The Chop House is a Palm Springs agressive advertiser. When you visit PS you will see Chop House ads everywhere from billboards to print. I have always considered it one of the places tourists find and the locals stay clear of. We had local friends who swear The Chop House is one of the best places to find a good steak. We trusted their opinion and off we all went to The Chop House.
My initial intuition was nearer the truth than my friend's suggestion. The Chop House and Deck are located on Palm Canyon in the very heart of Palm Springs. The Deck sits on the second floor and overlooks all the hubbub of downtown Palm Springs and Palm Canyon Drive.
When we got upstairs it was clear the patio was the place to sit. The patio was full and the inside tables were empty.
It didn't take long to understand why the outside was so popular. These tables were fogged in by a haze of blue smoke and the smell of cigarette and cigars. Let me explain something about the strict California smoking laws. You can't smoke anywhere inside a restaurant, but if they have a patio and the restaurant allows it, go ahead light up! Now the patio clause is up for interpretation. This room did indeed have an open side that faced the street and a few of the tables were under the open sky. However most of the tables were inside at least three sides of wall and roof. But clearly smoking was not only allowed but encouraged. What happens is a few places have found a niche of being liberal on the smoking laws and there seems to be an underground smokers network who know all these places. The Chop House is one of them. Nobody comes for the food, you come because you can smoke during dinner. It's not like in days gone by when some tables would light up after dinner, here you get the aggressive smoker who wants to puff away every moment of the meal.
So we sat in the middle of the blue haze and next to a table of men who all were puffing away on big cigars.
The menu was pretty much what I had expected, it had lobster tails, steaks and pork chops. It was a real meat and potato kind of place.
The wait staff was friendly. The drinks were generous.
I had a filet and Chris had a pork chop, our friends also both had steaks. They were good. My medium rare was done about medium well.
Overall the meal was good, but far from great. The service was okay. The cigarette smoke was downright annoying.
The location is great and it's a great view of downtown PS. However the meal was pretty average. If you are someone who has to light up at dinner, you have found your haven. Otherwise I suggest you bypass The Chop House.