Some expensive restaurants charge luxurious prices but don’t necessarily rock the food quality to match. Take Nusr-Et, the man who managed to leverage his social media “Salt Bae” fame into launching a collection of “scam” restaurants that’ll leave you with a fat receipt and the realization that you probably could’ve eaten somewhere much better.
What draws folks in? For Nusr-et, maybe it’s eating at a place your dining companion can post to their social media as a means of bragging. Or maybe you want to flex for social media yourself or you honestly wanted to see if the man with the salt knows how to run a restaurant.
One Miami steakhouse, Papi Steak, doesn’t seem to try and hide the fact that they want their big spenders to be the center of attention at their establishment. If a customer orders a special item off the menu, as shown in a TikTok by Elisa Schmieder (@elisa.schmieder1), a literal briefcase containing a piece of meat is accompanied by an entire song and dance with lights and music going off around the customer’s table.
Schmieder’s video sparked a litany of different reactions from viewers, with some being critical of the way the restaurant decided to show off someone’s expensive meal.
@elisa.schmieder1 📍papi steak miami 🥩 #miami #papisteak ♬ original sound – Elisa Schmieder
“This is how dinner in Miami looks like,” a text overlay in the video reads as the TikToker records a scene that looks like it could be straight out of a nightclub. Waiters wearing red bow ties, dress shirts, and vests dance in front of the camera as one server brings a metal briefcase out to the table. Inside the briefcase? An uncooked Tomahawk steak on ice.
The celebration looks similar to when someone decides to order bottle service for their table. The wait staff’s show is more than likely a part of this premium charge and their enthusiastic gesticulations are could very well be spurred on by the fact they believe they will be earning a percentage-based tip on whatever the steak costs.
As the video continues, a member of the staff brands the steak, which sizzles as a siren continues to sound off and music plays at the Papi Steak restaurant. According to the Papi Steak Miami Beach restaurant, a Tomahawk Steak sold at the establishment is a 32.oz Glatt Kosher cut that retails for $250 and comes with “papi’s secret sauce” and is, by default, “served medium.”
However, the steak inside of the briefcase may be the 55 oz. Wagyu steak that is listed on the menu doesn’t have a price, but one reviewer on an outlet called The Infatuation referred to it as “The Beefcase.”
According to this writer, that steak retails for $1,000, and their review of the item probably isn’t what someone willing to drop a g on a piece of meat wants to hear: “Then out comes the actual steak—smaller than you expected, one of those wagyu monstrosities with a robot name full of numbers and letters. It comes with no sides. It’s not awful. But also not great. Fine? Everyone at the table agrees: just sort of fine. No one fights over the last bite.”
The outlet gave Papi Steak 3/10 stars and ultimately said that the restaurant was more about image and less about food quality, charging guests a lot of money in the hopes of luring in folks with fat bank accounts but little taste or recognition of quality. The Miami Herald also didn’t seem to understand how the restaurant could charge so much for the Wagyu steak either, and highlighted how visiting the venue has become more of a status symbol than an attempt to seek culinary excellence.
Trip Advisor’s aggregate reviews of Papi Steak seemed more generous: currently, the establishment has a 3.5 out of 5-star rating, and on Yelp it currently carries a 3.8 out of 5 -tar rating.
Different commenters had varying opinions about the steak ordering experience at Papi Steak. one viewer saidt= the server was probably stoked because he managed to sell a high-ticket item.
“Waiter hype cause he bout to make profit off selling this steak,” they said.
But some were impressed with the presentation skills of the wait staff and the upbeat environment, writing, “opening the case on beat is insane.”
There was one TikToker who thought that the histrionics presented by the Papi Steak staff would’ve angered her.
“Is it cooked yet??? Lmao bring it out and do all that when it’s done please I’m too hungry,” she wrote.
In the comments section of the video, several people debated the price of the steak. Some said that the briefcase steak cost $1,000, while others replied that it costs $225. The Daily Dot could not verify those prices on the Papi Steak menu, however, and have reached out to Papi Steak via email for further comment.
The Daily Dot has also reached out to Schmieder via TikTok comment for further information.
