| rev:text
| - Wow, where do I start? Stockyards is an absolute SH*TSHOW of a restaurant. There, I guess that's as good a start as any. I've been to restaurants where I spent double what I spent at Stockyards ($130 including tax+tip) and thought the meal was worth every penny. I don't mind paying good money for dinner, as long as I get a good meal and a quality experience. Obviously by the 1-star rating, you'll get neither/nor at Stockyards.
First, let me commend the service. From the hostess to the server to the assistants, the entire staff was first-rate -- polite and welcoming, attentive without being intrusive. They were awesome, which is why I almost hate to write such a negative review.
As nice as everyone was, in the end you go to a restaurant for the food, and the sh*tshow came from the kitchen. First the munchies, bread & butter and a crudité plate. The bread basket contained biscuits and jalapeno corn bread. Both were OK, maybe a bit dry, but I get that it's the desert and baked goods dry out quickly - dry doesn't mean stale in places like Arizona. The veggies in the crudité were a bit tired looking. The ranch dressing that came with it had to have come from a bottle. I splurged a bit and got the most expensive appetizer, the seafood gratin -- lobster (although I couldn't find any), shrimp and scallops baked in a garlic cream sauce, served with garlic toast. The shrimp and scallops (and the ever elusive lobster) had to be frozen. I could almost see the sous-chef cutting open a plastic bag and dumping frozen chunks of seafood into the microwave to thaw. If the garlic cream sauce wasn't Prego, then it was a remarkably close approximation. Frozen seafood and sauce out of a jar for 24 bucks. Can you understand why I'm pissed off??
I ordered the elk medallions because I love good venison, and an elk aficionado once told me that elk was even better. The elk wasn't gamey, but it wasn't much of anything, really. On its own, it didn't have much flavor. The kitchen did try to drown it in a ghastly juniper-something sauce, which tasted like brown gravy out of a jar (again with the jars!) plus a few spices thrown in. They were served with chive potato cakes that were so salty that one bite easily doubled my BP. It also came with carrots and string beans, and in all fairness, the string beans actually tasted fresh. They were probably the only part of the meal that did not come out of a plastic bag, a can, or a jar. I asked for the salad (included with the entrée) after the meal, dressing on the side. It came out drowning in dressing. There was so much Thousand Island in my salad bowl I half-expected to see a little plastic Titanic capsized and adrift.
I tried to redeem the meal with dessert, which can often salvage, at least in part, a bad meal because I have a wicked sweet tooth. The pecan pie was decent, but no better than the little pecan tarts at Starbucks. The Starbucks pecan tarts actually have a better crust. The Stockyards' pie crust tasted like they bought it frozen (like every other bleepin' ingredient on the menu).
I don't eat at places like Friday's, Bennigan's, or Applebee's because it's all reheated frozen food. But in fairness to those establishments, the fare is priced accordingly. My problem with Stockyards is that it's far pricier than Friday's et al, yet it's still cuisine from a freezer bag, a can, or a jar. Save your money and go to a REAL steakhouse (I went to J&G's the next night, spent far more, and LOVED it), or go to Outback, where you'll get the same out-of-a-jar/can/freezer bag sh*tshow, but at least the check is half what you'd spend at Stockyards.
PS: I almost never click the link to share my reviews on Facebook (not what I use Facebook for), but I will with this review because as many people as possible need to be warned about what a complete waste of time and money Stockyards is.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)