Mac & Cheese, Creamed Spinach and the Rest: Ranking the Steakhouse Sides That Actually Matter

Let's be honest with ourselves: nobody has ever walked out of a steakhouse raving about the fillet alone. What you actually remember is the bowl of mac and cheese you fought your mate over, or the chips that somehow outshone the meat they accompanied. Sides are the supporting cast that keeps stealing the film.

So we've ranked them. Argue with us in the comments — we know you will.

8. Creamed Spinach

Sorry, spinach. You're fine. You're just never the reason anyone books a table. Done well it's silky and faintly nutmeg-scented; done badly it's a puddle of green regret. It exists to make us feel virtuous, and steakhouses are not virtue businesses.

Home cook verdict: Actually easy — spinach, cream, a whisper of nutmeg, reduce. One of the few you can genuinely nail on a weeknight.

7. Onion Rings

Great in theory, treacherous in practice. When the batter shatters and the onion inside is properly sweet, they're magnificent. When they go soggy between the kitchen and your table — a journey of perhaps fifteen metres — they're a betrayal.

Home cook verdict: Leave it. Domestic fryers can't hold temperature when you drop a basket of rings in. This is pro territory.

6. Creamed Corn

The sleeper hit. Underrated on menus, devoured when it arrives. Good creamed corn — sweetcorn, butter, a little chilli heat if the kitchen's confident — is comfort food of the highest order and pairs with charred beef better than almost anything.

Home cook verdict: Very doable. Tinned or frozen sweetcorn, blitzed partially, enriched with butter and cream. Twenty minutes, top drawer results.

5. Baked Potato (Fully Loaded)

An institution for a reason. Crispy skin, fluffy middle, then the full works: sour cream, chives, bacon bits, grated cheese. It's the side that doubles as a main course for the person at the table who "isn't that hungry" and then eats everything.

Home cook verdict: Foolproof. Oven, salt, patience. The one side where home kitchens have no excuse.

4. Bone Marrow

Cheeky inclusion, but it earns its place. Roasted marrow bones with a parsley salad and toast are the connoisseur's side — rich, mineral, unapologetically old-school. It's also the ultimate test of a steakhouse's butcher relationship.

Home cook verdict: Easy if your butcher has bones; nearly impossible if they don't. Ask your local — most will put some aside.

3. Triple-Cooked Chips

The British contribution to the canon, and frankly we've improved on the Americans here. Thick, golden, crisp outside and cloud-soft within, they're the side that disappears first every single time. A steakhouse that under-delivers on chips has failed at the fundamentals.

Home cook verdict: Achievable but a slog — three stages, two cooling periods, and a proper thermometer. Save it for a Sunday project.

2. Mac and Cheese

The people's champion. Every steakhouse has a version and every version starts a debate: breadcrumb-topped or smooth? Elbows or shells? Cheddar alone or a cheeky bit of Gruyère in the mix? At NY Grill London we keep ours simple and unapologetically cheesy, because that's what the plate needs next to a ribeye — richness answering richness.

Home cook verdict: Absolutely make this at home. A proper roux-based sauce, real cheese, a hot grill for the top. It's a Tuesday-night hero.

1. Steamed Greens With Garlic Butter

Controversial? Perhaps. But hear us out. After a heavily seasoned, butter-basted piece of dry-aged beef, what the plate actually craves is contrast — something green, sharp, lightly dressed to cut through the fat. Tenderstem broccoli or hispi cabbage, charred and slicked with garlic butter, is the mark of a kitchen that understands balance. The best steakhouses know this. The mediocre ones bury it at the bottom of the menu.

Home cook verdict: Five minutes, one pan. If you take one side home from this list, take this one.

The Final Word

A great steakhouse plate is a conversation: the beef speaks, but the sides decide the tone. Order at least one indulgent (mac and cheese), one starchy (those chips), and one fresh (the greens) and you've got the full experience. Anything less is just meat with a view.