I agree with you in that the side dishes have problems. I think that, as you say “you came for the hunk of meat” and the dishes are presented as such. You get a main and a side rather than a more integrated melange of ingredients like you’d find in a place like Pardes. W&L, presenting themselves as a steakhouse is fine with serving sides as they do. That being said, they do have some serious problems. I got mashed potatoes with my sandwich, they were very good, but basic and unremarkable. Doing something more with them would have been appreciated. I guess they don’t because they want it to be a good side with virtually any main dish. Severely disappointing was my companion’s side of cajun fries. They were plain boring frozen cajun fries like you’d get at any kosher pizza shop. When you pay that much money for your food that’s not what you expect.

Similarly their desserts are good but brought down by the poor quality ice cream they buy. After paying $9 for an excellent homemade ice cream sandwich at Pardes it was hard to pay $13 for apple pie (which was very good) with a lousy scoop of Klein’s. The high price becomes even worse because of the ice cream.

My last problem was that they serve good beers, but the glass given to me was the same as my water glass and too small to hold the entire, properly poured, bottle at once. They should come to the table with the beer and an appropriate glass, and pour it (properly) for you.

All in all I enjoyed it though and I’m sure those problems can be worked out. I am really happy that they are coming to Coney Island Avenue. As you put it, it is “A most welcome addition!”