As mentioned in TFA: "Beyond form, there is function: Both Rich and Blease say their French knives keep their edge longer than other table knives, meaning they require far less frequent sharpening. Rich says he has replaced a few sets of steak knives, while his Lannier knives have been in action since 2018."
That's it. It's a cost-saving play by the restaurant (sharpening is time-consuming if your staff does it manually; and increasingly expensive if you out-source it to a sharpening service).
The stuff about the 'form', and the artisanal knife production is mostly PR for the restaurant.
Though I've heard of that knife-maker; and positive things about them. And the Thiers region is historically a major area for edged tools.
==== FWIW: I'm not a Chef; but I have a nephew who is; and I discuss restaurant knives and sharpening with him. But, more usefully, I'm a woodworker, and I have whole books just on sharpening, and tools from Thiers. Again, this is not rocket surgery, but hopefully one or two readers will be today's "lucky 10,000"!
==== ETA: grammar fix.
Combine that with dark restaurant lighting and the need to not seem like an idiot around polite company, I don't think I would personally clue in right away that I need to hold the knife opposite to every other steak knife I've ever used, nor inspect it close enough to realize the cutting edge is on the "back" in front of people who will think this is the first time I've used a steak knife before or something.
If you're not dumb, then you would figure out how to use the knife after taking a look at it and seeing which side is the sharp one.
That's almost textbook intelligence; being able to resolve abstract problems based on limited information.
not investigating something = being dumb
You can just ask if you aren't sure. If I welcomed you into my house, and asked you to turn on the lights, while not telling you it's wired in a three-way switch config where another switch has to be turned on first, I think the dumb solution there is flicking on and off every light switch for 5 minutes till you get it, rather than just asking me. To me, holding the knife up to my phone's flashlight, or gently grazing the side against my palm has the same sort of "why are you doing that" energy everyone wants to avoid.
Dark restaurant, social pressure to not do weird things at the table, I get why anyone could mess up.
After reading the design of everyday things, I no longer blame that stupidity on me...