PRIME Steak & Seafood has been serving up a quality dining experience for three years.
Joel Williams, the floor manager for PRIME Steak & Seafood, credits the success of the restaurant to the owners, managers, chefs, and the staff — he’s been a part of the crew since its opening. He said the goal of the restaurant is to provide good service.
“We just want to grow,” he said. “We want to serve more people, [and] give people a good experience. Our [chef] strives hard to create a menu that people would enjoy and would recommend to others. We focus on good service. The servers need to know what they’re serving. They need to be able to recommend wine, cocktails, [and] different foods for different people depending on their preference. There always needs to be somebody nearby to refill water, refill wine, [and] refill everything.”
Before opening for general service, PRIME tested its recipes on VIPs and friends of the owner. The restaurant also hosted private events. Once the restaurant perfected its service and welcomed the public, it averaged about 60 customers on a weekday and about 120 customers during the weekend.
Now, those numbers have skyrocketed to approximately 140 people during weekdays and 200 people during weekends.
PRIME’s menu offers a range of foods. One of its appetizers is a bacon-wrapped scallop ($21); it includes roasted cauliflower, puree sun-dried tomato sauce, and fried sage leaves. Another, an avocado salad ($11), comes with romaine and iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, red onion, avocado dressing, and a tortilla strip. PRIME counts its Chemita Fillet ($42) among its signature dishes, wrapping the meat in bacon with a beef butter sauce, mash potatoes, grilled asparagus, and green onion. The grilled Spanish octopus ($34) is also a popular choice, chargrilled with tricolor patatas bravas and a roasted piquillo puree. For other tastes, a ratatouille pizza ($15) comes with San Marzano tomato, zucchini, yellow squash eggplant, mozzarella, mushroom, and tomato sauce. An impressive tomahawk steak ($160) weighs in at a delicious 48 ounces.
Another dish that’s garnered a lot of interest from customers is the Wellington ($42). It’s a six-ounce filet covered in a puff pastry, and it includes stuffed mushrooms, prosciutto spinach, a side of mashed potatoes, and the vegetable of the day.
PRIME Steak & Seafood has changed its menu since it opened. The restaurant also adapted what it offered when another eatery, Kocina Il Forno, closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They had to shut down for a while. So that chef moved over to our restaurant for a little bit, and we started doing a dual menu,” Williams said. “We did a Peruvian menu, and we also did our steak and seafood. We had lots of Latin, Central, and South American influences on our menus back then. We also did a lot of European-style seafood and steak.”
Since then, Kocina Il Forno reopened with a new brand and name: Laguna. PRIME refocused accordingly on its steaks, Williams said.
The mark of a good restaurant is the quality of its service. That’s what PRIME Steak & Seafood works toward.
“I think our service is top-notch, and our food is top-notch,” Williams said. “We were a strong contender in the Valley for [being] a great restaurant. Our servers are personable. Our customers are, generally, requesting the servers that they want. It’s a person-to-person experience, and there’s just a lot of hospitality.”
PRIME Steak & Seafood is located at 3400 W. Expressway 83, Suite 140, in McAllen. To book a table, visit the restaurant’s website or call (956) 731-4338.
