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| - I really think that 2 stars is a fairly generous rating for this restaurant given my recent experience here. Buy I will give points for the history and the ambiance, both of which I am very fond of. The food, service and prices, however, were well off-base.
I took a group of out-of-town business associates here during a conference at the Phoenix Convention Center. I wanted to take them somewhere that is "uniquely Phoenix", and I felt that Durant's fit that description. I have eaten here before, and i thought it was OK, but many of my same complaints were consistent on this visit.
First, I hate restaurants where the bar makes you close the tab with them before you head to your table. Any quality establishment should put the diner's convenience before the bartenders tip and allow you to transfer your bar tab to your table bill. On a business function, this makes accounting very sticky, and is awkward when you have to stop, ask for the bar bill, run your card, sign it, then proceed to your table. I know that bartenders do it to maximize their tips (I used to be one), but it is bush league, and should have no place in a restaurant like Durants.
Our waiter was flat out terrible. This little weasel obviously did not want to be there and let the world know it. Not only was his attitude poor, but his timing was awful. We sat for almost 3 hours, most of the time waiting for him to take orders or bring food. We never saw the guy. Our drinks were rarely if ever full, but he was sure to try and up-sell more bottles of wine when the time came. When you are paying that kind of money to eat in a place like Durants, the server had better be representative of the price. He was not.
Durant's has a very, very strange pricing scheme. some things are priced well, other things are absolutely obnoxious. Specifically the appetizers are way out of line. Apps were in the $15+ range which is flat out absurd. I dont mind paying for food, but I do expect value, and you will NOT find it at Durants. I ordered a stuffed potato with my steak instead of the standard baker and it was a $5 upgrade. That is ridiculous.
The food was pretty good - the oysters Rockefeller were outstanding and were clearly the best part of the dinner. My steak, a $51 bone in ribeye, was on the poor side of average and worth about $11. Very tough and fibrous, I was not impressed. It was tasty, but I have had far, far better elsewhere on many occasions. Again, it was the value that annoyed me about this place.
Avoid the crab macaroni and cheese at all costs. Horrible. Barely edible, no flavor, the large rigatoni's didnt really go with the white cheese cream sauce and chunks of crab. Pretty bad.
I will say that the wine was very WELL priced, and we appreciated that. Once again, the inconsistency in pricing was perplexing.
The thing that really, really blew it for me though was the 48oz Porterhouse challenge. The thing is like $85 and "if you can eat it all" your name goes on the wall. We bet one of my colleagues that he could not finish it, and each guy threw in $20 as a prize. The steak arrived and it was about 35oz of bone and about 12oz of meat. My mother could have finished that steak and ordered desert. This is one of the biggest marketing scams that I have ever seen in a restaurant. The whole "challenge" concept is obviously designed to get you to order an $85 steak. My ribeye had more meat on it and was probably harder to eat. We should have known what to expect when we asked the waiter how many people finish it, and he said "about 5 people order it each day, and about 3 out of 5 finish it." Pathetic.
So if you are going out for a drink in Phoenix, head to Durants and have a martini at the bar. Order the oysters Rockefeller while you are there. These aspects of the restaurant are really, really great. Then finish your drink and head to another steakhouse for a great steak that will not disappoint you like Durant's.
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