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| - This review has to do with dinner last Friday, June 27th, as part of their "Night of Romance" package, which included a $100 food and beverage credit to any of the establishments on the Montelucia grounds.
I had been looking forward to eating at Prado for some time, as my wife an I were married on the property in October 2010 when it was owned by InterContinental Hotels, but alas, did not have time to try the restaurant itself. My wife and I made reservations for 8pm. Upon arrival you could see some of the price is for the beautiful surroundings. There is an amazing view of Camelback Mountain from the patio, while the surrounding Alhambra inspired décor was very relaxing and welcoming. You could see that dining al fresco in October or the spring would be amazing here. They had live jazz playing in the lounge which is always cool. We were seated promptly at a nice table by the window to enjoy the view by the courteous hosting staff, which also made the thoughtful gesture of offering my wife a white napkin for her white dress. The busboy was very proper and offered us our choice of water (which we chose sparkling). Then, unfortunately, things slowly began to unravel...
Our server, who was perfectly nice, seemed completely overwhelmed. During his initial introduction, he struggled to remember the specials and forgot to take our drink order. We believed he would be right back, but it was nearly 10 minutes later that the manager came over to take our order. This, by the way, in a restaurant that was maybe half full. During this time we received some fresh bread and olive oil, which was decent but not amazing (It's bread and olive oil, after all). My wife's dirty martini was well made, and our server returned shortly after to take our order.
We ordered the salmon carpaccio ($16), half chicken with Brussels sprouts and potatoes ($32, wow), and diver scallops with saffron risotto ($37). The carpaccio was delicious, lightly smoked with watercress, capers, and a flavorful but not overwhelming horseradish sauce. While the portion was by no means huge, it was a pretty good amount of salmon (I was expecting much less). My wife's half chicken came with lemon-chili Brussels sprouts and roasted Yukon gold potatoes. While her dish was good (but let's be honest, chicken is chicken), it was definitely not worth the $32 price tag. For $32, the chicken better be transcendent; this was not. My scallops, while perfectly cooked and delicious, were also very small in quantity and size. I had read that portions were small for the price, but this was a little ridiculous. Three small to medium sized scallops over about a half handful of bland saffron risotto. The risotto tasted more like a drab version of paella rice rather than the saffron infused Arborio variety that was advertised. For $37, either three jumbos or at least twice as many scallops are necessary to make this dish acceptable, as well as an overhaul of the less than inspiring risotto that accompanies them. After our drinks were comped (I'm assuming the sparkling water was comped as well), total damage was $90 or so before tip.
I don't mind sitting down to dinner for a long time (in fact, I relish it if at all possible), but this meal just seamed like it wasn't paced very well. We sat for almost 2 hours with no offer for additional cocktails. There was a long lull between everything, including our appetizer and entrees. Again, our server was nice, but he just seemed like he couldn't keep up with his other tables either. I'm a former industry man, I get it, but at the same time when you come to a place like this you expect it to meet certain, well, expectations, especially when it comes to service. You don't go to French Laundry and expect Chili's service (which I shouldn't bag on Chili's because I have had unbelievable service there before, but you get my point). With the still small but ever improving culinary scene starting to blossom here in Phoenix, I would advise that Prado is simply not worth the price at this time. After living in Los Angeles for a good period of time, you begin to appreciate not only quality but value for that quality. At Prado, unfortunately, it just isn't there yet. Normally I would give Prado 3 stars, because the food wasn't terrible, but I am judging Prado a bit harsher than I would a Red Lobster or something for obvious reasons...you should get what you pay for
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