Pinnacle Peak Steakhouse is a restaurant chain in the US with 35 years of operating history. Independently operated, Pinnacle Peak China has become the "pioneer" of the Americana Old West restaurant in China. The restaurant occupies the 5th floor of Shanghai City Hotel on 830 sqm with a total seating capacity of 150 including : a private room, full bar, mechanical bull, a pool table and a set up for DJ or live performance.

We cook over Shanghai's only open mesquite-charcoal flame offering exceptional and unique aromas. We serve some of the best steaks in the City combining a value priced menu with high end quality & green products. Our beef is imported from Tasmania, Australia, where Black Angus cattle are raised on natural pasture grass.

Second Bite | Pinnacle Peak April 2010

To ensure fairness, we do our restaurant reviews anonymously. But in search of positive press, not all restaurants are willing to play along. So when Pinnacle Peak owner Steven Smith invited, nay, challenged, us to head in incognito for a meal, we took him up on it. We weren’t disappointed–not by their Big Hoss steak, anyway.

Swinging saloon doors welcome you into a real American style steakhouse, complete with a dark wood interior, mechanical bull, Old West newspaper-style menus and cowboy hat-wearing waitstaff. The service staff is very polite, but sometimes misses out on little things like filling empty water glasses.

We started with appetizers. The diced jalapeños and mushrooms add punch and consistency to the shrimpy San Francisco chowder (¥55), though it’s more soup than chowder. The sagebrush salad (¥48) is a romaine lettuce salad with cherry tomatoes in a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. The absence of sun dried tomatoes (as promised in the menu) did cause a bit of disappointment, but one doesn’t come here for salad.

We ordered up the 9 oz. Australian rib-eye (a fantastic deal at ¥128 including soup or salad) and the irresistibly named 12 oz. Big Hoss rib-eye steak (¥248). Each entrée comes with green beans and your choice of fries and a baked or mashed potatoes. Nothing fancy, but they get the job done. The Aussie Rib Eye is a very thin cut (almost a flank steak) that has a little trouble holding the flavor, but the Big Hoss is one of the best steaks in town. It’s a one-and-a-half inch thick cut of beef perfectly charred and cooked to a medium rare, deep purple, mesquite perfection that almost melts in your mouth. If you’re craving for good steak, we highly recommend the Big Hoss at Pinnacle Peak.

■ Alex Milan