WANT MEAT? MASTRO'S, IF YOU PLEASE.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

Sitting upstairs at the SRO bar sipping a martini (found out later to cost $15), waiting for your table to clear at the new Mastro's Steakhouse in Beverly Hills, can be an almost eerie deja vu happening.

It's like a ``back to the '50s'' experience.

A piano tinkles away providing background for a female vocalist whose singing barely carries above the conversation, dish and cutlery clatter and bustle-of-staff noises.

The L-shaped dining room is jammed full. At one end there's a wine room visible with a large round table full of diners.

And everyone's eating good 'ol American food: steaks, chops, lobster and the like. None of that frou-frou stuff here.

About the only thing missing is an old-fashioned celebrity host, you know, the Sherman Billingsley type.

But owner Dennis Mastro makes sure you know he's there in spirit, if not in person, via his large portrait behind the piano bar.

The new Mastro's is a second location, the first being in Scottsdale, Ariz., where the Mastro group of restaurants with various names (Drinkwater's, Marco Polo Supper Club, Cocomo Joe's, Maloney's Tavern) is headquartered.

It generally pleases its wealthy, mature clientele, possibly the same people who frequented this building when it housed the Bistro.

You better be deep pocketed to dine here when a call martini is $15, a tasty bone-in Kansas City strip steak costs $31 and corkage is $25 a bottle.

And that's without a starter - how about a chilled, crisp wedge of iceberg lettuce draped with bleu cheese dressing ($6.95) - and dessert ($7 to $9).

Guess we have to pay back the millions invested in the complete remodeling of the latter-day version of Chasen's, the building's prior tenant.

To its credit, Mastro's busy kitchen offers a lot more than most of your current upscale steakeries.

It has a penchant for bone-in offerings, which actually work very well and appear to be juicier and more flavorful.

This was apparent one evening when a 16-ounce New York strip steak ($29.95) was comparatively flavorless and overly chewy when matched against the lovely bone-in 18-ounce Kansas City-style strip steak at $1 more.

But is it worth it to pay $6 or $7 extra for a bone-in filet mignon ($33.95), on special one night? One diner didn't think so.

Meanwhile, with nonmeat items like a bone-in ahi tuna steak ($29.95) and king crab legs ($34.95), the kitchen does a creditable job.

And especially worthwhile is Mastro's rack of lamb ($31.95), 22 ounces and delivering absolutely delicious morsels of meat.

But remember, these are a la carte entrees and you have to order accompaniments separately.

The good news is that they are very generously portioned, easily enough to share with four or more table companions.

Recommendable are the wasabi mashed potatoes ($5.95), one of 12 potato options, creamed corn ($7.95), shoestrings of sweet potato ($5.95) and sauteed spinach ($5.95).

From the petit filet mignon ($24.95) to the double cut porterhouse ($59.95) Mastro's serves up around a dozen different steak opportunities a night, surely enough variation to satisfy every possible meaty appetite. Prime rib is added on Friday and Saturday nights.

As for starters, really serious beef addicts can begin their meal with beef consomme ($9.95) or steak sashimi ($11.95).

For more normal palates, there might be large malpeque raw oysters ($12.95), good baked scallops ($13.95), a nicely done chopped salad ($6.95) or an appropriate beefsteak tomato and onion plate ($6.95).

Desserts like a melty chocolate sin cake ($6.95) or banana creme brulee ($8.95) provide acceptable endings.

Then it's back from mingling with the Beverly Hills elite in Mastro's clubby, two-story, joie de vivre setting (Larry King has already dined here three times) to ... cold reality.

MASTRO'S STEAKHOUSE

Where: 246 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills.

When: Open for dinner from 5 p.m. to midnight nightly.

Recommended items: Iceberg wedge, chopped salad, baked scallops, bone-in Kansas City strip steak, veal porterhouse, rack of lamb, bone-in ahi tuna, wasabi mashed potatoes, crisp shoestring sweet potatoes, chocolate sin.

How much: Starters from $7 to $22 (caviar $75 or $100), entrees from $20 to $60, desserts $7 to $9. Two full bars. All major credit cards.

Wine list: Large comprehensive list priced from $25 ('98 Guenoc cabernet sauvignon or '99 Hogue sauvignon blanc) to $585 for '78 Dom Perignon. Generally high markups. Wine by the glass from $9 to $22. Corkage: $25.

Reservations: Advised. Call [phone].

Our rating: Three stars for food; three and one half stars for service; two stars for wine.

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Mastro's offers carnivores a large assortment of steaks - large being the operative word.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News