Sal’s Chophouse

Best pork chop and sweet mashed potatoes I have ever eaten. Our server was the Best (Cesar)! My wives Mahi Mahi sandwich was delicious! Great late lunch!

Usually a great dining experience…
One of our favorite restaurants. .
Tonight for New Years Eve… very bad meal experience.
Lobsters…frozen not fresh… over cooked.
Beef entrees ok…
Manager tried to fix things… just did not work out.
Might return… but not on a holiday special. .
$ 60.00 per person for fixed menu with many fine offerings… but do not order seafood… unless you are at an oceanfront restaurant.

Went for Sunday lunch and thoroughly enjoyed. The server was fantastic; helpful and polite. The food was tasty and very reasonable. Two of us got two entrees, an appetizers, and drinks for $ 45. This include: bread and salted butter, drinks, salad, soup, the lemon fried chicken entrée, and the pimento cheese sliders.
Great lunch!

I went to Sal’s for the Sunday brunch. My girlfriend loves bloody mary’s and they have a make your own bloody mary bar. I’ve been to Sal’s for dinner before and it was delicious so I figured brunch would be no different…
I had the chicken & waffles for my meal and it was absolutely terrible. Chicken was fried to a crisp. No I’m not talking about the Colonel’s extra crispy style chicken, I’m talking all moisture and joy was fried right out of the chicken leaving a few little brown strips of flavorless despair on top of my waffle. The waffle had zero flavor so essentially it was just a tan circular sponge. The only thing on the dish that had flavor was the syrup which I had to drown the meal in because it was the only thing that could rescue me from the dried chicken and sponge. The other people in my party had tasty meals but I was just all around disappointed.

I work with Russ to take care of catering orders for my track team during our major events. This past week was my first event and everything turned out amazing. The food was delicious. Everyone raved about it through the entire weekend. I had the food made to go– filet medallions, salmon, chicken Alfredo, mashed potatoes, broccoli, chicken wings, crab Rangoon, and spinach dip. If ever you need any catering, please call Russ at Sal’s. Very helpful and took care of all of my last minute changes. We will definitely return!

I moved to Lexington five years ago. Sal’s was my number one restaurant to go to. We are horse people who Use to love Sal’s. Now we never go there anymore the menu has changed so much and taken many of our favorites off. The salad choices have also changed for the worse. The help is always wonderful as well as the atmosphere. We tried OBC twice and found the food so over salted and almost not edible. Then when you did away with Harry’s Bar Patio it was the straw that broke the camels back. I hope this Barbecue Production meets your expectations for all the money you have spent. Hope your prices and quality can compete with City Barbecue. Bring Back the Good Old Sal’s we all loved.. The only Bluegrass Restaurants I now go to is Malone’s at Hamburg and Palomar. Hope you can get back on track to what made you famous. I am from CT and think you would enjoy researching Rich Rosenthal’s Max Group in CT and MA. Check out Max’s Tavern in Springfield, MA and Max’s Fish as well a there Burger Places.

Come for brunch and leave satisfied! I never venture out of my comfort zone but took a chance on the crab and asparagus omelette. I was not disappointed. Hands down the best I’ve had! Service is great and a nice atmosphere to match.

Went for lunch, steak sandwich was one the specials. Hard to believe this isn’t a staple on the menu. We had 5 meals 4 of which were the sandwich and everyone said it was the best steak they ever tasted. Also had chicken tortilla soup which also fantastic. My daughter had a buffalo chicken pizza which she absolutely loved.

Nice ambiance, and great food. The server was very nice, professional, and informative. The food didn’t take long at all and was delicious. Definitely coming back.

Great food, great service, and great ambiance. Every time I go I ask myself why it’s been so long since I’ve been there. The chefs take pride in their work, and the specials they have are excellent.
It has been going through an identity crisis as of late, transitioning away from Italian dishes, but they haven’t missed a beat. I’ve never eaten anything there that wasn’t tip top.

Pretty good food, same quality as Malones with same flare and atmosphere. I will say Sals has more pasta options on the menu. The shrimp and grits is delish. This is a great place to come for holidays. They open up the banquets rooms for a buffet, we came for Easter last year and the food was really good! Def need to make a reservation for it.

After the UGA/​KY game, we needed a place to grab a bite to eat on our way out of town. A local pointed us in the direction of Sal’s/Drake’s/Malone’s/Harry’s and described all 4 of the spots to us. Wanting to sit down and not «hover» for our seats, we settled on Sal’s. Parking was easy, I think because we were wandering in around 4:00pm. We walked in and were immediately seated at a table in the middle of the dining room.
The menu isn’t huge, which I love — it means a restaurant knows what it does well and focuses on those things. I found this to be true at Sal’s, where the food just sparkled. Hubby and I decided to split the cowboy ribeye, which freed me up to order the fried mozzarella so he could have salad with blue cheese (which I won’t eat).
OMG, the fried mozzarella. Fresh, delectable balls of pure mozzarella cheese that melted in my mouth, fried perfectly and paired with one of the best marinara sauces I’ve ever ever ever had. Those things were absolute heaven (and difficult for me to share). I would highly recommend getting these; it will take your affinity for cheese sticks to another level!
The cowboy steak came out and the restaurant split the steak for us, which was nice, but kind of odd with steak, as it meant one of us got the bone and the other didn’t. We would have preferred to divide the steak ourselves, but I get why they did it. It would have been nice to have been asked if we wanted it split or if we wanted to split it ourselves (but this refers to the service discussion below). However, the steak ended up being one of the absolute best steaks I’ve ever eaten in my life. It had terrific flavor, but the quality of the meat truly shone. The temperature was perfect and the meat silky; in fact, I had several bites that seemed to melt like butter in my mouth. Absolute perfection.
Hubby and I also had three sides with the steak: mushrooms, a baked potato, and a special request — garlic stir fried spinach. The mushrooms were the best steakhouse mushrooms I’ve ever had — I sincerely wish I had the recipe, as the mushrooms had terrific umami and balanced perfectly with the steak. The baked potato was pretty fair — they are hard to screw up. The absolute star of the sides was the garlic stir fried spinach — I gobbled it down. Absolutely terrific. Again, I wish I had the recipe or could have watched the chef prepare it so I could replicate it at home. Absolutely insanely delicious garlic perfection — the balance of the garlic flavor to the spinach was truly amazing.
Its also worth noting that our friend got the chicken parm, a HUGE portion with two chicken breasts and plenty of pasta. The marinara from the fried mozzarella was used in this dish, which meant I absolutely loved the bites of chicken parm she shared with me!
For dessert, we decided on splitting a hot fudge sundae, which for some reason, just sound gooooood. And it was. The salted peanuts, the whipped cream, the ice-​chip filled ice cream (omg, one of my favorites), with the warm chocolate syrup just made for one of the best desserts I’ve had in a long time — and it was so simple too!
Sometimes you roll the die and gamble on trying out a restaurant. Sal’s exceeded my expectations in food quality and ambiance (I loved the jazz music, the oak-​paneled walls, the big cozy booths…). Definitely 5 star worth on all accounts.
Where this review gets 4 stars is due to the service, which I would give as 3 stars at best. There were numerous miscues that occurred during our meal. I believe we had a waitress-​in-​training for our table,. At the start of our meal, after we ordered soda waters, she went to refill our drinks with regular water and our main waitress scolded her in front of us, and then made a comment about why she wasn’t sure why the waitress did it in the first place. I’m not sure if our waitress was in a bad mood, but in my opinion, when things like that happen, you don’t discuss it in front of the restaurant guests. It could have been easily addressed back in the kitchen or elsewhere. When we were served, plates were handed over the top of heads and/​or across the table, rather than serving individually (and space around our table wasn’t an issue). This made for a very odd serving of our friend’s steak medallions; sauce almost sloshed on to him, which wouldn’t have happened had the waiter walked over to serve the plate rather than serving it over our heads. I also saw other waiters carry large trays of food high above their heads, like I have seen in cheap Mexican restaurants — just doesn’t seem to jive with the vibe of the restaurant. I’m hoping this is something management will see and correct, as the last thing any guest needs is a steak in their lap or a plate of food dropped on their head.
All in all, I would definitely return to Sal’s when in Lexington again. The food was amazing; service can be improved and the miscues were easily forgiven.

We ordered a big amount of food and drinks and the service was wonderful. One of the sides was not good but the waitress got another dish and it still was not appealing. The manager really helped out and did the best she could to accommodate us. Everyone was polite and fast service once we got seated after a long wait. Yet, that was due to the game and everyone’s love of this good place. Thank you all for making our meal better!

I finally tried Sal’s! Usually when I’m in the area, I opt for Malones, which is another Bluegrass Hospitality Group restaurant and they are both in the same shopping center. Last night, someone else in my group chose and Sal’s it was. They take reservations, which is a plus.
Parking was a bit of an issue. There is free valet parking but there was even a line for that. This is a side note/​observation: as we drove around twice searching for a parking space, we notice a «Fast and Friendly» tow truck driver sitting in his truck taking up four parking spaces… ridiculous! I hope that company isn’t part of the BGHG or any offiliation.
We had 6pm reservations and arrived right on time, after we finally scored a parking spot. We were seated right away, at a table in the middle of the dinning area. One of the waitresses knocked my purse off of the back of my chair and didn’t say a word. Really?! No oopps, no excuse me, nothing at all, as if she didn’t feel the 10 pound brick graze her leg.
While I’m complaining, I’ll get the next thing out of the way. They use ice pebbles that take up 90% of the pint sized glass that holds the drinks. You literally get about ten slurps of soda and then its empty, I mean left with ice only. I asked for light ice and the waiter brought me out two sodas, those too were tip topped with ice. I would like to know what their ice theory is.
I ordered a cup of the loaded potato soup and a buffalo chicken salad. My soup came out quite quickly, with everyone else’s Lexingtonian starter salads. My buffalo chicken salad was excellent. That’s not the end of it though! The carrot cake! Yeah, it needs a sentence on it’s own, a standing ovation or something. It was big enough for several people. It was absolutely the best carrot cake I’ve ever had. No wonder it was on the main menu.

Awesome ambiance. Friendly people! Knew we were tourists and took the time to tell us the staple items of Kentucky! Had the Hot Brown for appetizers which was amazing! Their starter bread was also awesome as well. Buttered on the outside and crisp, but the inside was soft and moist. PERFECT. Our main course was the twin filet oscar style. Perfectly grilled. The whipped potatoes are excellent and very tasty. Come see for yourself and have a KENTUCKY bourbon ale while yer at it! YEE HAW!

Had the halibut. Ok. Needed less time in the pan and more acid in the lemon sauce. Though asparagus remained crispy which was a pleasant surprise. So many places overcook asparagus.
Had the heirloom salad with pesto & fresh mozzarella. Tomatoes were ok but sliced very thick. Also lacked salt.
Husband had the hot brown flatbread. He really enjoyed that.
I know it’s a chop house but a few more healthier fresh seafood items would be nice. Offering mostly fried seafood makes eating at a chophouse kind of tough for those who want something healthier than chops.
Also grass fed beef & other organic protein options would be nice too.

Excellent brunch. Chicken and waffles was sweet, savory, and satisfying.

I went in today to try the brunch at sal’s. I’ve always loved their lunch and dinner. They have the best caprese salad in town and their complimentary rolls are delicious. I tried their French toast today and it was wonderful. Came topped with a whipped cream and fruit with a side of bacon. My daughter had their waffle with fruit. It also came with a side of bacon. Both entrees were prices around 7.99 and 8.99 which was a fair price for the amount of food you get. They also have a make your own 3.99 Bloody Mary or
Mimosa bar during the brunch time on the weekends. Brunch is just on the weekend.

Wow. That’s all I can say not just about the quality of the food but the preparation. Absolutely amazing. The bread rolls were probably the greatest thing I’ve ever graced my tastebuds with.
The captures salad was absolute perfection. The combination of fresh pesto, mozzarella, tomatoes and basil leaves were divine. When I saw it I actually scoffed but quickly changed my time after that first bite.
I recommend Sal’s with every tastebud I own.

This review is for brunch, which is solidly mediocre.
Menu is heavy on eggs benedict variations («poached» eggs with steak, «poached» eggs with salmon, «poached» eggs with [enter meat type here]).
I love eggs benedict just as much as the next yuppy 20-​something, but if you’re going to have your brunch menu dominated by a single item, you better make it the best damn benny I’ve ever tasted.
Eggs aren’t really poached, and all come out in the same odd disk shape.
Steak was tough. Salmon was well cooked and tasty.
I ordered my béarnaise sauce on the side, and my dish came out smothered in sauce — sign of the kitchen just working in an assembly line?
The make your own bloody mary bar is fun, but conducive to folks reaching their fingers into the garnish jars to fish out olives. I only bring this up because a fellow patron admitted doing so while I was mid-​assembly on my own drink. Ew! I’d rather not have your fingers on my cocktail onions, thank you.
Perhaps they could pre-​assemble the garnishes on skewers beforehand?
All in all, it’s alright… but nothing fantastic.