ChopHouse Grille: Steaks and drinks for the suburban crowd in Exton
The 200-seater, with a "four seasons" room, patio, and fire pit, is a suburban restaurant all the way. It's a casual spin on PJW's ChopHouse in Gibbsboro.
South Jersey-based PJW Restaurant Group — expanding throughout the Philadelphia suburbs with brands such a P.J. Whelihan’s, Pour House, Treno, and Central Taco — has gone to Exton for its 24th restaurant: ChopHouse Grille, a top-to-bottom transformation of the former TGI Friday’s at Fairfield Place (Route 100 and Swedesford Road, or 301 Pottstown Pike).
ChopHouse Grille, a 200-seater opening July 25, is a casual spin on the group’s ChopHouse in Gibbsboro. It’s also intended as a complement to a Pour House, a beer-focused bar-restaurant, a half-mile away.
It’s a suburban restaurant all the way. CEO Jim Fris says it can serve numerous dining purposes: the after-golf crowd, date night, business lunch, drop-in with the kids.
Chef Rich Friedrich’s dinner entrees are priced mainly in the $20s, with occasion higher gusts. It’s also possible to make a full meal out of apps and sides, such as flatbreads and truffled mac and cheese. The five steak offerings, including a Kona-crusted New York strip ($42) and prime rib ($34), are served with a choice of sauce and a vegetable on the side, rather than a la carte as most steakhouses do it. From the zinc-topped bar come cocktails, craft beers, 23 wines by the glass, and spirit-free beverages.
The look is modern industrial, including high ceilings, exposed wooden beams, and black pipe shelving and pendant lighting. There’s a four seasons room with an additional bar, bistro lights and doors to the patio, which has a fire pit and lounge seating.
It’s open for dinner only at 4 p.m. through Sunday, July 28.
Lunch and dinner service will begin Monday, July 29 with regular hours, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.