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| - Prado was the most disappointing restaurant experience I've had in a while. No stranger to AZ Restaurant week, I've had my eye on Prado for a while. The fella and I did a mini staycation at the Montelucia, so we figured it was the perfect time to check it out.
Our reservations were at 8:30. We arrived a bit early to see if they had a table ready, but they didn't (not a big deal) so we hung out at the bar for a drink. Well, we didn't get sat at our table until 8:50, TWENTY minutes after our reservation. What even is the point of a reservation in that case? We saw plenty of people walk in after us and be seated almost immediately, and there were a bunch of empty tables that remained empty throughout the whole meal. And, we didn't even get any sort of apology or "thank you for your patience." It was a frustrating situation and it was never acknowledged by the maître d' that anything was out of the ordinary. We were annoyed but thought, "well we have a seat now so it's not a big deal, and we'll just move forward and enjoy our meal." No dice.
As I mentioned, this was during Arizona Restaurant Week, which honestly is a pretty big deal amongst valley upscale restaurants. We weren't even give restaurant week menus, we had to specifically ask for them. Again, no apology. Just "Oh, would you like to see that menu?" Yes, of course we would.
Then, we were not visited by our server for another full 20 minutes after being seated. We were at least brought waters by the busboy (?) who seemed to be the one staff member on top of his duties. We were able to put in our orders with no issue, and the server was able to answer the fella's questions about which dishes contained gluten. Our food came out in a decent timeframe after that.
My first course was the baked triple creme brie, which was a very unique take. I've had a lot of brie in my life, was practically raised on it, but I've never seen it presented in this way. It came melted in a hollowed out little brick of bread, with honey smeared on the side of the board and inexplicably, also under the bread as if they were trying to glue down the bread. The brie was, of course, excellent, and melted in a way where it didn't get weird and hard as I was trying to eat it (you brie fans know exactly what I'm talking about). The marcona almonds were a nice touch, but I wish they had been full almonds rather than crushed. The honey was excellent, with just a touch of lemony tang. However, the bread was a weird choice. It had almost the texture of Irish soda bread, which I don't dislike, but was like a weird textural pairing for brie. The dude had the kale salad, which he said was fine but he wished all of the good parts were not crushed/chopped (marcona almonds, broccoli, etc.).
For my main course, I opted for the short rib with gnocchi. It was absolutely stellar. Rioja braised, the meat fell right off the bone and I didn't even need a knife to eat it, that's how tender it was. It was one of the best short ribs I've ever had in my life. The gnocchi had a great taste to it, but was just a touch salty for my liking. My dish came with 2 halves of Brussels Sprouts, which were roasted perfectly and super tasty--wish there had been a few more. The guy had the paella valenciana and it blew him away. We're both huge paella fans, and are always searching for the next great paella. He said all of the seafood was cooked perfectly, and they used authentic pans which created the layer of crispy paella rice on the bottom. Far and away, the main course was the best part of the meal, and is the only reason Prado doesn't get the minimum possible amount of stars in my book.
We had finished our main courses for quite a while before being visited again by the aforementioned busboy, who very quickly packaged up our leftovers and made sure we were doing well. No idea where our server was. A different food runner brought our desserts. We both had the crema catalana, which as far as I could tell was just creme brûlée, one of my all time favorite desserts. It was perfectly good, certainly edible, just nothing outstanding or spectacular. Your run of the mill creme brûlée.
I really was very let down by the service at Prado. At an upscale restaurant, I fully expect friendly waitstaff across the board that regularly check in to make sure the meal is going well, and are very on top of their jobs all around. The restaurant was not crazy busy, with plenty of empty tables. Plus, it was a Saturday night on Memorial Day weekend and during AZ Restaurant Week--it seems really silly that they wouldn't have planned ahead for that. All in all, likely will not be returning here even though the short rib blew my mind. At the price point, you're not just paying for the food; you are paying for the service, ambience, and all around environment. Prado was simply lacking.
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