An inside look at the renovated Scotch & Sirloin

For decades, Scotch & Sirloin was the premiere steakhouse in Wichita. Fans would flock from all areas of town to east Kellogg and eat the finest steaks available in the city. Then over time, competition arrived to town and the restaurant started to fall behind the times.

In 2014, all that changed when new ownership brought new life to Scotch & Sirloin hoping to bring a fresh identity to what was one of the classics around town. Over the past few years, new owner Mike Issa started a complete makeover of the interior with future plans for an exterior change.

My brothers and I stopped in this past week to get a firsthand look at the nearly complete interior renovation and try the food to see just how it compared.

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5325 E Kellogg Dr
Wichita, KS 67218
316-685-8701

Monday – Thursday: 11am – 10pm
Friday: 11am – 11pm
Saturday: 11am – 3pm; 5pm – 11pm
Sunday: 4pm – 9pm

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I fondly remember going to Scotch & Sirloin but it had been many years and before all the renovations. It was a first time visit for both of my brothers. If you’ve been to the old Scotch, it will surprise you walking in. They really put in a lot of effort, time and money into bringing new life into the restaurant.

From the dining areas to the wine wall to the bar to the bathrooms to the kitchen exit, the architects of Scotch & Sirloin took every detail into consideration. The end result of what we saw was one of the most impressive and classy settings we’ve seen in a Wichita restaurant. I couldn’t stop staring at the ceiling of the main dining hall. The wavy ceiling was mesmerizing.

And if you’re ever in need of a conference room for 40 or more people, they have an option for that too.

Let’s be frank though, most of you may care more about one thing: the food! Well let’s get on to that. Scotch and Sirloin’s meat is Cargill’s Sterling Silver Certified Premium Beef. The beef is aged in-house for 30 days while the prime rib is aged for 40 days. My brothers and I went with their 52 ounce tomahawk steak along with the prime rib which they are known for.

Check out this video of the tomahawk steak:

or the video of the prime rib being cut:

While we waited for the steaks to complete, we started off with a bottle of wine. It should be noted that Scotch & Sirloin has the largest wine collection in the city. On top of that, their collection of decanters is rather amazing.

For starters, we went with the escargot and ahi tuna. The escargot had nice chunks of snails served in a bowl of butter with garlic toast. Meanwhile the blackened sesame crusted ahi tuna was seared and drizzled with ginger, soy, and wasabi then topped with avocado.

We lost all sense of table manners and finished both appetizers within minutes. The escargot was beyond amazing which shouldn’t take away from how delicious the tuna was. I could order both of these as meals over and over and over and over.

The appetizers were so good, we forgot there was bread at our table!

For salads, we had the iceberg wedge salad, spinach salad and the fresh mozzarella caprese. Just like the appetizers, these were devoured fairly quickly. We each tried each others salads and the runaway favorite was the S&S chopped salad. The texture of all the iceberg lettuce packed together and drizzled in blue cheese dressing gave this perfect consistency we haven’t had before in a salad. It was wonderful.

Then we were told our nearly 100 ounces of steak was ready to go. Just when we thought everything we had was amazing, the true star of our dinner was right in front of us. My brothers and I split the tomahawk steak and prime rib three ways. Our mother would have been so proud seeing us finally share properly and maturely.

Both steaks were so tender and flavorful. This was the one time throughout the entire meal we slowed down and really took our time to take in just how delicious everything was. I’ve heard rumors that the prime rib at Scotch & Sirloin was the best in town and what I had proved that to be true in my mind.

There’s such a huge debate around town as to who has the best steak in town. I’ve literally been to nearly every one. The debate is so subjective to one’s palate and an argument not worth getting into as each person has their preference. But for us, the tomahawk steak and prime rib was easily the best steak and more importantly best meal we’ve had this year.

Surprisingly somehow someway, we had room for dessert. Our mother may have been disappointed to see she raised some pigs too. We ordered the carrot cake and cheesecake. If the way we treated the desserts was a movie name, “Gone in 60 Seconds” would be fitting. I rarely eat desserts but the carrot cake was just good enough for me to become a believer in ordering a dessert after every meal.

The entire night our servers took great care of us. The experience was so amazing, we made reservations to go again next week to take the rest of our family. Keep in mind, it’s so rare for me to return to a restaurant within a week after doing a review. I’m usually moving on to the next restaurant.

The new Scotch & Sirloin certainly delivered. I had some colleagues tell me before my visit that I would love what they’ve done and the steaks were truly the best. I reserved judgment until I could find out for myself and they didn’t let me down.

CANNOT WAIT TO RETURN!

Happy Dining,
Eddy