Miami’s Papi Steak restaurant is currently facing massive online backlash for its over-the-top, $1,000 “The Beef Case” steak, which TikTok users are overwhelmingly labeling an overpriced spectacle. If you’ve been scrolling through TikTok lately, you’ve probably seen the videos of this ridiculous display. It’s a prime example of high-roller Miami excess, and frankly, the internet is not holding back its scorn for people actually paying for it and recording it.
Let’s break down exactly what you get for a cool grand. “The Beef Case” is a massive 55-ounce Australian Wagyu tomahawk steak. That sounds like a delicious cut of meat, but the actual cost of the steak seems secondary to the full-blown, minute-long performance that comes with it. This isn’t just dinner. This is theater, not expensive meals from Food Wars.
The show starts when a team of staff members marches the briefcase right up to your table. If that doesn’t sound corny enough, the whole gimmick is a reference to the iconic briefcase carried by Marsellus Wallace in the movie Pulp Fiction. Honestly, that detail alone makes me cringe a little bit. Once the briefcase is opened, you’re hit with a blast of smoke, signaling the start of the loud, chaotic sixty-second extravaganza.
Steak is only expensive because of the theatrics
From there, the staff starts dancing and shouting, and then things escalate quickly with pyrotechnics. The grand finale involves a smoking branding iron, which is used to sear the “Papi Steak” logo directly into the meat. I have to say that branding iron moment is a truly top-tier level of spectacle. It guarantees everyone else in the restaurant knows exactly how much money you just dropped on dinner, which I suppose is the entire point because you can just cook your own steak with the best parts of the meat for less.
Unsurprisingly, the moment this experience was created, it was destined for social media virality. Part of the whole Beef Case experience is clearly posting about it, and videos tagged with the restaurant’s name are absolutely flooding TikTok. While the content creators who are dropping the cash seem to be reveling in the novelty and showing off their splurge, the vast majority of commenters are dismissing the whole thing as the absolute peak of Miami’s unnecessary extravagance.
My favorite comment was “$30 steak $770 heys and O’s,” because it did feel like all they were doing was trying to amp up the steak. Another commenter agreed with a different cost ratio that was funny too, “Performance $960 steak $40.” It seems most people are baffled that anyone would shell out four figures just for this kind of display.
We’re also seeing a lot of sympathy directed toward the restaurant staff who are forced to participate in this minute-long frenzy. Several viewers pointed out the apparent misery of the servers. One person screenshotted the server with “I know dissociating when I see it.” It’s clear that this kind of performance looks exhausting, and it feels like a painful requirement for the job.
