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| - I had no real expectations for Modern Steak - with the exception of some hefty prices for carcass. We started at the bar with vodka martinis complete with blue cheese stuffed olives. The blue cheese stuffed olives were a big hit. I suspect they were using Roaring 40's cheese (that's the good stuff from Australia if you haven't had it yet), and the olives were firm and briny. I would definitely return to the Modern Steak bar for a martini alone. It was a rainy, crappy day, but in different circumstances, the outside patio would have been inviting. The indoor patio was reminiscent of the inside 'al fresco' dining so common in Vegas malls and hotels.
We wandered down around 6:45 for our reservation, and already the bar and restaurant were starting to fill up. We took our time checking out the menu and decided to start with the ahi tuna tartare appetizer. The tuna was fresh and the presentation was nice, but there was nothing amazing about the taste. I didn't detect toasted garlic or taste yuzu in the 'yuzu caramel'.
While we were waiting for dinner, we were served baked potato bread and parmesan rolls. The baked potato rolls were sort of odd and delicious at the same time - cheese, bacon, and definitely potato. For dinner, two of us had the 8 oz filets ($35) and one the 8 oz center cut sirloin with herbed butter and french fries ($23). We shared the creamed spinach and the cauliflower gratin for sides. The filets were well-cooked and tasty, but again, not amazing. I couldn't help but think $35 worth of CostCo prime filets would have fed my whole family. The sirloin was again, perfectly cooked and very nice. There was no herbed butter served with it, but we probably didn't need the extra calories. The french fries were again, perfectly cooked, but nothing special. They had great texture, but no one felt the need to finish them. The cauliflower gratin with aged cheddar was very rich and as expected. The creamed spinach tasted like it had more cheese than cream in it, and was too similar to the cauliflower for my taste. I would have only ordered one of the two had I known and tried something a bit different. For dessert, we had the chocolate 'cake' which is very much like the Roy's signature chocolate souffle with the liquid center and scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. The cake was gooey, delicious and hot, and was swiped without question after we slowed down even though there was still nearly half of it left.
The service (until the cake swiping) was right on. Not too intrusive, yet we were never looking at an empty dish or water glass. We did have no less than 5 servers try to take the remaining baked potato rolls, which my friend was still enjoying, but they were always polite and left them, which was why we were a little stunned when the dessert disappeared. Of course at that time, there were four people waiting to be seated, but we never saw every table occupied at once while we were there.
I do have to comment on the strangest part of the evening which was using gift cards to pay for first our drinks then our meal. All three of us had gift cards from Christmas. First we gave the bartender $35.00 or so in gift cards for a $30.00 bar tab. He returned with a check jacket that had a receipt with a total of $6.6x (six and sixty something cents) and an empty tip line. We assumed he did not use the second card, and we still owed the $6.60 plus tip. Just to be sure, we asked a second bartender if he could check the balance on the second card. It had been used, and he informed us that our balance was $0. When we looked at him quizzically, he said, "Oh, we just need a signature on the receipt, like a credit card." Odd, but whatever. . . we left him a cash tip and went to be seated. At the end of dinner, our tab was $184.59. We gave him $225 in gift cards in return. He returned the check jacket to us showing a $34 remaining balance, and told us $40.41 remained on the card. When we asked if we still had a $34 balance, no one was able to answer the question. After taking the check back, the waiter confirmed we had a $0. balance once again, and we were left trying to figure out where the $34 had come from. All three of us commented to each other that if this hadn't happened at the bar, we would have thrown down a credit card and paid the balance + a 20% tip. Seems a bit shady to me. . .
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