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| - Steakhouses are a dime a dozen where I live, so on a recent trip to Scottsdale, when friends suggested this for dinner it had a high bar to get over, as I've been to some of the best steakhouses in the country.
We arrived on time for our reservation. There were 5 of us so when the host showed us to our seat, imagine my surprise when the table had only been set for 4. We stood awkwardly around until the host grabbed a chair from a nearby table and we all moved around to make room. Eventually a bus boy also grabbed a place setting from a nearby table. We were not off to a good start. This should never happen in a fine dining restaurant.
Once we got settled with drinks in hand, a server brought out three kinds of fries with three sauces as a little appetizer for the table. Quite tasty and much appreciated as we were all starving.
The sommelier, Aaron, was quite good. We told him what our favorite wine was, and while they didn't carry it, he did find another Cabernet that was very good and actually made it on my list to have again.
The menu is set up with a cold shellfish section, first courses, specialties of the house and a more typical steakhouse menu with a range of steaks and sides.
We chose from each with some wins and losses along the way. The wins? The fresh oysters that change daily, the heirloom tomato and burrata salad, and the wedge salad were some of the best starters. For entrees- you can't go wrong with any of the steaks. All were perfectly prepared and the specialty lamb chops were also good.
The absolute best thing that we ordered was the lobster pot pie with truffle cream. This comes out in a copper baking pot with the crust on. They cut the crust off, placing it on your plate and then proceed to spoon the lobster and vegetables on top of it. Absolutely amazing!
On a side note -if you like lobster- don't order the poached lobster. It was way over cooked and so tough that we could not get a knife through it. They did end up taking this off of our bill, but again- surprising for a restaurant of this caliber to so over cook something.
And a couple of the sides ended up disappointing as well. The asparagus was thick and a weird flavor from the olives and herbs surrounding it. And the hash brown cakes? Dry with the only flavor coming from the bacon that was on top of it.
But save room for dessert (in fact- this is so good you might just want to start with it) They have in house made beignets with three kinds of dipping sauce. Forget the chocolate and creme brulee dip. Only order the 18 year old real scotch butter scotch pudding dip. Absolutely the most amazing flavor! It makes any other pudding seem like, well secondary.
Service was efficient but not overly friendly. The bus boy was actually more helpful and pleasant and it was nice to hear him talk about the career path that this restaurant has for their employees.
Know before you go that this is not a cheap date. Dinner with wine and tip for 5 ran almost $700. For that kind of money, I really expected more than I got thus the lower rating.
A-OK sums it up perfectly. It was fine but I just don't think this will go on my list to tell people to check out.
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