With beautiful views
of North Orange County, The Summit House sits above it all. The exterior looks
like an old English Inn with beautifully landscaped trees and shrubbery on the
grounds. The interior is dark with a tavern off to the side and a huge main
dining room with floor-to-ceiling glass windows so all guests can partake in
the view. The tables are perfectly manicured with white linen table cloths and
decorative folded napkins. The servers are dressed in period attire making the
experience more memorable. All they need is the English accent and you would be
transported to Ole England. My husband and I spend a Valentine’s Day dinner here
back in the 1990s so we were interested to see if it had changed.
Your evening
starts with basket of bread (sourdough and walnut bread). I just love the scent
of fresh aromatic breads!
Escargots Bourguignonne
are served in a Brandy Pernod Garlic Butter. OMG, this is just like I
remembered it. The Summit House was my first experience with escargot. Being
from Hawaii, we eat lots of sea snails (called tsubu in Japanese). Escargot is
so much better as it absorbs the flavor of anything that you serve with it. The
Brandy Pernod Garlic Butter sauce is amazing! The escargot explodes with
flavor. Tip: when you scoop the escargot from the holder or shell, make sure
you dig deep to pick up the garlic chunks on the bottom. If you have eaten all
of the escargot, take your bread and soak up the leftover buttery garlic
flavor. Your bread is now a beautifully garlic flavored delicacy. Thumbs up,
way up!
Caesar Salad is
hearts of romaine with their classic Caesar dressing topped with shaved
Reggiano Parmesan cheese. The dressing is bit too light - needs more garlic and
anchovy kick. But I love the shaved parmesan and parmesan croustinis. Thumbs
up!
Roast Prime Rib of
Beef is slow roasted, carved to order, and served with their classic creamed
corn, creamed spinach, and individual Yorkshire pudding. I ordered the Castle
Cut which is a 24-ounce extra thick cut on the bone. The prime rib was cooked
to a perfect rare, tender, and flavorful, but not quite the best I’ve ever had.
You’ll definitely have leftovers with this cut. The creamed corn, on the other
hand, was out of this world! It was creamy, sweet, and the kernels were still
whole and juicily burst after biting into them. The creamed spinach was pretty
good as well – creamy and balanced in flavor. The Yorkshire Pudding was rather plain
but perfect for sopping up the meat juices and au jus. Thumbs up!
Rib Eye Steak is a
20-ounce USDA Prime bone-in rib eye, oak wood grilled, and served with straw
onions and Gruyere au gratin potatoes. It was cooked to a perfect medium rare
with an awesome char-grilled seal. The steak was tender, juicy, and full of
flavor. The au gratin potatoes had a splendid brown crust of cheese on top and
creamy layered potato goodness underneath. The vegetables were sautéed to
perfection allowing them to retain their crispy greenness. The fried onion
straws were okay. The dish would probably be fine without them. Thumbs up, way
up!
Since we were
celebrating my husband’s birthday, they brought out a little something sweet to
end our evening. The Summit English Trifle is layers of rum and brandy soaked
cake with English custard, strawberries, Chantilly cream, and toasted almonds.
I love that they had a little “Happy Birthday” chocolate placard and a candle to
make a wish. The trifle was scrumptious and light. This was the perfect end to
a heavily-laden meal of beef. Thumbs up, way up!
If you’re looking for
a good place for steak with a romantic view, set your sights on The Summit
House. It hasn’t changed much in the last 20 years so you know it’s got to be
good.
Atmosphere: 5 out of
5 stars
Service: 5 out of 5
stars
Décor: 5 out of 5
stars
Food: 5 out of 5
stars
For more information:
2000 E Bastanchury Rd
Fullerton, CA
92835-3289
+1-714-671-4111
