Neighborhood: Old City - Society Hill
Restaurant Week dinner menu
Parking: Valet parking.
Handicap access: Wheelchair accessible
Parking: Valet parking.
Handicap access: Wheelchair accessible
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Scaling back the early pretension and prices, it excels at the beefy basics. But some details need closer attention.
Craig LaBan: Scaling back the early pretension and prices, Union Trust excels at the beefy basics. But some details need closer attention. All in all, though far from perfect, three recent meals here were satisfying enough on the basis of raw bar and beef.
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Cuisine type: Steak House
Meals Served:
Lunch
Dinner
Late Night
Style:
The latest in our new luxury fleet of banks-turned-beef-palaces could be our grandest chophouse yet, with soaring cathedral ceilings, sleek design, and a superb raw bar to complement the prime chops. Early turmoil and chef changes in the kitchen, though, plus a less-than-prime economy, have had a noticeable effect, with lower prices and a less ambitious menu that needs to refine the details before this promising newcomer can rise to the next level.
Specialties:
Raw bar: oysters (Shigoku; Pemaquid; Wellfleet; cqKumamoto), Nauset clams, broiler crab claws. Mini-wedge salad; steak carpaccio; Kansas City strip; rib eye filet mignon; dry-aged long-bone rib eye; veal chop; rib eye steak sandwich (lunch); hash browns; creamed corn; creamed spinach; mac 'n' cheese; bread pudding.
Alcohol:
A relatively modest 200-label list by typically gaudy steak house standards, but still with plenty of good choices at most price points, from the usual prestige cabs to quality bottles in more eclectic categories, from California zin (Seghesio Rockpile, $85), to Italy (Allegrini valpolicella, $54), petite sirah (Girard, $68) and Spain (Borsao Tres Picos, $44).
Weekend noise:
The big room stokes a swelling 83-decibel hum, but well-spaced tables and sound treatments keep table conversations contained and manageable. (Ideal is 75 decibels or less.)
Hours: Lunch Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Dinner nightly, 5-11 p.m.
Prices:
$$$$
The interior of the UT is grand and magnificent and yet the ambiance is intimate and cozy, a credit to acoustic design and luxurious textures. I agree with Craig about the outstanding raw bar the spectacular rib eye, but I love the soup and can still taste the savory butternut squash that I had months ago. I've been there for a romantic dinner, a dinner party with other couples and for several business lunches, and each time the UT delivered a very satisfying dining experience at a great price. I'm booking my Christmas party now!