Cattlemens Steakhouse — Local services in Mountain Grove

Well I'm not here to beat them up but hopefully some constructive criticism and feedback. Last weekend I had a fine steak/prime rib at Club 60 steakhouse and it was very good. I was talking to a friend at work about how the meal was at Club 60 and he ask if I had tried Cattleman's. I said I have but believe Club 60 was better on a couple of levels. I've been in the restaurant industry for over 40 years and infact was born into the business. I've been executive chef for country clubs and hotels like Marriott, Hilton and like so I know a few things about food, service and the hospitality industry. Here's my take on Club 60 vs Cattleman's in Mt.Grove.

Dinning at both places on Saturday night about 6pm.

I was greeted at both places quickly and was sat promptly.

Both places were busy but not overly busy. Club 60 was honestly a little busier. Atmosphere in Club 60 was a little dark but charming and it had a bar that one could sit at if dinning alone. I was dinning alone but I got a small table at Club 60. Atmosphere at Cattleman's was bright and edgy not inviting or cozy. I ordered an appetizer at Club 60, Prime rib, salad with blue cheese and a sweet tea. Fresh baked bread was brought to my table within minutes then my salad. The salad was crisp and the blue cheese was tasty and even had blue cheese crumbles off to the side in a 2oz souffle cup. My appetizer came just as I was about done with my salad. Halfway into my appetizer my prime rib came. All pretty much like clockwork by experienced staff. The bread was fresh baked and good. My appetizer was artichoke and spinach dip with house chips, it was also good. The prime rib was around 14 ounce and cooked rare served with horseradish cream sauce. It was very delicious and cooked perfectly. My baked potato was large and came with butter and sour cream, it also was cooked perfectly and I even ate the skin. During my meal the wait staff checked in on me often. I was not able to finish my appetizer or my prime rib so I got a to go box and took home. At the end of my meal I was asked if I would like dessert? I declined and my check was brought promptly. All in all a very good meal and cost around $52.00. I gave 20%tip and a good review. I ordered a appetizer at Cattleman's, which we had to substitute one of the dips because they were out. The wait staff came back to tell me after I ordered, I got a double portion of queso, the market priced ribeye, baked potato and salad with blue cheese. The bread was served promptly along with my sweet tea. The store bought roll looked lost in that basket along side of some whipped margarine that was not good. The rolls were frozen standard in the business. Sister Shilberts I believe. Overly sweet. A simple yeast roll that was in house proofed would have been much better and cheaper. My salad came pretty quick and I started eating it. The blue cheese dressing was average and no blue cheese that I could see anywhere. The salad was weak, meaning it was pretty but lacked flavor and crispness. Everything was micro diced and resemble confetti. Personally I prefer my salad toppings sliced and grated or left whole like grape tomatoes. I was just starting my salad good when my appetizer came. We made room on the table for the appetizer as I finished the salad. I noticed that the triple dipper looked sad and not piping hot and bubbly. It looked like it had been setting out and formed a hard cheesy crust on top where extra cheese has been placed on top. Not hot at all..I almost sent it back as soon as I seen it, but I didn't. As I started to move my salad plate and start on the appetizer my ribeye came. I looked at the wait staff and they just looked back at me. This is inexperience staring at me, so I pushed the appetizer aside to start on my main course and the most expensive on the menu. I ordered my steak rare at was cooked acceptable..not a true rare but a warm red center. It was an okay ribeye but it had a lot of gristle not fat. I don't mind fat, I will eat fat but gristle is off putting and points to lesser quality. $77.00...

If I could rate this place lower than a 1, I would. I have been to this restaurant 4 times now as I know sometimes it's just a "bad day" and I keep giving it a chance. You've gotten your last chance. Went there Sunday, 7/23/2023 -- the last time I was there, they were OUT of pasta. How you can be out of pasta, I don't know, but none of their pasta dishes were available. I had been wanting to try the loaded mac and cheese as it sounded delicious and figured -- you can't really mess up pasta right? And before you say it -- yes I know this is a steakhouse, but I've had the prime rib and a steak during two other visits and -- well lets just say they know how to mess up a steak lol. Anyway, let's start from the beginning of this not so wonderful experience. One girl sat us and mumbled ... turns out she wanted to know what we wanted to drink. OK ... I wanted a glass of wine, and my guy wanted a beer. Nothing difficult. Another gal (only one that was friendly) brought those to us. I'm thinking, ok, the hostess isn't old enough to serve. I get that. Then ... it took FOREVER, but yet ANOTHER girl (definitely not an adult, appeared it might have been her first day) FINALLY came over and asked us if we wanted an appetizer. By this time, I just wanted my meal. They always bring rolls to the table when greeting (which are the only thing delicious in the place) -- but yet, she didn't, and actually asked if we wanted them? Anyway, we order -- and the salads were delivered. Ceasar Salad was ... warm. Croutons were stale, and so was the parmesan cheese they put on top. Then the food was brought. The drinks are empty at this point. She never brought any water either although I didn't specifically ask for it. Never asked if we wanted another drink or something else either. OK ... HUGE plate of mac and cheese with fried chicken on it was in front of me. I guess they serve you lots of food hoping you won't complain about the quality? It looks pretty good, although the pasta looks a little dry which is odd for a mac and cheese. I start eating it -- I taste ... nothing. Pasta is dry, the cheese "sauce" is a liquid the consistency of water and has absolutely no flavor. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's colored pasta water. The only time there was any flavor was when I happened to get a little bit of the tiny bit of bacon on it or some green onion. Pasta is WAY over cooked and gummy -- not to mention the whole dish except for the chicken on top is lukewarm at best. The chicken on top isn't bad, it just is over powered with what must be the signature seasoning (because they put it on everything including their fries) that is -- well just not very good. BUT -- at least the chicken was edible and properly cooked. We never were checked on until we were finished ... well at least as much of it as I was going to eat as it just wasn't good. There was alot left. The waitress finally came over and asked if everything was good -- I just didn't have the energy at this point and wanted to go, so didn't answer her and just asked that we get a box and the check. I was tempted not to tip at all, but I just couldn't do that to her. She was probably just really poorly trained as she seemed really new to begin with like I said. But I also couldn't give her my normal 20% tip when she did such a piss poor job. 10% it is. Oh atmosphere -- loud with no noise buffer, and there weren't very many people there that day either. To drown out that noise, we can hear the cooks yelling ", you're food's ready!" but it being ignored. They say 3rd time's a charm -- 4th time, I definitely will...

We were passing through on a road trip and had never eaten at this restaurant, but wanted a place to sit down together out of the car. (Just after opening, on a Sunday.) The restaurant was clean, open and airy. The booths were clean and well maintained. The staff was very friendly and quick to bring us menus and drinks. Problem number 1. The prices! They seemed unexpectedly high. (I'll insert Problem Number 2 here. We were handed menus. At no point did our server indicate there was a cheaper LUNCH menu that applied. My daughter was messing with the holder on the table that has a card advertising a feature drink or something. On the flip side was a lunch menu, served 11-3, Wednesday through Sunday. We didn't find that until will after ordering from the high priced menu.) We tried the fried pickle starter. We were expecting rounds, not spears, they were well breaded and tasty, but SPEARS HOLD HEAT! I immediately burnt a blister on the roof of my mouth, which is no fault of the restaurant...I only mention it to give others a heads up! I ordered a classic burger, hubby got boneless wings and daughter got shrimp alfredo. We all ordered fries. It took us a long time to get our food, we actually saw two other tables served before us, that had been seated after we ordered. I cut my burger in half and swapped half with half of hubby's wings. When I cut it in half, the center looked perfectly done. Up to Problem(ish) Number 3. Everything was bland. The meat wasn't necessarily "dry," but it TASTED.......dry? The same with the wings. Granted, they were served with the teriyaki sauce hubby requested, but he didn't care for the flavor of the sauce, so he ate them plain. And they were plain. The shrimp and pasta was ok, but the serving was about half to three quarters the size it should have been for the price. That meal, with a 15% tip, set us back $77 that we weren't expecting on a Sunday road trip. Had we known about the lunch menu option, it might have been half that, but the quality would have been about the same.

Next time we pass through, will stick...