Columbia Steak House

While visiting my hometown of Lexington Kentucky I gave Columbia Steak House a try.
I walked in the place and it was very dark. It smelled like some over powering bathroom cleaner through the restaurant. I went to the bar to eat. A friendly lady came to greet me and take my drink order. I had a beer I think. The bar itself had some sticky substance on it. I went to the bathroom and they smelled and was dirty. I was thinking at this point of leaving but I stayed.
Wanting some fried green tomatoes I ordered those. The tomatoes were mushy and over battered and lacked seasonings. You get a nice size order (5) but I could only eat one because my entry came out right after. Now I’m sitting there with all this food in my face including the rolls they brought me when I arrived. I had a rib-​eye steak and bake potato with butter and sour cream, again I received a nice size portion. The steak was cooked a perfect medium but it was bland and had a lot of fat. The bake potato was ok.
I got my bill and was floored how much I had to pay, very expensive and the meal was not worth it at all.
Their are a lot of steak houses in the area of Columbia, I recommend going elsewhere.

Beware this location employs at least one thief and management does not care. We visited and my wife left her iPhone on the table. When we got home and realized the phone was gone we tried to call it and it went straight to voicemail. This was an obvious sign someone had turned the phone off. We called and spoke to our server who searched the table and did not find it. We returned to the restaurant and spoke to the manager. He asked the server who again said she did not find it. We asked who cleaned the table and they brought out the busser. When questioned about the phone he produced it. He had turned the phone off and had it on his person for 1 ½ hours without telling the server or a manager. It doesn’t take a genius to know he was stealing the phone. The manager did not care at all that one of his employees was trying to steal from a customer and did not believe us. Never again!

Yes, it’s old-​school steakhouse, but I just don’t understand eating the average steaks and sides here when you’ve got two Malone’s restaurants within a five minute drive. I enjoy the food here but it’s nothing to Unilocal about.

I went on a busy night, which the waitress explained was why they couldn’t give us just a ½ order of the lamb fries. Well, no worries, I understood not wanting to mess with it, so we ordered the mushrooms and our entrees. The two Nighthawks were average. Swimming in butter, but mediocre quality beef. Both were ordered medium rare, but one was super rare and one was medium. The Diego salad was just a wet celery-​salted mess and not very tasty, even though I kinda like celery. The prime rib one in our party ordered was the butt end and tasted only of smoke. We sent that back for a ribeye that was below average but edible. Our mushrooms never showed up, a knife knocked on the floor (by a server) was not replaced by the server… though she didn’t check back on us for over 20 minutes so it took a long time to ask a second time for one. The veggie medley side was also missing and again, it took so long between server visits that she couldn’t remedy that. She never sent the manager over, but did subtract the missing mushrooms, side item, and sent-​back prime rib from the bill, while still charging us for the ribeye. The steak fries arrived cold and were meh at best.
It was a disastrous dinner, really. The rolls weren’t refreshed, the butter tasted off, the other tables were having similar experiences around us… all in all I wondered if anyone from management had paid any attention to this place in 10 years. It looked and felt like walking into a steakhouse from 1970, but without the tasty food.
I cannot imagine how many calories there are in a Nighthawk, but I don’t think I’ll go back to attempt a second round with the butter-​doused beef to ask. If Lexington really does pass an ordinance that restaurants have to put calorie counts on their food, I bet this place often has folks fainting at the table!

If you’re looking for a consistently good steak, this is not it. About 3 times out of 5, the steak is great, but the other 2 times are worthless. One of the best hamburgers I’ve ever eaten came from the Columbia’s downtown, but I tried the hamburgers 4 more times after that and they never again came close. However, when it’s good, it’s really good, but you’re rolling the dice.

Our first stop in Lexington, I was looking for a regional type food or beverage to sample.
Did no one else ever ask «What are Lamb Fries?»
I’ve never heard of them before and as far as I know this is the only place around you can order them.
They say they taste like chicken livers.
But to me — they are not as chewy
Just for fun, don’t ask what they are, order a few — eight come with the appetizer. And then after, ask what they are. You’ll have a great story to tell your friends.
The Nighthawk and catfish were great. So were the fresh-​baked rolls.
Friendly people, good food, nice atmosphere, they invited me back, so I’m sure to return.
Yay, I’m a fan

Traveling through and stopped to use the internet at Panera, then saw Columbia’s and decided to try it. 6:30 on a weekday, should have known better the parking lot was mostly empty and the Chop House up the street was packed. Got two tenderloin specials, soaked in garlic butter (basically a dry and chewy tenderloin steak that sat in a huge puddle of melted garlic butter). Got the veg medley, which was a HUGE portion of typical steamed mix, way too much, and not very pretty. Hot food was cold. No flavor except for the salad, actually asked me if I wanted steak sauce, and which one (no good steak place insists on that). Diego Salad was ok, very salty (celery salt), and very watery. I like celery, so it was good, but would have been better with fresh veg instead of bought in. I would give them a 1 but the service was very good (hell they were empty, it should have been) and the salad. Bathroom was outdated and smelled of urine strongly. Naw they get a 1. They really need to catch Kitchen Nightmares! This was the stand alone location on Richmond, just south of Chop House and Panera.

I’m bleeding butter… HELP!!! Yes, it was the nighthawk special. Columbia steak house is a throwback to yesteryear, great service, great people, and great food!!! Order the Nighthawk medium rare though, medium was a little on the done side. They now have a garden salad if you are not into celery and they will cook the steak fries to your liking, well done here. If you go for no other reason, you gotta love the décor, retro thoroughbred racing!

Consistently best steak in Lexington is the Nighthawk special. I’ve been eating them since the 70s and they’re still great. Anymore I as for the garlic butter on the side, but the steak is still wonderful. I prefer the baked potato to the fries myself, but both are good and made from potatoes that could double as footballs in an emergency.
I like the ‘diego’ salad, but I’m not a fan of the normal garden salad so your milage may vary.
I also prefer the old school downtown location on Limestone. The décor is horribly dated, but then now, so am I.
One thing you’ll notice is that when Keeneland is running, Columbia’s will usually be busy. Also anytime there’s an event downtown like basketball there will usually be a crowd, sometimes after daytime football games as well.
And, the lamb fries. They’re fried pig guts as I understand it. Like deep fried chitlins. I’ve not been brave enough to try them myself yet. My neighbor who’s a WW2 vet gets them every time he goes there though.

It is indeed all about the NIghthawk special. The tasty, wonderful steak towering above a plate of fries. No matter where you go or what you accomplish in life, this is a meal you can always appreciate.
I actually like the salad. It’s innovative and tasty, if you like celery. If you don’t like celery then you definitely won’t want to eat a bite.