Chicago Steak Company
Chicago Steak Company Reviews - Best Online Steaks
Shopping at Chicago Steak Company? Only buy steaks on super sale, and load up on the Top Sirloin Filets. Everything else is USDA Choice at USDA Prime prices.
About Chicago Steak Company
The Chicago Steak Company was founded based on a long-standing tradition of excellence in the meat industry. This reputable meat company that specializes in beef products is partnered with Meat By Lintz, which was established in 1963. Both of these companies carry on the long-standing tradition of providing prime-cut meats to the local area that began when the Union Stock Yards opened in Chicago in 1865.
Through the Chicago Steak Company, you can order a wide range of beef products online and have your order shipped directly to your home free of charge. The website also features access to educational articles and videos. The information in these articles and videos provides valuable information on how to select and prepare different types of beef products. Recipes are also offered online.
- The Chicago Steak Company sells USDA Prime beef, which is known as the top two percent of all types of beef. The company also sells USDA Choice, so be sure to look carefully at what you are buying before you add it to your cart.
- Steaks may come in dry or wet drying options. The length of aging is vague. Most descriptions say 4 to 6 weeks, which makes us wonder if they know how long their steaks are aged.
- A wide range of steaks are offered for sale, including Filet Mignon, Top Sirloins, Ribeyes, NY Strip Steaks and more. Many steaks also have Bone-in options. Beef burgers are also available in three different types of beef.
- The majority of the beef is harvested in the Midwestern region of the United States.
- The company does not provide a 100% satisfaction guarantee
to its customers.
Angus Ribeye served with Jambalaya and Steamed Asparagus
A closeup picture to show the marbling from one of the Ribeyes we purchased from Chicago Steaks
Our Chicago Steak Company Review
USDA Choice Angus Ribeye 16 oz. $45 ea. On Sale. Normally $60 ea.
We thought it is hard to believe a company could charge $45 (regularly $60) for a USDA Choice Angus Ribeye steak. The USDA grades beef prime, choice, and select. Chicago Steaks seems to have access to beef they call "Top 1/3 USDA Choice or Higher., which represents the top 5% of USDA Choice beef." We did some Internet searching and could not find any official guidelines or definitions to support this grade. To a first-time buyer, it might sound like a grade of Prime-Lite, which would justify its hefty price tag. To us, it seems suspicious, especially from a company who does not offer a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee on their (apparently unique), high-quality products.
Our Visual Inspection
It is not uncommon for online steak companies to be vague with their beef grades. Omaha Steaks, for example, doesn't give you any grades, but they do have a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Since there is no official grading we can find to support the claims (and the price) made by Chicago Steaks, we had to buy some and study the marbling ourselves to see if we are getting the high-quality product promoted on the website.
We found the marbling in the steaks we purchased to be well above what you might expect from USDA Choice. One of our two steaks had enough marbling to qualify as prime in our opinion. And both cuts may have had the best hand trimming we have ever seen. Hand trimming is a forgotten skill these days. You are getting excellent quality fat and plenty of it, but you are paying for the meat. There was no excessive fat in our steaks like you can easily find from other suppliers.
How Did It Taste?
With some salt, pepper, and a toss onto a hot grill we sat down to do the all-important tasting, and we were not disappointed. If you think back to the last Ribeye you ate, you probably cut around the giant chunks of fat, and especially the one that seems to divide your steak in two. That problem does not exist with the Chicago Steak Ribeye we experienced. It is all steak, let us correct that, it is all delicious steak, and one could easily justify the added price for extra multiples bites you will get out of one of these Ribeyes over what you may save money on from a different supplier. The grading system they are using in their marketing efforts may not be official, but we thought these steaks were Prime-Lite quality, and we think you will too.
USDA Choice Top Sirloin Steak 8 oz. $12 ea.
The Top Sirloin is one of the forgotten steaks of all time, and that's a shame because it will be about the shape and size of a Filet Mignon but it has a more of a chew, as they say in the competitive BBQ world. A top Sirloin can be anywhere from a third to half the price of a filet mignon, and a robust steak flavor you'll never get from the Filet. If you haven't put these two steaks, from a high-quality vendor in a side-by-side tasting, add it to your steak bucket list. We bet you'll think there's a lot of flavor in the Top Sirloin and the price is hard to beat.
Lots of online steak companies do the Top Sirloin, but Chicago Steaks does right. With other vendors, you can find these steaks coming in all sorts of shapes and sizes making them more difficult to grill, and easy to overcook. If that is not a sin, it should be, especially for this steak. Once again we give the butchers at Chicago steaks the unheralded credit they deserve for these beauties, and at $12 a steak, it would hard to not always want to add a few to your order.
USDA Choice Filet Mignon 10 oz. $42 ea
These remind of a brand of steaks called Sterling Silver, who also started saying their beef was the top one-third of all USDA choice or higher (not an official USDA grade) over a decade ago. The box these steaks came in is identical to Sterling Silver except for the branding, and so are the steaks. Look at that trim on the steak. That is not done by a machine, but by a butcher who is an artist.
There are a lot of USDA Prime Filet Mignons that cost less than these, and the cost will be the only issue as it pertains to value. The steak is perfect, if not divine. And tender beyond what you can imagine. In fact, we were able to cut our cooked on in half with just our fork.
$42 is a lot fork over (no pun intended) for a 10 oz. Filet Mignon. You're in the range of finding a 16 oz. Bone-In Filet Mignon, which would undoubtedly be a bucket list steak. This one, although exceptional from every angle, might never see the customer base that would buy these repeatedly at this price. Not us.
Kobe Wagyu NY Strip Steak 16 oz $115 ea
The USDA doesn't grade Wagyu. There is a grading system for it, but Chicago Steaks doesn't include the grade in their product descriptions. Again, a very questionable marketing strategy that creates doubt and suspicion in the consumer's mind. We don't mind paying for high quality, but you have to tell us what we are we paying for. They define the grade as Kobe Wagyu.
We can see the marbling here is better than USDA Prime, but all Wagyu is. The Japanese grading system for Wagyu assigns a number value between 1 (poor) and 12 (excellent) If we were grading this steak, we would say it comes in at a 3-4 average, maybe a 5-7 good. Allen Brothers sells a Wagyu NY Strip
graded at 6-7 for $54 each. It's a 10 oz. steak, but you can get two of those graded steaks for one of these ungraded steaks. As seems to be the theme here at Chicago Steak Company, we thought this steak was very good but a little on the high end for ungraded beef to be anything more than a curiosity purchase.
USDA Choice Porterhouse 20 oz $55 ea.
In case you don't already know, a Porterhouse steak has a NY Strip on one of the bone, and a Filet Mignon on the other side. It is two of the best steaks in one! The T-Bone is shaped just like the Porterhouse, except the Filet Mignon is much smaller.
When we buy Porterhouse steaks, we want to get the thickest cut we can. One might be inclined to believe they are saving money with a thinner cut, but they cook so quickly, and they are easy to overcook. That is a total waste of money at any price. Even this one is about the thinnest we want to go and allow a little wiggle room for grilling.
It was another great steak. Deliciousness in every bite, but this time we could not confirm the marbling quality similar to other steaks we purchased from Chicago Steaks. To us, it was an good, but very overpriced Porterhouse steak.
Our Conclusion
It seems to us, and this entirely our opinion, that Chicago Steak Company is more a steak gifting service than an actual source of high-quality meats at fair prices. The regular, premium online steak buyer will find much more value at Allen Brothers, Creekstone Farms, and Pat LaFrieda's, to name a few.
Our first concern was that the company does not offer a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. That is a little unusual for a company that boosts the quality of steak they sell. To us, it is more like a red flag.
Our second concern was what we consider marketing hype in describing the grade of their beef. There is USDA Prime, Choice, and Select. In Chicago Steaks world there is an unofficial grade called the top third of USDA Choice. For this, they generally charge more per steak than other companies charge for an officially graded USDA Prime steak.
The quality of their steaks are excellent, that is not in question. The question is, are they so good that is worth spending more, and sometimes almost double, what you can get the same official USDA prime steak for? Sorry, but we don't think so.
However, don't throw Chicago Steak Company in your garbage can and roll them out to the street just yet. We do recommend you sign up for their emails and take advantage of specials. Sometimes they can offer some crazy deals in the 50% to 75% off range, or some fantastic packages you just have to get for your freezer inventory. Since the quality of the steaks is not an issue, you will be thrilled you did.
Kevin Bouchard
BestOnlineReviews.com
P.S. (The $12 Top Sirloin are exempt from our commentary. They may be the best on the planet and certainly worth $12.)
Submitted Customer Experiences
I purchased ten filets. So far I've had six and I'm very disappointed. Steaks are tough and do not have a filet texture.
-John Bohon
Florida
Hi, Mr. Bouchard. I think you do an excellent job with your reviews. They are the most complete and honest reviews I have ever seen. I think you are tough on Chicago Steaks and I felt compelled to share my thoughts. I hope you publish them. I don't eat steak myself, I am a vegetarian, but I have been buying my father gift boxes from here for at least ten years, maybe more. I get them for him on his birthday, Father's Day, Christmas, and sometimes just because I want to. I spend over $1,000 a year here. My father enjoys his steaks more than I could ever explain here. He says they are always perfect and he plans his week around what day he is going to have one. He makes quite a fuss about it too. To me, the price I pay is worth the joy my father gets from them, and I would hate to disappoint him with less quality to save some money.
-Ms. D. McCarthy
Iowa
Hello Sir, here is my humble picture of a Chicago Steaks Filet Mignon. They don't look as good as yours and I agree with your review 100%. They were good but not at that price. One filet mignon is too small for me so two pushes the cost way over the top.
I love your idea about buying whole tenderloins on sale and making your own Mignons. I am going to have to try that. Thank you for your reviews, it is a refreshing pleasure to see someone write these honestly.
-Lance M
Georgia
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Additional References
- What is Marbling? - Best Online Steaks Blog
- USDA Certified Beef Programs - Companies certified with the USDA for the type and quality beef they sell. Chicago Steak Company is not listed.
- Chicago Steak Company Website