Steak Knife Lockers: A Work in Progress?

The follow-up to the baffling Mocha Red steak knife locker story.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about an odd setup at Mocha Red whereby patrons can rent lockers at the restaurant for their steak knives. At the time, I was at a loss for how to make sense of such a practice, so I asked folks to respond with their reactions. I got a whopping nine responses, with most people falling in the “I have so many questions. I can’t even.” camp.

So, I reached out to the restaurant to find out more. I spoke to Dimitrios; here’s a recap of our conversation:

I asked him to share an overview of the basics, and he said that the lockers cost $200/month (!) plus $50 for a personalized steak knife. He did note that if you pay six months in advance you get six months free.

I asked him to tell me more about what the personalization entails, and he said it likely means you’d get your name on the knife. His imprecise answer piqued my interest, so I asked a couple more questions:

Why would someone buy a knife and pay a premium to store it for use exclusively at Mocha Red?

He responded that the concept is that you can use your own steak knife rather than one of their regular steak knives, and that it’s kind of a sanitary thing.

I asked for clarification: Wouldn’t the personalized knife be washed with the other knives?

At that point, he said it’s very much still in development and he’d get back to me. I reached out two weeks later (on August 2) for an update, and I haven’t heard back.

It’s been an incredibly tough time for restaurants, and they need our support now more than ever. In my mind, that means patronizing restaurants with good food and good service, and tipping generously. When folks ask me for recommendations for a burger place, I’ve personally recommended Mocha Burger more often than not (they have the same owner as Mocha Red). I’m loathe to publicly roast any restaurant, let alone one whose owner has a positive track record from their other restaurants, so I’ll let one of the survey responders do the roasting for me:

Might this be a plot by the restaurant to sell customers overpriced, personalized steak knives??

You know, like a present that doesn’t truly belong to its recipient? 🤔