1 /5 Mike Perrier: 8 of us were celebrating my father-in-laws 80th birthday. We had reservations in one of the side rooms for 5 pm. Ill say everyone we interacted with were great and our waitress did a good job taking care of us (we werent that demanding).
The main issue here is the food.
2 of the couples shared wedge salads, they all seemed to like it, looked pretty basic. I had the French onion soup and found it to be good.
The reason for the 1 star had to do with what we would expect to be the main attraction, the main courses. Being an upper scale steakhouse you would expect near perfection. Ill go couple by couple:
1st couple, guest of honor, each got the sirloin steak. Both like med-well however the steak came out more well done.
2nd couple shared a NY strip. They said it was over cooked but seemed to generally be ok with it.
3rd couple, one had the ribeye and the other the scallops. They didnt say one way or the other if it was good, not sure the one with the scallops knows the difference but they appeared to be overcooked as well.
4th couple, my wife and I, I had the sirloin and my wife had the salmon. I can only describe my plate as sloppy. Looking at some of the photos shared, it seemed it was thrown together worse than what the photos showed. I ordered my steak med-rare, and typically it will come out more on the rare side (the theory you can cook it more but you cant "uncook" it). My steak was pushing med-well. I thought maybe my plate was switched with my in-laws, but I had added the bearnaise (however what they considered bearnaise was anything but what I know to be bearnaise, wasnt worth the extra $10). While my meal was at least edible, my wifes was anything but. The salmon was way over cooked and whatever it was topped with looked like it had dried up sitting under a heat lamp. The risotto needed about another 10 mins, the rice was still crunchy. She was too nice to say anything and while I myself am not one to send food back, I would have sent that back in a heart beat. My wife did try her sisters risotto w/ the scallops and she said it was cooked better than hers.
Trying to wrap my head around why all of our meals were over cooked, the only thing I can think of is that maybe the risotto was causing the delays for the food to come out and it all literally died on the pass. If that was the case, then send out the food that was ready, serve the salmon w/o the risotto and explain that it needed a few more minutes and they will bring it out. That would have been 100x better than what transpired (and I am assuming that is what happened, but I really dont know). The restaurant wasnt busy and we were not demanding at all. This place has been open for years, youd think they would know how to properly serve an 8 top (7 total meals since two split).
They allowed us to bring a cake but charged us to cut it, fine whatever but seems a little tacky when you are already spending more than your average meal.
I came here with my family around when they first opened years ago and was blown away. This time, many years later, I was left very disappointed. The steak from cattlemans down the highway is prepared better than what we were all served. For the money spent, I much rather go to Sutter St Steakhouse in Folsom, and their prices may even be less.
Based on other reviews, this doesnt seem to be a one off. Hopefully they can figure it out, but I will likely never know as it is unlikely we will ever return here.
