Nico's Steak & Chop House

We have eaten here plenty of times. When you get the pricey steaks, they are great! When you go for the bargain specials, the quality matches the price. Still great tasting, but not as good as full price menu! Drinks are always great! Regarding the last penny-pincher review, I hate it when people threaten to leave bad review to get a deal, then get a deal and leave bad review anyway! Wow that is scummy! (yeah, I own a company too.. Is it obvious?)
Jan 23rd, 2012

Food was good, but not exceptional, which is what you expect for the price. Service was good but horribly slow, as others have mentioned. Ambiance is really nice, and location is convenient in the Otay Ranch mall. Ultimately, I would not recommend it, as I feel the prices are steep for what you get.
Sep 12th, 2010

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE! Our reservation was for 6:30 P.M. and were seated immediately. Great, we thought! Wait for it… It was 7:04 P.M. before anyone came to take even so much as a drink order. When our food order finally arrived at 7:45 P.M., it came, our salad course was served on the same plate as our supposedly 16 ounce Prime Ribs and the grilled mixed vegetables that were really steamed. Both my Wife and I received the wrong salad dressings and the Ice Tea came with lemons which both of us are allergic to and had very specifically requested NOT be anywhere near the glass, let alone on the lip. With the first bite of the meat we realized that something was wrong; IT WAS COLD! Incredible, Nico’s staff had made us wait a half-hour to order, had brought out drinks with poisonous garnish, rolls with amazingly inexpensive butter (if it was butter), skipped the salad course in favor of offering a field mix salad, given us lightly steamed vegetables instead of the grilled veggies that we ordered, and then to top it off; the meat order was served COLD! But wait, it gets better… when we sent both plates back and then ten minutes later they were returned, they came back Medium instead of Medium-Rare. Rather than replacing the meal as any first rate operation would have, Nico’s cooks (I would call them Chefs, but NO Chef would present cold meat to their customers … Wait, that means calling them cooks is wrong too!) chose to … hold it, how did the busboy that Grace sent out to placate us put it? Oh, yeah; the cooks (really just kitchen staff) “tossed” the Medium-Rare Prime Rib back on the grill to warm it up, bringing the cold slab of meat to a well cooked “Well Done!” (I realize the irony in calling it well done) Remember that the Prime Ribs were shown on the menu as being 16 ounces (without mention of cooking weight loss given that it is a roast), when in fact the presentation included a minimum of 4 ounces of solid FAT! Sure a little piece of fat or sinew is to be expected but 30% of the cut ... really? There is no simple way to explain just how bad a meal Nico’s offerings, was. The Staff ran around like they had their heads chopped off; not dis-similar to one of the “Keystone Kops” silent movie routines. It would have been funny, if it weren’t so sad.
Jun 7th, 2009