Steakhouses in Santa Clara

Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, House of Genji has been serving fresh Japanese fare with flair from its menu of titillating tappan-style dishes (which include soup, salad, vegetables, and rice) and artfully rolled sushi since 1971. Grab a cocktail at the bar and marvel at the chef’s knife skills, flipping finesse, and bold disregard of your mother’s threats to ground him as he playfully executes table tricks and nimbly tosses each succulent morsel onto your plate with bite-sized precision. The tableside entertainment and modern décor make House of Genji an ideal venue for social gatherings, though customers should be aware that a 15% gratuity will be added for parties of seven or more.

While the ancients interpreted one flame on the horizon as heralding imminent war and two flames as "party at Dave's house," three flames have always signaled suppertime. Today's Groupon gets you $40 worth of generous American cuisine at Three Flames Restaurant for $20. This Groupon can be used for dinner only, and you can combine two for $80 worth of food if you bring along the rest of your barbershop quartet. Take the drive down Meridian Avenue for a classic night out with live entertainment and sumptuous fare from both land and sea.

This year, Izzy’s Steaks & Chops celebrates its 25th anniversary, giving guests an excuse to reminisce about the technologies, events, and classical-music feuds that made 1987 twice as popular as 1983. Throughout the past two and a half decades, the folks in Izzy’s kitchens have been grilling up the steaks and chops that they see as an integral part of Americana, along with freshly caught local seafood that’s never frozen. All of their corn-fed Black Angus beef is humanely raised at Creekstone Farms, which is dedicated to beef free of hormones and antibiotics. The chefs transform those premium meats into their signature new york sirloin steaks, aged a minimum of 21 days, as well as cuts of slow-roasted prime rib and filet mignon medallions au poivre with pepper cream sauce. Double-cut pork gets a boost from spiced pear, and a lime-chive sauce adds tang to peppered swordfish. Each meal comes with a choice of two sides, such as creamed spinach, the chefs’ signature potatoes au gratin, and french fries cut in the kitchen.

House desserts such as new york cheesecake and key-lime pie conclude meals or quiet whining choruses of sweet teeth. Wine, cocktails, and draft beers encourage diners to linger in the cozy space, and during brunch—served only at the San Francisco location—the bartenders mix up cocktails such as peach bellinis or gaelic coffee with irish whiskey.

The Van's has earned the admiration of diners and drinkers since 1947, though its historic teahouse structure dates even farther back—to 1915 when constructed to house a portion of the Japanese Exhibition at the Panama Pacific International Exposition. The restaurant's second-story dining room offers panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay and close-ups of crisp white linens, complemented by rich, Italian-inspired eats and select wines. The restaurant's bar area boasts the original wallpaper from 1915, as well as historic photographs in which the Peninsula's water incidentally looks the same.

Imagine Affairs revitalizes the classic murder-mystery template with current-day touches: Scenarios reference the modern nightclub in which the audience and actors gather, and cases are cracked by CSI-style cops, not Holmesian detectives or omniscient robots. Meanwhile, the actors leaven the dire situation with doses of improv comedy and audience interaction, which lets guests become as entangled in plot twists as they want.

Teppanyaki chefs twirl their knives and ignite towers of flame while cooking meals tableside inside Hana Japan Steak & Seafood. They slice new york steaks, chicken, and salmon and toss scallops onto the grill alongside chopped veggies and mounds of rice, all without ruffling their tomato-red toques. Each hibachi dinner comes with a shrimp appetizer, a bowl of soup, and a salad with organic Hana dressing imported from the organic part of Japan.