Wild Bull Steakhouse

[bp1123]

If you are looking for a great steak, try the Wild Bull Steakhouse in Clifton. I was there for the opening party this weekend, and my group all thought the food was excellent. The steaks reminded me of Mortons, broiled crisp on the outside & tender and flavorful inside. We tried the crabcakes, bloomin onion & blue corn soup for appetizers - all wonderful.

The decor is Texas roadhouse, wood interior with a stainless steel bar, pool table, etc. There was a live band that was a little too loud for dinner music, but hopefully they will work the sound out in the next few weeks. For a brand new place, the service was acceptable, we expected mistakes & were pleasantly surprised. We are always on the lookout for reasonably priced & good quality steak & have been disappointed by Steves, Charlie Browns, Alexus, and Lone Star, etc.

I'm looking forward to another visit.... see the menu at wildbullsteakhouse.com

[Rachel Perlow]

Since you were invited to the Opening Party, may we assume you have some sort of affiliation with the restaurant? We don't mind if you do but request full disclosure. Thanks.

[tommy]

the website had an offer for anyone to go to the opening (just send an email). i thought that was kind of strange, but cool.

[Double 0]

The Star Ledger had an Ad on Fri. that said that they were going to have a pre opening 1/2 price on all items on their menu. This is from 10.08 thru 10.12. I'm planning on going tommorrow for lunch and will report after. Tommy, I finally got my pictures and animation back so I got rid of the other one. My daughter did this to me.

BTW: The Patterson greenmarket is very close to the restaurant and has good selection of farmers on Sat and Sun. in the summer thru the end of Oct. The rest of the year thre are a number of veg., meat and fish stores in the market that are open 7 days a week. The prices are excellent.

[Rosie]

I think they serve "choice" not prime steaks.

[tommy]

bp1123, what other steakhouses do you enjoy in the area?

[bp1123]

Rachel,

My only connection to this restaurant is a friend's husband who knows the owner and so was invited to the opening. (he has NO investment in the business whatsoever) The original post was simply my honest opinion, shared by my husband, who is a big steak lover. He travels for business, and has been to Mortons, Bones, Chops, Peter Lugers, Gibsons, Ruths Chris, etc., and swears the steak in Clifton was as good as Mortons & I agreed.

I want to get the word out so the place can stay open for us to go to in the future, try it for yourself & tell me what you think.

[Double 0]

I went for lunch today, had skirt steak, grilled vegs and mushrooms & onions. The steak was very good, prepared the way I like it( med rare). The grilled vegs were good; the usual suspects, peppers, mushrooms, yellow squash and onions The room was as bp1123 described it. The dining room was less than half full (I went at 1:30) and was not noisy, but I imagine when it fills up you won't be able to hear yourself.Thats not what ths place is going to be about anyway. I had a few minor quibbles that I spoke to the manager about; they drowned the steak in sauce that wasn't neccessary and the mushrooms & onions needed salt. He thanked me for my honesty and told me that was why they were having this shakedown period. The entrees were half price so my bill came to $19 with two ice teas no alcohol. One other minor thing, the place is in Patterson not Clifton. The manager told me that the owner decided to advertise that way because they were afraid that people wouldn't come to Patterson at night. I'll be back. BTW; it's a stones throw from the Patterso greenmarket.

[tommy]

i don't even like paterson in the *day*.

hey, what kind of sauce do they put on the steak? that sounds very strange indeed.

[Double 0]

i don't even like paterson in the *day*.

hey, what kind of sauce do they put on the steak?  that sounds very strange indeed.

I use to feel the same way. Now It depends were you are. This is near the Arabic area (9/11 aside) Which has sprouted many good inexpensive restuarants. Its a good place to go for lunch if you work in the area or are going to the greenmarket on Sat. As far as the sauce, it seemed like a lite A1. Totally unneccessary

BTW does this avatar work for you?

[tommy]

i just can't believe they'd automatically sauce a steak. i'd send it back. i wonder how many others would?

i like your new crackpot avatar. errr, jackpot.

[tommy]

i wonder if we'll see bp around much more. i'm thinking not.

[Double 0]

I asked the manager if he had heard of egullet and he told me no . He had me spell it a couple of times so who knows. Listen this isn't Peter Lugers just anouhter place for lunch or dinner.

[bp1123]

"i wonder if we'll see bp around much more. i'm thinking not."

Are you talking about me?? If so, I'm sorry I ever posted - I just found this site recently, tried to get the word out about a restaurant I enjoyed - I'm suspected of being affiliated with the place & then because someone didn't like a sauce (which I don't recall having on my steak) you think I won't stand by my original opinions?

sheesh - this is a tough room and I'm sorry I got involved.

also, the restaurant is just a few blocks from Corrado's market, and so must be just beyond the border of Clifton.

[tommy]

tried to get the word out about a restaurant I enjoyed - I'm suspected of being affiliated with the place

that's the way it goes in the on-line world. surely you can understand that.

& then because someone didn't like a sauce (which I don't recall having on my steak) you think I won't stand by my original opinions?  

i don't think anyone thought you wouldn't stand by your opinion because of the sauce. it was a separate discussion.

[Double 0]

"i wonder if we'll see bp around much more. i'm thinking not."

Are you talking about me??  If so, I'm sorry I ever posted - I just found this site recently, tried to get the word out about a restaurant I enjoyed - I'm suspected of being affiliated with the place & then because someone didn't like a sauce (which I don't recall having on my steak) you think I won't stand by my original opinions? 

sheesh - this is a tough room and I'm sorry I got involved. 

also, the restaurant is just a few blocks from Corrado's market, and so must be just beyond the border of Clifton.

Boy aren't we touchy. If you don't know that when someone posts on the first day that a resaurant is open there's always suspicion that they're part of the restaurant's hype machine, you do now. Ask any of the food critics that make up the egullet world. Nobody knocked your opinion, they just question where you were coming from. If you read my post you would have known that I had a different steak then you did. It didn't need the sauce. I think its good that they have a cut of meat that you don't find that much in many restaurants. I hope that they suceed because Patterson needs a restaurant like this.

00

[Randi]

"BTW does this avatar work for you?"

No, it's not working for me. I distinctly see the 3 cherries come up and NO money has come pouring out.

Can you fix that??

Randi

[pnapoli]

We went to Wild Bull tonight. The food was pretty good. Had a crab cake and caesar salad followed by a cheddar burger and beef brisket sandwich (which was huge). I remember not too long ago there was a discussion about where to get a really big burger. Well, this place has a 10 oz. (I got the 6 oz.). Service was good and the hostess was very friendly, which was kind of a pleasant change. They have valet parking but we parked on the street. It's in a very strange area--pretty desolate--I think the closest open establishment was the "gentleman's club" around the corner (near the farmer's market)...

[Rail Paul]

Wild Bull has another ad in the Star Ledger this morning. They have amended the address to "Paterson"

[chefb]

Ate there this weekend. Dont let the clifton area address fool you, this place is in P-town.

The decor is cool and there wasn't any wait to sit party of four at 7:00pm SAT.

On the table was moist corn bread with a compound butter. not bad

We ordered;

Nachos- more like a bowl of chili and cheese(con queso at tex-mex) with chips, not the plate of bubbling mounds of meat and cheese found at most chains. Flavor was good but portion was small.

Salads -included with the dinners An ice burg mix that was over dressed.

Plain burger med and steamed broccoli on the side -came with cheese and was returned for a plain, came back black and blue(really rare) sent back again for med. The broccoli was forgotten and when it was finnally brought, it was cover with butter. Sent back for plain and came back steamed but was old and spotted brown.

Marinated Skirt - served sizziling was good but came unsliced ,which made it akward to cut with those large steak knives on the cast iron pan.

Ribs- were the best item, not the usual baby back they had short ribs that were tender and tasty.

Hanger steak was sliced thick and cover in steak sauce. ordered med-rare came out rare(which was fine) but the steak was really tough. The fire roasted veg that accompanied the steak didn't have much color. They must have waved a match over the top.

Awfull iced tea.

Pretty disapointed at that time so we didn't stay for dessert. The owner realized the service problems and presented our check with four $10 gift coupons. but I dont think we will try it again.

one app and no cocktails came to $75.00 for four.

[201]

I stopped by this place last night on a whim around 8pm. Actually, we were already in the car when I suggested it as a possiblity to my "steak and potatoes"-type friends after failing to convince one of them to go to El Gran Mexicano. We called information to get the restaurant's number so we could call for directions (since we had driven on Buffalo from Main Street and didn't know about its extension rather far removed on the other side of the railroad tracks). The directions which we were given were simply wrong. We were told to take Crooks Ave and then turn left on Buffalo. Buffalo runs parallel to Crooks about three blocks north... it doesn't intersect.

Anyway, the friend who called didn't think to reserve a table for us (despite my asking) and when we showed up the place was PACKED. I remember seeing a review in the the Record about 2-3 weeks ago, so maybe that had something to do with it. We were told the wait would be over an hour and elected to go elsewhere instead, despite the pleasantly high percentage of attractive young hostesses and waitresses.

Oh yeah, the exterior of this building is good for a laugh. Food reports to follow a night when I actually eat at this place.

[201]

Continuing my "meals I've had more than a month ago and should've written up then" streak...

Nothing to see here, folks... keep moving.

(At least that was a quick one! )