. Why remove the glasses to fill them? Just bring a pitcher or glasses or water… why the extra step? Or why straws in nice wine glasses? It pained us that we had to have him check on our water because it took that long. Yep, wow. Also, when I asked for a refill, that took over 10 minutes.
Our server’s speech was indistinct. We could not hear him or understand him. He was basically walking away each time we talked too… I can’t even put how awkward it was into words. Example of awkwardness: «Hey, we haven’t received our waters yet.» :head nod «I will ch…» as he is walking away. Huh? He never even asked us if we were okay, needed anything, just literally drinks and food.
Ordered drinks and that took about as 20 minutes as well. One of our drinks he just completely forgot so we had to remind him twice. She finally got her beverage just in time for main course. WOW!
My drink arrived — I ordered the Staw-​Peary margarita and a blended beverage with a lemon and raspberries arrived. Hmmmm… that makes sense, right? Nope. (
) Guys… it was warm. Yeah, I had to take ice out of my water to chill. I don’t even want to know. Just gross.
We were seated for about 20 minutes when we then received bread… table service delivered to our table with little plastic butter to accompany. If you are going fancy with bread service (by the way, it was not even warm and tasted like cardboard) then why serve butter in plastic that looks like the foil was just ripped off? Yeah, that was just sad.
We checked on our food as we were ready to walk out but he said it would be ten minutes and since we needed to catch a show, we asked for split checks then so we could pay before our food was even there. He returned in a heartbeat with the check, but of course, it wasn’t split.
It took almost an hour to get our food, we didn’t even order appetizers. I was having al the luck so when my plate arrived, it was warm salmon with cold sweet potato purée. The salmon was HUGE but it was just warm. That turned me off. Also, I was so angry by this point that I was just over it.
We finally had him split our checks, and of course they came back incorrect but we just paid cause we wanted out. I finally asked for the manager at the end of the meal so I could give feedback and he seemed open to it but then asked for my email and I politely refused as there is nothing that could get me back here. It was just another awkward discussion that didn’t amount to any confidence that this place will improve.
As we were walking out, two other gentleman were walking out without even eating. Yep, it was bad people.
Other Notes:
— The ladies on the floor, wear hairnets. I really think this place is entirely confused on what they want to be. Sadly, I don’t think they are going to have time to figure it out before the doors close.
— Our table was never bussed. We had to ask for plates and glasses to be removed.
— Just a swing and a miss here. Totally.
— I don’t give out 1 star ratings easily, out of my 1335 Reviews — only 13 are one star.

The service is good. The sides are really good. My steak was ok. It’s pricey for what it is. Steak tasted like dry hamburger no seasoning. But the veggies and potatoe purée are good.