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| - I travel a lot, and I try to find really nice restaurants to eat dinner at. Last time I was in Calgary I found some real winners, but had regretted not making it to Caesar's. This visit my hotel was close, and I was excited to see what all the hype was about. I consider myself a connoisseur of fine steak, and took up a quest a few years back to learn how to prepare a steak like the ones you get at very fine restaurants that you bite into and just melt into a heavenly place. Growing up when my mom made steak, it was always over-cooked, and a less than appealing experience. The first time I had a real prime steak was at Ruth's Chris in Houston, and after that I was hooked. I've been back to that eatery a time or two, and frequented Truluck's, Churrascos, America's, Fogo de Chao, Texas de Brazil, and other fine steak houses in Houston, Denver, and other cities. I can now make a MEAN prime steak myself as well that rivals the big steakhouses. I'm just telling you this to preface my review so you know I'm not just pulling this out of the air.
I wasn't really dissuaded by the decor as most people who have left reviews, although I was left wondering why they joined the faux marble pillars with brown rather than ivory caulk. I was told by a previous occupant of Calgary that he had been denied entry due to his attire, so I dressed up, only to show up and walk in behind people in plain street clothes, and what looked like slippers. If you're not wearing a tank top and cutoffs they'll seat you. The staff was nice, and quite attentive. The presentation was pretty good. I was not displeased.
The soup is a bit salty as mentioned in other reviews, but I didn't mind it. I thought overall it was pretty good. I was a little turned off by what looked like Kraft Parmesan that they shoveled into it. I'm sorry, but at a classy restaurant, you should grate the cheese onto the soup fresh.
They must be reading these reviews, because they switched out the iceberg lettuce for a little more leafy salad with a lot of different things in it, but it was still bland, and unimpressive. I'm not a big salad person anyway, so I was willing to excuse that.
When my 12.5 oz fillet came out, it was perfectly cooked medium rare as I had requested. It was huge, and must have weighed all of the 12.5 oz that they were claiming. The stuffed potato looked great, and they came up and put sour cream, chives, and something that could barely be passed as bacon on it. Again, if it comes with a $56 steak, you can put REAL bacon on it, not that gross imitation crunchy McDonalds facon bits. Come on now, this is a fancy restaurant.
Ok, we're coming up on why I gave it 1 star instead of 5 stars. I'm getting there. I cut into the steak, which looked great, it seemed to offer more resistance to the knife than I would have expected for a silver star AAA piece of meat that should have been REALLY marbled to be in the 56$ category, but boy was it ever just cooked perfect. It is always a problem that they don't cook the steak right, and this one was perfect. I put my fork into the piece I had removed, and as is my custom, I closed my eyes when I put that first bite into my mouth so I could focus on the heavenly yumminess of fresh cooked medium rare prime fillet. The steak hit my tongue, and... nothing... I bit into it, and chewed on it a little... No awe striking flavor or yumminess. Just meat. Not particularly tender, not really juicy in a good sense despite there being blood. It was just like a real big tough hunk of choice grade rump roast. I only ate half of it, and left the rest on the plate. I could have brought it home for a dog, and I wouldn't have felt wasteful giving it to an animal. In my mind it was an $8 hunk of meat.
The waiter came up and asked me how it was, and I couldn't even offer the usual nicety of just saying good, which I in just about every circumstance do. I told him it was "so-so" and I was pretty disappointed. He asked me if I wanted another one, and I explained that I didn't think it would really make a difference, as I felt it had to do with the preparation as well as the meat. I filled up on the stuffed potato, because in all honesty it was much more tasty than the unseasoned rump roast they tried to pass off as a 56$ steak. Just for the record, I have no problem paying that much for a steak, but I want it to be an experience, and I don't want to feel like leaving most of the steak on the plate. I want to eat the last bite and wish I weren't too full to order another. That was a shameful steak. Don't waste your money. even if the meat had been good the prep was bad. I don't care what the other reviews say, the prep is nothing to be excited about. I can whip up a steak at home that would knock the socks off of this place.
On two occasions I had excellent steaks at Vintage Chop House down the street. Go there instead, it's not disappointing.
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