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| - Having met the man twice and finding him quite the entertaining character, I decided to try the restaurant inspired by him. Oscar Goodman. The (formerly) happiest mayor on earth. And former mob defense attorney. He and his image are quintessential Vegas. I had to try his steakhouse.
Entering with a coworker at 8 pm on a Monday night, we were seated right away. Service can only be described as short and surly. From the hostess to the two servers we encountered, I consistently got the strong impression they were looking at their watches in anticipation of closing time. A stark contrast to, say, Vic & Anthony's Steakhouse over at Golden Nugget (see separate review).
The menu is mob-inspired, consisting of names of gangsters you'll recognize. I went with the Spilatro's Steak with garlic mashed potatoes. It may not look like much from the attached photo, bit it was actually quite good.
The restaurant is adorned with photos of Oscar and his career. I think the theme works fine here, and the location is great. It's in the area formerly occupied by Firefly, directly at the West end of Fremont Street. The dining area over looks the Fremont Street Experience. It's an excellent view.
All in all, the food was good. The theme was fun. But the service not so much. I'm always deeply disappointed when a place gets so much right and then just drops it all at customer service. How do other places like Vic's get it right consistently and places like this don't? I think it starts at the top. Carefully screening the right personalities to hire and then training and evaluating them. Consistently.
Oscar's needs to make an attempt, here. And until they do, the servers will bring down the house. This may be why there was so much open seating at 8 pm during Spring Break week.
I sincerely hope they do bring it around because I'd like to see this place survive. If enough people point this out to them, maybe they will.
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